but the rear spar is bare – maybe a “line” repair ?
I missed your post at the time… IMHO that bare-metal-looking spar is just painted with a different colour paint. Could be different stock getting mixed in, at Tarbes.
If that elevator was repaired in the field, no wonder this happened! But very few would be. At about €7k people would throw them away and buy a new one. Socata’s position on the elevator and the VS is NO repair permitted due to it being a critical control surface. That position is IMHO illegal on an N-reg.
Peter wrote:
Socata’s position on the elevator and the VS is NO repair permitted due to it being a critical control surface. That position is IMHO illegal on an N-reg.
What makes them think that Their stab is any more critical than any other stabs ???
That said, if there are no instructions on repairing the stab, or instructions to the contrary, that would make the repair a MAJOR rather than a minor and of course a Field Approval would be needed or a DER to document it and that’s where you would probably hit a wall.
That said, if there are no instructions on repairing the stab, or instructions to the contrary, that would make the repair a MAJOR rather than a minor and of course a Field Approval would be needed or a DER to document it and that’s where you would probably hit a wall.
Why cannot this be done IAW AC43-13?
If you use the same grade and thickness aluminium, it is a straightforward repair. I recall some people asking on the Socata group about metal thickness and while the info is not officially available (Socata are mostly nonresponsive on tech issues these days) it is not rocket science to work it out. Even if you had to lab-test the metal…
A lot of re-skinning is done, but on wings and elevators etc the skin is structural too, so IMHO the same legality issue applies to re-skinning as to spar replacement.
Actually the skin on almost any traditional-sheet-metal plane is structural…
At least on experimental it is faster and cheaper usually to simply build new stabs from stab kit parts. Repears can of course be done, but a new stab is built in a couple of days anyway from a hole matched kit.
This requires you have access to parts though. I can’t imagine the TB had matched holes, and then jigs are required. All in all it could be cheaper to purchase a new factory built stab.
Just wondered if anybody has completed this AD yet or if its too early to tell yet?
What was involved , how long did it take and any costs?
Just in the process or selling my TB20 so bad timing!
Mine was inspected even before any of this, after that US TB9 owner posted his awesome exfoliation photos on the Socata owner group. He dropped off the radar right afterwards (I spoke to him on the phone briefly) but I inspected mine with an endoscope so I could get the order in to Socata for a new elevator before the sky fell in and an AD grounded the entire worldwide TB fleet…
I still implemented the Socata SB (the underside holes, which IMHO are near-useless) and have since then done additional inspection.
It looks like – while a fair number of individuals may be affected – numerically as a % of the TB population this is not a big problem, and IMHO is probably caused by the widespread practice of tying the yoke back to the seat with an elastic band with hooks on the ends.
I think a new elevator is about €8k, plus painting and installation. No idea what the lead time is. You may like to email Troyes Aviation. Socata parts are normally very available (I bought a vertical stabiliser – hangar damage – a few years ago for about 7k and it was in stock) but it depends on how many people want one. Reports of elevator corrosion are very few but then statistics are hard to collect in GA because most people keep very quiet about issues because they want to smoothly sell their plane 
There are even TBs for sale (or have been recently) without the crank AD done (not legal to fly since about 2012).
The compliance cost of the original SB is about half a day’s work. You can inspect adequately with an endoscope (I can lend you one) via the lightening holes which become accessible once the trim tab linkage tube is unbolted, but I don’t think that will legally comply with the inspection requirement.
This is now an FAA AD:
The good news is you have till Febuary 2017 to comply 
Mine is clean – you can inspect it with a flexible 5mm endoscope, without doing any drilling. But one still has to do the drilling to comply with the AD…
Peter wrote:
But one still has to do the drilling to comply with the AD…
Well at least it shows you actually DID poke something in there to have a peak
