Thread: New CTSW SB

There is a new SB out for some of the CTSW's. Look on the Flight Design website under the Safety section then under airworthy section. This concerns the rear wall stiffening of the stabilator. It affects CTSW's with serial numbers between 06-09-01 through 07-05-03. This will require flying into an FD service station that is authorized to do the work or taking the stabilator off and sending it to one of the authorized centers.

My stabilizer SB is done. We decided to do a motor home trip over the holidays to see if the sun was shining in the southwest and spend Christmas with family. So, took it off, put it in the belly of the MH, headed to Vegas on 12/22/09, and delivered it to Lone Mountain Aviation in Las Vegas on 12/28/09. Since Vegas wasn't warm enough, we spent the next week in Mesa, AZ returning to Vegas 1/4/10 and picked up the completed stabilizer. Lone Mountain did an excellent job and got it done as promised even though the week they had it was a holiday week. Lone Mountain has an excellent facility and friendly staff. They needed 10.5 hours of labor to do the work, which I thought was reasonable. FD USA also said it was reasonable. However, although I knew FD was not going to pay for removal, transportation and reinstall, I was surprised to learn that FD was only paying $350 of the cost to perform the SB. So, I had a $682 out of pocket surprise since the total bill was $1,032.

I will probably reinstall it tomorrow and test fly on Sunday as that seems to be the next flyable day here. Sooner if the weather cooperates. I'll post the results of the test flight. Hopefully the result will be a smoother fling aircraft.

Hi John, (nice)

Hi All,
I'll be up at Lone Mountain Aviation in Las Vegas this Monday and when I get back I'll give a little report too.

My stabilizer is back on. I've got some new nylocs coming tomorrow so won't finish until I get them. It went back on pretty easy. I used string on the push-pulls to get them through the slot.

Don't Forget

Hi Guys,

This is just a reminder that if your planes serial number is between 06-09 and 07-05 (Sept. 2006 to May 2007) then make sure you don't let time pass by too quickly or just forget about your stabilator bulletin. This will effectively stiffen your stabilator. Some of you that have your annuals that were due Dec. 2009, Jan. 2010 or Feb. now have 90 days after the issuance of this document to comply. That pretty much means by the end of Feb. While others that have annuals due later in the year have up until then. There are approximately 87 aircraft to do.

Work is finished and flight check IAW FD instructions is complete. It flys exactly like it did before the SB and no adjustments were necessary which is as it should be since no control changes were made during the process. Paperwork is complete and will be mailed to FD tomorrow.

Roger,

Am a bit confused with the serial numbers - Mine is 06.06.02 (is this included?) Can I ask if you may explain what each segment means 06 - (2006?) 06 (June?) 02 ??? I will read up on the SB, however, would appreciate your input as to the safety of this. I am very very far from an authorized service center.
Thans

Chris Darza

I've seen mention of a 2006 CTSW with Serial # 06-11-18 from which I deduced the format must be Year-Month-Day

The way CT Serial Numbers were explained to me by Sebring Aviation:

In your example of 06-11-18... The 06 means production of that aircraft started in 2006. The 11 means production began in November (of 2006). the 18 indicates it was the 18th aircraft to begin production in that month (November of 2006).

The completion date may be in a different year. My CTLS serial number is 07-11-22 which means it was the 22nd aircraft started in November 2007. The plate on the firewall, however, shows the aircraft was completed in January 2008.

Ah, then they seem to build them at ~1/day. I noticed my serial number is 3 more than the date it was made. Always wondered about that.