414 Annual/Massive Work

[Ted]

I said that I would write a post about the rather insane amount of work the 414 needed to have done on it. I haven't posted about the work much on here, but if you follow Cloud Nine on Facebook there have been a decent amount of updates.

In mid-February when I had my last transport, the left turbo seized up at one of the fuel stops. Fortunately I was able to get it freed to get back home (getting stuck at a fuel stop with 45 dogs would have been very unpleasant...), but it was time for a new turbo. Also, the nose strut was starting to leak, and the aileron bearings had more play than I would like. So a few squawks to get taken care of.

Unfortunately once we dug into the turbo repair, we found a bunch of rivet heads that had come off of the canted bulkhead (a structural item that supports the turbo) and an improper repair that had been done on the engine beam following very significant corrosion caused by an exhaust leak. End result was the airplane needed a new engine beam, which is a huge job on the 414, and a rotten one at that. Hundreds of rivets need to be drilled out and rebucked. Of course, the engine has to come off as well for the job - that's the easy part!

While getting into it more, the exhaust aft of the "risers" (exhaust parts coming off the cylinders) on the left engine was showing signs of age, and needed to be replaced.

RAM Aircraft orchestrated a sponsorship between them, DART Aircraft Parts, and Aerospace Welding Minneapolis, Inc (AWI) to donate the required exhaust bits, which was huge for us as these parts are not cheap. RAM is perhaps best known for their aircraft improvement STCs on Twin Cessnas, which increase horsepower and gross weight, but they also have a number of STCs, PMAs, and products for other aircraft.

The work progressed and eventually led into annual, which we did as an owner assist, the first time I've been able to be more heavily involved in the wrench turning on an annual for any aircraft I've owned or (in this case) managed. It was nice to get to have this level of involvement. Really by this point, the annual was a non-event. The left fuel selected needed to be overhauled and there were a couple of other minor items, but for the most part it was just opening and closing inspection panels. We replaced the transfer pump for the right side nacelle tank which was dead (1 of 10 fuel pumps on the plane), bringing the fuel capacity back up to 203 gallons.

Another big thing I worked on was installation of the LED lights. Aveo Engineering donated LEDs for the plane. We put LED nav/strobes in the tips, an LED nav/strobe in the tail stringer, and LED taxi and landing lights. The installation on those was straightforward. I'll make another post with a PIREP, but the summary is WOW! The landing and taxi lights are the brightest I've ever seen, period. Eventually I'm going to remove the tail beacon and belly strobe, but there are some approvals around those that have to happen first.

I also went through and removed a bunch of unused avionics and equipment. In the end, I removed about 30 lbs or so, including 4 antennas (two of which were big and bulky, adding significantly to drag). Now when you look at the belly from the wings on back, it's completely clean. I'm really happy with that, and it seems to have added a couple knots in cruise and some to climb rate, too. More drag reduction to do in the future.

The engines checked out great on compressions and borescopes. The plane got signed off and annual completed in mid-July, with enough time to do a test flight and be ready to make our trip to Oshkosh. We didn't fly into Osh itself since I didn't think it was wise to fly into Osh for the first long trip out of maintenance for the plane, but everything went well on the flight. At 19,000 ft we were seeing 200-205 KTAS, the cruise climb rates were better than I expected, and the pressurization works great.

Really when you look at it, the engine beam and the exhaust were the big items. The engine beam wasn't expected, but it's never surprising on one of these planes to find some big ticket item at some point. The exhaust I knew we'd have to do at some point on the left engine. Eventually we will on the right engine as well, although it had some newer components on it and is in overall better condition.

It's been a lot of work the past year and a half (and there's more to come), but I'm really happy with where the 414 is now. Most of the accessories on it are new at this point, the engines are doing well, the props are brand new. We've taken out about 150 lbs total from the plane since we acquired it. I think there's another 50 lbs or so to go, although one of the safety/performance/efficiency upgrades I want to do (strakes) will add a few pounds. It ran book speeds when we got it and is running around 5-10 knots faster than book depending on altitude now, at least for the 31"/2300 RPM power setting we use. Most of that is in the MT Propellers, although some of it is in the antenna removal and weight reduction.

