Crack inspections comming

[Ndege]

Looks like a crack, corrosion, type mandatory inspection will be coming shortly for all Commanders - I just paid $70,000 to repair cracks found in the tail section of my 690 that I just sold.

[donv]

Any specifics? I've been hearing a little bit about that, but nothing recently.

Where were the cracks in your tail?

[donv]

Also, Aero Air didn't do your repair, did they?

[Bruce Byerly]

Looks like a crack, corrosion, type mandatory inspection will be coming shortly for all Commanders - I just paid $70,000 to repair cracks found in the tail section of my 690 that I just sold.

Which plane? Where were the cracks?

We have seen none with cracks in our shop but there have been poorly maintained planes with loose bolts at FS386  that I could easily imagine developing cracks.

Tell us more please.

Edit; I know which plane.  I actually sold it to you but you didn’t know that. The plane was good, I built it and even flew it before you took delivery. The maintenance I can’t speak for as you chose to do your own thing but I wished you would have called and allowed us the opportunity to follow through with the plane we put together.

But now that you’ve sold it for much more than you paid despite the Meggitt, you come here to tell people that there is an issue to be concerned about without any facts? 

[Ndege]

To answer your question. Here are the areas that cracks were found:

1.   LT trim cable cut-out crack F.S. 386 frame
2.   Fwd LT side of F.S 409 frame attachment bracket
3.   Aft LT side of F.S. 409 frame

As far as maintenance, I had all done at Eagle Creek who I am sure did as good a job as anyone.

I have no further information or facts regarding upcoming mandatory inspections - I am just repeating what I have heard from various sales and maintenance people who are very familiar with Commanders. Seems like an issue that may be of interest to current and future buyers and worth looking into. But since you have never found any cracks there should be few worries if this occurs.

As far as the sale - yes, I did get fortunate that I bought at a low point and sold at a higher point - just the luck of the draw - certainly not planned. but a nice Christmas bonus.

Anyway - Merry Christmas and the best for 2024.





Anyway -Have a merry Christmas and the best for the New Year.

 

[donv]

I inquired with my local service center, and they indicated there was a very recent (as in the last week or so) meeting with Twin Commander, and their impression was that an AD, at least, was unlikely.

[donv]

I had a good discussion with Barry Lane about this at my most recent recurrent. There is a range of possibilities, the worst being an emergency AD which requires rebuilding much of the tail (and repeating the process every 500 hours), and the least being doing nothing other than the inspections already called for since the airplanes were new.

Hopefully the first option isn't going to happen... there may be some sort of tail x-ray option as an intermediate step.

According to Barry, the issue related to an airplane which was not inspected thoroughly (or at all) for many years, and even then the tail did not fail. There have not been any accidents related to this.

This area of the tail is supposed to be visually inspected at every 150 hour/annual. I'm confident that Aero Air has been inspecting mine.

[Bruce Byerly]

Do yourselves a favor and write to Twin Commander and their ownership.  For many years, proper inspection and maintenance of the planes has continued to keep them safe and find any issues before they are critical. However, the lowest common denominator in maintenance seems to drive things.  Please take your plane to a shop that knows what they are doing.

I and other core service centers including Legacy Aviation continue to do everything we can to educate them on how the market works for the planes we love and it seems to be working at some level since the meeting that Barry attended, but like a city council meeting, I believe hearing from other investors in their parts is a good thing. Sorry for the run on sentence.