What is SIDS?
 

Forgive my ignorance, but I'm curious. Seems to be an Aussie thing.

Sids= Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Or Sid= Standard Instrument Departure

Um...thanks. I know what a SID is. I was thinking more along the lines of when you see someonw advertising an aircraft for sale or lease for example and they say "SIDS Complete" or "SIDS Compliant". I suspect it has little to do with Cot Death...

Supplemental Ispection Documents.
It is not unique to Australia.
It is an inspection program targeted at aircaft that work in stressfull environments like low level ops and so on. Monitors fatigue issues, Spars etc.
185

Thanks for that. Should have something like that here. To my knowledge we don't. Diverging slightly, I note with interest that CASA has an AD covering PA34 aircraft requiring the retirement of the wing spar and carry through structure after a certain number of flight hours or cycles. A bit of research indicates the FAA has no such AD. This is interesting as CASA states the reason for this "A fatigue analysis carried out by the manufacturer" Comforting to know the PA 34 I fly regularly has done way more than the specified number of cycles cited by CASA...:eek: (I don't fly in Australia) http://www.casa.gov.au/airworth/airw.../PA-34-045.pdf

sorry bob , you gotta try it on when you can mate !!!

cheers buddy , hope you found the anwser your looking for mate:ok:

Cessna appears to issue SIDs, not CASA.
We do have some unique CASA AD's, however.
Like the ones you mention.
185.

CASA AD's
 

CASA has an AD on wing spars for PA32"s, which requires replacement of the Wing spar and part of the carry through box at 11000 hours. Only in Australia. The Piper maintenance schedule does not require this.
Piper syas the spar should be inspected at 70,000 hours, and has an inspection scheme for doing this. CASA will not accept the Piper inspection scheme either.

The "SIDS" thing here in Australia that is the current topic of discussion applies to (most of) the Cessna twins and thier wing spars. (I think the C404 and 336/7 mixmaster miss out). It has scared alot of people away from buying them and has de-valued them somewhat.

We also have another CASA yoke around our neck with the RAM conversion winglets on the cessna twins. eg the C414A has a spar life of about 11 or 12 thousand hours here in Australia, however, if the A/C has the RAM winglets installed the spar life is reduced to something like 7,000 hours as our CASA says there has been no testing on the additional twisting load the winglets inflict on the wing/spar.:eek:

seems they have just time lifed the 300 series to about 19000hrs. wing spar and carry through. another CASA requirement above the manufacturers.
they must be a pretty clever mob in CASA to know more about the aircraft than the designer and manufacturer.

The reasoning for the SIDS thing for Cessnas is that they don't have lifed components, but the manufacturer never envisaged having their C402 etc still running around on revenue flights at 20,000+ hours:ooh: and were concerned with liability (per the engine failure cases that C paid out on big time that saw C just about fold up). It originated from a wing spar failure in a 402 freighter in USA where the A/C had a squillion hours AND had been involved in a ground collision before the failure. Incidentally, its the C336/7 and C303 that don't have a SIDS requirement, not the 404.

Piper do not have a SIDS-type program because their equivalent types (PA31 PA23 etc) have firstly a lifed spar (13000hr) and a lifed airframe (spar replacement + 13000hr, then its all over red rover.

Beech have a similar program where critical parts are replaced (wing bolts on the Baron and undercart on the SKA for example) which as part of the process necessitates inspection of wing spar attach points and centre carry-throughs.

The recent ATSB paper on aging aircraft is a good read.

Spar life.
 

It may interest Piper owner's to know the Spar Life AD has had a revision, which states the components (wing spar) must be retired OR inspected IAW an approved inspection regime at 11000 hours TIS. (PA 32 etc)
Initially there was no such approved inspection however there is now..( Actually for a few years now). My PA32-300 had one at 1099.6 hours and is in the process of having another one.
The inspection regime was created by Michael Punshon, an engineer in Townsville and is CASA approved and gives a further 3000 hours time in service before another is due. If the spar and carry through keep on passing, then effectively there is no throw away life limit.
It's not cheap but you don't have to sell your first born to pay for it either.

I fully retired from Aviation a couple of years ago but just prior to that I worked on a twin Cessna SIDS and prior to that on a few older single Cessna rebuilds. I would have to say what I saw during those projects was not good.In the twin case we found major problems during the rebuild but not in the areas the SIDS docs covered, in the single cases we saw major wing attach point corrosion as well as other problems. In one case the wiring insulation just fell apart as we moved it for the inspection.

There is no doubt in my mind that somewhere in the future life of these aircraft if the repairs hadn't occurred, then we would have seen one or all falling out of the sky. The fact is that none of you would drive a 1950s car or truck without major mechanical and attention to its structure, yet we seem to think an aircraft is bullet proof just because we want it to be.

One of the reasons for me leaving aviation is that in the end, as a LAME I couldn't see how I could sign this stuff off with 100% certainty that it was OK to the next 100 hourly. I was also tired of arguing with the "penny pinchers" about what needed to be done to their precious toys. These people spent a fortune on the cars but wanted to spend nothing on their aircraft. Every 100 hourly was a battle to get them to agree to comply with ADs etc.

I'm sure that CASA in its normal one size fits all approach has caused problems but there is no doubt in my mind that there was a need to force owners to look very hard at their aging aircraft.

Wunwing

I am lead to believe that both Beechcraft and Piper are about to deliver there own sids programs. Most manufactures in Ata chap 5 have life limits. This is not sids.
Also rumors about that the cable replacement AD is about to be removed and will not be happening.

Where did you hear that? I have the AWB coming up on a C206.

I have been told by 3 different people. I wouldnt believe it till they drop it. No one i know has ever seen a cable break in the area they talking about. Even companys that make cables arecsaying the same thing. See what happens.

Cable breakage
 

Well now you know one. I have personally seen 2 cables failed in the stainless terminal shank. 1 Elevator and 1 elevator trim cable. Both held together by the lockwire.

I've seen one broken and held by lockwire, and a few close to failure. It is a very real problem with that style of cable.