Thanks David-that is my concern,- replacing blades due to pitted inserts into the hub assembly or blades a bit too worn. Only one way to find out to make sure its airworthy... I'll give CTS a call.

What banks like to lend on MU-2s? If I'm going to buy my 'last airplane first' I'm going to need some assistance.

Stewart

PM'd a link.

Try Air Fleet Capital

So I know of a MU2 that's been parked outside in a temperate climate for "a couple of years"- according to the kid at the FBO desk.

Do TPs "decay" the same as a piston that's been sitting for an extended period? Would it be scrap/donor based on that alone?

Try Air Fleet Capital

Turboprop engines do not decay as rapidly as piston engines when sitting.

For one thing, the oil does not come into contact with combustion as it does in a piston engine, so there is far less water content in the oil which causes less corrosion.

For another, not nearly as many steel parts in the turbine.

For yet another, the crankcase breather is much smaller since the operation of the engine doesn't cause volume changes or have blow by gases. This means less air exchange, which means less moisture comes into the crankcase over time, thus less corrosion of the gear box and bearings.

The turbine engine is a very simple mechanical thing in that all it has to do is spin. There are turbine engines that were made 30+ years ago and have not been overhauled and they work fine.


Not necessarily.

Mike C.

That said, Honeywell has some published maintenance you need to do if the engine has been sitting idle more than 60 days (I think). Probably the least followed recommend in the history of aviation, right up there with providing an individualized MMEL to the FSDO for turbine owners...

Do a SOAP on a Garrett that's not been run two years, it will come back not clean for sure. You'd want to change the oil and run it/fly it a bit to see it will settle down.

Stewart[/quote]

Try Air Fleet Capital[/quote]

On their website they say that TPs would need to be '85 or newer to finance.
http://www.airfleetcapital.com/turbo-pr ... raft-loans[/quote]

Ahh, I'm here to tell ya from personal experience its not always that way. They do broker out to lenders who portfolio the loans. LTV ratio plays a part as well.

Stewart, PM me for more info...

You sure?

My engines had their FIRST oil change about 2 years ago. That was *14* years and almost *900* hours after they were overhauled. The oil analysis was fine after all those years, some years with somewhat less usage.

Doing a SOAP would be a good thing, but I bet it actually isn't bad.

Specifically, I'd recommend:

1. Don't run the engines.
2. SOAP the existing oil.
3. Do an oil change.
4. Run the engines 5+ hours.
5. SOAP the engines again.

You should expect slightly elevated readings on the second SOAP compared to "normal", but not bad. Mostly some iron. If the readings are quite high, then do another oil change and run another 5 hours. The surface oxidation on the iron will subside in a few hours.

I bet you won't need to do another run.

Mike C.

What does SOAP mean?

Oil analysis. I forget what the letters stand for.

Spectrometric Oil Analysis Program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrome ... is_Program

The "spectrometric" part comes from the way the oil is analyzed, they look at the spectrum of the light to identify the composition of the materials in the oil. In addition, they can check the oil characteristics. In some cases (as in mine), the oil filter is also analyzed.

For a turbine engine, this is usually done at every inspection (100 hours typically) and costs $200-300 per engine. That seems high compared to the piston engine kits out there, and it is, but a good part of the cost is that the kit includes a new oil filter and new seals that go with it. Never the less, a part of the cost is a "turbine tax".

SOAP results have found many serious internal engine problems and solved them before there was any other symptom or failure.

Mike C.