Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Discussions specific to Austro engines

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geekmug
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by geekmug »

MyFlight wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 12:57 am Unfortunately we are currently only able to order kits for AOG aircraft or for aircraft that are approaching the 900 hr time limit at this time.
Am I going to be allowed to elect to get a piston kit en lieu of performing another borescope inspection?

Per the Airworthiness Directive, the aircraft is no longer airworthy based on flight hours, so that's AOG, right?

I don't see how Diamond Aircraft or Austro Engine gets the right to determine the method of remedy. First come, first serve, no? They are not providing consideration to owners, and I mean that in the contractual sense. Are they going to refuse to sell me parts? My aircraft is about 20 hours from being AOG. I would happily use those hours to fly down to your shop on your schedule if I could terminate this AD.
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YokotaFTC
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by YokotaFTC »

MyFlight wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 12:57 am Hi All,

I wanted to hop on here regarding the piston replacement kits. We are one of the few Service Centers authorized to do the replacement and subsequent terminating action and have completed almost a dozen replacements already of the older style. We have several replacements scheduled for the "newer style"/terminating action piston coming in shortly and we do have the new piston kits in stock at our location. Unfortunately we are currently only able to order kits for AOG aircraft or for aircraft that are approaching the 900 hr time limit at this time. We are working very closely with Diamond/Austro engine on getting the new kits out for all affected aircraft.

We are fairly unique in that our entire service center is 100% Diamond focused (we do not service any other aircraft manufacturers in our shop). This allows us to focus 100% of our time and resources on Diamond specific issues.

Right now, our turn around time is about a week to a week and a half. With the increase of demand/workload, we have decided to open a dedicated engine shop next to our main service center location. This will help separate routine maintenance inspections in our large hangar from these piston replacements, keeping things controlled and organized. We have nine Austro/Diamond trained techs on staff. Austro's goal, like said above, is to work through AOG aircraft first and then slowly start working through all those impacted with the hope to fully resolve the MSB by the end of this year.

I’m happy to help anyone out, whether it's flying the aircraft to our location in Florida or shipping the engine to us for piston replacement. Similarly, if anybody has any questions or needs any guidance on any maintenance related questions, please feel free to reach out. My email is listed below:

chris@flymyflight.com

-Chris Hilton
MyFlight
Head of Maintenance Operations
So per your message, we should just remain patient and comfortable with continuing the borescope inspections thru the 900Hr. We are operating 3 DA40s and 1 42; 2 of our 40s are shy of 400Hr, the other 250Hrs, and our 42 shy of 90. The Service Center (alpha aviation) at Sendai Airport said they were unsure if they are certified (or will be) to do the piston swaps. Any advice would be welcomed, we are investigating options to include bringing a team over to us here in Tokyo. Any information would be greatly welcomed as opposed to having 4 pretty static display aircraft.

Scot
Chief Mechanic, A&P/IA
Yokota Flight Training Center
Yokota US Air Base, Tokyo, Japan
donald.northcutt.1@us.af.mil
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Soareyes
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by Soareyes »

You would think that Diamond/Austro would want to ship out as many piston kits as possible as soon as possible. I'm curious what is the limiting factor.

Since each kit and repair job is costing them money are they trying to spread out their financial impact?

Is it supplier limited? On a recent DPA event some of us toured the Hartzel propeller factory, the part where they make aluminum props. The most surprising thing was how much one at a time, hand labor was involved. Here is an old 'How It's Made' video about the making of pistons:
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... stons+made

Are they wanting to get a few pistons out in the field first and wait to see if there are any problems before converting the whole affected fleet?

In the past, whenever I had a patient with a (very rare ;) ) surgical problem the best way to mollify them, even get them on my side was to supply them with every bit of information about what happened, what is being done about it and how we, not I, were going to work together to fix it.

In the absence of information people tend to lean to the negative.

It would be good PR to hear from Austro a bit about how the pistons are made, what is special about them, details the testing process and a running tally of how many have been shipped and installed.
Current: DA42-V1

Previous: Hang gliders, Paraglider, DA40(x3), Cessna 150 Aerobat, SR22
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by Boatguy »

Soareyes wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 6:39 pm Are they wanting to get a few pistons out in the field first and wait to see if there are any problems before converting the whole affected fleet?
I hope not! Maybe a little test of the upgrade process, but I'm certain everyone expects that the pistons themselves have been thoroughly tested, accelerated life cycle testing, etc.
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MyFlight
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by MyFlight »

geekmug wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 3:13 am
MyFlight wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 12:57 am Unfortunately we are currently only able to order kits for AOG aircraft or for aircraft that are approaching the 900 hr time limit at this time.
Am I going to be allowed to elect to get a piston kit en lieu of performing another borescope inspection?

Per the Airworthiness Directive, the aircraft is no longer airworthy based on flight hours, so that's AOG, right?

