Originally Posted by
IO540
...very worrying particularly in light of the latest regs from the cynical money grabbing Euro gravy train known as EASA (the "S" stands of "screw") which makes it difficult on a European registered (e.g. G-reg) aircraft to replace originally specified rubber hoses with like-for-like modern teflon replacements.
On an N-reg you can fit teflon hoses and most N-reg owners have done that. A Piper will be all-American and won't have any expensive ISO (metric) fittings which cause hoses to cost a few hundred quid. Most American-pattern Teflon fuel hoses, fireproof and tested to 1500psi) are about £70 and they have no degradation mechanism (in this application), have no inherent life limit, and on some aircraft types (e.g. my TB20) they are not life limited even in situ.
t...
Couldn't agree more. Another triumph of bureaucracy over safety.
IIRC though some of the Ravenair PA-38's are close to their wing life limit and I can't imagine the owners would want to spend more than was absolutely necessary to maintain them at this point in their life cycle. I'm not suggesting anyone's been cutting corners, but the incentive to invest in such upgrades on an aircraft that's close to the end of its structural life simply isn't going to be as great as it would otherwise be.