2 Time Ex Conquests gone - BN
 

Looked over towards the Brisbane Boeing hangar and noticed the two ex Skipper ( J'craft ) Conquests are no where to be seen.

Have they flown away or in the back of a hangar??

Heard there are two Jetcraft conquests in front of the Tenix hangar in Adelaide. Maybe they are the first in line to become the "Tenix Conquest"

Who is Tenix and what is a Tenix Conquest?

Tenix,formerly Rossair Maintenance

I beleive they have been working on a SIDS program for the former Skippers, now grounded Jetcraft C441s

Tennix - Conquest SIDS
 

did they buy the type certificate from Mr.Cessna...??
reason for the question is that I was lead to believe that it was Mr.Cessna who put the time limit on the C441 and was not prepared to "wear" any liability beyond that point...???
Any one have an update..?

NNB

My understanding is that while Cessna put a time limit on the airframe, it was in the context that they were not prepared to provide a maintenance schedule for the aircraft beyond that time.

It was CASA that made it a mandatory grounding at that time but subject to there being no acceptable maintenance schedule being developed. Now, I think that there are one or two maintenance companies that have been looking at a maintenance programme for the aircraft to enable them to continue in service.

PLOVET is corect ,However the SID does read that once aircraft has reached 22500 hours in service they cannot guarantee the integraty of the the airframe.What about all the high time King-airs pushing around the top end?They must be close to the 30 thousand hour mark.A overseas engineer told me that the company he works for in Canada have Kingairs with 60 thousand hours on them!!!Scary

While I agree it was a bit over the top to ground them, it was based on an issue which had appeared in a number of C441 airframes. (fatigue cracks in the construction if I remember correctly). They would most likely apply a similar rule to king airs if it turned out that around X hours a problem became relatively common on them. It was a type specific issue, not a general turboprop problem.\

PLovett, I had a similar understanding, that Cessna said "We cannot guarantee beyond 22000? hours" and CASA said "In that case, they're grounded at 22000"

22500 actually. :ok:

I notice in the latest CASA briefing that a life-extension program has been developed for the C441, allowing them to fly until 40,000 hours.

Whilst I'm sure it is not a cheap option, the lack of a suitable replacement may make this attractive to some operators.

chimbu warrior, I have a vague recollection that the person who bought the maintenance side of O'Connor Airlines (De Bruyen ?) was working on a maintenance schedule for the C441.

After all, I believe that the time limit on the C441 was the "nail in the coffin" for O'Connors as it immediately grounded their machine. However, as always, I may be mistaken and I am sure someone here will correct me.

The limitation on the O'Connors C441 now is the height of the grass surrounding it at Mtg. Its only parts of value (the engines) long since gone. Lfa & C I think are the next test cases for Tae at Adl. A Tf? Has already gone through.

Below is an excerpt from the CASA briefing newletter e-mailed out on Wednesday the 25th August.

"Cessna 441 Conquest aircraft have been given a new lease of life that can extend operations up to 40,000 hours in flying time. This follows the issue by CASA of a supplemental type certificate for a life extension program for Conquests. Until now these aircraft had a life limit of 22,500 flying hours due to a decision by Cessna in 2007 not to develop a maintenance program for the aircraft type beyond 22,500 hours. Any Conquests in Australia that reached 22,500 hours had to be grounded, with a handful of aircraft affected.
Cessna took the decision not to support a maintenance program because of the substantial work needed to replace components and modify and reinforce the structure of the aircraft.
In 2008 Australian aerospace engineering company TAE Group decided to develop a life extension program to take the Conquest up to 40,000 hours. In conjunction with aeronautical design company Aeronautical Engineers Australia, a detailed engineering analysis of the aircraft and its components was undertaken. The result was the development of a program of major modifications to be made to Conquests when they reach 22,500 hours. The program includes replacing major structural elements such as fuselage frames, reinforcement of other components and external straps to spread loads and provide redundant load paths. There is also a new, rigorous maintenance program which has been developed using modern damage tolerance philosophies. CASA has been closely involved in the development of the Conquest life extension program to ensure the aircraft will be safe to 40,000 hours and there will be compliance with the type certification. The supplemental type certificate for the Cessna 441 life extension program was issued this month."

The C441 is not the only Cessna getting a bit long in the tooth, these ones are still going too.

30,000 HOURS ON GRAVEL
Yute Air Alaska serves dozens of remote Alaskan villages with a fleet of 12 Cessna 207s and a single Cessna 172, and every trip involves at least one gravel strip landing. Three of the 207s will reach 30,000 hours in the next few months. AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with Matt Sullivan, the airline's assistant director of flight operations, about tough airplanes and the tough people who keep them going.

Any C207 that meets its end is one less of the bu@@ers. :D

If one was to find 40 C207 in a heap and on fire it would be a good start. :}