Service difficulty report · Strut · Dhav DHC3

Difficulty date
August 22, 2010
Submitted
January 4, 2011
Operation
Air carrier
Make and model
Dhav DHC3
Aircraft time
32,463 hours
Engine
Pwa PT6A34
Propeller
Hartzl HCB3TN3
Part
Strut
Part number
D30816L
Condition
Cracked
Location
Lt Wing
Part time
2,873 hours
Stage of operation
IN
How discovered
V
Nature of condition
O
Precautionary procedure
K

As reported to the FAA. Reports are unverified, and codes are left as the FAA publishes them.

What was found

WING STRUT FITTING, LT, UPPER PN D3081-6L. DURING A SCHEDULED INSP, A SUSPECTED CRACK WAS NOTED ON THE UPPER LINK, INNER FACE, EMANATING FROM BUSHING HOLE. AN EDDY CURRENT INSP WAS PERFORMED ON THE SUSPECTED AREA AND IT WAS CONFIRMED THAT THE AREA WAS CRACKED. THE HIGHEST TIME LINK IN OUR FLEET IS AT 2997.3 HRS. UNIT THAT CRACKED WAS THE 2ND OLDEST IN OUR FLEET AT 2873.3 HRS AND 6173 CYCLES SINCE NEW. HAVE INSTITUTED A REPETITIVE 6 MONTH DETAILED VISUAL INSP OF OUR FLEET. ACFT HAVE BEEN INSPECTED AND COMPLETED WITH NO CRACKING FOUND. 3 LOWER LINKS PN D3081-5 WERE FOUND WITH MINOR CORROSION AND HAVE BEEN REPLACED. THE ABOVE MENTIONED PIECE IS PART OF AN ASSY IN THE FOLLOWING STC, SA07-121, SA02735, NY SA0847. OTHER THAN OUR FLEET THERE ARE 5 OTHER ACFT OPERATING WITH 1 OF THE ABOVE STCS, ALL WITH CONSIDERABLY LOWER TIME AND THE OPERATORS OF THESE ACFT WILL BE NOTIFIED SHORTLY OF OUR INSPECTION RESULTS.