I don't see how Diamond Aircraft or Austro Engine gets the right to determine the method of remedy. First come, first serve, no? They are not providing consideration to owners, and I mean that in the contractual sense. Are they going to refuse to sell me parts? My aircraft is about 20 hours from being AOG. I would happily use those hours to fly down to your shop on your schedule if I could terminate this AD.
Good afternoon Scott,

If you are approaching the 900 hr life limit of the pistons then you are correct. At 900 hrs your aircraft would jump from the none AOG category to the AOG category. If you are only 20 hrs away from 900 Hrs then my recommendation would be like you said, fly it down to us and we will get the piston swap completed for you. I would recommend that you try to be as close to 900 hours as possible by the time you get in the shop.

Please feel free to either call me or shoot me an email and we will get you on our schedule and get you taken care of!

Chris Hilton
407-243-8116
chris@flymyflight.com
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MyFlight
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by MyFlight »

So per your message, we should just remain patient and comfortable with continuing the borescope inspections thru the 900Hr. We are operating 3 DA40s and 1 42; 2 of our 40s are shy of 400Hr, the other 250Hrs, and our 42 shy of 90. The Service Center (alpha aviation) at Sendai Airport said they were unsure if they are certified (or will be) to do the piston swaps. Any advice would be welcomed, we are investigating options to include bringing a team over to us here in Tokyo. Any information would be greatly welcomed as opposed to having 4 pretty static display aircraft.

Scot
Chief Mechanic, A&P/IA
Yokota Flight Training Center
Yokota US Air Base, Tokyo, Japan
donald.northcutt.1@us.af.mil
[/quote]

Hey Scot,

At this time remaining patient would be my recommendation. I know being "comfortable" isn't exactly the easiest thing right now with this piston issue. Trust me, I completely understand as we have around 30 aircraft (mix of 40 NGs and 42 VI) in our fleet that are affected. As long as you are not finding cracks when doing the borescope inspection then I would plan to continue to fly your aircraft until the 900 hr mark, and just keep doing the borescope inspection every 50 hrs. If you find either a crack or you are approaching the 900 hr life limit that would move you to the AOG category, and getting the new piston kit would then be available for you. Again I do know this is a pain and alot of owners are upset (rightly so) but I can say with 100% confidence that both Austro and Diamond are working very hard on resolving the issue and getting the terminating action pistons issued out ASAP for all affected engines.

Everyone is going to want their plane(s) done first. But right now with the limit in production of the new pistons Austro has to priorities aircraft that are physically AOG over aircraft that are affected but still flyable aircraft (no cracks / <900hrs).

I am not sure who Austro has issued in your region to be the point of contact to have there repairs done as this would be handled by Diamond Austria (I presume). But I am more than happy to reach out to Diamond and see who they have slotted for your region.

If you need assistance in this feel free to shoot me an email at chris@flymyflight.com.
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twesselman
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by twesselman »

Hey Chris! Nice post and helpful information. Have you guys seen any of the new pistons yet? I just dropped 930PA with Jon for the annual and 600 hr for the “new” engine. The last borescope was clear - with the only issue being broken plastic injector housings on the removal… 🙃

Hope you all are doing well in FL!


Best,
Tim
(Now based in Austin)
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by MyFlight »

twesselman wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 5:04 pm Hey Chris! Nice post and helpful information. Have you guys seen any of the new pistons yet? I just dropped 930PA with Jon for the annual and 600 hr for the “new” engine. The last borescope was clear - with the only issue being broken plastic injector housings on the removal… 🙃

Hope you all are doing well in FL!


Best,
Tim
(Now based in Austin)
Hey Tim!

Hope you have been well and 930 has been doing good for you! We have in fact seen the new style pistons and have started getting the first AOG aircraft in and the new pistons installed. We have several AOG/timed out aircraft in the queue right now to get done and are working through that list as we speak.

It is my understanding that the kits will be available for the masses sooner than initially expected. Hearing some good things through the grapevine. We will be up at Diamond Canada on Monday and will hopefully be back with more good news ASAP. :D
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by zeftingav »

Good morning everyone,

Just wanted to follow up and agree with Chris' comments. Diamond has communicated that their priority is shipping kits as quickly as possible based on need, with AOG and soon-to-be AOG aircraft taking precedence.

Our understanding is that piston delivery delays are not anticipated for the remainder of the year based on current customer projections. It seems Diamond is taking proactive steps to accommodate needs as they arise.

We've recently completed final engine runs on our third engine in the past few weeks and are looking forward to our next batch arriving next month.

For those of you on the west coast, please feel free to reach out if we haven't already connected, and we can discuss available options. Currently, our shop availability is more of a limiting factor for our business than parts acquisition.

Thanks,

Brett Zefting
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Re: Piston MSB affecting newer engines - MSB-E4-043

Post by ingramleedy »

ingramleedy wrote: Fri May 23, 2025 8:47 pm Has anyone received new piston kits yet?
I was AOG because of a cracked piston in cylinder #1 back in April,

Just got word that my engine is on the way back from Aerotec with new pistons (that is terminating action for the 50 hour borescope inspections). When it's received, it will be re-acquainted and tested with the airframe. Crossing my fingers. ;)
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