Wed, Aug 13, 2003
There's a landing gear shear pin AD reported
elsewhere in this issue; but it's important to note that the FAA on
Wednesday issued an emergency AD that grounds the entire US fleet
of Learjet 45 business aircraft. This is no 'shear pin AD.'
The horizontal
stabilizer is the culprit. More precisely, a screw and nut assembly
in the control of the elevator is the culprit. If this sounds
familiar, it may be because Lear 45 operators just replaced those
faulty assemblies this Spring.
There are well over 200 of these birds flying important people
around; this again-defined horizontal stabilizer problem is keeping
them on the ground, until repairs are made. The parts supply should
start to perk up in about a week or two; in the meantime, the 173
or so of the fast birds in the USA are stuck to the
ground.
In March, a faulty screw and nut assembly in the horizontal
stabilizer control was determined to have caused an unexplained
vibration in a Lear 45. Though the crew landed that machine without
incident, investigation showed a dangerous problem. The Emergency
AD was issued March 20, and reported through the regular
system in late April. Spares were issued
immediately -- but it now looks like the spares were also
defective.
How long down?
Just how long the 45s will be sitting, "is a function of how
quickly the FAA certifies the part and we get them to the
airplanes, but we hope that will be done very quickly," Bombardier
Learjet spokesman David Franson said, from Wichita (KS).
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