A couple of years ago, Piper Owner Society Aviation Director Scott Sherer’s Arrow suffered a cracked step. He got it fixed after it was caught during an inspection.

Now two years later, the makers of that part have received a PMA (Part Manufacture Ap­proval) for most Piper airplanes. Aerospace Welding Minneapolis, Inc. (AWI), which has been a leader in overhauling and repairing ex­haust and engine mounts for many years, has also been repairing cracked and broken steps. They’ve now been approved for a PMA for most PA-28 and PA-44 models.

“The common failure point for this part is where the stream­line tubing meets the mounting flange,” the company said in a press release. “To analyze this failure point, AWI has done a static analysis in this concentrated location and determined that by increasing the material thickness of the mounting flange, we will see a 29% decrease in stress at this location, and therefore greatly reduce future cracking.”

You can buy the newly approved steps at www.AWI-AMI.com.

PMA part number A65384-000 replaces OEM part numbers 65384- 00 and 65384-000 and is for the following models: PA-28-140, PA28- 150, PA28-151, PA-28-160, PA-28-161, PA-28-180, PA-28-181, PA-28-235, PA-28-236, PA-28-201T, PA-28R-180, PA-28R-200, PA- 28R-201, PA-28R-201T, PA-28RT-201, PA-28RT-201T, PA-44-180, PA-44-180T.