177 Series Wing Spar Cap
Cracks
By Paul New
The Cessna 210 series underwent a major
redesign with the 1967 model. The hallmark
wing struts went away, and the plane was fitted
with full cantilever (no struts) wings. The
following year the 177 Cardinal was introduced
with many nontypical Cessna features,
including lighter duty versions of the 210
cantilever wings. It, then, came as no surprise
that Cessna would publish a bulletin relating to
wing spar cracks found in the Cardinals very
similar to those found on the 210.
Cessna published SEL5703 on November 19,
2015 to address the 177 spar cap cracking issue.
The surprise in the bulletin was found in the
first sentence stating reports had been received
of cracks found in spar caps. A quick search of
the FAA list of defect reports doesn’t show any
reports of Cardinal wing problems, of any kind.
A few emails to other Cardinal experts and
22
those in the know didn’t turn up any previous
knowledge of known spar cap cracks in a 177
series plane.
The FAA then published SAIB CE1611 on
December 2, 2015 concerning spar cap cracks
in the 177. The SAIB also included some details
about the plane and the cracks that were found.
There were two very long cracks found visually
and three smaller cracks found using eddy
current methods. The plane had a total flight
time of nearly 8900 hours.
I also received an email from the FAA with
more details, including a picture of the damaged
spar. It is a French aircraft and operated since
2008 in pipeline patrol. It accumulated 4600
hours of the 8900 in this operation, which adds
up to about 660 hours per year bouncing around
at low altitudes.
Cessna Pilots Association -January 2016