Hope you can get back in the air soon, it’s never fun being down for unexpected maintenance.
Indeed MD, I also hope you get things sorted quickly. But listen, here’s a way for you to fly until even you get tired of it. EuroGA will organise one of its members to pick you up and fly you to the next member, etc etc. Take a week off and we’ll sort it! 
Only partly joking, happy to take you up flying should you be here, and maybe others nearer by would be prepared as well..
aart wrote:
Take a week off and we’ll sort it!
LOL! Well, thanks a lot, what a kind idea. Taking a week off unfortunately for me is about as likely as flying my plane in the next months.
Well, as I don’t have my license active (was planned to be done in the next weeks…) I am not planning to fly anyhow. Maybe next year if my schedule allows ist but somehow I am sceptical. 7 years to retirement and maybe….
Small update.
Engine is still in the shop, crankcase needs replacement due to crack found, according to the shop a consequence of the incident. Expect it to be delivered back next week or so.
Prop: It came out that the most economical offer was to replace the prop with a 3 blade Hartzell. Prop is on order, expected delivery in February.
Other: Both up-downlocks for the gear get replaced, on order from LASAR. I threw a cowl closure in as there is freight anyhow, so that is a small item done while working anyway. (The cowl closure closes of the lower half of the engine intake, protecting some accessories like alternator and starter and improving cooling. I don’t expect any speed increase….)
Plan is now once the engine is back to do the break in with a loaner prop and ferry it to Speck, where it will wait for the prop and get some other stuff done in the mean time. So no flying this year anymore and I expect earliest March/April for the airplane to get back in the air. So from September 4th, the 6 month estimate was not too far off but rather optimistic. Limiting factor definitly is the prop.
In a way you are lucky that a crack was found. Reportedly a lot of subsurface cracks, which propagate to the surface much later, are the result of prop strikes, including some unreported ones. Dye penetration NDT doesn’t find subsurface cracks and AFAIK only x-ray inspection can find those in aluminium.
Peter wrote:
In a way you are lucky that a crack was found. Reportedly a lot of subsurface cracks, which propagate to the surface much later, are the result of prop strikes, including some unreported ones. Dye penetration NDT doesn’t find subsurface cracks and AFAIK only x-ray inspection can find those in aluminium.
I don’t know how they found the crack, will find out in due course I suppose. I trust Cermec 100% in this. When I did my overhaul with them in 2011, they also found a minor crack at the top of the old crankcase which was extremely hard to detect and according to them, did not represent any form of danger. We replaced the crankcase then with a used one but one which was up to factory new spec. The one we put now is, as far as I know, factory new.
I don’t have the full report yet, but that is the main item we were told has to be replaced. Cermec do a fantastic job, are approachable and have a relatively fast turnaround time too. I would not give any engine anywhere else.
Due penetrant is the usual inspection technique for cast aluminum. Visual inspection or ultrasound are the two common ones for structures.
Well, we just got a note from Hartzell telling us the new prop will not arrive in Switzerland before end of May. At least they mention the year 2022.
I get the information that the lead time for a new propeller is now 7-12 months!
So be careful out there with your props and if possible sort a stand by replacement. Which is what I am not gonna try to do.
Antonio wrote:
OTOH it is not the first but the third time I am personally aware of a go around post a prop strike (plus a few videos online, famous one with an Aerostar). It is not a rare occurrence. However the conclusion after past discussions personally and online is that it is risky business to go around after a prop strike. I guess pilot instinct is to pull up into the air if something does not feel right at landing. After all that is engrained in our training. Inthis caseall these cases it probably saved the airplane.
Not always. A pilot I know personally was receiving his rating renewal on MEPs; for the second touch and go, they were going to practice a landing without flaps. Due to distraction caused by the examiner, the PIC was interrupted in his downwind checks, both missed the gear down check and as they were flying faster in the approach, there was no warning. According to the PIC, they both heard the graunching of metal but the examiner grabbed the throttles, took control and went around. The plane crashed in woods about 400m from the end of the runway. Both can be fortunate that they survived.
but the examiner grabbed the throttles
An experienced examiner, and it goes with the profession that they are usually testing complete strangers, conducted an initial IR check-ride. The young candidate went through the test with reasonable competence, but on the final landing/arrival managed to collapse the undercarriage. The examiner rather coolly announced ‘sorry about that old chap, but that was a partial’ :)
Examiners also know if they have to take control it is a partial/fail, so their is a built in reluctance to catch an impending deviation while they see if the candidate sort themselves out.
