New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

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CFIDave
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by CFIDave »

Diamond/Austro purchase parts for the engines from third-party suppliers, but in very small quantities (only a couple hundred Austro engines are produced each year, with about 2000 engines produced over the last decade). This is true for all GA aircraft and engine manufacturers due to the small volumes of certified aircraft produced each year: globally only about 1000 fixed-wing piston aircraft.

So Diamond has very little leverage in trying to force suppliers to change the design of their parts, such as producing a turbo boost controller with a thicker control rod. The same applies to turbochargers, prop governors, and other engine accessories used with aircraft engines produced in small quantities. The con-rod fail-safe bridge is a simple, relatively inexpensive, readily-available "add-on" solution that permits use of existing third-party turbo boost controllers.
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by Tommy »

It still seems like a really difficult way to fix a really simple problem regardless of who’s making them, how many were made, or where they come from especially considering how critical failure is when it happens. A 250 hr.recurring AD for a part this critical yet this simple would not give me the warm fuzzies.
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by rdrobson »

CFIDave wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:32 pm
rdrobson wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:56 pm]I just had my annual done back in London and they informed me that the fix is now considered a terminating action by the FAA, no repeat 250 hours later.
I wish this were true, but my check of the latest version of the AD on the FAA website says that it must still be performed every 250 hours; there is no "terminating action" yet for the FAA. (EASA *has* approved the fix as a terminating action).

Maybe the FAA is just behind in updating their online database?
Your last comment about the FAA not updating their online database must be correct. See attached letter that is now in my maintenance log which says it is a terminating action. Just picking my aircraft back up today.

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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by CFIDave »

rdrobson wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:46 pmSee attached letter that is now in my maintenance log which says it is a terminating action.
That's great news -- the FAA just needs to update its online AD database to reflect this.

I just had the AD performed on both engines of my DA62 last month, and for the first couple of flights afterwards everything worked properly. But while providing multiple sales demo flights during Sun N Fun 2 weeks ago I started noticing the left engine occasionally would not make more than 78% power when full power was requested -- including during takeoff when the plane started veering off the runway due to asymmetrical thrust! -- and I received L and R ECU failures on that engine. However by bringing the power levers back to idle and applying full power again the ECU failure annunciations on the left engine immediately disappeared, and both engines would then make full power.

This is an example of an AD being performed that made the plane less safe. :(

I took the plane back to the shop (which had previously performed at least a dozen of these AD installations) and had them re-adjust the length of the control rod of the replaced left engine turbo boost controller, and (so far) the problem has not recurred. Got fingers crossed.
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by Colin »

Does that mean that the ECU errors on an NG will clear themselves, while they need to be reset with the laptop on the Technify engines?
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by CFIDave »

Colin wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:32 pm Does that mean that the ECU errors on an NG will clear themselves, while they need to be reset with the laptop on the Technify engines?
No, there are 2 types of ECU faults on Austro engines: "latched" that can only be cleared with a laptop running Wizard software, and "non-latched" that clear themselves automatically if the underlying fault was only temporary.
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by neema »

CFIDave wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2019 2:11 pm
rdrobson wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:46 pmSee attached letter that is now in my maintenance log which says it is a terminating action.
That's great news -- the FAA just needs to update its online AD database to reflect this.

I just had the AD performed on both engines of my DA62 last month, and for the first couple of flights afterwards everything worked properly. But while providing multiple sales demo flights during Sun N Fun 2 weeks ago I started noticing the left engine occasionally would not make more than 78% power when full power was requested -- including during takeoff when the plane started veering off the runway due to asymmetrical thrust! -- and I received L and R ECU failures on that engine. However by bringing the power levers back to idle and applying full power again the ECU failure annunciations on the left engine immediately disappeared, and both engines would then make full power.

This is an example of an AD being performed that made the plane less safe. :(

I took the plane back to the shop (which had previously performed at least a dozen of these AD installations) and had them re-adjust the length of the control rod of the replaced left engine turbo boost controller, and (so far) the problem has not recurred. Got fingers crossed.
Late reply, but we had the exact same issues with the replacement wastegates for the AD on our 42. Wastegates from the factory. I literally left the mx shop and had one engine roll back to 50% power on the climb out. Pathetic.

The shop and Diamond chocked it up to a bad batch of wasteates. The replacement ones are working okay for now. Can't wait to install the mickey mouse mod. :roll:
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by CFIDave »

neema wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 7:41 pmThe shop and Diamond chocked it up to a bad batch of wasteates. The replacement ones are working okay for now. Can't wait to install the mickey mouse mod. :roll:
I don't think there was anything wrong with the replacement wastegates that were installed on my plane to comply with the AD; instead, one was simply mis-adjusted. The design makes it difficult to get the rod length adjusted properly on the first try.
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Re: New Waste Gate Controller AD for AE300

Post by Davestation »

Lack of elegance is putting it mildly - I'm leaning towards just continuing to replace them every 250 hours...

Those cables make for pretty close proximity with other parts of the engine and raise the question of future MIFs or just new points of mechanical failure. In fact, we've had a couple instances already of the heat blanket on the injector cover coming loose and snagging on the WGA rod, causing it to jam and create the very problem these things are trying to avoid. Now it seems there are just more things to get snagged.
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