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Showing posts from June, 2017

Self insuring versus third party insurance

I did a cost comparison of my overhaul cost (adjusting for cost-of-money) versus Pratt and Whitney's ESP (power by the hour) program. The ESP Gold rate (includes life limited components and engine removal and re-installation) for my engine is about $155 per hour (that is the 2012 PT6A-67P rate - could not find the 67B rate). To do the analysis completely correctly, I would need to find either a 2008 (when I bought the plane) or 2004 (when the plane was new) ESP rate, but I could not find a rate sheet that old. Perhaps use $130 per hour as a ballpark estimate for a 2004-2008 ESP rate? Not sure if that ESP rates cover "upgrades" like replacing the PT2 turbine early and the new rather than overhaul FCU or not. Also not sure if it covers overhaul related items (engine mounts, oil cooler overhaul, etc.). Assuming it covers all of that (which I doubt), my cost including a 4% return on my money is about $93 per hour assuming 290 hours per year (12 years until overhaul).  ...

Getting started

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Here is the update on my PT6A-67B overhaul. Engine arrived at the overhaul facility on May 18 and disassembly began. As of June 13, this is my engine in bits-and-pieces! Some of the pieces after being cleaned, inspected and repaired as needed... After the full tear down and analysis, I received a 10 page "engine condition report" detailing the condition of every major part of the engine and recommended repairs or replacements. Here is a sample of the report to give a sense of the information provided. Basically, they provide photos of anything needing replacement rather than repair. They said the engine was very clean and showed no evidence of operational mishandling. I was sure I had handled it properly, but I bought it with 1,200 hours so I could not be certain about the prior owner. The only somewhat unusual item needing replacement were 10 compressor turbine ("CT") blades (out of a total of about 45) that showed some e...