Owen Bell - Aviation Enterprises

N5ZX · #1 03-25-10, 03:49 PM

Alrighty, then....

I told yall I'd let you know what my tech found out when they inspected my wing. Here is what they said:

"Tell everyone you know that has wing mods from this company to get their wings inspected ASAP."

They said that you can deal with a bad this or that....but you cant deal with a wing that falls off.

So...what did they see? Yall saw the pick I sent. A couple of smoking rivets and some minor disfiguring of the top skin.

Inside there were many MANY more smoking rivets. Bent stringers. Cracked mountings. all of which could be attributed to the stacked mods (extensions AND winglets).

However, they said that their primary concern was the workmanship (which has nothing to do with stacking mods). They said that 3/4 of the screws that they could see that were holding the extension to the original had no nut and no nut plate. They were simply relying on the threads contacting the skin.....they dit not like that at all. Additionally, the cap-stringer (the last orignial stringer to which the wing extension abuts) didnt quite mate to the extension perfectly, so whoever installed it had used a pair of pliars to rip the "lightning hole" to enlarge it to allow passage of one of the lines. All of which are text-book no-no's and very bad from their point of view.

I asked the crew chief what I should do, he said, "Call Carlie Emering at the FAA, he already has the info and is VERY concerned." I called Charlie, and he expressed his concerns very professionally and diplomaticly, but made his point very clear. "Tell everyone you know that they REALLY should take CE-10-20 extremely seriously."

I asked him what I should do about my plane. He told me to call Harry Sunderland at Cessna. They are trying to develope a uniform fix as opposed to having A&P's all over the country dream up their own solutions.

So thats where I am. Grounded. With very significant safety concerns.

Naturally, everyone must choose for themselves how seriously they want to take the issue. I've paraphrased the hour of phone conversations I've had fairly accurately. But I cannot convey their tone very accurately. Suffice it to say, I recommend taking it very seriously.

No, the mods didnt cause the crash in NJ. But that crash did shine a light on something we needed to be aware of.

Plan accordingly.

Cole

tropical · #2 03-25-10, 06:33 PM

So who installed the wing tips on your 337? Who signed off the FAA Form 337?

N5ZX · #3 03-25-10, 09:16 PM

owen bell
October 24, 2000

edasmus · #4 03-25-10, 11:45 PM

Thanks for keeping the information coming Cole. I have been watching this thread carefully and the story gets more amazing everyday. It really makes me wonder what was going on inside that wing in New Jersey. I feel badly that you have to deal with all this. Hang in there!

Ed

tropical · #5 03-26-10, 07:20 AM

Quote:

However, they said that their primary concern was the workmanship (which has nothing to do with stacking mods). They said that 3/4 of the screws that they could see that were holding the extension to the original had no nut and no nut plate. They were simply relying on the threads contacting the skin.....they dit not like that at all. Additionally, the cap-stringer (the last orignial stringer to which the wing extension abuts) didnt quite mate to the extension perfectly, so whoever installed it had used a pair of pliars to rip the "lightning hole" to enlarge it to allow passage of one of the lines. All of which are text-book no-no's and very bad from their point of view.

Quote:

Originally Posted by N5ZX

owen bell
October 24, 2000

'nuff said.

N5ZX · #6 03-26-10, 12:12 PM

No biggie.
I'm glad to be alive and dealing with it.
But to calm the waters a bit I'd like to point out that while there are problems, it can be argued very effectively that the mods didnt cause the accident in NJ. The pilot exceeded limitations. Its that simple. If I mount a C-5 wing on my skymaster (that's would be fun to see...I gotta try that on photoshop) and I exceed the limitations....they're gonna break.

If the wing failure in NJ happened at ...3000 agl.....it might have been survivable. If he hadnt pulled up so sharply... If he hadnt gone so fast... If he hadnt overstressed it in the past... If the air density had been lower.... If he had fuel in the tips... If he hadnt had a full-boat....

There's a LOT of factors involved. They all came together at one point in space and time to create a tragedy which fortunately has made us take a deeper look at our wings and go.... "Hmmmm...."

Owen just sent out an email 20 minutes ago, reminding folks to be sure their placards are installed, and he included copies of the SAIB, so he is starting to surface.

