Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19990419082957.00872510@olsusa.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 08:29:57 -0400
To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
From: Marvin Kaye <marvkaye@olsusa.com>
Subject: Impending TCM SB
Mime-Version: 1.0

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I imagine there might be some builders out there who might be affected by
ann upcoming SB from TCM... I found this in AVWEB's newsletter this morning:

>>>
TCM EXPANDS CRANKSHAFT INSPECTION...

Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM) execs and engineers worked feverishly
last week and through the weekend on a new mandatory Service Bulletin
that will require some 2,200 nearly-new big-bore TCM engines to be
opened up for ultrasonic inspection of their crankshafts.  TCM told
AVweb that Critical Service Bulletin 99-3 will affect all 470-, 520- and
550-series engines with crankshafts manufactured between January 1 and
December 31, 1998.  Owners of engines with the affected crankshafts will
be required to have the #1 and #3 cylinders, pistons, connecting rods
and counterweights removed from the engine to expose the crankshaft.  An
ultrasonic inspection of the #2 and #5 crankshaft cheeks must then be
performed by designated TCM personnel.  TCM expects to release CSB 99-3
this week with a Priority Letter Airworthiness Directive from the FAA
due next week.

...IN A CLASSIC GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS SITUATION...
As AVweb reported last week, TCM is responding to seven failed cranks
that were manufactured last year.  All seven cranks failed in flight,
six of them in single-engine airplanes.  Thankfully, six of those
aircraft were able to make on-airport landings, while the seventh landed
off-airport but caused only minor injuries to the occupants.  That's the
good news.  The bad news is that TCM does not know how many other cranks
were damaged during the manufacturing process.  Based on earlier
inspections, it's likely that relatively few crankshafts were affected.
But with lives potentially at stake, neither TCM nor the FAA are willing
to bet on it.

...AS TCM SWIFTLY PUTS PROGRAM IN PLACE
TCM and the FAA decided that every crankshaft conceivably damaged would
have to be inspected, including 470-series engines.  CSB 99-3 will
identify all affected new and factory-rebuilt engines plus provide
instructions for determining the crankshaft manufacture date in field
overhauls.  TCM will pay for disassembly and reassembly and will do the
ultrasonic inspections without charge.  Operators will be asked to call
TCM toll-free at 1-888-200-7565 to provide information about their
engines and to schedule the ultrasonic inspection.  TCM also says it
will post a copy of CSB 99-3 on its Web site <http://www.tcmlink.com>.

   NOTE: AVweb's Newswire includes MUCH more detail on TCM's crankshaft
   inspection program, plus a description of the manufacturing problem
   that caused it and the inspection procedure itself.

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