Technical Support

[mattbod]

Hi There

I have a 1946 140 on rebuild here in the UK, we have two systems here in the Uk the full C of A or the Permit System. Many vintage A/C are able to be operated on the Permit System, the criteria being that they are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

Strangely you can have a 120 on the Permit System but not a 140 !! Don't Ask !!

So my question is what support do you get from the TCDS holders Textron for the operation of your 140's in the US ??

The authorities here tell me that if I can prove that there is basically no support from the TCDS holder then they can apply to the FAA for the A/C to be placed on to a Permit here in the UK. This would make the rebuild process much simpler and get more 140's flying here in the UK.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Matthew Boddington

[edidin]

May not be the answer you are looking for, but Textron/Cessna provide good technical support for all their post-war piston aircraft including the 120/140.

Example from last week: Needed to know the dimensions of the bushing at the tailwheel spring set mount bolt. Called in as an AOG (true), and had the length, ID, and OD within the hour. (1946 C120).

The quality of the support for their older aircraft is one of the virtues of Cessna.

Seems it might be easier to try and convince the authorities that the 120 and 140 are essentially the same airplane. They even have a single parts manual FWIW.

[mattbod]

Thanks For your reply.

Do yo have details of who, where you contacted ?

I have tried to email them for info on a couple of occasions with no response.

[6863]

Matthew,

The trite old phrases "silence is golden" and "the silence is deafening" come to mind just about now. This association has a number of prominent long term members who do significant maintenance, rebuild and restoration on Cessna 140s. (I'm not one of those). I would have thought that if anyone of those members have experienced any meaningful support from the TCDS holder in their endeavors they would by now have shared that with you. Judging from the underwhelming response you have received from your query, it looks like virtually no one has any experience in real time operational support for the Cessna 140 from the current TCDS holder. Furthermore it is my experience from reading this forum that these particular Association members know far more about these airplanes than anyone in the TCDS holder's facility. I would be surprised if the run of the mill technical support employee at the TCDS holder's facility even knows off the top of their head without doing some research the lineup of post war piston Cessna aircraft, let alone what a Cessna 140 is. And, with all due respect to edidin who is the sole responder here to your question, I would place little credibility in the current TCDS holder's interest, let alone their ability to meaningfully satisfy your national authority's requirements for a full Cessna 140 C of A other than copying and pasting something someone happens to see in some lost archive at the factory. For your sake I hope I am proven wrong.

Best wishes in solving your unfortunate problem.

[edidin]

The TCDS discussion is beyond my pay grade.

For support, I call +1-316-517-5800 and work the menu tree until I get piston technical support. Sometimes a tech answers, sometimes they take your number and put you in a queue. I've only used them for technical questions and/or getting access to dimensions or prints for specific parts. I've received back emails from the following email address as well: Piston_Support@txtav.com

Best of luck.

[6643]

The posts referring to tail spring bushing 0442114 have been moved to a dedicated topic here