mkbreezy

mkbreezy

Member
During the condition inspection today, we found a scratch, gouge in the shank of a prop blade about an inch long , about .040 wide and .013 deep. It came from the prop blade shank rubbing on the opening in the spinner. I bought the airplane about 8 months ago, and this is the first condition inspection I have had done, and no, it is not visible during a normal preflight. Does anyone know the inspection criteria for damage on the shank of a blade. I see allowances in the Hartzell manual for damage out on the blade, but no mention of the blade shank. If someone has a link to any inspection or rework criteria, I would be most grateful. I am mostly concerned about having to buy a new blade. Mucho $$$$, which would not make me happy.
 
Will be doing that Monday, just hoping the fountain of knowledge here would spray on me, and let me know I'm on or off the hook before I officially get the bad news.
 
AC 20-37E has some information, though Hartzell is going to be the final authority. Having been through this myself, and having spoken to them, I can say that it depends. I took photos and emailed them to Hartzell, then spoke to someone on the phone. In my case they deemed it repairable and gave me advice on how to go about it. In my case it was due to a builder (that would be me) slipping with a drill motor and having the chuck scratch the prop shank. My heart sank. The engineer at Hartzell made a comment to the effect of "oh, that's happened a lot more than you may think" and then reassured me. Whew! So you may be ok.

Don't take my word for it. Call, and expect to send them photos.
 
Spinner damage is not unheard of. I know a few cases that were taken to a prop shop, all we're dressed out.

That depth of damage there is not much at all, a good prop shop will take care of it. A carton of beer usually fixes these defects quicker than a $100 note will. :D

Ohh and fix the spinner too ;)
 
Totally agree with the guys above!

We had a very similar situation about four years ago on Louise's airplane (when she was based up in Virginia), and at first thought it was going to be a pretty costly repair....but after sending pictures and measurements (I don't remember what they depth was) to a prop shop, they just had us dress it out int eh field, and it is still going strong. So there's a good chance you might be OK - but definitely get an expert opinion. Just trying to let you know that it might not be as bad as you first think.

Paul
 
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