Kodiak owners warned of cracks in landing gear
Daher Kodiaks are the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration Airworthiness Directive.
Courtesy photo
Aircraft which cannot meet requirements will be grounded
SANDPOINT — The Federal Aviation Administration is requiring inspections of Daher Aircraft’s Kodiak 100 airplanes after receiving reports of cracks found in certain nose landing gear and forks.
The FAA Airworthiness Directive requires a one-time inspection to determine if an affected nose landing gear fork is installed, followed by repetitive inspections of affected units for cracks and repetitive inspections of the shimmy damper bracket for looseness. Repetitive inspections are also called for to determine if the shimmy damper system has damaged components if an affected nose landing gear is installed, according to FAA’s directive. Affected landing gear forks may also need to be reworked or replaced.
“The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products,” the agency said in the July 13 Airworthiness Directive.
Aircraft which cannot meet the requirements of the directive will be grounded, according to FAA.
Kodiaks, which are built in Sandpoint and cost a reported $2.3 million, are 10-seat, all-terrain airplanes used by air-taxi, recreational and leisure operators, along with businesses, pilot-owners and humanitarian organizations.
Quest Aircraft, a subsidiary of Daher, sought amendments to the AD.
“In support, Quest stated that these changes would address all sources of shimmy and lessen the economic impact to operators in international locations where non-destructive testing and inspection methods are less accessible,” FAA said in the directive.
The FAA, however, disagreed with Quest’s requests because there is no regulatory requirement for all pilots to report a nosewheel shimmy event.
“If the initial inspections were conditional on reported shimmy events, the unsafe condition would go unaddressed each time a pilot forgot or neglected to report an event,” FAA said.
The AD takes effect on Aug. 17.
The directive comes after Quest’s parent company, Daher, told employees in May it was conducting layoffs due to the financial impacts from the novel coronavirus pandemic.
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Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.