ghostflyer wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 6:38 am
In my humble opinion the Cessna factory must have had red Cool Aide in their water fountains . I have seen a Cessna 170B [1956 ?] with dual undercarriage gear boxs. It had a nose wheel at some stage . It’s a tail dragger these days and the certificate on the door post says it’s a 170b.
I was telling the owner about mine [Cessna 170a] having half of a float kit fitted to the fuselarge . This when he shown me the structure on his aircraft . There is nothing in his log books . AND there is nothing in my books regarding half a float kit. I only found the float kit [1/2] when I pulled up the floor and side panels to fit a baggage door. This float kit is on the left hand side only with double fuselarge frames and thicker skin. The workmanship on both aircraft appears to be factory .
It is a well-known matter that during the ‘56 production, Cessna was building on the same assy-line both 170B and 172 airframes. Many (all?) of which had both gear boxes…one at the front doorpost and one at the rear doorpost. The thought being that each airframe could be assembled as either model…that decision being made later in production.
On the other matter,… it is
Common … in fact, it
Should Always Be suspected that used airframes may have alterations and repairs made without proper documentation…. and that datatags may exist on airframes to which they did not always belong. THIS is why a Full Annual Inspection is preferable to a “pre buy” inspection when considering an airplane for either purchase OR service. (Serious defects may exist in airframes to which the records are not complete and accurate. Imagine if you will, a ground-looped airplane being repaired with a “borrowed” wing from a salvage yard.
The Donor wing may be one of those to which an AD note applied (addressing a scratch erroneously made on the spar during production…. but which the AD note was issued at a date AFTER the airplane had been sent to the salvage yard. I.E., that scratched wing, which ordinarily should have been repaired per the AD…. but which has no obvious problem…. has now been installed on an airplane which has been repaired from a ground-loop….. either of which may never have been recorded……the reasons for non-recordation being many and sundry.)
A buyer (or an A&P/IA performing his first Annual Inspection upon the airframe) … Either of which now has a hidden problem, which…if the written records are relied upon…will likely be completely missed!
An IA who charges for his time properly inspecting that airplane for a new owner who had bought it having relied upon a “pre buy” inspection at PoDunk airport …using an “inspector” who merely wanted a few hundred dollars to walk around it and look-over the (questionable) records…. may, and probably will, MISS this.
The new owner, now presented with new-found problems, may:
1- Hate the IA who (properly) inspected the airplane and charged fully for his time spent
or
2-Hate the “Pre buy” inspector for missing the issue
or
3-Hate himself for falling for this problem airplane
or
4- All the above…. When in-frustration he places it on the market and
another potential buyer has it properly inspected during his purchase activities.
True Story:
Airplane records can be GORGEOUS…. as my gone West friend Bob found when he bought his first airplane , a 175C…. from an A&P/iA in Ardmore, OK...who had meticulously created Pristine Works of Fiction regarding the subject airplane.
Another person, a “friend”, an A&P/IA who would not charge money for his “inspection”…. guided Bob into purchasing the airplane, having read through and declared the Logs/Records to be “Wonderful” and the airplane to be “a beautiful value”. ***
Only a full Annual Inspection a year later revealed the Lies in those logs. (Needless to say, the friendship with that particular “pre-buy inspector” dissolved in a rather acrimonious manner, especially when I discovered (and revealed to Bob) the guy was attempting to cheat Bob in another transaction.) ***
When the seller, a Mr. James Bell, was presented with the fact his lies had been discovered and compensation demanded versus turning him in to the FAA….. Mr. Bell, being elderly and recently-retired, took the best avenue he could possibly choose for himself: He turned HIMlSELF in and surrendered his certificates to FAA…. who was then completely satisfied with the matter.
Our friend Bob was stuck with an expensive and unairworthy airplane.
*** Twenty five years later, our fellow Member Del Lehman called me to ask if I knew anyone in the FTW-FSDO who could assist in obtaining a ferry-permit for a Beech 18 which he wished to fly from Dallas to Mena “gear down” for repairs. It seems that a particular FSDO Inspector in FTW refused to approve such a ferry permit because there was no single-engine performance data for a D-18 with the gear down.
Since this data was not specified during original certification… I agreed with Del that the “inspector” …whoever he was…. Was in-error.
So, being based at DFW and being familiar with several GA Inspectors over at FTW which was only a short drive away… I figured to help our fellow Member Del out….by driving over to FTW-FSDO and discuss the matter directly with the recalcitrant inspector. So I asked Del the name of the uncooperative fellow…… Only to discover …. it WAS the SAME former A&P/IA who had misguided and attempted to cheat Bob years earlier.
He had managed to get hired and placed in a prominent/powerful position at the FTW-FSDO.
(I decided it would not prove fruitful for me to approach someone so likely to hold me in contempt.)
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying all, or even Any Other, FAA FSDO types are like that. (I’m also not certain that man is the same kind of man he once was….or, for that matter, if any of us are the same persons we once were.) I’m only giving a real example of how aircraft records can be INCOMPLETE and sometimes FICTION….and that just because someone possessing professional or official certificates does not prove any thing.
(“Trust..but Verify”-Ronald Reagan)
As David just proved in his post (quoted above)…. Only a Thorough and Personal and Full Inspection can reveal hidden and un-recorded factors….and Even THEN…. be suspicious. YMMV