In 1997 I spoke with John Allen (President of Alon) specifically regarding this concern. He assured me that all of the Alon spars were manufactured for Alon and that there were no spars that were transferred to Alon from Erco or Forney. He personally participated in loading the trucks and all they received were jigs and tools.
Additionally, Mr. Allen was particularly proud of his development of the steel spring landing gear and related that it was a challenging exercise. Jim Quinn Syd Cohen wrote: > > Ed, when I toured Univair a couple of years ago talking to the engineer > about the corrosion my mechanic and I had found on over 24 Ercoupe spars, > he said to his knowledge, all of the spars used on Ercoupes, Forneys, Alons > and M-10's were manufactured in 1946, and they kept on using up old stock. > If this is so, as you said, Alons, even though they are newer, may have > just as much spar corrosion as a '46 Coupe. > > Syd Cohen > NC94196 > Wausau, WI > > Ed Burkhead wrote: > > > Don't count on Alons being corrosion free, just because they may be 20 > > years younger. Many of them may have sat out on a tie-down for the last > > 30 years. They have metal wings and no-one gave them a _good_ corrosion > > inspection till the swiss-cheese AD came out. (I'd give bonus points to > > a plane which was always hangared.) Just don't skimp on the corrosion > > inspection part of the pre-purchase inspection -- that's where people > > get the biggest, worst $$$ surprises.
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