[Stuart Petke]

Stuart Petke on March 28, 2020 at 12:25 pm #19815

Steve,

Thank you, I appreciate the information and the link.

[STEVE]

STEVE on March 28, 2020 at 10:47 am #19812

Hi Stuart;
After studying your question more closely; I now believe that two 50 hour events DO equal a 100 hour inspection when deriving an answer in the “factored service hours” formula in the NPRM.
Hi Stuart;
The Warrior you bought was on what’s called a Progressive inspection program for the first 500 hours of its service life. Piper document 761-497 covers this program.
The Piper Progressive program calls for four inspections; one every 50 hours of operation. At the completion of the fourth inspection, or at 12 months calendar time, which ever comes first the cycle of inspections is complete and it is signed off as an annual inspection.
In my opinion, even though only two 50 hours inspections were done, the airplane has accumulated 100 hours of flight training-style flying. My opinion, based on that conclusion is that two 50 hour inspections do count as one 100 hour inspection in the “factored hours formula” calculations, even though the inspections were not signed off as 100 hour inspections.
Flight training operations are heavily weighted in the “factored service hours” formula in the notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) because flight school operations land their airplanes much more often than the airplanes owned by private flyers.
Operators and owners can put their airplanes on a progressive program by applying to the local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) for approval. The Piper publication provides a template for owners that want to pursue this.
The purpose of the progressive is to do a complete inspection in smaller chunks than a normal annual. It’s most used by flight schools and commercial operators.

[STEVE]

STEVE on March 27, 2020 at 11:42 am #19809

Stuart;
I neglected to tell you that you can learn more about the spar crack issue here:
https://www.piperflyer.org/maintenance-technical/item/1161-pa-28-pa-32-wing-spar-cracks-what-you-should-know.html.

[STEVE]

STEVE on March 27, 2020 at 11:28 am #19808

Hi Stuart;
The Warrior you bought was on what’s called a Progressive inspection program for the first 500 hours of its service life. Piper document 761-497 covers this program.
Operators and owners can put their airplanes on a progressive program by applying to the local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) for approval. The Piper publication provides a template for owners that want to pursue this.
The purpose of the progressive is to do a complete inspection in smaller chunks than a normal annual. It’s most used by flight schools and commercial operators.
I have attached the Piper progressive inspection document.
Please post any additional questions you have.

Steve

[Francis Pelletier]

Francis Pelletier on March 26, 2020 at 12:31 pm #19800

Stuart,

Keeping in mind that this is still a proposed AD, by the way, the NPRM stated that 100 hours inspections were counted. This means that if it doesn’t explicitly says “100 hours inspection”, it doesn’t count. Conversely, some mechanics had the habit of signing every annual as a “100 hours annual inspection”. This effectively makes the annual count as a 100 hours inspection even if the aircraft did not fly 100 hours in the previous year.

Francis

[Stuart Petke]

Stuart Petke on March 26, 2020 at 10:32 am #19799

Thank you very much, Francis. One of the reasons I was trying to figure this out was that I was trying to determine where I was on the wing spar inspection formula. If I had 2 inspections in a 100 hour period should I consider that a 100 hour inspection?

Stuart

[Francis Pelletier]

Francis Pelletier on March 26, 2020 at 9:39 am #19798

Some commercial operations, including schools, work with maintenance events. I’ve seen, for example on a Navajo, event 1 that would be left engine and flight controls, then event 2 is right engine and fuel system, event 3 is interior and airframe, and so on.

Some call it “events” some call it “phase”.

Normally, at least here in Canada, on smaller aircraft, those maintenance calendars are submitted to and approved by the aviation authority on a operator and type basis.

[Stuart Petke]

Stuart Petke on March 25, 2020 at 5:39 pm #19796

Hello all, I am a student pilot in Richmond Va, and just purchased a 1977 Warrior II at an auction. I just received the logbooks from the seller and while they are not incomplete, I am puzzled by the entries from new to almost 500 hours. The entries were labeled as event 1 per Piper programmed inspection, then event 2, then 3, then 4 at approximately 50 hour intervals, then repeated in the same sequence until the inspections became 100 hour inspections that continued for several years until they became annuals. I assume that the plane was in a school of some type, but can’t find anything out about the Piper programmed inspection system. Can any of you shed some light on this for me? Thanks.