AD 2009-22-03 Hartzell Propellers

AD 2009-22-03 was released this week by the FAA.  This AD applies to Hartzell 2 blade Y shank aluminum propeller hubs installed on all Lycoming 360 series reciprocating engines.  Hartzell has experienced issues with cracks in these hubs.  This AD supersedes AD 2006-18-15.  AD 2009-22-03 expands the engine applicability to all Lycoming 360 series engines, the previous AD only applied to certain Lycoming 360 series engines.  The AD also eliminates the need to have the propeller hub eddy current inspected at every annual.  Now the eddy current inspection will only need to be completed every 100 operating hours. This AD also clarifies that propeller hubs stamped with the serial number suffix letter “E” are also affected by the AD.  This AD becomes effective on November 12, 2009.

If you have any questions regarding this AD, or if you need to find out if your propeller is affected by this AD, give us a call.

New Hartzell Service Letters

Hartzell Propeller Inc. released 3 new Service Letters on Friday, Oct. 9.  A brief explanation of these service letters follows.

HC-SL-61-265 Rev. 2

This is a revision of a previous service letter regarding smooth forged hubs, the changes are of little significance to the propeller owner.

HC-SL-30-279 Rev. 1

Another revised service letter, this one indicates that Hartzell has added more deice boots to their list of deice boots that they manufacture.

HC-SL-30-295

This is a new service letter affecting 4 blade propellers installed on Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.  The service letter indicates that Hartzell has received reports of failures of the deice wire harnesses on these propellers.  This service letter gives the procedures to replace the deice components to eliminate these failures.

Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin

The FAA has issued a Special Airworthiness Bulletin, NE-09-48, regarding propellers that had maintenance performed by Western Aircraft Propeller Service.  This SAIB is available here:

http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgSAIB.nsf/dc7bd4f27e5f107486257221005f069d/e400752d04a7bf8286257612004fdb1e/$FILE/NE-09-48.pdf

This SAIB indicates that Western Aircraft Propeller Service was not performing maintenance in accordance with the propeller manufacturers maintenance manuals.  The FAA recommends that any propeller that has had work performed by this propeller repair station to be reinspected in accordance with the propeller manufacturer's maintenance manuals.  Any nonconformities should be reported to the FAA.

An AD has not been issued in regards to this situation, and no failures have been reported at this time.

Western Aircraft Propeller has corrected the issues that led to this SAIB and is still a certified repair station.  Any propeller that was worked on after July 1, 2009 by Western Aircraft Propeller is not subject to this SAIB.

If you have a propeller that was worked on by Western Aircraft Propeller Service and you want to have it reinspected, please give us a call.  We will be glad to work with you to complete the reinspection in a timely manner.

Back to work.

Glad to be back at work following my trip to Vegas for the 2009 Worldwide Aircraft Propeller Association meeting.  This meeting is the chance for shops around the world to get together and discuss issues we see in the propeller business.  We expect to see new service bulletins from both Hartzell and McCauley, which is no suprise.  I'll post these as they are issued.  Expect to see an AD affecting McCauley propellers on Jetstream 41 aircraft.  This will be posted after it is issued.  The folks at Aero Technologies are continuing their efforts to get new PMA approvals for their PCU5000 governors.  A new Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin has been issued concerning propellers that had work performed by Western Aircraft Propeller Service in Oregon.  I'll post this today. 

I hated being away, and not being able to assist our customers, but I'm glad I attended the WAPA meeting.  But now I'm glad to be back and trying to get caught up with my e-mails and messages.

Worldwide Aircraft Propeller Assoc. meeting

I'll be off to Las Vegas tomorrow to attend the 2009 WAPA meeting.  I'll provide an update when I get back.