Prop Hub Eddy Current AD

Geico266

Geico266

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Geico
I am looking at an airplane that requires an eddy current test on the Harzell prop hub every 100 hours. This is on an experimental.

How often are these props rejected and the hub have to be replaced?

Does the prop have to be removed for testing?

Any thoughts?
 
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My Arrow has the recurrent Eddy current inspection AD. It is the original prop with 5k hours and one rebuild. I believe you can terminate the AD by chamferring the questionable holes on the inside of the hub so if I have mine rebuilt then I will do that.
 
For all practical purposes, these prop hubs don't fail the inspection in the aggregate. This was another one of these FAA all-encompassing knee jerk reactions that affected a bunch of props when the failed sample was a statistical outlier in terms of operation. I like to say the one that failed was an ag or acro application, but I don't remember anymore.

People are just ticked about the inconvenience of flying to the shop to get the eddy current test done. I don't believe the prop has to be removed for testing. They're called the non-suffix or non-B hubs and are subject to a 100hr eddy current inspection. The B suffix hubs are the ones people end up replacing the hub with when they go for overhaul, or they get one of those fancy more expensive three bladed props that makes their airplane nose-heavier and slower, but by God it looks cooler...*rolleyes*

I have one of these non-suffix hartzell props in my arrow II. Hasn't failed inspection yet. *shrugs*
 
Do NOT, NOT, NOT send it to Hartzell. Ever. Period.

Very few fail(if it's the AD I'm thinking of). But - Hartzell will reject it, and stamp into the hub a "Not airworthy" statement, forcing you to buy a new hub/prop asm.

As mentioned, look for the AMOC from Hartzell on a Service Letter, or Bulletin. It will remove the recurrent insp. The prop doesn't need to be removed to do the eddy current inspection, but the AMOC service bulletin is the way to go.
 
docmirror said:
Do NOT, NOT, NOT send it to Hartzell. Ever. Period.

Very few fail(if it's the AD I'm thinking of). But - Hartzell will reject it, and stamp into the hub a "Not airworthy" statement, forcing you to buy a new hub/prop asm.

As mentioned, look for the AMOC from Hartzell on a Service Letter, or Bulletin. It will remove the recurrent insp. The prop doesn't need to be removed to do the eddy current inspection, but the AMOC service bulletin is the way to go.
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We always flew ours to a Piqua to be done. Given how often they were coming up we also ditched the hubs ASAP
 
Not so much the hubs, but Hartzell loves to condemn the blades.
 
Why on earth would a builder put this prop on an aerobatic aircraft. I see the sales price drop $15k.

Must have been cheap. :mad2:
 
Geico266 said:
Why on earth would a builder put this prop on an aerobatic aircraft. I see the sales price drop $15k.

Must have been cheap. :mad2:
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But, there's nothing wrong with the prop, you realize that right?
 
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