Let me start by saying that metal fatique is not a common issue with Cessna aircraft in general! The most common metal fatique problem I'm aware of on 150's and 152's concerns the floor pans where the seat rails are attached. These fairly often are found with cracks radiating away from the seat rail mounting holes, usually the front ones, and are easily detected with the carpet removed for inspection. Caught early, a simple full length patch under the seat rails will normally restore full strength and integrity here. Yes, there are the service letters and AD's for the nutplates in the tail, which sometimes identifies cracked mounting brakets during inspection. Most of these should have been corrected by now. The earliest 150's sometimes have expensive to repair landing gear bulkhead problems, but these are easily detected through floorboard inspecton panels, and many have had reinforcement kits installed (see Charles Hanna's
website [
150cessna.tripod.com] for details). I've not heard of any other metal fatique problems common to any 150's or 152's regardless of age or flight hours. They are safe airplanes that are not going to come apart in normal flight!
Of more concern to me is the corrosion that can be found on some Cessna singles in the front spar caps. Made of extruded aluminum, and absorbing stresses from wing loading, the spar caps are more susceptable to serious corrosion issues than other areas, and can be costly and time consuming to repair. The carry through spars that connect the wing spars together through the cockpit are also an area of concern, as is the area of the front and rear spars which mount the wooden fuel tank spacer blocks, which can trap moisture and promote corrosion.
These issues are not so common that every airplane needs disassembly and inspection prior to purchase, but I would satisfy myself that the previous owner and mechanic are aware of these issues and that these areas have been inspected in the recent past. If the purchase comes with a fresh annual, you want these areas inspected. A pre-buy inspection would not normally go deep enough to identify these rare enough but expensive to repair problems.
Club member Mike Arman's book
"Owning, Buying or Flying the Cessna 150/152" [
cessna150-152.com] is a good starting place for the first time Cessna 150 or 152 buyer, and is available from the Club's store. Continue searching the forum and gathering information, and don't hesitate to ask the forum any question that comes to mind. There is little that hasn't been researched before, and there is always somebody here with a friendly answer. We are all licensed to learn, here!
