Beginning the re-installation process

I'll post some more photos of the work today. The Pilatus service center (SC) is doing a great job with the photo documenting, although they probably cut out the part where a mechanic drops a hammer on a delicate, multi thousand dollar part and says "oh, well..." and moves on. 
Bolting it on...


Those engine shock mounts are brand new (cha-ching)...



Some close-ups of important parts. The FCU (fuel control unit)...


As you can see, there are a whole crap-load of safety wires just on one side of the FCU. Many, many more all over the engine. I have asked the SC to have an experienced IA not assigned to this project to spend as much time as he needs triple-checking every single safety wire once the job is complete. It is remarkable how many accident/incident reports I read that have a root cause related to a missing safety wire or a improperly installed safety wire (not creating tension in the correct direction of rotation, for example).
Below is part of the ECS (environmental control system) and air cycle machine (sometimes called an air conditioning "pack" on larger airplanes) tubing. The air cycle machine system is in the lower, center part of the photo. There is a "cooling turbine" in that little round black unit at the very bottom of the photo that turns some crazy RPM that I can't remember (tens of thousands RPM).  Three of those red thermal blankets are new...the old ones had some cracking and had absorbed enough oil that they were less effective. The SC director of maintenance (DOM) said they could sign them off as airworthy, but I had them replaced anyway. I pinch pennies in a lots of areas, but not training or maintenance. I attribute my 2,400 hours of 100% dispatch rate to that maintenance philosophy, but I might have just got lucky.


View from the other side. You can see the oil sight gauge, the oil dip stick (a very expensive device), the 300 AMP starter-generator (GEN1), and the ignition control computer. On a turbine engines, ignition is typically only used during the start. After it is running, fire-begets-fire and no ignition source (nor electricity) is needed. Pretty simple and self-sustaining system.


This is the VP and Director of Maintenance polishing my exhaust stacks. I am guessing he did this for about five seconds while the photo was taken and then went back to his air conditioned office and re-calculated the obscene profit margin on this job...just kidding...


Mounting the prop.  I elected to get an exchange MT five-blade prop rather than overhaul mine. Might have been a mistake as mine was working fine, but this prop had most of the overhaul work done at the MT factory in Germany and they guaranteed it had all the latest upgrades (mainly deice related). Guess I am a sucker...I said "do it."




The folks at this SC (Levaero) have been fantastic to work with and even pretty funny.  Here is a slightly edited email exchange I had with the DOM (director of maintenance, the guy faking polishing the exhaust stacks) today...
ME:
One other thing that provides evidence of my aviation OCD…prop balancing. I really love having the prop as well balanced as possible even if it takes more than the typical number of balancing runs (if more than three, observe the starter cool down period, of course).

My local shop got it down to .01 IPS which is the record…I am sure you guys can beat that… 
DOM:
Well, Jack… that sounds like a challenge. I have cc’d my Production Manager and Crew Chief. Of course, if we can’t achieve or beat that it must be [name-of-guy-who-sells-PC12-MT-props-in-the-US]’s fault.

We’re on it…
ME:
[Name-of-guy-who-sells-PC12-MT-props-in-the-US] told me a blind, one-armed monkey could balance an MT prop down to .01 IPS. 

You’re not implying he was exaggerating are you?
DOM:
Where the hell am I going to find one of those with such short notice!
Performance is what counts, but nice people (they are Canadian, after all) is a bonus. 
I am guessing they will fire it up tomorrow and start the fine tuning. Prop balance and final checks Saturday and then their pilot brings it to me on Sunday assuming no unforeseen problems. 
Hope this reality show has a happy ending!