Lycoming Loses Big Lawsuit / Indemnity Claim Squashed

("Gene Kearns" wrote)
the TIO-540 and LTIO-540 engines...


http://tinyurl.com/65b9u


(From the story)
The case revolves around a number of small airplane engine failures that
occurred when the airplanes' crankshafts broke in flight. Between 2000 and
2002, there were 24 failures and 12 deaths in Cessnas, Pipers and other
airplanes with Lycoming aircraft engines. Interstate Southwest supplied
Lycoming with the crankshaft forgings for those engines.

Following the failures, Lycoming launched an investigation aimed at
determining the cause. Its conclusion was that Interstate Southwest had
overheated the forgings, weakening the steel.

But attorneys for Interstate, Mr. Rose and Hal Walker of Rose Walker in
Dallas, found a different cause. Their experts were able to determine that
Lycoming's design for the crankshafts, which dates back to smaller, lower
horsepower engines from 40 years ago, was inadequate for the larger, higher
horsepower engines that failed.

They also found that by adding Vanadium to the steel -- something Lycoming
decided to do just before the failures began -- the company further limited
the amount of stress the crankshafts could withstand. Lycoming had added
Vanadium to make the steel harder and reduce the number of machining
operations, ultimately saving the company money.

Ultimately, jurors agreed with lawyers for Interstate, and found that even
Lycoming's investigation of the crankshaft failures was fraudulent.

"The jurors found the combination of poor design and Vanadium pushed these
crankshafts beyond their limits," says Hal Walker. "That's why these planes
crashed, and not, as Lycoming claimed, because Interstate overheated the
forgings."

Montblack