Found a cracked bracket on a Cessna 172 after a rough landing in Kansas City

I was doing a post-flight walkaround last Tuesday and spotted a hairline crack on the engine mount bracket near the firewall. Ended up grounding the plane for three days while we ordered a replacement and did the paperwork. Has anyone else found hidden damage like that after a hard touchdown?

3 comments

3 Comments

paulschmidt12d ago

Three days seems a bit much for a hairline crack on a bracket. I've seen plenty of those ground planes but a lot of shops just slap a repair patch on it and call it good until the next annual. Unless it's actually through the metal or right where the engine mounts, I'd bet it was fine to fly back home and deal with it later.

west.anna8d ago

Did you catch that article in Aviation Safety a few months back about stress fractures in non structural brackets? They had a whole breakdown of how those hairline cracks can spread way faster than people assume, especially on older airframes where the metal's already fatigued from years of vibration. I get that three days feels slow, but I'd rather have a shop take their time and do a proper weld or replacement than slap a patch on it that might not hold up to repeated load cycles. A buddy of mine had a similar crack on a Cessna 172 bracket that looked fine until it let go during a hard landing, and that turned into a much bigger repair bill. Plus, if the shop is backlogged with other work, it might just be a scheduling thing rather than them dragging their feet on purpose.

piperwhite12d ago

Whoa, hold up. I gotta push back on that one. A hairline crack on a bracket isn't just cosmetic, especially if it's near anything that vibrates or holds weight. Three days sounds like the shop is being careful, not slow. I'd rather wait than have that thing let go mid-flight.