# SAIB CE-15-18: WING SPAR Main Spar Lower Cap Cracks - Type: Special airworthiness information bulletin (advisory, not mandatory) - Status: Current - Revision: 0 - Issued: June 15, 2015 - Products: Piper PA-46-310P, PA-46-350P, PA-46-500TP and PA-46R-350T - Product type: Aircraft, Small Airplane - PDF: https://openairdocs.org/files/sha256/98/71/9871c9bdbc295e287f4b804a3c0e8bd7e8fca91b87a11da4a76561ab7e2b2ddb - FAA DRS: https://drs.faa.gov/browse/excelExternalWindow/B972926E220C982486257E650068E324.0001 - DRS record last changed: June 15, 2015 - Page: https://openairdocs.org/saib/CE-15-18 ## Text Some pages are OCR from the scanned FAA bulletin. OCR can misread letters and numbers. FAA Aviation Safety **SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS** INFORMATION BULLETIN SUBJ: WING SPAR – Main Spar Lower Cap Cracks SAIB: CE-15-18 Date: June 15, 2015 This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory. Introduction This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) alerts you, owners and operators of certain Piper Aircraft, Inc. (Piper) Models PA-46-310P, PA-46-350P, PA-46R-350T, and PA-46-500TP airplanes of an airworthiness concern, specifically fatigue cracking discovered in the wing main spar lower cap near wing station (WS) 79. This SAIB also provides guidance on recommended actions for these Piper airplane models related to the damage location. At this time, this airworthiness concern has not been determined to be an unsafe condition that would warrant AD action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR) part 39. Background During routine inspection of a Piper Model PA-46-350P airplane, a 1.53-inch crack was discovered in the main spar lower cap (See Figures 1 through 3 to better identify the damage location). The damage was confirmed to be a standard fatigue crack by metallurgical lab evaluation. The crack discovery was at 5,273 hours time-in-service (TIS) versus the type certificated life limit of 15,580 hours TIS. Figure 1a – Aircraft-level view of damage area R$ 29.00 WS 51 **WR PWD CAP** **MAIN SPAR** **SPAR WEE LWR. AFT CAP** **MAN SPAR** **MILG CUTOUT** **REAR, SPAR MIL TRUNNION FTG FWD - ACCESS HOLE TYP 4 PLS** **D OUTED** VIEW LOOKING UP - LEFT WING PIPER PA 44 SERIES Figure 1b - Aircraft-level view of damage area **LOWER CAP UP** • OUTBD AFT CRACK Figure 2 - Detail view of damage area inside wheel well (view looking forward and down) 2 Figure 3 – Detail photographic view of damage area No single cause has been identified for the cracking. However, several individual contributing factors researched in this area include not applying existing Service Bulletin (SB) 796B, severe aircraft operating environment, and non-conforming fastener installations. Piper has issued several SBs related to the damage area and contributing factors. Recommendations The FAA recommends you perform the following Piper SBs on Piper Models PA-46-310P, PA-46- 350P, PA-46R-350T, and PA-46-500TP airplanes and recommends you follow the applicability and compliance times included in the SBs. • SB 796B – Lower Wing Rivet Replacement (PA-46-310P, PA-46-350P) • SB 1204 – Re-calculation of Wing Structure Life Limit due to Unique Usage (PA-46-310P, PA-46-350P, PA-46R-350T, PA-46-500TP) • SB 1271 – Wing Spar Inspection (PA-46-310P, PA-46-350P, PA-46-500TP) The Piper SBs are available at http://www.piper.com. You should repair or replace damaged components if you find damage (cracks, corrosion, etc.). Piper Aircraft, Inc. has experience with repairs and rework in this area. We also recommend you report damage to the FAA as a Malfunction/Defect Report (MDR) or Service Difficulty Report (SDR) at http://av-info.faa.gov/sdrx/. For Further Information Contact Gregory K. (“Keith”) Noles, Aerospace Engineer, Atlanta ACO, 1701 Columbia Ave., College Park, GA 30337; phone: (404) 474-5551; fax: (404) 474-5606; email: gregory.noles@faa.gov CRACK ## Registered aircraft it may concern (OpenAirDocs) Registry models matched by make and model, the same way as ADs, most registered aircraft first. - [Piper PA 46-350P](https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-pa-46-350p): 665 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Piper PA46-500TP](https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-pa46-500tp): 374 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Piper PA-46-310P](https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-pa-46-310p): 215 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Piper PA46R-350T](https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-pa46r-350t): 101 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [New Piper PA-46-500TP](https://openairdocs.org/model/new-piper-pa-46-500tp): 36 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [New Piper PA46-350P](https://openairdocs.org/model/new-piper-pa46-350p): 9 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [New Piper PA-46-350P](https://openairdocs.org/model/new-piper-pa-46-350p): 7 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [New Piper PA-46-310P](https://openairdocs.org/model/new-piper-pa-46-310p): 1 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Piper/Hov-Aire PA 46-350P](https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-hov-aire-pa-46-350p): 0 registered aircraft (airframe model) --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.