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22 July 1995

 

Flying Magazine
500 West Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, Connecticut 06830

 

Reference: Flying, August 1995, Article on Piper Aztecs by R. L. C. (Richard L. Collins, I presume).

 

The article on used aircraft, the Piper Aztecs, was certainly well written and informative. That is usual of whatever Mr. Collins writes. However, there is one aspect of these aircraft the Mr. Collins missed. That is, their propensity to hide water in the after inboard corner of each of their tanks which cannot be found or eliminated in the normal preflight. The amount of water that can be hidden in each of these tanks is sufficient to overwhelm the fuel strainer and can easily cause a total engine loss. This loss of power usually occurs after climb out and level off, a dangerous point of the flight for the loss of an engine.

 

The FAA and the NTSB have been aware of this problem since 1985. The NTSB has made recommendations to the FAA to correct this design deficiency, but the FAA refuses to act. As a result of this refusal accidents have happened and lives have been lost.

 

The FAA refused to test these aircraft for this defect for several years. Congressional pressure finally forced them to actually put hands on an aircraft and conduct a water retention test. Their findings were that enough water could remain in each tank after preflight to fill the fuel strainer 3 1/2 times. This test was conducted on Thursday 28 January 1988 on an aircraft owned by Dr. Paul J. Yocom of Rockledge, Florida.

 

Although the FAA did issue a poorly conceived and written AD on the subject, (AD 90-23-18). The AOPA succeeded in getting it retracted because the installation of the wedges in the tank, called for in the AD, caused more problems than water. The FAA just can't seem to solve the problem in a direct and simple way. When Eisenhower was president of a great University after his departure from the Army and before he became President of the United States, he was told of a problem of the students making paths through the lawns and not walking on the sidewalks His response was "Why not build the sidewalks where the students walk?".

Well, why can't the FAA tell Piper to put the drains where the water collects ? Simple, direct, economical and effective. Yet, the FAA refused to do so. In the end, they finally decided to ask the owners of these aircraft what should be done about the problem. The response was, of course, nothing. Those who owned to aircraft hadn't had an accident because of water in the fuel, so the didn't want to spend any money to fix a problem that they didn't have…..or so they thought.

The action by the FAA in asking the owners is like asking the fox what kind of fencing should be put around the chicken yard……or the government asking the tobacco companies if cigarettes are dangerous to the health of smokers. The FAA did point out to owners that water should be kept out of the fuel tanks and they made some good suggestions in that regard. But once water got into the tanks they ignored it. They tend to treat symptoms and not the disease.

The point of this letter started out to be a simple question of why didn't the article contain a warning about the water problem in these aircraft. If Mr. Collins didn't know about this problem I can understand the omission. If he did, I can't understand why it was not included in the article. How he could have missed this brouhaha over the past ten years is a mystery .

If Mr. Collins or any one else in Flying Magazine, wants a blow by blow account of this problem, I have a file about two inches thick which includes the details. You are welcome to peruse this file at your convenience. It does shed some light on the problems of aircraft certification and correction after certification when the FAA becomes involved.

This letter in no way intends to criticize Mr. Collins or Flying Magazine. I enjoy both. But I do think that if any one recommends a product, the full story should be told……both positive and negative.


 

 

Respectfully,

Norman L. Horton

P.S.

What in the world was that picture on page 88? If it referred to the PA-23 series this is the first time I've seen a twin controlled by a single lever of power , props and fuel. That might simplify the cockpit, but …….talk about problems. This would make the water in the fuel problem pale by comparison.


 

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