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Life limited pitot / static hoses

I heard from another TB owner that he saw this somewhere.

I have never heard of this requirement for a privately operated aircraft.

On the TB, it is not difficult but is very time consuming because the hoses behind the instrument panel take ages to re-do, and a lot of the other areas have poor access. The hose runs down the centre console are simply inaccessible and the side trims will have to be removed to install new hoses, and the old ones left in place. In fact I suspect a lot of cases where people replace these hoses they leave the old ones in situ. But then you have to isolate them totally, because the hose might be cracked and be leaking.

Is there such a requirement for airworthiness?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Everything is life limited. When they produced Cessna’s in the 60s, I doubt anyone thought they would be used 50-60 years into the future. 20 years and more is “forever”.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

for P28 I have an item “fluid hoses replacement due to lifetime”- every 20 year, which should cover brake hoses etc, but for pitout-static the only check is a test every 2 year..

EETU, Estonia

Not a requirement in Canada, on condition. A pitot/static leak test should tell you what you need to know. Some planes have plastic, others a combination of aluminum and rubber, so there’s no one size fits all policy anyway. My experience with very aged plastic pitot static line has been okay. Yes, sometimes there is chafing damage, or brittleness if it somehow was exposed to prolonged sunlight. In a non pressurized plane, a damaged pitot static line should be detectable before it becomes a serious safety issue.

Home runway, in central Ontario, Canada, Canada

It is a good idea to change them at some point on older aircraft (I have changed mine—on condition, of course, is a better principle, but how often are you really going to examine them?)

Tököl LHTL

Air hoses used in GA tend to be of poor quality. One can see some pics of the Socata ones in one of the “possibly related” threads linked below. They tend to be ok for many years if undisturbed but they crack if moved, or if left to thrash around due to lack of support. Then you get pitot or static leaks, etc. I had some fun with that in another “possibly related” link below.

It’s amazing just how relevant the “possibly related” list is

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
6 Posts
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