On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:02:34 GMT, john szpara
wrote:

On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 21:03:01 GMT, jsmith wrote:

Thanks for the heads up. I've been browsing ads, and see that some say
"not affected by upcoming AD" or some such things, but it's looking
like all Cessna twins might go that route.

snip

Talked to a big Cessna piston operator/maintainer recently (he had
just returned from meetings with da Feds).

He's got his first 400 series in the shop right now. During
inspection, found 4 non-standard rivets in the fitting immediately
outboard of the wing attach.

The consensus from the meeting was that about 40% of the aircraft that
have been inspected have found similiar serious maintenance-induced
spar/wing attach problems (wrong hardware, post-assembly holes
mis-drilled, or drilled in critical areas), but no inherent
age-related structural problems.

It's going to happen, it's going to be expensive, and no one knows for
sure where it is going to stop (in regards to applicability).

This is a critical issue for continued airworthiness of ALL twin GA
aircraft. Last time I checked, no one was manufacturing a new like
replacement for a medium recip twin (300- 400- series Cessnas, 31-
Pipers, etc.).

TC