Crankshaft forgings ready for machining ûat Lycoming.

You can hardly blame the owner of a Lycoming-powered Cessna or New Piper aircraft from recoiling in dread at the thought of opening the mail. By now, hundreds have been on the receiving end of urgent airworthiness directives grounding their expensive airplanes because of faulty crankshafts.

In one of the most far-reaching aviation recall fiascos the industry has seen, many owners have been told that their expensive airplanes—some of which just emerged from the factory—won’t be flyable until March or April of 2003 as the FAA scrutinizes and recertifies how Lycoming builds crankshafts. As we go to press in late October, Lycoming was expecting forging of crankshafts to begin in November,…