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The FAA recently received a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) of a water landing accident involving a DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver installed with Wipline 6100A amphibious floats operating in a saltwater environment. One of the main gear wheels remained in the fully extended position and resulted in the aircraft becoming submerged after touchdown on water. The ATSB investigation reported that extensive corrosion was found on the contact surface of the main gear slide tube at the location where the main gear carriage sits when the main gear is in the fully extended position. The slide tube also exhibited wear consisting of longitudinal marks caused by movement of the main gear carriage. Further investigation found that the main carriage bushings exhibited wear of the PTFE layer, exposing the sintered bronze layer and exhibited evidence of scoring.
Affected STCs: SA610GL (6000A or 6100A floats on DeHavilland DHC-2 Mk. I), SA309CH (6000A floats on DeHavilland DHC-2 Mk. II), SA227CH (6100A floats on Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4), SA1311GL (8000A floats on Textron 208), SA331CH (8000A floats on DeHavilland DHC-3), SA01795CH (10000A floats on Air Tractor AT-802 and AT-802A), and SA2CH (13000A floats on DeHavilland DHC-6)