Piston AD replacement at MyFlight X04

[michael.g.miller]

Good news - revised pistons are coming in stock very shortly! I just talked with Chris Hilton at MyFlight (MX facility at X04, training location at KORL), and he told me that we can expect to have them available at the end of April / beginning of May.

MyFlight has already been replacing some cracked pistons (unfortunately with the old version at the moment), and has ramped up experience. Chris told me that I could share that they will be able to accommodate owners as soon as pistons come in, with an expected downtime of 1.5 weeks.

I imagine they will get busy as soon as they get stock.. so I'd recommend you schedule an appointment with them if you are impacted by the AD: mxsupport@myflight.com.

My Daimler engines are luckily not impacted, but I have been very impressed by the work MyFlight has done for my plane (including replacing a cylinder head). I would have no hesitation recommending them to do engine work.

[michael.g.miller]

Whoops, made a typo on the email. The correct email is mxsupport@flymyflight.com

[Boatguy]

Chris told me that I could share that they will be able to accommodate owners as soon as pistons come in, with an expected downtime of 1.5 weeks.

To be entirely clear, Chris is saying it will take about a week and a half to replace the pistons on a plane? Since you have a DA42, I assume that's for both engines and would be the same for a DA62.

So would a DA40NG take more like 4-5 days?

Did he suggest how many planes he could accommodate at a time? In other words, will four DA42's require six calendar weeks? Or can he work on two at once?

For comparison to other shops, how many Austro trained A&P's are in his shop?

[michael.g.miller]

I asked Chris your questions.. he said:

1.5 weeks is per engine. It’s about 2-3 days to pull the engine. 1-2 days to do the pistons and then 2-4 days to install.

Depending on how many techs I have on the job is another determining factor. (More guys faster turnaround)

Once I am fully set up I’m hoping to be able to do 2-4 planes at a time.

At the end of April all my techs will be Austro certified.

Their entire fleet of training/rental aircraft is Diamond diesel powered, so they definitely have expertise there (and have done great work for my Austro equipped DA42NG).

If anyone is concerned about scheduling/downtime, I'd definitely reach out to Chris - I'm sure they can work with you to find something that will work.

[Boatguy]

Not specific to MyFlight, any idea what kind of testing is done after the replacement? Do they run it on a stand for some number of hours at 85% power? Seems like you wouldn't want to just hop in your plane and go flying.

[mfdutra]

On a twin, I'd rather do one engine, fly for a while, then do the other one.

[trider]

My local shop should have just finished getting hands-on training on the procedure by changing the pistons of one engine following a crack discovered almost 2 monthes ago. Really a pity for the AOG on an almost new 150 h TTSN plane and for having the engines almost completely teared-down

I am 'happy' that only one engine was affected and that they perform a test flight... I don't know if it is required by the procedure but I would have asked it anyway. I have no idea if they will have to change them again when the updated SB comes with the 'final' pistons or if it is already from the approved batch.

Considering the age and price of the plane, I am still astonished of not having received any message from Diamond. That says a lot about their consideration for private owners...

[mfdutra]

That says a lot about their consideration for private owners...

What consideration?