FAA Urges Best Practices For Turbocharger Exhaust

As part of its charter to help minimize GA accidents, the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC; see the article beginning on page 4 for background) earlier this year published a Best Practices Guide designed to ensure airplanes equipped with turbocharged reciprocating engines fitted with turbocharger to tailpipe V-band coupling/clamps, remain in their original type design configuration. It will also help to effectively manage the risk associated with the use of V-band coupling/clamps in this application.

Editorial Staff

Monday, August 20, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC) published a "Best Practices Guide" to address long-standing safety concerns with V-band clamps used in turbocharged aircraft exhaust systems, which have been implicated in numerous accidents.
The guide provides detailed inspection advisories and establishes strict life limits for V-band clamps, ranging from 500 to 2000 hours Total Time in Service (TIS) depending on the clamp type, to prevent failures and in-flight fires.
The FAA issued a Special Airworthiness Bulletin warning owners and operators of potential misleading heading and attitude displays on electronic flight displays (PFDs), particularly STC-installed units, due to electromagnetic interference from high-current electrical equipment.
San Francisco's Class B airspace configuration was redesigned, replacing the traditional "inverted wedding cake" with polygons and new VFR waypoints to facilitate navigation, despite some concerns raised by AOPA regarding design compliance.

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The V-band clamps used to assemble exhaust systems on turbocharged piston-powered airplanes have long been a source of concern to operators, maintainers and regulators alike. Clamp failures resulting from lengthy service and improper installation can allow extremely hot and high-pressure exhaust gases to be directed onto other engine-compartment components and risk an in-flight fire.

The clamps have been implicated in numerous accidents dating from the 1970s, many of which involved fatalities. The problem potentially affects some 18,000 turbocharged aircraft in the U.S. fleet from various manufacturers, including some still in production, as well as normally aspirated aircraft modified with a turbocharger installation under a supplemental type certificate (STC).