FAA Orders Inspections of Vintage Planes(prompted by Military crash in TX)

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - Prompted by the crash of a 1950s-era military training plane in Texas last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) ordered Monday that all such vintage planes be inspected for cracks in the wings.



The plane, a T-34 used for flight instruction, crashed Dec. 7 after its left wing fell off. The passenger and pilot were killed. The accident investigation found the center section of that wing failed due to fatigue cracks.


In its emergency order, the FAA (news - web sites) said it must approve the way the planes are inspected, as well as any modifications made to them.


"The owners are going to have to come to us and tell us how they believe they can carry out an inspection and modification program that will allow the airplane to fly safely," said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=693&e=8&u=/ap/20041213/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/vintage_planes

[MaineDem]

1. The latest "Air & Space" magazine has an article about this same thing

There's a "strap" that can attach to the wing beams and correct this problem.

How odd that I was just reading this article last night.

[karlrschneider]

2. Bummer. The "center section" on a plane is the most difficult part to

inspect, since it's 'buried' in the fuselage. The T-34 was a pretty good old plane, it's basically a Beech 'Bonanza' with a regular tail instead of the "Y" empennage they used up til the early 60s IIRC.