Propeller Eddy Current Inspection

[Hawth200]

My propeller is due for the AD driven eddy current inspection. Does anyone have any experience with shops capable of performing this in the central Ohio area? 

 

A couple people have mentioned the prop shop at Aircraft Specialists in Sellersburg, Indiana. They will do the inspection for $325. Does anyone have any experience with them?

 

Thanks

[mooniac15u]

I had mine done at Tiffin Aire in Tiffin, OH (16G).  They have a full-service prop shop.  I flew in and they did the ECI while I went to lunch. 

 

I only had them do it once and then I opted for a hub replacement at the Hartzell factory in Piqua, OH.  At the time they offered a very good deal if you brought the plane to them.

[flight2000]

Hartzell is in your back yard, have you called and asked them if they can do it? Could help you if you were in Kansas because that is where I had mine done up until I replaced it with a new Top Prop.

$325 seems a little high to me. Last one I had done cost me $180 and that was through Executive Beechcraft located at Kansas City Downtown Airport.

Cheers,

Brian

[rbridges]

Hartzell is in your back yard, have you called and asked them if they can do it? Could help you if you were in Kansas because that is where I had mine done up until I replaced it with a new Top Prop.

$325 seems a little high to me. Last one I had done cost me $180 and that was through Executive Beechcraft located at Kansas City Downtown Airport.

Cheers,

Brian

 

I was thinking the same thing, but I was going by memory.

[Hawth200]

I have not called Hartzell. I may call them to check on pricing, but figured I'd be better off sticking with a independent prop shop. $325 seemed a bit high to me also...  I'm going to give Tiffin Aire a call also. Thanks for the input guys.

[mooniac15u]

Where do keep your plane?

[Hawth200]

Not too far from you Mooniac. Hillsboro, OH (KHOC)

[mooniac15u]

I used to go see Doc Terrell in Hillsboro for my medicals. It's good to meet another Ohio Mooney owner. Maybe we should have an Ohio Mooney fly-in. Those guys in NJ would be jealous.

[Hawth200]

I was just quoted $320 if performed on aircraft from Tiffin Aire. That must be close to the going rate around here...

[Hawth200]

Yes, Doc Terrell is a great AME. It's too bad he retired. I like that idea, an Ohio Mooney fly-in would be great!

 

I get up to Bolton Field every now and then, a buddy of mine has an F model there...

[Mooneymite]

It would be very interesting to know how many defective/failing prop hubs turn up during this inspection.  To me, this was an AD prompted by failures caused by something other than the prop-hub design.

 

Like the recent "Huck bolt" AD, this seems to be a case of over-kill.  I changed mine out when Hartzel had the deal on new hubs right after the AD came out, but my old hub was perfect according to the prop shop.

 

Q:  Has anyone on Mooneyspace discovered a bad hub due to this AD yet?

[Hawth200]

My prop is very low time since overhaul and is in perfect condition. I just can't justify a new propeller or the cost of an overhaul with new hub.

[Hawth200]

Dave, thank you for the info. I knew that there was another method of compliance by having the hub filled with oil, but did not realize that it would be that reasonably priced.

 

Was the total cost of the modification and overhaul $1000? 

[philipneeper]

where did you find this AD?

[mike_elliott]

My propeller is due for the AD driven eddy current inspection. Does anyone have any experience with shops capable of performing this in the central Ohio area? 

 

A couple people have mentioned the prop shop at Aircraft Specialists in Sellersburg, Indiana. They will do the inspection for $325. Does anyone have any experience with them?

 

Thanks

I had them IRAN my old prop once. They did a great job for the price. You might have them do the dye in the prop to eliminate the need for recurrent eddy inspections. 

[Hawth200]

AD 2006-18-15 has been around for awhile... It affected many different airframes.

 

 

Mike - Thanks sharing your experience with Aircraft Specialist.

[Cody Stallings]

I'm in Mountain View Arkansas, I do the ECI inspection for $275.

Yes, we have found a Failure. It is not a Bull$hit AD. It's real

[Cody Stallings]

Cracked hub

[kerry]

Cody,  What's the history with that hub.  What aircraft did it come off?

[Hawth200]

For everyone's information, I did contact Hartzell about performing the inspection and got the following response:

 

"Seth,

 

If your propeller is within our published TBO time frame, we can perform the ECI on the aircraft at our Hartzell Airfield.  The ECI charge is $200.00 and we ask that you allocate about a hour and a half to have this completed.  If your propeller is outside of our published TBO, we would require the propeller to be overhauled. Please contact me if you have any further questions or would like to schedule this service."

 

 

Unfortunately, even though my prop is very low time since overhaul, it is outside of Hartzell's calendar time BTW overhauls. Too bad, I was really liking that $200 figure.

[1964-M20E]

Cracked hub

Don't need eddy currrent to see this one.

[mike_elliott]

For everyone's information, I did contact Hartzell about performing the inspection and got the following response:

 

"Seth,

 

If your propeller is within our published TBO time frame, we can perform the ECI on the aircraft at our Hartzell Airfield.  The ECI charge is $200.00 and we ask that you allocate about a hour and a half to have this completed.  If your propeller is outside of our published TBO, we would require the propeller to be overhauled. Please contact me if you have any further questions or would like to schedule this service."

 

 

Unfortunately, even though my prop is very low time since overhaul, it is outside of Hartzell's calendar time BTW overhauls. Too bad, I was really liking that $200 figure.

 

I haven't heard of very many 2 bladed props that make it out of Piqua alive. Mine didn't. I thought I would be proactive and get it OH'd as it was beyond time. Bottom line, it was cheaper to buy a new 2 blade from LASAR. In the interim, I tried a 3 blade for 90 days. Plane slowed way down and shook its way to altitude, to the destination and on decent. Totally unacceptable on a 4 cyl. Lycoming. Nothing Hartzell could do to get rid of the vibration. After 3 trips to their shop to have it addressed, (each time they dynamically balanced it to "near perfection") I threw in the towel on the three blade idea and ordered a new 2 blade. It was about 9K from Lasar if memory serves me right, and 11K from Hartzell. Hartzell let me "use' the 3 blade for 3 months while they built my 2 blade (which now has the non ad hub). The next year they came out with the AD, and offered a heck of a deal on a new hub, which would have saved me about 3500.

Teaches me to be proactive....My old 2 blade is alive and living as a ferry prop at Maxwell Aviation..

[Cody Stallings]

It lived its life on a 74 E Model Mooney. It had a year long stint on a PA-28R while the Mooney was down.

Had around 5200 Hr TT on it.

The hub was showing indications with the Eddy Current between the red marks. Up on disassembly the upper case half more less fell apart.

Sometimes I listin to my customers spout off about how the AD was a sales Gimmic for Hartzell to sell their "B" hubs. Then I show them that hub, an they realize it's real.

[Hawth200]

Does anyone happen to have the Hartzell Standard Practices Manual 202A that the Service Bulletin refers to in order to perform this inspection?

 

I have friends with NDT certification and eddy current equipment that could perform this inspection if we had the documentation. It doesn't look like Hartzell is very forthcoming with this data though...

[N601RX]

You will need volume 2 of 202A.  Volume 1 of 202A is painting and refinishing. Check your PM's

 

I think your going to have to have someone with a repair station rating, Most of these ratings are limited in scope.