Lycoming Verdict (From AVWeb)

[Jones, Michael]

-----Original Message-----
From: root@hatch.ca [mailto:root@hatch.ca]On Behalf Of ACRE
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 2:05 PM
To: Unlisted-recipients
Subject: Lycoming Verdict (From AVWeb)


Vince Orton wrote:

This just in from AVWeb ...

**********************************************************************

JURY'S CRANKSHAFT VERDICT HITS LYCOMING HARD...
In a stunning verdict (the effects of which could ripple through the
aviation world for years to come) a Texas jury has found Textron
Lycoming entirely to blame for crankshaft failures in high-horsepower
engines between 2000 and 2002. What's more, the Grimes County jurors
found that Lycoming's investigation of the crankshaft failures was
fraudulent and incorrectly put the blame on the manufacturer of the
crankshaft forgings, Interstate Southwest, of Navasota, Texas. In fact,
the FAA also accepted Lycoming's version that Interstate had improperly
heat-treated the forgings, which weakened the steel and led to the
failures. What the jury found was that the crankshafts were
under-designed for high-horsepower engines, and that Lycoming changed
the recipe for the steel alloy used in the cranks by adding vanadium (to
make the metal easier and less expensive to work with) and that that
weakened them. According to court documents obtained by AVweb, the jury
found that the "sole cause" of the crankshaft failures was Lycoming's
design. More...

...REPLACEMENT CRANKS AND INTEGRITY QUESTIONED...
Now, the legal wranglings have undoubtedly just begun (Lycoming will
almost certainly appeal) but the Texas decision raises some practical
and potentially disquieting questions about the whole crankshaft issue.
These are questions we'd like to pose to Lycoming but we were unable to
receive a response before our deadline. According to Interstate lawyer
Marty Rose, the forging company's investigation revealed that the design
of the crankshafts used in the brawny turbocharged 300-plus-horsepower
six-cylinder engines in question was based on 40-year-old designs for
four-cylinder engines with much lower horsepower. Rose told AVweb that
their investigation revealed that even though the vanadium problem was
fixed in replacement cranks installed in 1,400 engines recalled in 2002,
the cranks are still under-designed for the stresses created by the big
engines. "The [replacement] crankshafts don't have any safety margin,"
said Rose. More...

...THE VERDICT COULD BE JUST THE BEGINNING
The decision also raises questions about the FAA's handling of the
crankshaft problem. From the outset, the agency appears to have gone
along with Lycoming's conclusion that Interstate was to blame for the
weak cranks. The original Emergency Airworthiness Directive grounding
Cessnas and Pipers with TIO-540 and LTIO-540 engines cites "a variation
in the heat treatment process" (the jury did not agree) used during
production of the cranks. FAA chief spokesman Greg Martin said the
agency is studying the court decision and there's no word yet on further
action. More...

************************************************************************

Thought you all would like to know ...

-Vince Orton

Aircraft piston engines are right on the ragged edge of failure.
The least little thing that goes wrong results in catastrophic
failure.


Paul Lamar

The Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/
Copyright 1998-2004 All world wide rights reserved.

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If you have received this message in error please notify
HATCH immediately via mailto:MailAdmin@hatch.ca.



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[Wayne G. O'Shea]

If they have to pay out the 96 Million that was awarded to the Company
making their cranks for them.... say hello to high prices trying to get a
Lycoming engine as they may just go out of business!

Makes no sense to me 96 million to the company making the bad cranks,
supposably due to Lyco giving them a bad design, directives and fraudalent
failure investigation. I guess this award is to cover all the lawsuits that
are no doubt against the crank mfg company for 24 crashes and 12 deaths! I'm
sure by now with Lyco pointing the fingers at the crank mfg that they are
named in all the lawsuits and repair/downtime suits that have been filed.

Jury Blames Textron Lycoming for Airplane Engine Failures
Thu, 17 Feb '05

Orders Company to Pay $96 Million
A jury in Grimes County, Texas has found Textron Lycoming liable for fraud,
and ordered the company to pay approximately $96 million to Navasota,
Texas-based Interstate Southwest Ltd. The verdict came Tuesday following
seven weeks of trial in State District Judge Jerry Sandel's 278th Judicial
District Court in Anderson, TX.

The jury's award includes $9,725,650 in actual damages and another
$86,394,763 in punitive damages. In addition, the verdict effectively
precludes Lycoming from pursuing a $173 million indemnity claim against
Interstate, which it had previously filed in a Pennsylvania court.

"This is a total victory for our side," says attorney Marty Rose, who
represents Interstate Southwest. "Between the verdict and its impact on the
indemnity claim -- we couldn't have hoped for a better result."

