Avenger wing failures?

Sat Jul 21, 2007 2:31 pm

Was there ever a problem with the wings on a TBM Avenger failing? If so what was it caused by?

Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:37 pm

In the early days, they pulled the wings off of some airframes. The early models had a longer stick which allowed for rapid aileron deflections which caused some failures. All of the current flying aircraft have a shorter stick installed.

Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:49 pm

I belive that there is also a mandatory spar inspection on the outboard wing panels. For a while the a/c used in fire bombing had a problem with corrosion in the spars due to the combination of retardant and condensation/water mix and it migrating to inaccessable areas of the wings. You would have to make a pass though the AD database to be sure.

Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:08 am

I understand the spar caps are prone to cracking if you do a lot of taxying with the wings folded.

Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:33 am

that makes sense. Lot of force suddenly applied from the weight of that wing shoving down...

Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:57 am

Thanks everyone. I was doing some research for a friend who found some stories of TBM wings failing during flight.

Thanks again,
Nate