Into my first annual with my 62….impressions

[mfdutra]

That's really absurd!

[MikeMeadows]

Sorry to hear that Joel. In December I experienced a many-week part supply problem from Diamond. They didn't return any phone calls, and no emails. Premier were able to finally get the parts from Diamond, but it was an awful process.

[ememic99]

I would require free of charge service as compensation.

[MackAttack]

Yes well thanks all. The planes are great but the service not so much. And I’m considering asking for compensation as well as a day for day warranty extension because it is ridiculous. These are expensive aircraft. I understand that I may get nothing of course.

[chili4way]

I'll voice an unpopular counterpoint. This is actually two projects: the Annual inspection and the Installation of the upgraded weather radar. Presumably, the Annual couldn't be rescheduled. It's unclear a) which parts-related delays are due to the Annual and concurrent scheduled maintenance (e.g., 100-hour oil change or known squawks), b) which are due to new issues identified as part of the Annual, and c) which are specific to the WX radar Installation upgrade.

Calling the extended schedule all Annual seems inaccurate; most of the delay appears to be WX radar Installation-related.

If you had to do it over again, if the parts required for the Installation weren't in-house when you dropped off your airplane for the Annual, would you tell the DSC only to do the Annual and schedule the Installation once they had everything in-house? If the Installation parts showed up before the annual was completed, perhaps the Installation could be done simultaneously.

If you are waiting for parts only identified during the Annual, that is a separate topic. If you're waiting for parts associated with scheduled maintenance and squawks known a month or more in advance, I'd agree that's a problem.

I'm assuming your Installation is at no extra cost to you, so other than scheduling & logistic inconveniences, the efficiencies of doing this during the annual provided you no financial benefit.

The lesson learned is: don't drop your plane off for non-mandatory service when the required parts are not in-house.

None of this is to excuse poor communication.

[ememic99]

Yes well thanks all. The planes are great but the service not so much. And I’m considering asking for compensation as well as a day for day warranty extension because it is ridiculous. These are expensive aircraft. I understand that I may get nothing of course.

When I was changing TBR engines on my DA42 there was 2 weeks delay due to some parts not delivered on time. The compensation was 5k€ discount plus two first class tickets to destination where I was supposed to fly after service worth more than 2k€.

[Boatguy]

It's unclear a) which parts-related delays are due to the Annual and concurrent scheduled maintenance (e.g., 100-hour oil change or known squawks), b) which are due to new issues identified as part of the Annual, and c) which are specific to the WX radar Installation upgrade

This was a "deferred installation" of the GWX75 in a new plane due to Diamond's usual certification problems. The cabling was in place, ready for the GWX75.

Per the attached, Diamond quotes 2hrs to replace a GWX70 with a GWX75. In this case, there was no GWX70 to remove, so 2hrs is generous.

For warranty work, Diamond will not ship parts based on an owner's squawk and assumption of the root problem. Diamond only ships parts when the DSC has requested them to respond to a warranty issue, with all the attendant warranty paperwork. I've been told to expect 3 weeks for my annual because Diamond currently takes two days to respond to a request for parts, then at the very least there is one day of shipping time. So the cycle of identify, document, request, ship/receive, and install is easily 4-5 days, of which it's quite likely the actual labor is less than 4hrs. The actual time spent on the plane is not the issue, it's waiting for parts.

Diamond has a parts distribution problem which has only gotten worse in the last six months.

[mfdutra]

Two hours to install the GWX-75 is grossly inaccurate according to my service center.

[chili4way]

A re-read of Joel's most recent update indicates that the aux fuel tank sensor is the critical path for completing the Annual; it's not the parts required for the radar Installation. I'm skeptical the Annual can be completed and the airplane be signed off as airworthy without the fuel gauge repair.

It makes sense that Diamond only ships parts for warranty repair once a DSC diagnosis has been made and they've ordered the part. So, the specific timeline of prior service, issue presentation, airplane delivery to DSC, issue diagnosis, parts order, and parts inventory becomes useful information. It's also important that the DSC indicates the part ordered is for an AOG airplane, although it should be self-evident given the nature of this particular warranty repair.

Assuming that the fuel gauge issue was only detected after the last service (i.e., issue/repair wasn't deferred until the Annual and the part could have been put on order), then the full "seven weeks for an Annual" is an accurate complaint. This makes the Annual timeline independent of the radar installation, and having the radar parts sooner would not have affected the overall duration of the MX.

[Boatguy]

Two hours to install the GWX-75 is grossly inaccurate according to my service center.

Unfortunately the pre-wiring in your plane for the GWX75 was short, necessitating a lot of rewiring. My plane, just one s/n later, had totally too much wire length which needed to be coiled up and secured.

My plane has a leaking right wing fuel tank relief valve. A tiny part which apparently requires pulling the wing and removing the tanks to replace. Until then, the RH wing tank leaks fuel on the ramp and in my hangar.

We could go on and on, but this is entirely consistent with what other deliveries in 2022-2023 have experienced with London manufacturing quality control. The issues all get sorted by DSCs in the first two years, under warranty, while the planes spend way too much time in the DSC, unavailable to the owner.