If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Unapproved Plastic Elevator Tips Question
Alright, here is a good one for you. Stene in Montana manufactures and
sells very nice fiberglas tips for elevators, stabilizers, wings, and rudders, mostly for Pipers and Cessnas. You can find these parts advertised in TAP and on the internet. I have inspected, painted, and installed several of these fairings and was impressed with their workmanship. They are very well-made. The plastic parts replaced by these Stene parts are probably from Cessna. They are probably Royalite. Besides being ill-fitting and ugly, they are brittle and crack and break of easily, especially at the rivet holes. After a few years they get brittle and break away. An aeroplastics company in Texas sells these fairings too, and they are PMA'd. I do not know how much more costly they are than Stene's but understand the extra expense is substantial. Now why should you be stuck with PMA'd parts when Stene's, which are NOT PMA'd are just as servicable, just as durable? And if Stene's are not legal, then how does Stene get off selling them? Yesterday I looked at a 172 with all new Stene tips on the empennage surfaces. They were quite beautiful. And, by the way, I saw this aircraft's sister ship flying with most of the tips broken off and gone back in the summer, so you can't very well say that the absence of one or more of these fairings, or one having cracked and broken, is a hazard, can you? What am I missing here, Gene? |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
" jls" wrote in message ... Alright, here is a good one for you. Stene in Montana manufactures and sells very nice fiberglas tips for elevators, stabilizers, wings, and rudders, mostly for Pipers and Cessnas. You can find these parts advertised in TAP and on the internet. I have inspected, painted, and installed several of these fairings and was impressed with their workmanship. They are very well-made. The plastic parts replaced by these Stene parts are probably from Cessna. They are probably Royalite. Besides being ill-fitting and ugly, they are brittle and crack and break of easily, especially at the rivet holes. After a few years they get brittle and break away. An aeroplastics company in Texas sells these fairings too, and they are PMA'd. I do not know how much more costly they are than Stene's but understand the extra expense is substantial. Now why should you be stuck with PMA'd parts when Stene's, which are NOT PMA'd are just as servicable, just as durable? Because non-PMA parts will cause the aircraft to fall out of the sky without warning. And if Stene's are not legal, then how does Stene get off selling them? Probably because no law is broken until the parts are placed in service. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Isn't part of your A&P authority the ability to determine that the
parts you have are identifcal to the original, and therefor approve them? We don't get PMA's on screws and bolts. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
In article . net,
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote: Because non-PMA parts will cause the aircraft to fall out of the sky without warning. unless, of course, the paperwork has been properly completed. -- Bob Noel looking for a sig the lawyers will like |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
On 28 Dec 2004 16:47:05 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"
wrotD: Isn't part of your A&P authority the ability to determine that the parts you have are identifcal to the original, and therefor approve them? We don't get PMA's on screws and bolts. An A&P can only install approved parts - that includes screws of a type approved by the manufacturer. The manufacturer builds the parts under their manufacturing authority and not via the PMA process. An A&P does not have the skill set or engineering degree to make that evaluation. Maybe they are being installed via an STC which is an engineered and approved package. As long as the A&P follows the STC he can install them, documenting the work with a 337. Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services ---------------------------------------------------------- ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY ** ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.usenet.com |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
"Don Hammer" wrote in message ... On 28 Dec 2004 16:47:05 -0800, "Robert M. Gary" wrotD: Isn't part of your A&P authority the ability to determine that the parts you have are identifcal to the original, and therefor approve them? We don't get PMA's on screws and bolts. An A&P can only install approved parts - that includes screws of a type approved by the manufacturer. The manufacturer builds the parts under their manufacturing authority and not via the PMA process. I have read that they can install owner manufactured parts? |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
If this guy says he is an A&P, he's just trolling Don't feed the
trolls. A&P's know not to ask these types of questions. He's from the manufacturer and is generating interest. Let him go through all the **** like everyone else and get the PMA. On 28 Dec 2004 16:47:05 -0800, "Robert M. Gary" wrote: Isn't part of your A&P authority the ability to determine that the parts you have are identifcal to the original, and therefor approve them? We don't get PMA's on screws and bolts. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
An A&P can only install approved parts - that includes screws of a
type approved by the manufacturer. The manufacturer builds the parts under their manufacturing authority and not via the PMA process. I have read that they can install owner manufactured parts? They can but the owner needs to show that the part is identical to the original. Not better, not different identical. A writer for Lightplane Maintenance documented how he made is own fiberglass rudder tip for his Cessna right up to installing it and then removing it on advice from the FAA that it did not meet their definition of an owner produced part. Of course your FAA may vary depending on location. You can of course by and install Stene's parts and in all likelihood most future A&P IAs will not notice or ignore them. But you or a future owner might well run into someone who is more than normally observant and determined to document the condition of the aircraft and the owner might find himself having to decide all over again if Stene's were really worth it. John Dupre' |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
" jls" wrote in message ... Now why should you be stuck with PMA'd parts when Stene's, which are NOT PMA'd are just as servicable, just as durable? And if Stene's are not legal, then how does Stene get off selling them? What the f*** are you talking about? Stene's parts _are_ PMA'd. From their web site: |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
" jls" wrote in message ... Now why should you be stuck with PMA'd parts when Stene's, which are NOT PMA'd are just as servicable, just as durable? And if Stene's are not legal, then how does Stene get off selling them? What the f*** are you talking about? Stene's parts _are_ PMA'd. From their web site: http://www.steneaviation.com/aboutus.html "Stene Aviation started manufacturing replacement fairings for Cessna aircraft in 1992 and now have the most complete line of PMA'd parts to be found outside of Cessna ." And you call _me_ clueless? |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
VOR/DME Approach Question | Chip Jones | Instrument Flight Rules | 47 | August 29th 04 05:03 AM |
FS: Revell Monogram "F-14A Tomcat" Plastic Model Kit (1:48 Scale) | J.R. Sinclair | Aviation Marketplace | 0 | August 16th 04 05:59 AM |
Question on Owner Produced Interior parts | NW_PILOT | Owning | 15 | July 16th 04 05:40 AM |
Repairing Plastic | Jay Honeck | Owning | 5 | February 2nd 04 09:20 PM |
Question about Question 4488 | [email protected] | Instrument Flight Rules | 3 | October 27th 03 01:26 AM |