Mike

My FOD damage was the wrong rivets in my inlet that came loose and went thru the engine. The Rivets were pop rivets with steel in them from as previous repair that was done wrong. Williams knew this and still covered the work. So my FOD issue they went above and beyond.

Also had a starting issue on one engine and they took care of it very fast and under program.

So for me they have been a premium service. Yes I know I pay a premium for that service.

Sure If I can go back and take all that money back and invest it I would have plenty. But thats not how it works. I bought my plane and had the risk day one with no reserve.

You know how you have your experience and it's great for you but others don't get it. Well this is one of those cases but you are the one not getting it. I cant have a $500K event on my plane but I can afford the annual program spread out over 12 months. Does that make sense for everyone? No but it works for me. I cant self insure on many items so I pay Insurance. If I added up all I pay for Insurance its crazy but If I stop paying today and have a loss tomorrow it would break me.

Mike

Arguably the same trade you make with your aircraft hull insurance, homeowners insurance, automobile collision insurance, etc, with one big difference. When you have an event, are there multiple shops who can effect the repair, or are you limited to one, the OEM?

Understood.

For many years, the TAP program costs were reasonable. The trajectory in the last few years is concerning however, seems to have been a change in attitude at Williams on program pricing. They now have a large fleet of older engines, and the new sales are not as much of their revenue, so time to milk another cow.

Here is my data on that trend and the comparison with an SP500 ETF:

Had someone been on the program since 2009, they are $1.9M down in their wealth today using the most basic of investment strategies. And this is with the recent market corrections.

The strategy does expose oneself to an early event without funds, but once past a few years, the results are strongly positive.


They key is having the choice.

The risk versus return equation holds, as always.

Mike C.

We all have our own spreadsheets to justify what we do. LOL

If I looked at what I spend for Vehicle insurance I could have bought a few replacement vehicles by now.

It's easy to go back and look at what could have been when selecting what variables you change and focus on.

For me the Williams program is better than the risk of out of pocket engine failure event.

And I like the simplicity of operation and the performance of the Williams engines.

I would have to spend 3x my planes value to get any better performance. Thats a lot more cost than engine program.

Mike

The FJ44 seems to have various glitches with the FADECs such that many owners carry the digital equipment to clear its faults or they are AOG until they do so.

What has been your experience and do you carry the FADEC interface kit with you?

Mike C.

We get the maintenance light once every 6-8 months sometimes longer. You can fly 20 hours with the light on so it’s be never been an issue for me. There is another light that comes in if there is a real issue.

I email Williams and they send the laptop kit out. I clear the code and send the kit back.

It’s been the same ECU each time and they suggested swapping sides and if the problems follows the ECU they will send me a new one. Just have not taken the time to swap them yet.

So it’s really not a big deal. But I do systems integration for work so
I am used to dealing with glitchy tech.

Mike

DAL A software should not be so glitchy

DAL A software should not be so glitchy

I worked under a salty and good avionics engineer a dozen jobs ago. He hated FADEC, loved DEECs.

That's from the perspective of new aircraft design, development & certification.

But I'm in the beggers can't be choosers class

Garmin sends updates out all the time for similar certification levels, so this cover story doesn't hold water.

Williams gets $billions in program payments, so they have the money to fix the bug.

Mike C.

Garmin sends updates out all the time for similar certification levels, so this cover story doesn't hold water.

Williams gets $billions in program payments, so they have the money to fix the bug.

Mike C.

I felt the need to point out the "simplicity" you speak of when operating FJ44 engines comes with complexities, namely little annoying FADEC glitches. Every plus comes with a minus.

Mike C.

6,875lbs! I put my 501 on a diet by removing a lot of furniture from the Interior…167 lbs worth. Worst one I’ve seen was 7700lbs empty. I think you could get these to 6500lbs with a full Garmin panel and Garmin autopilot. The battery and the air conditioner would probably have to go up in the nose but it would be a rocket ship.

I felt the need to point out the "simplicity" you speak of when operating FJ44 engines comes with complexities, namely little annoying FADEC glitches. Every plus comes with a minus.

Mike C.

At Cessna, the avionics engineers were not involved, except to the extent they utilized the FADEC outputs. There was considerable discussion with the HIRF and Lightning expert.