-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
Subject: Lycoming Verdict (From AVWeb)
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 18:12:31 +0000




> This just in from AVWeb ...
>
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> JURY'S CRANKSHAFT VERDICT HITS LYCOMING HARD...
> In a stunning verdict (the effects of which could ripple through the
> aviation world for years to come) a Texas jury has found Textron
> Lycoming entirely to blame for crankshaft failures in high-horsepower
> engines between 2000 and 2002. What's more, the Grimes County jurors
> found that Lycoming's investigation of the crankshaft failures was
> fraudulent and incorrectly put the blame on the manufacturer of the
> crankshaft forgings, Interstate Southwest, of Navasota, Texas. In fact,
> the FAA also accepted Lycoming's version that Interstate had improperly
> heat-treated the forgings, which weakened the steel and led to the
> failures. What the jury found was that the crankshafts were
> under-designed for high-horsepower engines, and that Lycoming changed
> the recipe for the steel alloy used in the cranks by adding vanadium (to
> make the metal easier and less expensive to work with) and that that
> weakened them. According to court documents obtained by AVweb, the jury
> found that the "sole cause" of the crankshaft failures was Lycoming's
> design. More...
>
> ...REPLACEMENT CRANKS AND INTEGRITY QUESTIONED...
> Now, the legal wranglings have undoubtedly just begun (Lycoming will
> almost certainly appeal) but the Texas decision raises some practical
> and potentially disquieting questions about the whole crankshaft issue.
> These are questions we'd like to pose to Lycoming but we were unable to
> receive a response before our deadline. According to Interstate lawyer
> Marty Rose, the forging company's investigation revealed that the design
> of the crankshafts used in the brawny turbocharged 300-plus-horsepower
> six-cylinder engines in question was based on 40-year-old designs for
> four-cylinder engines with much lower horsepower. Rose told AVweb that
> their investigation revealed that even though the vanadium problem was
> fixed in replacement cranks installed in 1,400 engines recalled in 2002,
> the cranks are still under-designed for the stresses created by the big
> engines. "The [replacement] crankshafts don't have any safety margin,"
> said Rose. More...
>
> ...THE VERDICT COULD BE JUST THE BEGINNING
> The decision also raises questions about the FAA's handling of the
> crankshaft problem. From the outset, the agency appears to have gone
> along with Lycoming's conclusion that Interstate was to blame for the
> weak cranks. The original Emergency Airworthiness Directive grounding
> Cessnas and Pipers with TIO-540 and LTIO-540 engines cites "a variation
> in the heat treatment process" (the jury did not agree) used during
> production of the cranks. FAA chief spokesman Greg Martin said the
> agency is studying the court decision and there's no word yet on further
> action. More...
>
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