A CESSNA 550 WAS GNDED BY AN FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR FOR OPERATING 4 MONTHS WITH UNREPAIRED HAIL DAMAGE. ACFT HAD COMPLETED A PHASE CHK 2 MONTHS PRIOR TO GNDING.

Date: 2003-08 · Aircraft: Citation II S2/Bravo (C550) · Phase: ground

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-maintenance|inflight-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

A CESSNA 550 WAS GNDED BY AN FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR FOR OPERATING 4 MONTHS WITH UNREPAIRED HAIL DAMAGE. ACFT HAD COMPLETED A PHASE CHK 2 MONTHS PRIOR TO GNDING.

Narrative

ON AUG/SUN/03; THIS ACFT SUFFERED INFLT HAIL DAMAGE. MOST OBVIOUS AREAS OF DAMAGE WERE THE ALUMINUM SHEET METAL AT THE WINGTIPS AND THE ENG PYLON LEADING EDGE. THOUGH NO ADVERSE FLT CHARACTERISTICS WERE NOTED AFTER THE ENCOUNTER WITH HAIL (I THOUGHT WE WERE IN 2 SECONDS OF HVY RAIN) I LEFT THE AIRPLANE AT FBO TO GET A DETERMINATION OF AIRWORTHINESS. THE ACFT WAS AT THE FBO FACILITY UNTIL AUG/WED/03. DURING THAT TIME MECHS FROM FBO AND OUR INSURANCE COMPANY'S ADJUSTOR WERE ABLE TO INSPECT THE ACFT. IT WAS NOTED THAT 1 LEADING EDGE STALL STRIP WAS MISSING. AFTER THAT MISSING PIECE WAS REPLACED; AND THE AIRPLANE AND ENGS WERE INSPECTED; I RECEIVED A VERBAL FROM FBO THAT THEY BELIEVED THE ACFT TO BE AIRWORTHY. THIS WAS REINFORCED TO ME IN OCT WHEN THE STILL UNREPAIRED ACFT COMPLETED A PHASE 1-4 INSPECTION SEQUENCE AT FBO. IT HAS COME TO MY ATTN THAT ON DEC/FRI/03; THIS ACFT WAS GNDED AS UNAIRWORTHY BY AN OFFICIAL OF THE FAA AFTER OBSERVING THIS STILL UNREPAIRED ACFT ON THE GND AT ZZZ2 ARPT. THE INSURANCE ADJUSTOR WORKED AT THAT TIME FOR MR Y. I HAVE NOT CONTACTED HIM FOR THE SPECIFIC REASON THAT I DON'T WANT IT TO APPEAR THAT I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO COACH HIM IN ANY WAY. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT HE MAY BE ABLE TO REINFORCE WHAT I HAVE PRESENTED HERE.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.