Spotted today at Permit inspection. I have obviously not been pulling the spinner hard enough at preflight. Could have got this upgraded to the Crash Forum if not spotted.
Any suggestions?
Fatigue happens… particularly with aluminum.
If the spinner backplate is a Bölkow specific part, you’d likely have to source it from Steinle Flugwerft who will hopefully have one in their ex-factory stock They do appear to show it (208-61096.03 Spinnerplatte hinten) in the online stock list (see the link), screen shot below. I’d probably replace all three spinner components. This provides their contact information.
Otherwise, a replacement could be fabricated but it’ll be a lot of effort. The third choice would be to fit a non-original spinner, if that is legal for you. There are plenty of them out there for O-200s.
Good luck.
I have obviously not been pulling the spinner hard enough at preflight.
Or maybe you pulled too much too often? Clearly a fatigue crack due to age and repetitive loading… better be sure to have the spinner and prop balanced after repair…
Yeah, spinner back plate cracks are a hidden hazard. The spinner on my 150 departed in cruise flight, passing between the wing strut and the right side of the fuselage. I had a friend who lost on on is 150, which bounced off the windshield, and broke it just below the compass. His passenger had to hold the compass while they landed, so the did not loose the windshield.
Inspect spinner backplates well and often. The the broken one you have, if not available as a part, may be fabricated as a repair part (regulations permitting). A company proficient with metal spinning can do it easily. 3003 aluminum alloy is an excellent choice, very cold workable, and least likely to crack. Make a few of them if you make one.
Thanks. I’ve emailed Steinle Flugwerft. Unfortunately if I wanted to learn German at school I’d have had to drop Science, so I can only use English.
Monika Steinle writes well in English but I have found their response time to be slow and uncertain. I’m sure they are busy but brace yourself. They do have the parts, which is amazing decades on.
“but I have found their response time to be slow and uncertain.”
Emailed yesterday afternoon. Response this morning – she’d passed it to K Malter Air Service. Exchange of emails. Being despatched tomorrow morning.
Response very fast and certain.
Thanks for the links Silvaire.
Awesome