PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Enstrom Corner
Thread: Enstrom Corner
View Single Post
Old 1st Apr 2009, 00:00
  #255 (permalink)  
Gaseous
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Alderney or Lancashire UK
Posts: 570
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
There have been a few Enstrom wire strikes which would probably have brought down other aircraft. Great design to keep the control rods out of harms way as long as the corrosion issue is managed.

The corrosion failure was to a rod which had allegedly been lying round a breakers yard for years. The issue has been dealt with by an AD (or SDB?) requiring internal inspection of the rods. A bit of a pain as the rivets and end fittings have to be removed. All the rods I have seen - 12, I think, have been fine. The swash plate lives under the gearbox and is also prone to corrosion as water goes down the mast and ends up on the swash plate resulting in expensive repairs. The head bearings are prone to corrosion too and it runs to about £10k for a head/swashplate overhaul. This is why one often sees Enstroms parked up with a bucket over the head. I have found liberal doses of ACF50 help keep the problem at bay.
Gaseous is offline