CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
This happened to a friend of mine.
Situation: King Air B200. Fly into the middle of nowhere (closest city with more than a few thousand people is 2.5-3 hours away by car) and it is 12F. No hangar, GPU, or facilities to speak of. Unload the passengers, get the crew car, eat dinner, and hang out in the city office for about 5 hours.
You go to fire up the right engine, and it only gets to 55% N1 (62-65% is normal). You start up the left engine, without issue and try to get a cross gen start going. Same thing on the right. Call up MX, cancel the flight, take care of the passengers and get a hotel.
The only mechanics available the next day are some turbine helicopter mechanics. The company sends these guys out and check for obvious signs of failure. With the help of company MX over the phone, they diagnose it as the FCU. Still shows the same symptoms after multiple runs. Now, they send out an engine guy from a reputable PT6 company, but it takes a few days.
A few days go by, and when the reputable mechanic shows up, there are no issues after multiple runs. He rules out the FCU, as it is almost always a catastrophic failure and claims once they go out, they don't come back.
The reputable mechanic has done nothing at this point, but run the engine. What do you do at this point?
Situation: King Air B200. Fly into the middle of nowhere (closest city with more than a few thousand people is 2.5-3 hours away by car) and it is 12F. No hangar, GPU, or facilities to speak of. Unload the passengers, get the crew car, eat dinner, and hang out in the city office for about 5 hours.
You go to fire up the right engine, and it only gets to 55% N1 (62-65% is normal). You start up the left engine, without issue and try to get a cross gen start going. Same thing on the right. Call up MX, cancel the flight, take care of the passengers and get a hotel.
The only mechanics available the next day are some turbine helicopter mechanics. The company sends these guys out and check for obvious signs of failure. With the help of company MX over the phone, they diagnose it as the FCU. Still shows the same symptoms after multiple runs. Now, they send out an engine guy from a reputable PT6 company, but it takes a few days.
A few days go by, and when the reputable mechanic shows up, there are no issues after multiple runs. He rules out the FCU, as it is almost always a catastrophic failure and claims once they go out, they don't come back.
The reputable mechanic has done nothing at this point, but run the engine. What do you do at this point?