Anybody heard anything further about the new G restriction placed on the Texan?  I was just at the factory in KS the other day and asked one of the guys there about it and according to him Beech subcontracts out to some company that makes the wing box and apparently the FAA discovered some bad practices in their day to day manufacturing.  Apparently the FAA is considering shutting these guys down.  I haven't heard anything more about what the FAA has determined though.  Anybody else heard anything?

This is indeed true.  What sucks is that this came out just before my initial area solo, which kind of put a damper on them.  And yes we still have to wear G-suits on all sorties.

Interesting tidbit--the Navy had a 5.5g restriction on their birds long before this came about.

Thanks for the access Ryno!

Opie

That is interesting. I wonder what reason they provide...a simple "to ensure the airframe lasts longer" or did they know something big blue didn't?

No thank YOU for the interesting tidbit. The hopefuls on here will appreciate having somebody around that actually knows something (other than Quatro).

BTW, for the UPT wannabes...Opie is a great resource with a lot of experience. If you have UPT questions specifically or broader career type questions you might wanna give him a jingle.

The skinny I got from one of the PIT Instructors was that the subcontractor was manufacturing the wing boxes out of specs, instead of rebuilding them all one of the guys had a "genius moment" and figured that a couple of wacks on the spars with a hefty hammer would move them within specs.  Big blue found out what was happening and flipped out demanding that Beech someway compensate the Government because the airplanes were not going to last the warranted number of flying hours under normal conditions.  Beechcraft decided that if the G loading of the plane was reduced to 5.5 G's from the original number it would allow for the life expectancy of the airframe to meet what was promised without having to spend a dime on the company's part.  

In case you guys didn't know...the 5.5 G limit has been removed from the T-6.  We are now back to the original design G limitation of 7 G's.

cheers,

Sparky