High Airframe Time

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Derek
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High Airframe Time

Post by Derek »

My 2001 DA20 has about 5,500 hours on its airframe. I bought it nearly 10 years ago from a flight school that went out of business and I put about 75 hours/yr on it. So far so great in terms of maintenance and reliability but I'm interested to hear from other owners of high hour planes and what experiences they have in terms of maintenance, things to watch out for, is there a safety concern with high hours, etc. My plane lives outside because my home airport is busy and cramped. It's probably lived outside its whole life. What is considered high hours? Anyone with 6000 + or 10,000 + hours? Is there a realistic or actual limit to this? Thanks!
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Spinner
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Re: High Airframe Time

Post by Spinner »

Hey Derek:

Our flight school currently has 3 aircraft that are over 16,000 hours of airtime. They are well flown averaging about 1000-1300 or more hours per year. They live outside for most of the summer and part of the winter. They do get a good going over at both the 1000 hour and 6000 hour inspections as required by Diamond. About all I can really say is keep your eyes open for composite damage especially top of the wings at the inboard area where someone might kneel down or put heavy bags. Also the top of the horizontal stab where people push down on it to move aircraft.
We have had some of the roller cages that guide the elevator and aileron push rods wear out and get flat spotted. That is a lot of fun to replace the rear elevator one. We found the issue during a 1000 hour check it was not a regular operation problem.
If you have your annuals completed by someone who understands composites then you should not have any issues I believe.

Paul
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Pascal
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Re: High Airframe Time

Post by Pascal »

Mine had its 6000 hours inspection two years ago. This winter I am replacing the canopy as the current one is cracked. We will also inspect the front landing gear for cracks using Magniflux. And will be replacing some rubber thingies in the front landing gear to fix the vibration I get on takeoff.

When the 6000 hours inspection was performed, they found some water inside the left wing, caused by a cracked landing gear light lens. So got a new plexiglass lens installed.

Other problem being that the com1 antenna in the vertical fin is probably corroded, effectively unusable and should be replaced but avionics shops have been uninterested in replacing it as they prefer making more money installing more expensive stuff. For winter 2020-2021 I am planning to pull the trigger and spend serious money on avionics.

But as for the airframe, so far so good the composite only shows hairline cracks and chips in the paint, not deeper.
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RMarkSampson
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Re: High Airframe Time

Post by RMarkSampson »

I'm in the 4K hour range. My DA-20 lives in a hangar and quite frankly her airframe remains in great shape. Keep her waxed and she will not suffer any sun damage. Having said that, there are always maintenance items to deal with - and it is not free. If you put off maintenance, issues will build up and you could be continuously dealing with issues - vice proactively dealing with issues before they become issues. For example, the bolts, nuts, bushings of the flaps and ailerons will need replacement at some point as they get a lot of exposure to the WX. Do it before they get too nasty. NLG bushings, the NLG "puck stack" are others. MLG bearing races will not last forever. Keep your injectors clean. That fire paint for the cowlings and underbelly is one of the weakest links for the DA-20 in my opinion. Diamond's solution for the cowls and underbelly is simply an overly expensive PITA. Unfortunately, Diamond is not focused on this item - to the detriment to their DA-20 customers.

My engine was overhauled at 2500 when I bought her. Since then, she has had two cylinders pulled for a rehab. I'm on borrowed time for the remaining two cylinders. Might do a "top end" of all four cylinders just to level the maintenance bubbles. Magnetos need to be "IRAN"ed - 500 hours is recommended but definitely NLT 1000 hours. I just replaced the left Mag with a SureFly electronic ignition system. Starter and electric fuel pump will need rehab at some point - I've also replaced the engine driven fuel pump.

I just rehabed my MT prop - and now looks brand new. Ultimately, it takes $$'s to keep your DA-20 in good running shape. If you start feeling sorry for yourself - go ask someone who flies the DA40/42/62 what it costs to fly and maintain - as a DA-20 owner, you will never complain again...
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Rich
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Re: High Airframe Time

Post by Rich »

RMarkSampson wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 1:48 am I just rehabed my MT prop - and now looks brand new. Ultimately, it takes $$'s to keep your DA-20 in good running shape. If you start feeling sorry for yourself - go ask someone who flies the DA40/42/62 what it costs to fly and maintain - as a DA-20 owner, you will never complain again...
Don't be dissin' my 40. I have departed into a low ceiling and flown non-emergency IMC numerous times. And quite often flown with 2-3 other folks, sometimes including all their baggage as well. 8-)
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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RMarkSampson
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Re: High Airframe Time

Post by RMarkSampson »

Now don't be dissin' my justification for keeping what I got. It keeps the cost under that prenuptial I did not initially know about - "thou shalt not spend more $$ on your plane than me..." Just remember the DA20 forum is my turf - we might be a small subset of the total Diamond bloggers but, just like those who drive those little econo cars, we are proud of our economic airframes. Hey, at least we don't hold up traffic in the fast lane...
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