A complicated process
Keeping your turbine aircraft in compliance
Most owners of turbine airplanes have some experience with aircraft ownership. Usually there are steps from high-performance singles to cabin-class twins, and then to turbines. In the piston world, maintenance management involves annual inspections, a few component checks, and airworthiness directive compliance. Turbine airplane owners face those same requirements, and a whole lot more. That’s all thanks to FAR 91.409.
This is the regulation that requires annual inspections, but farther down in subparts e and f it gets into some additional requirements for turbojet multiengine airplanes, turboprop-powered multiengine airplanes, and turbine-powered rotorcraft. These sections say, in part, that owners of these aircraft must comply with life-limited part requirements and follow the manufacturer-recommended inspection schedule. Now the field is open not only to annual inspections, but pretty much any crazy combination of schedules a manufacturer can dream up. It can and does mean that every type of multiengine turbine aircraft has a different maintenance schedule, and that can cause massive headaches.
“It can be a very difficult thing for people to grasp,” said Mike Naab, the director of maintenance at Double M Aviation, a Lakeland, Florida-based maintenance shop that specializes in pistons and turboprops. “We try to explain it to customers when they’re buying the airplane, but it’s even hard to explain it in a way that makes sense.”
The Beechcraft King Air inspection program is a good example of how complicated the process can be. The program is split into four phases, all of which must be completed every 24 months. But depending on how much the airplane is flown, the schedule can change.
Double M uses a document developed by Beechcraft to help simplify the process when trying to communicate this to new owners. Essentially there are three programs or processes to follow, even though each includes the same four phases. The standard program is based on 800 hours, four phases, or 24 months, whichever comes first. The alternate program is based on flying fewer than 400 hours in 24 months, and it calls for phases one and two at 200 hours or 12 months and phases three and four at the second 200 hours or 12 months. The biennial program is for airplanes that fly fewer than 200 hours in 24 months, and it calls for an interim inspection at 12 months, and all four phases at 24 months.
That’s how it’s supposed to work. But all of us are human, and things slip through the cracks. It’s not unusual for Double M to get an airplane in the shop that’s already well past one or two phases, leading to a significantly bigger bill than the owner anticipated.
Managing the process is usually a collaborative effort. It takes the owner staying on top of times, the shop sometimes reaching out to remind the owner of upcoming inspections, and third-party tracking software, such as CAMP Systems or SierraTrax. These highly capable programs can be a great one-stop resource for digital aircraft logs, maintenance tracking, and more. Save one critical point—they are only as good as the inputs received. If the owner or shop doesn’t keep everything updated, the data becomes useless. Naab said he’s seen cases of owners tracking items that aren’t installed in the airplane, or other shops tracking something that the manufacturer recommended changing years ago.
Like owners, shops have an interest and responsibility in ensuring the components and inspections are up to date as well. As a result, most will spend a few days when they bring in a new airplane to organize the logbooks, input current times, and ensure current compliance.
Audrey Baxcajay, Double M Aviation’s director of operations, said it’s not unusual for her to spend up to five days just to ready the aircraft for maintenance. That time is spent with the logbooks on one screen and Double M’s internal maintenance tracker on another, going line by line to ensure they have good data to start. “Most aircraft that come in have all the paperwork in one big folder,” she said. The shop takes the time to organize the owner’s books. The good news is that although you’ll be paying the shop to do this work, when it comes time to sell, organized, well-managed maintenance shows a dedication to ownership that can be a strong selling point.
Although this process is required for all turbine multiengine airplanes, single-engine turbines usually have programs as well. Pilatus recently updated its program to go from annuals to phase inspections, and TBM has run into issues with its program because of some issues with FAR compliance. A few years ago, the FAA issued Advisory Circular 43-211A to address the inconsistencies with the FARs.
So, if you’re on the lookout for a Piper Cheyenne, a Cessna Citation, or a King Air, keep in mind that bigger maintenance bills aren’t always the result of more expensive parts and complex systems. You’ll also be spending more time in the shop and with your maintenance tracker to ensure compliance.
