Yes, Jon is correct. Don't know much more than that, as I've not seen owner at home airport for a little while, just exchanged a few texts. Plane is part 91 and as I recall, was part 91 before he bough it, too.

Did stick my head in the door the other day and mechanic was lifting 2nd engine into position on nacelle, so it should be in rigging by now.

I want an Avanti...

Anthony I was looking back at old posts and saw this photo of yours...




I believe you have an early serial number like mine so therefore the original configuration had the "cheese grater" overheads. I notice yours doesnt.... was that an aftermarket cover? I like it!

Not sure Mark / I bought it this way!

I wonder why these cheese grater replacements could not be fabricated and simply signed off with a minor modification. They are only interior parts. As long as the trap doors for the O2 masks and slots for the lights were done correctly, I would think it could be made with a strip of sheet metal and some leather covering.

Anthony, are yours documented in a log entry somewhere? Be interesting to see how they logged it.

That’s what I’m going to try to do Jon. We shall see.

As far as the Cheese Graters go, I think Anthony’s is the only early one I’ve ever seen without. I know that early completions were done by several different MRO’s, and the interiors are similar, but not really standard between airframes.

I stand corrected.... went back through some old photos and data I had from 1008,1010, 1011. These all had the upper fins. 1018 didn't, but it was retrofitted in 2007 via FAA 337 field approval. Most of the interior variations in the early ones are mostly galley style and placement, but the headliners/ PSU's appear fairly standard. I'm guessing Anthony's was modified after original delivery.

Spoke to my buddy today as he stopped by hangar and got a little more meat from his latest PT6 adventures. He told me that P&W wanted $1.4mill per engine for the zero timed -66B's!! Instead, he opted for the factory certified ones for $1.3mill - one's at 950hrs, the other is at the 3400hrs or so. Overhauls would have started at $650K/each if he'd gone that route, but since they're 2nd run and the hot section inspection guy had said it would probably be a bit more. Plus, overhaul waiting times are 6+ months and he didn't want to wait. It's also a -66 to -66B upgrade, which adds some hot an high performance and makes oil servicing easier (as it has a more accessible design).

He said he was dead sick of engine and service people taking advantage of him, he felt. He had some hot section guy charge $10K just to inspect them, only to miss a massive inlet crack etc. And the guy who's putting the engines on has revised his price 3 times upwards.

I totally get it. I know we can't find A&P's and I want them to earn a ton of money, but it's just death by a thousand cuts when it comes to certified aircraft. Everyone takes you to the cleaners.

I love these things, but P&W pricing is totally out of control at this stage. $1.4mill per engine? We can't get competition soon enough. Hopefully someone will find a way to STC these with TPE331's or GE Catalysts in the future.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... 1m0VQ3LvMx

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... lhCrE3JQju

What model TPE331 would match a -66 Pratt? How much does one cost? Heavier/Lighter than the original engine? Efficiency?

Looking at these charts a -10 has the the flat rated horsepower but itakes a -14 to have the same thermodynamic horsepower. How does that work?

IIRC this aircraft is Pt 91. Why was he even considering doing an overhaul? It's like walking into a car dealership with a 15 year old car and tossing them the keys. You are just asking for it at that point. An HSI only repairs/replaces broken things. An overhaul replaces everything no matter what. Stupid IMO.

Based on what Jon said the person chose to replace the engines instead of repairing them. Again, you are just asking for it at that point. Now if you can't afford the downtime then you have to pay. But for those of us that fly for fun, do the HSI (and be patient while it's happening), and keep flying.

Further, his engines have some value which would go against the replacement costs.

But the bottom line is that you are buying into an ecosystem. Make sure you have airframe and engine service options figured out before. Oh and do a little research about what's required before tossing the keys to a shop.

The -14 is awesome for power, but not so much for overhaul etc as it's the "big block" Garrett and more costly. The one to go for is a the -12, most likely. That's the most powerful of the "small block" TPE's.

One problem with the Garretts is that they're not reverse flow inlets, so a little harder to adapt to a pusher config. I'm sure it's doable, just need to figure out the exhaust/inlet/shaft thing.

Not sure the cost new, I've heard Honeywell also take every OEM to the cleaners, but at least te overhauls are considerably cheaper than PT6.

Looking forward to seeing more about the Catalyst.

He had to, forget the reason. He's not a dummy - had a Hondajet before, so it's not like he wandered into this like a child. He got a good deal on plane and took his chances on the engines being able to soldier on past TBO, but plan didn't work out.

Me, too

$1.4m each seems steep. $2.2m gets two -67A's and MT 5 blades on a KA350 with exchanged timed out -60As.

Not much difference between the 66B and a 67A