Transport Canada has issued a Civil Aviation Safety Alert recommending owners and maintainers of virtually all older Piper Cherokees perform magnetic particle inspection of the welds on the control columns of their aircraft at the next annual. As we reported last May, a Canadian flight instructor reported the column broke off in his hands as he and a student flared for a landing at a Manitoba airport. Instructor Tom Larkin said the aircraft was only five feet above the runway and landed safely despite the physical loss of control. He and the student taxied to a maintenance shop where staff discovered the upright portion of the control column had broken off where it joined the horizontal arms. He said they checked the weld on another Cherokee and found cracking.
The problem was discovered on a PA-28-140 but Transport Canada said similar control columns were installed on 150, 160,180 and 235 models and all should be checked magnetically. “Cracks that were found on the replacement control column were undetectable to the naked eye, even after it was removed from the aeroplane,” the safety alert said. “It is likely that hightime PA-28 series aeroplanes may be at risk for undetected control column cracking and or potential failures.” The age and history of the aircraft that suffered the failure was likely a factor, the agency said. It had 18,000 mostly training hours on it but the Cherokee was a popular trainer and there are likely others like it in the fleet. Transport Canada has shared its information with the FAA and some action by the agency is likely.
