摘要: |
To aid with the assessment of aging acrobatic aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) teamed with the National Institute for Aviation Research of Wichita State University to teardown and inspect two sets of high-time Beech T-34A wings. Due to the recent history of fatigue cracking and failure, a destructive evaluation of the T-34A would be useful to the FAA to specifically address the T-34A concerns, and in a general sense, to assess the condition of a high-time acrobatic category aircraft. The teardown evaluation involved performing inspections prescribed in Airworthiness Directive 2001-13-18; disassembly to gain access to the underlying primary structure; paint removal and etching of the wing primary structure to enhance damage detection; post-disassembly nondestructive inspections, and a detailed microscopic examination of all primary structure. Selected cracks were also analyzed to determine failure modes. |