Pawnee PA28 spar right hand side wanted

[gary O'Neill]

My old club got caught by latest AD  on some small holes drilled over 40 years ago and now need a replacement spar, the rest of the towplane is in very good condition so a new spar is best option. Anybody has some info  gfon...@xtra.co.nz or on this group

[Bill Tisdale]

you are towing with a Piper PA-28?? PA-28-140, PA-28-180, PA-28-235, Warrior, Archer, Cherokee C or Cherokee D?? 

If you are referring to the latest AD issued by Argentina on the Pawnee Spar.. that would be a PA-25.

Bill

[gary O'Neill]

I will verify as I am not part of the team ,I was told PA 28 260 and it is in response to the AD on spars.

It is definitely a Pawnee. I am on this group and offered to post to spread a net to try and locate a replacement spar,

[gary O'Neill]

I talked to a member with more info ,it is a Piper Pawnee PA28 260. 

It was suggested to the CAA here that a static load test could be done 

as this Pawnee has flown 40 years with those small holes.   CAA turned down the suggestion.

[Bud Shaw]

The PA28 aircraft  (derivatives of the Cherokee) do have a wing spar AD, but this has nothiong to do with Pawnees, at least not yet.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/15/2021-00044/airworthiness-directives-piper-aircraft-inc-airplanes

[Bill Tisdale]

A Pawnee is not a PA-28, it is PA-25 and yes there are PA-25-260 versions.

As Bud states, there are other ADs on PA-28s.

[Tony Condon]

I understand Univair is making spars as fast as they can. Univair.com

I know of at least one operator in the US in the same situation as you.

[Roy Bourgeois]

I'm with Bill on this and I don't understand it. A Pawnee is a PA-25 or a Pawnee Brave a PA-36.  It can't be both "definitely a Pawnee" and a PA-28. They are quite different airplanes. 

ROY

[gary O'Neill]

This thing about a pa 25 or 28 is a red herring, information supplied to me !

The clubs Pawnee 260  is out of the air for small holes drilled in the spar 40 years ago.

Like the Univair.com  lead  does anyone know of other sources of  spar replacements to give our engineering guys in the club more options to speed up the 

the repair from the 1 year estimate , the cub hired to do the towing struggles with the DG1000.

It is a small regional gliding club trying to survive a hammer blow so any help is appreciated.

This whole conversation is to generate leads for the engineering guys, I am retired and have time to chase down leads for them ,they still work to feed their families

and are doing the repairs for their love of the sport.

[Roy Bourgeois]

Gary:

I am sure that you are trying to help the club - and we are also. We all love the sport. But the "daisy chain" of communication ( club to you to RAS to readers) is not efficient and accuracy is needed for people to help. I have just recently completed a 6 month search for a PA-25 or a project and have a lot of information about projects, spare wings, wrecks, spare parts, and run out planes. I have no such information for PA-28s. If the club needs help or parts for a PA-25-260 it will be best to have someone directly involved in the project contact me directly ( my contact info is in the SSA Members Section of the website). I will need to know: The location of the club (packing and transport costs are significant), the model PA-25 at issue ( the wings are not he same)  and the serial number and registration of the plane being repaired. 

ROY

[Bill Tisdale]

To echo what Roy stated. The PA-25 Main Spars are different depending on serial number of the aircraft. A good review of the PA-25 Pawnee Parts Catalog is in order.

There are no PA-28 Pawnees.

Bill

[Warwick Patterson]

Don't mind the nitpicking on the aircraft code number. It's fairly obvious if its a Pawnee or a Cherokee! For the record, a Pawnee is a PA-25.

I have a 150hp Pawnee here in Canada and have been trying to source spars through Univair. They have 1 of 4 in stock, with about 6-8 weeks for production on the others after I order. I'm hoping my wing inspection this week doesn't show any extra screw holes or corrosion...otherwise we are likely going to miss the start of the season with our tow plane. The spars for the 235 and 260 are different and may be in stock (or they are likely producing some as the demand is much higher than the 150). They are probably your best bet. It was also suggested to me that the Super Cub spar extrusions (sold by the foot) might work too, but won't be drilled etc for the Pawnee. 

Link to Univair PA-25 "Wing parts" sorted by price high to low. Be sure to keep an eye on the horsepower variant when looking at the products. 

https://www.univair.com/categories/piper/piper-pa-25/wing-parts.html?sort=pricedesc

Is your club installing the Laviasa-supplied inspection ports or going with the standard circular ones as per Oz/NZ's AD revision? I've been advised by an NDT specialist here that doing an Eddy Current inspection through standard ports will be more difficult.

FAA hasn't issued their own AD for this, so currently US-based Pawnees don't need to carry this out (probably saving all of us international operators further headaches getting parts!). 

[Kerry Kirby]

as the SB 25-57-11  August 23 2024  states that the leading edge screws need to be removed and replaced in 5 bays you are not getting those  #4 phillips head screws out through a round inspection hole  You will run a greater risk of breaking the screw then you are screwed for good.  Go for the rectangular inspection port as per the drawing.  About 50 screws! 

Kerry  

[Mark Recht]

The issue is that in some bays you may already have a round hatch and these are a larger diameter than the width of a Laviasa rectangular one, so can’t easily be replaced by them. In these cases we added a second round hatch, staggered rearwards. We had no issues removing the screws through 2 round hatches, but maybe we were lucky :-)

Note that for D model Pawnees with wing fuel tanks,  there is no need (or benefit) in cutting the no 6 hatch - you have to remove the fuel tanks to get access to the screws attaching the leading edge to the spar. 

Mark

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