Page 22 - Volume 13 Number 6

10,000-Cycle Inspections
When a King Air hits the 10,000­cycle mark there is a significant list of inspections to be done. (For 90 models, it happens at 9,000 cycles.) Again, there is a lot of overlap between the 2,500­cycle checklist and these 10,000­cycle items. Maybe the factory thought some of these items shouldn’t go for 10,000 cycles before getting inspected, so they added a look­see at the 2,500­, 5,000­ and 7,500­cycle intervals. This means it will also come due again at 10,000 cycles. Time to guard against double­dipping.
Recently I was hired to represent the seller of a King Air that had just reached 10,000 cycles and 10,000 hours total time. Logbook research by the buyer showed that the shop doing the maintenance for the seller had missed a few required items, including the 2,500­cycle inspection. Coincidentally, the buyer was having the shop complete a Phase 3 and Phase 4 as their pre­buy. The shop charged meticulously for every task called out on all checklists. Needless to say, I found a lot of double­dipping between the 2,500­cycle and the Phase 3 inspections.
Additionally, I found triple­dipping in the case of some 10,000­cycle tasks that also appeared on the other two inspections. All these duplicate items were brought to
the attention of the shop administrators in a face­to­ face meeting. It was a bit of a battle, but I won many credits for the seller.
The 3,000-Hour Flap Inspection
This flap inspection is the other maintenance item added recently by Textron Aviation. It calls for in­depth inspection of the flap roller bearings, flap tracks and associated structure. Unlike the 2,500­cycle inspection, there is no clear­cut duplication with a Phase checklist or other special inspections. Of course, you want to have it done during a Phase for the sake of convenience, but it will be an added labor cost.
In recent years I have seen a lot of flap roller bearings going bad, so I am a fan of this 3,000­hour flap inspection. A bad roller bearing, if not detected and replaced early enough, will wreak havoc on your flap tracks and possibly the flap itself. These are costly repairs to make, but easy to prevent by being proactive with the Teflon washers in your flap assemblies.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I will beg, plead and admonish you to check for the white, or whiteish, Teflon washers. I’ve written four articles on flaps and I mention these Teflon washers every time. (Note: see my October 2016 article featured in this magazine for detailed directions on doing this simple check and adding it to your preflight routine. Email me or give me a call if you can’t locate the article.) You cannot afford not to know about the correct placement of these washers and having them replaced at the slightest sign of wear.
Invoice Review
Double­ and triple­dipping by a shop might be on purpose or may be an oversight – or perhaps a little of both. These days shops have software programs that take a simple entry by the mechanic on the floor and parlay it into a line item on the invoice replete with a full description of the task, parts required, freight charges and sales tax. This is great for the shop to keep track of all pertinent expenses. Customers, however, need to go over these invoices with a fine­tooth comb.
Automated systems have no commonsense. If the Phase 3, 2,500­cycle inspection and the 10,000­cycle inspections are on the same job, all the tasks for each inspection are loaded into the invoice, regardless of duplication. Sometimes the person churning out these invoices has zero knowledge of the invoice content. The shop needs someone with maintenance knowledge and experience to vet the duplicate charges and fine­tune the invoices.
In the case I presented above where I represented the seller, the person who reviewed and revised the invoices had an A&P certificate and some familiarity with what goes on in the hangar, but they failed to notice the double and triple­dipping until I came along.
20 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2019