The short list items are getting the air conditioning working again (you really notice it being inop on a pressurized aircraft in the summer), removing the tail beacon and belly strobe (once we can get the approval on that), and there are some other accessories I want to replace as preventative maintenance items. Those will be ongoing as we are able. If we can make it work, I do really want to put the strakes on for the safety and efficiency benefits that go with them, but those may be further out in the future depending. Avionics will come as well.

With a cabin class pressurized twin, you're always in a state of continual restoration. When you started with a project in the first place, that state just can be a bit more extreme

 

[GRG55]

"...With a cabin class pressurized twin, you're always in a state of continual restoration. When you started with a project in the first place, that state just can be a bit more extreme."

I believe this statement could just as well apply to all of us trying to keep our beloved but ancient planes in the air, regardless of whether they are twins, singles, pressurized, or not.

My Aztec was taken down for annual right after returning from OSH last week. I've always been involved as an owner-maintainer (no other way to afford to keep that monster in the air). My grizzled old veteran mechanic died last year. I was fortunate to find a really good replacement who is willing to work with me.

Spent the last two days completely tearing apart the airplane. And I mean completely - except for the instrument panel it is darn near a gutted shell; most thorough inspection since I bought it. Always good to have a new set of eyes look at the plane. He declared the plane in very nice condition, compared to most Aztecs he's seen. BUT, he found some important things. Hairline cracks emanating from bolt holes on both main gear attachments, another almost imperceptible crack starting on the attachment bracket on one flap (visible clearly to me only when I put a magnifying glass on it). The nose gear hydraulic actuator is leaking internally (no external drips) evidenced by the tire drooping down and leaving scuff marks on the inside of the gear doors. And a host of other less dramatic, but typical issues for our aging airplanes.

So, although I do not have any serious structural issues such as the engine beam you had to deal with on the 414, this is still going to be a major restorative annual for me. We will be rebuilding all three of the landing gear hydraulics and mechanicals, the flap hydraulics (got the system apart anyway), new engine mount isolators, replacing one flap, repairing that stupid Piper entry step design (the AD you will be familiar with as a former Aztec owner was done some time ago, but the bolt hole elongates with time and risks the tube structure regardless), replacing two of the original Piper antennas on top (the headliner was never really designed to facilitate that, of course), changing out fuel and oil hoses that are timed out, replacing the failed autopilot roll servo and, hey, we might even have enough left in the bank for two new oil filters and some 20-50 for the Lycomings.

I'm not losing too much sleep over this as I was fortunate to buy a lightly damaged gear-up insurance write off of the same model as mine, with about half the TT on the airframe, for a pittance a couple of years ago, and have been stealing parts off of it ever since. Seems the only way to keep from being grounded for extended periods of time searching for obscure bits.

Any advice, as a former Aztec owner yourself, appreciated! ( Sell, and run? )

 

[Briar Rabbit]

I said that I would write a post about the rather insane amount of work the 414 needed to have done on it. I haven't posted about the work much on here, but if you follow Cloud Nine on Facebook there have been a decent amount of updates.

In mid-February when I had my last transport, the left turbo seized up at one of the fuel stops. Fortunately I was able to get it freed to get back home (getting stuck at a fuel stop with 45 dogs would have been very unpleasant...), but it was time for a new turbo. Also, the nose strut was starting to leak, and the aileron bearings had more play than I would like. So a few squawks to get taken care of.

Unfortunately once we dug into the turbo repair, we found a bunch of rivet heads that had come off of the canted bulkhead (a structural item that supports the turbo) and an improper repair that had been done on the engine beam following very significant corrosion caused by an exhaust leak. End result was the airplane needed a new engine beam, which is a huge job on the 414, and a rotten one at that. Hundreds of rivets need to be drilled out and rebucked. Of course, the engine has to come off as well for the job - that's the easy part!

