Struts are a very important part of any aircraft fitted with them, they hold the wings on and so have a lot of stress applied to them. Normally this will be
tension but some struts work under compression and visa versa under negative loads. Of course they are designed to take this stress but they may be compromised
if they suffer damage of one form or an other. They should not be bent corroded or suffer from any of the problems noted under the Aluminium tubes
section, although not all struts are aluminium alloy the same rules apply. Struts often have midspan braces which helps prevent buckling under compressive loads but also prevents them fluttering during flight. These braces must
also be in good condition but can be prone to the same fatigue failure as any other tube, check them well especially for cracking.
Check the attachment of the main struts to the wing and fuselage by lifting the wing and checking for movement, if there is movement then it could be a sign
of flogged holes or worse but will definitely require further investigation. Also check the strut connection between the struts in the fusealage and or the
fusealage in the strut area, this area has been known to fail.