Address Fatigue Cracking in Hydraulic Landing Gear Actuators on Cessna 210 and 210B Airplanes

We are providing the following information to urge the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Textron Aviation to take action on the safety recommendations in this report. They are derived from findings from five investigations involving fatigue cracking in Cessna 210 and 210B airplane hydraulic landing gear actuators. The NTSB is issuing one recommendation to the FAA and one recommendation to Textron Aviation, the type certificate holder for Cessna airplanes.

​An inspection and overhaul of the hydraulic actuator in Cessna model 210 and 210B airplanes at a regular interval would increase opportunities to detect any defects before they progress to failure.​

​As a result of this investigation, we made the following new safety recommendations​. 

To the Federal Aviation Administration:

Issue an airworthiness directive to require the Textron Aviation service bulletin developed in response to Safety Recommendation A-25-37. (A-25-36)

To Textron Aviation:

Develop inspection criteria and an overhaul interval for Cessna part number 1280501 1/-2 or Electrol part number EA1614-1/-2 hydraulic actuators, develop a life-limit for when these actuators should be replaced, and issue a service bulletin with this information to detect defects before they progress to fatigue failure. (A-25-37​)