While getting into it more, the exhaust aft of the "risers" (exhaust parts coming off the cylinders) on the left engine was showing signs of age, and needed to be replaced.

RAM Aircraft orchestrated a sponsorship between them, DART Aircraft Parts, and Aerospace Welding Minneapolis, Inc (AWI) to donate the required exhaust bits, which was huge for us as these parts are not cheap. RAM is perhaps best known for their aircraft improvement STCs on Twin Cessnas, which increase horsepower and gross weight, but they also have a number of STCs, PMAs, and products for other aircraft.

The work progressed and eventually led into annual, which we did as an owner assist, the first time I've been able to be more heavily involved in the wrench turning on an annual for any aircraft I've owned or (in this case) managed. It was nice to get to have this level of involvement. Really by this point, the annual was a non-event. The left fuel selected needed to be overhauled and there were a couple of other minor items, but for the most part it was just opening and closing inspection panels. We replaced the transfer pump for the right side nacelle tank which was dead (1 of 10 fuel pumps on the plane), bringing the fuel capacity back up to 203 gallons.

Another big thing I worked on was installation of the LED lights. Aveo Engineering donated LEDs for the plane. We put LED nav/strobes in the tips, an LED nav/strobe in the tail stringer, and LED taxi and landing lights. The installation on those was straightforward. I'll make another post with a PIREP, but the summary is WOW! The landing and taxi lights are the brightest I've ever seen, period. Eventually I'm going to remove the tail beacon and belly strobe, but there are some approvals around those that have to happen first.

I also went through and removed a bunch of unused avionics and equipment. In the end, I removed about 30 lbs or so, including 4 antennas (two of which were big and bulky, adding significantly to drag). Now when you look at the belly from the wings on back, it's completely clean. I'm really happy with that, and it seems to have added a couple knots in cruise and some to climb rate, too. More drag reduction to do in the future.

The engines checked out great on compressions and borescopes. The plane got signed off and annual completed in mid-July, with enough time to do a test flight and be ready to make our trip to Oshkosh. We didn't fly into Osh itself since I didn't think it was wise to fly into Osh for the first long trip out of maintenance for the plane, but everything went well on the flight. At 19,000 ft we were seeing 200-205 KTAS, the cruise climb rates were better than I expected, and the pressurization works great.

Really when you look at it, the engine beam and the exhaust were the big items. The engine beam wasn't expected, but it's never surprising on one of these planes to find some big ticket item at some point. The exhaust I knew we'd have to do at some point on the left engine. Eventually we will on the right engine as well, although it had some newer components on it and is in overall better condition.

It's been a lot of work the past year and a half (and there's more to come), but I'm really happy with where the 414 is now. Most of the accessories on it are new at this point, the engines are doing well, the props are brand new. We've taken out about 150 lbs total from the plane since we acquired it. I think there's another 50 lbs or so to go, although one of the safety/performance/efficiency upgrades I want to do (strakes) will add a few pounds. It ran book speeds when we got it and is running around 5-10 knots faster than book depending on altitude now, at least for the 31"/2300 RPM power setting we use. Most of that is in the MT Propellers, although some of it is in the antenna removal and weight reduction.

The short list items are getting the air conditioning working again (you really notice it being inop on a pressurized aircraft in the summer), removing the tail beacon and belly strobe (once we can get the approval on that), and there are some other accessories I want to replace as preventative maintenance items. Those will be ongoing as we are able. If we can make it work, I do really want to put the strakes on for the safety and efficiency benefits that go with them, but those may be further out in the future depending. Avionics will come as well.

With a cabin class pressurized twin, you're always in a state of continual restoration. When you started with a project in the first place, that state just can be a bit more extreme

Ted, what year model is the 414?

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Congrats again on getting it back in the air. I'm impressed with how quickly you were able to do so, obviously with the help of some good folks.

 

[Ted]

"...With a cabin class pressurized twin, you're always in a state of continual restoration. When you started with a project in the first place, that state just can be a bit more extreme."

