Is it time to overhaul your Saab 340 landing gear? How long will the overhaul take? How can you minimize overhaul costs and downtime? You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for answers to these and related questions.
When Does a Saab 340 Landing Gear Require Overhaul?
Scheduled Landing Gear Overhaul
Saab 340 landing gear assemblies require overhaul every ten years or 12,000 flight cycles, whichever comes first. In 2014, a 10-year calendar interval was implemented. After implementing this interval, many landing gear had to be overhauled because they exceeded the calendar limits. As a result, a higher-than-normal quantity is coming up on the 10-year limit again in 2024, which could cause a possible shortage of part availability and overhaul capacity in the market.
Pro Tip: Plan ahead if you know you have landing gear coming up for overhaul in the next two years.
Unplanned Maintenance
Landing gear assemblies experience normal wear and tear through regular use. However, if a landing gear displays signs of excessive wear, damage, corrosion, or stress from impacts, it must be repaired or overhauled, even though it may not be due for the next scheduled overhaul.
How Long Does a Saab 340 Landing Gear Overhaul Take?
Typically, Saab 340 landing gear overhaul takes between 60 and 90 days. The length of time can vary depending on the condition of the landing gear and the required repairs.
Pro Tip: For time-sensitive situations, a quicker alternative may be to exchange your landing gear. With an exchange, you trade your removed landing gear (known as a core) for a replacement unit. A replacement unit can be installed more quickly than waiting for the original landing gear to be overhauled.
What Factors Determine Saab 340 Landing Gear Overhaul Costs?
The following are a couple of factors that determine costs:
- Parts requiring replacement or repair due to corrosion or other damage
- Replacement of life-limited parts
Preventative maintenance is recommended to help reduce over and above (O&A) costs and help mitigate the need for replacing or repairing parts.
Pro Tip: Keeping the landing gear and wheel wells clean will help mitigate corrosion and other issues and allow you to better monitor the area for hydraulic leaks and corrosion-causing substances that could damage your landing gear and cause premature wear. Your aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) will provide additional specific preventative maintenance practices to protect your landing gear.
What to Look For in a Saab 340 Landing Gear Overhaul Facility?
One important thing to look for in a landing gear overhaul facility is if they were authorized by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Having your Saab 340 landing gear overhaul conducted by an OEM-authorized facility has multiple benefits unavailable at non-approved repair shops.
- OEM-authorized facilities have access to the original technical information for design and repair to ensure that landing gears are overhauled to the OEM specifications.
- Landing gear overhauled at OEM-authorized facilities meets the repair and safety standards set by the OEM.
- Aircraft components maintained by the OEM are generally more valuable on the market.
- The OEM tends to have all parts required for the overhaul in stock, avoiding lengthy waits for the supply of parts.
Further Reading
What are the Different Aircraft Part Conditions?
What is the Difference Between Outright and Exchange for Aircraft Parts?
You’ve Purchased an Aircraft Part on Exchange. Now, How to Return Your Core?
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