Help!!! Prop Strike questions for a Diamond DA40

[Rich]

This SB has grown much more stringent over the years as well as more burdensome to comply with. In 2002 we had a rock ding that apparently caused a small puncture/crack in the leading edge of one blade. The nature of an MT prop is such had to be removed so it could be disassembled and the blade repaired.

The criteria at the time was that of the damage was severe enough that if the prop had to be removed then the engine had to be pulled. The anccessroy case then had to be opened up for that shear pin to be inspected/replaced and IIRC inspections of other things inside the case. Not a full engine teardown.

An inspector from the FSDO determined the engine work was unnecessary due to the small dinged area. The prop was removed and repaired. The plane flew with those blades and that engine until 2015. For unrelated reasons the engine was worked over at that time and the prop replaced with a zero-time factory rebuilt prop.

[DerekM]

You’re in a frustrating position. 95+% chance that everything is ok and you don’t need to do anything. But it’s aviation and even if there’s a 1% chance is it worth taking. If it was me I’d do what you’re doing: get as much knowledge and opinions as you can from experts. If the 1% doubt remains then I’d probably go ahead with a rebuild for peace of mind and safety, knowing full well that there’s a 99% chance that I’m wasting money. Better safe than sorry when it comes to aviation. Wasting some money to give me a 1% chance of possibly living longer seems worth it. Unless of course doing all those repairs would create the same amount of potential risk for different reasons - that needs to be considered too.

[Diamondsare4ever]

You’re in a frustrating position. 95+% chance that everything is ok and you don’t need to do anything. But it’s aviation and even if there’s a 1% chance is it worth taking. If it was me I’d do what you’re doing: get as much knowledge and opinions as you can from experts. If the 1% doubt remains then I’d probably go ahead with a rebuild for peace of mind and safety, knowing full well that there’s a 99% chance that I’m wasting money. Better safe than sorry when it comes to aviation. Wasting some money to give me a 1% chance of possibly living longer seems worth it. Unless of course doing all those repairs would create the same amount of potential risk for different reasons - that needs to be considered too.

This is exactly where we are at, we are trying to determine whether we are exhibiting the “hazardous” attitudes during this process. Leaning towards the rebuild but still trying to gather mor context and information to quantify the risk.

Thank you for your reply… and you are correct, this has been very frustrating.

[Paul]

I recognize they will give you the most conservative answer but have you tried calling Lycoming or MT? I'm guessing yours is not the first IO-360 to hit an orange cone and they might be able to provide some additional guidance.