Originally Posted by
Ebbie 2003
contacts are arranging to go take a close look on Wednesday.
You maybe money ahead to address the following bulletins/ADs before you ship. Several of these areas are not directly visible even during an annual inspection:
Piper SB 1006
Piper SB 1244
Piper SB 1304/AD2020-24-05
Piper SB 1345/AD2020-26-16
Piper SB 1375
Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
The Rheims build Cessnas I have seen do have factory applied zinc chromate on the internal surfaces. But, when I saw one which had been partly disassembled for repair, I noticed that the area between a fuselage bulkhead and the skin was bare, making me believe that the factory zinc chromate was applied by spraying after the fuselage was assembled.
There is a possible way to determine if primer is Cessna, Reims, or 3rd party applied but its not foolproof. The Cessna option applied zinc primer before production leaving rivets unpainted, Reims built sub-assemblies then primed leaving a mixture of painted/unpainted rivets along certain structure lines, and 3rd party everything is usually primed. But some of the Reims aircraft/parts we were looking at years ago were not primed with zinc. So its not a 100% thing to follow.
In North America, when considering the purchase of a legacy GA airplane, where on the continent the airplane has spent much of its life is an important consideration. Coastal/Great Lakes area airplane, really thorough corrosion inspection, and prepare to walk away. Airplanes from the inland areas are generally much better for freedom of corrosion.
FYI: while location does factor in, operational/maintenance history tends to be equally important as I've seen corroded aircraft in the deserts of Arizona and corrosion free along the GOM. Regardless, when it comes to certain aircraft like Pipers and Mooneys, having a mechanic who is familiar with the known trouble spots look over the aircraft is preferred especially with corrosion issues.