British Gliding Association - Technical News Sheet TNS 4-2006 Issue 4-2006 Date: 01/9/2006 Airworthiness Information 1. Piper Cub (Advisory) SB 1172 Lift strut lower attachment bolts may foul landing gear due to incorrect design. New bolts available. Inspection within 100 hours replacement (if reqd) within 500 hours. http://www.newpiper.com/company/Publications/SB%201172%20Lift%20Strut%20Attch %20Bolt%20Insp.pdf 2. Piper Pawnee (also applicable to other tugs) (Information) Reported by John Giddins, Aquila Gliding Club Fuel primer line from gas collator chaffed on exhaust silencer due to failed “P” clip. Loss of fuel in hangar. High risk of fire. Ensure primer lines are adequately secured and protected against chafing. Inspect 1/8 inch copper primer pipes on a regular basis. 3. Schempp-Hirth Ventus-2cT, Discus-2T & -2cT (Mandatory) AD 2006-0227-E, TN 825-38, TN 836-13. Daily pylon inspection Modification or pylon replacement. Details sent to owners http://ad.easa.eu.int/files/easa_ad_2006_0227_E_0.pdf http://www.schempp-hirth.com/en/service/techn_mitteilungen/index.html 4. Stemme S10 AD 2006-0217-E, SB A31-10-075. Inspect exhaust for cracks http://ad.easa.eu.int/files/easa_ad_2006_0217_E.pdf http://www.stemme.de/daten/d/service/a3110075_01a.pdf (Mandatory) 5. SZD 50-3 Puchacz (Mandatory) AD 2006-0243-E, SB BE-058/SZD-50-3/2006. Inspection and modification of rudder attachment Details sent to owners http://ad.easa.eu.int/files/easa_ad_2006_0243_E.pdf http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/technical/documents/BE-058_SZD-50- 3_2006wer.angielska.pdf 6. Schleicher K7 (Information) Reported by Roger Targett Sailplane Services Excessive amounts of metal removed from fuselage wing attachment lugs to increase wing clearance. Material removed from top of lug leaving less than 1mm edge land. This aircraft was a low wing conversion. It is recommended that other K7’s are checked to ensure excessive amounts of material have not been removed. 1 TNS 4-2006 7. Schleicher ASK 13 (Information) Reported by R Skerry, CFI, Lincolnshire Gliding Club A known problem on ASK 13 and other similar Schleicher types. Aileron control rod safety pin fitted at wing disconnection point, missed the locking hole in the rigging pin, however was through both holes in the outer cage. This is caused by a bent safety pin. It is difficult to inspect these locking pins. A twist of the rigging pin will help to confirm proper engagement. The BGA recommend that ASK 13 and other similar gliders the safety pins are inspected at C of A and replaced if bent or distorted. 8. Slingsby T59 Kestrel (Information) Reported by Roger Gretton, Peterborough & Spalding Gliding Club Landing gear operating connecting rod weld failed on landing at attachment to operating shaft. Landing gear collapsed. EQUIPMENT 9. ATC Transponders including mode C and S (Mandatory) CAA Additional Directive 002-12-99 REV 2 BGA Maintenance requirements for all gliders, motor gliders and tugs fitted with Transponders. Annual function check of transponder system using field test set including frequency tolerance, side lobe suppression and mode ‘S’. Bi-annual function checks of mode “C” in accordance with AD 002-12-99 REV 2. Please note: Transponder checks are outside the privileges of a BGA inspector unless issued with an appropriate Radio Engineer rating (none at present), a suitably qualified CAA licensed radio engineer with suitable test equipment is needed. CAA Additional directives can be found in CAP 747, section 3, part 3b. http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP747.PDF General Information 1. Control and Rigging Cable Manufacture When manufacturing cables for gliders the exact process must be followed and materials used as detailed in the approved literature. In most cases this will be using American specification cable with the Nicropress system. All newly manufactured cables must be inspected against the required specification and if they do not conform they should be scrapped. Wherever possible cables must be proof load tested as described in the specification or in the case of “made in situ” cables due to the aircraft design, testing is done by test sample. This reminder is due to several cases on incorrectly manufactured cables on gliders recently. Further information on manufacture and inspecting cables can be found in BGA AMP leaflet 4-7 and FAA AC 43-13 both available from the BGA shop or on-line download. 2. Use of soft locking wire Several instances have been noted recently where soft copper wire has been used to lock flying control adjustments. On no account should soft copper wire be used for 2 TNS 4-2006 locking controls (unless the aircraft maintenance manual specifically specifies its use). Always use Stainless Steel or Inconel locking wire. Soft copper wire is normally only used for tell-tail wires on items such as canopy release levers. Rolls of Locking wire are available from your normal spares suppliers for under £10 and probably last the average inspector a number of years. 22 SWG (0.028”) is suitable for most general applications. Use thinner for electrical plugs and thicker for propeller bolts. 3. Piper Service Bulletins Piper service bulletins are now available on the New Piper Inc web site. Visit www.newpiper.com Compliance Statement: All mandatory inspections and modifications have been included up to the following: CAA CAP 455 Airworthiness Notices, Contents issue: 138 CAA CAP 747 Mandatory Requirements for Aircraft, issue: 2 amendment: 8/2006 State of Design Airworthiness Directives review date: 01 September 2006 For reference: FAA Summary of Airworthiness Directives. Bi-weekly listing 2006-17 EASA Airworthiness Directives review date: 01 September 2006 CAA CAP 474 Foreign Airworthiness Directives issue: 372 CAA CAP 476 Mandatory Aircraft Modifications and Inspections Summary issue: 287 CAA CAP 661 Mandatory Permit Directives, issue 2006/2 Jim Hammerton Chief Technical Officer 3