Airworthiness Directives

The T-34 has unfortunately been affected by two major airworthiness directives.  The first (AD2001-13-18) was a result of a simulated air combat school breaking a wing off of a T-34 used in simulated air combat games.  Anecdotal evidence showed these aircraft were operated outside the normal flight envelope for more than 4,000 hours of this type of flying.  The FAA investigated the crash and determined that the wing spar broke approximately 16 inches out from the fuselage attach point.  They found numerous fatigue cracks in this area and fatigue cracks in the lower aft wing attach fittings.

AD2001-13-18 was revised to AD2001-13-18R1 after another T-34 crash due to a wing separation 2 years later.  This T-34 was also used in a simulated air combat school performing the same type of maneuvers as the first.  The FAA again examined this crash and discovered that none of the required inspections from the first AD were completed, and the wing broke at an additional new location, wing station 66, (WS66) at the rear spar.

In 2004 a third T-34 crashed because of a wing separation.  This T-34 was yet again used in a simulated air combat school in the same manner as the first two.  The FAA investigation found that the spar center section, also known as the wing carry through structure, failed because of fatigue cracks.  This was an area that had been overlooked during the investigation of the first 2 accidents.  The FAA went on to issue AD2004-25-51 which grounded all airplanes over 3,800 hours total time until an approved inspection program was created.