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2 March 1988

Mr. Barry D. Clements, Manager Aircraft Certification Division Federal Aviation Administration Central Region 601 East 12th Street Kansas City, Missouri 64106

Dear Mr. Clements:

Thank you for your letter of February 18, 1988 concerning the PA-23 fuel system proclivity for retaining excess fluid in the tanks.

Agreement is always a pleasant experience.

The dimension mentioned in your letter in the third paragraph was not used in the construction of the ideal tank. For that we used a drawing supplied by Piper. You are correct in that we may have made a mistake in that particular measurement, but it was only one measurement used to determine the angle of the bottom of the wing relative to fore and aft level. Other leveling devices were also used to make the same determination but were not recorded on tape.

One question did come to mind while reading your letter. We are not informed on Piper Service Bulletin No. 340, but we wonder how inspection of fuel vent and drain lines will correct the accumulation of excess water in the after inboard corners of the tanks. Will that in fact solve the problem ?

Thanks again for your letter. We hope that a solution to the problem is forthcoming in the immediate future. We are still getting telephone calls from PA-23 owners asking us what to do. We, of course, cannot advise them since that is the exclusive domain of the FAA. Judging by our contacts, many owners are awaiting your advice.

Respectfully, Norman L. Horton Jerry L. Wells

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