C177; C182; and AA5B pilots reported operating an unairworthy aircraft that Maintenance had deemed safe to fly. An FAA Inspector was later contacted and performed an inspection; determined the aircraft were all unairworthy; and the aircraft were removed from service to comply with directives.
Synopsis
C177; C182; and AA5B pilots reported operating an unairworthy aircraft that Maintenance had deemed safe to fly. An FAA Inspector was later contacted and performed an inspection; determined the aircraft were all unairworthy; and the aircraft were removed from service to comply with directives.
Narrative
I belong to a flying club based at ZZZ and part of our fleet we have a Cessna 182 Skylane and a Cessna 177 Cardinal. After a minor incident; a small dent occurred in the flap of the Skylane which was reported to our A&P. The dent did not affect the travel of the flaps and after inspection by our A&P; the plane passed the annual inspection and was released back to us with an airworthy designation. The A&P had also told us that they discussed the finding with Textron who confirmed that the issue did not affect the airworthiness of the airplane and can be attended to in an elective fashion.The Cardinal had a linear crack in the external aspect of the exhaust pipe near its tip and was less than 2 inches in length. Again the issue was known to our A&P who did not deem it significant enough to affect the airworthiness of the airplane. Again they signed off on the annual and released the Cardinal back to the club as being airworthy. I flew both the Skylane and the Cardinal over the past couple of months in good faith thinking all was good since they were airworthy as far as I was concerned considering that they had both passed their annual inspection by a certified A&P.Someone contacted the FAA and reported their concern regarding the airworthiness of our planes. The FAA Inspector came and after the inspection; they considered the Skylane 'unairworthy' due to the flap situation and the Cardinal 'may have been unairworthy' due to the small crack in the exhaust pipe. Obviously; had I known that those 2 issues affected the airworthiness of the planes; I would definitely have not flown them. Our club took immediate action after the FAA inspection and replaced the exhaust pipe on the Cardinal and the Skylane is currently being fitted with new flaps to comply with the FAA Agent's directives.
Second reporter narrative
I was informed via FSDO that I may have unknowingly operated an aircraft in a non-airworthy condition. At the time of the flight in my opinion as a pilot; the aircraft was safe to fly; and the stated flaw in the aircraft did not pose an immediate risk to safety. I flew the AA5B Tiger multiple times; and did not notice the compass was improperly mounted. To my knowledge and inspection; this airplane was fully airworthy; and this assumption was backed up by other members flying the plane during this time period. The same case goes for the Cardinal. I believed the crack in the exhaust was minor and did not pose a threat towards the safety of the flight. This crack may have gotten bigger since I flew the plane; I am not sure. The plane passed annual inspection; and was also flown by other members of the club with no comment on its airworthiness. Thus; again I felt the airplane was in airworthy condition when I flew it.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.