The case revolves around a number of small airplane engine failures that
occurred when the airplanes' crankshafts broke in flight. Between 2000 and
2002, there were 24 failures and 12 deaths in Cessnas, Pipers and other
airplanes with Lycoming aircraft engines. Interstate Southwest supplied
Lycoming with the crankshaft forgings for those engines.

Following the failures, Lycoming launched an investigation aimed at
determining the cause. Its conclusion was that Interstate Southwest had
overheated the forgings, weakening the steel.



But attorneys for Interstate, Rose and Hal Walker, found a different cause.
Their experts were able to determine that Lycoming's design for the
crankshafts, which dates back to smaller, lower horsepower engines built 40
years ago, was inadequate for the larger, higher horsepower engines that
failed.

They also found that by adding Vanadium to the steel -- something Lycoming
decided to do just before the failures began -- the company further limited
the amount of stress the crankshafts could withstand. Lycoming had added
Vanadium to make the steel harder and reduce the number of machining
operations, ultimately saving the company money.

Ultimately, jurors agreed with lawyers for Interstate, and found that even
Lycoming's investigation of the crankshaft failures was fraudulent.

"The jurors found the combination of poor design and Vanadium pushed these
crankshafts beyond their limits," says Hal Walker. "That's why these planes
crashed, and not, as Lycoming claimed, because Interstate overheated the
forgings."


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jones, Michael" <MJones@hatch.ca>
To: "Rebel-Builders EMIAL (E-mail)" <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 1:53 PM
Subject: FW: Lycoming Verdict (From AVWeb)

-----Original Message-----
From: root@hatch.ca [mailto:root@hatch.ca]On Behalf Of ACRE
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 2:05 PM
To: Unlisted-recipients
Subject: Lycoming Verdict (From AVWeb)


Vince Orton wrote:

This just in from AVWeb ...

**********************************************************************

JURY'S CRANKSHAFT VERDICT HITS LYCOMING HARD...
In a stunning verdict (the effects of which could ripple through the
aviation world for years to come) a Texas jury has found Textron
Lycoming entirely to blame for crankshaft failures in high-horsepower
engines between 2000 and 2002. What's more, the Grimes County jurors
found that Lycoming's investigation of the crankshaft failures was
fraudulent and incorrectly put the blame on the manufacturer of the
crankshaft forgings, Interstate Southwest, of Navasota, Texas. In fact,
the FAA also accepted Lycoming's version that Interstate had improperly
heat-treated the forgings, which weakened the steel and led to the
failures. What the jury found was that the crankshafts were
under-designed for high-horsepower engines, and that Lycoming changed
the recipe for the steel alloy used in the cranks by adding vanadium (to
make the metal easier and less expensive to work with) and that that
weakened them. According to court documents obtained by AVweb, the jury
found that the "sole cause" of the crankshaft failures was Lycoming's
design. More...

...REPLACEMENT CRANKS AND INTEGRITY QUESTIONED...
Now, the legal wranglings have undoubtedly just begun (Lycoming will
almost certainly appeal) but the Texas decision raises some practical
and potentially disquieting questions about the whole crankshaft issue.
These are questions we'd like to pose to Lycoming but we were unable to
receive a response before our deadline. According to Interstate lawyer
Marty Rose, the forging company's investigation revealed that the design
of the crankshafts used in the brawny turbocharged 300-plus-horsepower
six-cylinder engines in question was based on 40-year-old designs for
four-cylinder engines with much lower horsepower. Rose told AVweb that
their investigation revealed that even though the vanadium problem was
fixed in replacement cranks installed in 1,400 engines recalled in 2002,
the cranks are still under-designed for the stresses created by the big
engines. "The [replacement] crankshafts don't have any safety margin,"
said Rose. More...

...THE VERDICT COULD BE JUST THE BEGINNING
The decision also raises questions about the FAA's handling of the
crankshaft problem. From the outset, the agency appears to have gone
along with Lycoming's conclusion that Interstate was to blame for the
weak cranks. The original Emergency Airworthiness Directive grounding
Cessnas and Pipers with TIO-540 and LTIO-540 engines cites "a variation
in the heat treatment process" (the jury did not agree) used during
production of the cranks. FAA chief spokesman Greg Martin said the
agency is studying the court decision and there's no word yet on further
action. More...

************************************************************************

Thought you all would like to know ...

-Vince Orton

Aircraft piston engines are right on the ragged edge of failure.
The least little thing that goes wrong results in catastrophic
failure.


Paul Lamar

The Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/
Copyright 1998-2004 All world wide rights reserved.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTICE - This message is the property of HATCH. It may also be
confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient
of this message you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate,
copy or take any action with respect to it.

If you have received this message in error please notify
HATCH immediately via mailto:MailAdmin@hatch.ca.



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