PA31-350 Wing Attach, P/N 44758-00 & 44758-01

[Tim Glubaskas]

There have been many instances of the forward attach brackets having a crack at the lower tab - with some cracks found extending upward along the radius of the part.
We have attached the DER Report and some pictures of a repair done recently to give those interested one idea for how this repair may be accomplished - I know there are a few other ideas out there

Please note - to accomplish this repair we removed the brackets from the aircraft because we found this to be a bit easier than trying to do it in place
We also inserted a cannon plug in the wire bundle going through the attach bracket on the right side to make it easy to remove.

The included DER report is Tail Number Specific - so if you are planning this repair remember that you will have to get another DER Report for your aircraft or attempt a field approval through the local FSDO
We have yet to have much luck convincing them it is a standard 43.13 type repair that wouldn't need a -337

Any questions, please ask and we will include more info
The repair did take a couple days a side for planning purposes

Since this forum only supports about a meg of unload we have provided a link below to access the info

Wing Attach Info

Attachments:

[willow]

With regard to repairs Piper has issued FAA approved engineering data through our ODA to accomplish this type of repair. The attached document provide the reporting procedure We have issued a number of PA31 repairs in recent months and we would be happy to quote any other activities.

Attachments:

[Tim Glubaskas]

There is now an available forward wing spar bulkhead reinforcement kit available

See link below for details

Forward Wing Spar Bulkhead Reinforcement

[navajoflyer]

We are planning to install the forward wing spar bulkhead reinforcement kit from Airframe Innovations in all four of our Chieftains. So far we have inspected two of them, our youngest airplane a 1981 model with 7000 TT had no cracks on either side. Our oldest airplane a 1980 model with 14000 TT had one small crack in the radius of the bend for the lower tab. Our aircraft have been in the aerial survey business most of there lives and as such have lower than average cycles on them. Most of our missions being 4-5 hours in duration.

[navajoflyer]

If you plan to install the forward wing spar bulkhead kits, it pays to have an alligator squeezer to set the rivets with since it is very difficult to drive AN470AD5-10 or -11 rivets in that confined space. We bought one just for this job and it paid for itself in time savings on the first airplane.

[Tim Glubaskas]

Definitely a great idea - that area is TIGHT!