If I were him, I'd put on my Captain Proactive cape and start driving this beast instead of getting drug by it. If ya let go of a horse's raigns and spur him in the flank, your gonna have a hell of a ride. But if you manage it along the way, ya just might not get bucked off. (now imagine I said all that with a twang)

He has a PMA fab-shop (for now). He should use the Cessna factory engineering diagrams to manuafacture fiberglass replacement wings. Lighter and stronger than the factory wing and incorporate all the latest bells and whistles. AND Circumvent the damn SID in the process.

Chump to champ in a heartbeat.

This is all still pretty fresh. Like Herb says, we're still waiting for the dust to settle.

Patience is a virtue (but I aint no saint)

Cole

rhurt · #7 03-27-10, 05:00 PM

It seems that Owen, Chris (Owen’s Son) and Dave (Owen’s brother) are getting thrown in the ditch because some competing mechanics do not agree with the way the FAA Designated Engineering Reviewer approved the wing extension STC, and because Owen has not returned calls in several days.

I am partners with Owen in a 337B. We have worked together on airplanes and his workmanship is top notch, along with his understanding of complex issues and his attention to detail. He was an OB/GYN doc until he retired and went to work on airplanes full time, bringing his surgeon's skills into the hangar. I am a mechanical engineer and flight instructor (and that means slightly more than nothing in this conversation).

Owen has been in New Jersey this week, working with the FAA and the NTSB. He probably doesn’t have much time to be posting on message boards right now.

The plane that crashed was loaded 500 lbs over zero fuel weight and at least that much over gross weight when it was doing an ‘airshow’ while operating more than 60 kts over Va for zero fuel in the tip tanks. The wing broke off in the middle of the aileron, making the aircraft uncontrollable. It is a tragedy.

Since five people died I expect the plantiff’s lawsuit will name Cessna, Aviation Enterprises, Riley, Continental, Alcoa, Garmin, Goodyear, the mechanics, the flight instructors, the local FBO, the airport authority, the weather man, Exxon, anyone who has ever breathed out CO2, and any politician who has ever tried to pass tort reform.

Hopefully Owen will survive the inevitable lawsuit and I can keep my airplane for trips with my wife and four young daughters. We like the winglets, the pod and the air conditioning. I don’t think they would like a Baron as much, and I would get pushed harder toward flying Southwest.

I have flown around 20 hours in 5ZX with the tip tanks and winglets, mostly dealing with icing and endurance in winter months, and not much turbulence penetration. I took it to FL 210 with the old engines and got around 200 kt TAS on trips from Nashville to upstate New York. The Va with empty tip tanks is down around 125kt though, and since that plane does not have air brakes or power pac spoilers that makes it really tough to descend into rougher air at the end of a long trip. Just when you want to be slowly retarding the throttles and taking advantage of going downhill, you have to really pull back on them and slow your descent to get below VA. I would always fly with the tip tanks full unless I needed to use the gas on a long trip.

Before Owen, 5ZX was owned by a guy in South Florida. I expect he flew in rough air, but I also expect he kept IAS below the appropriate Va. Also, I think 5ZX had a CorrosionX treatment within the last two years.

The FAA said to look for look for loose rivets at the aileron hinge attach points, not everywhere.

I think the mechanics are referring to the screws that attach the winglet to the carbon fiber wingtip extension. The carbon fiber layup is around 3/16” to ¼” thick in that location and the engineering calculations showed that machine screw threads could be tapped into the layup and give appropriate strength.

Owen may need a PR guy, and he may need a lawyer, or maybe he could just retire and let someone else come up with the captal and energy to build a bunch of good mods for a good airplane.

Randy Hurt

edasmus · #8 03-27-10, 06:00 PM

Thanks Randy and well said.

I think we all need (myself included), to be careful about what we say here because few, if any, of us has all the information. We need to save our opinions until after the final report of the investigation is published. Let the people who are gathering info and analyzing it do their work. Just my thoughts!

Ed

skymstr02 · #9 03-28-10, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhurt

The FAA said to look for look for loose rivets at the aileron hinge attach points, not everywhere.
Randy Hurt

I beg to differ on this statement. Anytime that you find loose rivets, you have a problem somewhere. You cannot approach modded airplanes with blinders on. I was able to prevent serious (read that expensive) repairs because an owner noticed something not right on a pre-flight inspection.