I believe this statement could just as well apply to all of us trying to keep our beloved but ancient planes in the air, regardless of whether they are twins, singles, pressurized, or not.

My Aztec was taken down for annual right after returning from OSH last week. I've always been involved as an owner-maintainer (no other way to afford to keep that monster in the air). My grizzled old veteran mechanic died last year. I was fortunate to find a really good replacement who is willing to work with me.

Spent the last two days completely tearing apart the airplane. And I mean completely - except for the instrument panel it is darn near a gutted shell; most thorough inspection since I bought it. Always good to have a new set of eyes look at the plane. He declared the plane in very nice condition, compared to most Aztecs he's seen. BUT, he found some important things. Hairline cracks emanating from bolt holes on both main gear attachments, another almost imperceptible crack starting on the attachment bracket on one flap (visible clearly to me only when I put a magnifying glass on it). The nose gear hydraulic actuator is leaking internally (no external drips) evidenced by the tire drooping down and leaving scuff marks on the inside of the gear doors. And a host of other less dramatic, but typical issues for our aging airplanes.

So, although I do not have any serious structural issues such as the engine beam you had to deal with on the 414, this is still going to be a major restorative annual for me. We will be rebuilding all three of the landing gear hydraulics and mechanicals, the flap hydraulics (got the system apart anyway), new engine mount isolators, replacing one flap, repairing that stupid Piper entry step design (the AD you will be familiar with as a former Aztec owner was done some time ago, but the bolt hole elongates with time and risks the tube structure regardless), replacing two of the original Piper antennas on top (the headliner was never really designed to facilitate that, of course), changing out fuel and oil hoses that are timed out, replacing the failed autopilot roll servo and, hey, we might even have enough left in the bank for two new oil filters and some 20-50 for the Lycomings.

I'm not losing too much sleep over this as I was fortunate to buy a lightly damaged gear-up insurance write off of the same model as mine, with about half the TT on the airframe, for a pittance a couple of years ago, and have been stealing parts off of it ever since. Seems the only way to keep from being grounded for extended periods of time searching for obscure bits.

Any advice, as a former Aztec owner yourself, appreciated! ( Sell, and run? )

I can't remember how many hours are on your Aztec. Mine had about 9k TTAF on it when I bought it, and 10k TTAF on it when I sold it. If you have a parts plane and are able to get serviceable replacement parts for effectively free, then to me it makes sense to fix if you like the plane and you still want to keep it. I seem to recall we talked about upgrades for you a while ago. If you want to upgrade, now would be a good time to do so. Just depends. I loved my Aztec and there are days when I miss it, but doing 200+ is much nicer than doing 155.

Ted, what year model is the 414?

It's a 1977 model, last year of the tip tanks. Although the straight wings have some advantages, I find the tip tank models tend to be lower maintenance overall, but that could just be my perception. '73 or later have the larger cabin, which was critical for us. For people who want the width of the 400 series but don't necessarily care about the extra length, a 72 or earlier 414 will be a lot cheaper. I could get into other details about the different model years, but reality is everyone I know who flies one loves it, regardless of year.

Overall, the plane is perfect for the Cloud Nine mission. But it's not without its warts, like any plane.

 

[GRG55]

I can't remember how many hours are on your Aztec. Mine had about 9k TTAF on it when I bought it, and 10k TTAF on it when I sold it. If you have a parts plane and are able to get serviceable replacement parts for effectively free, then to me it makes sense to fix if you like the plane and you still want to keep it. I seem to recall we talked about upgrades for you a while ago. If you want to upgrade, now would be a good time to do so. Just depends. I loved my Aztec and there are days when I miss it, but doing 200+ is much nicer than doing 155.

...

Mine has 5600 TT. I've put about 450 on it. It just hauled 4 big guys (we avg >200 lbs), 3 tents, 4 lawn chairs, 3 beer coolers and a pile of other stuff to OSH and back, and nobody felt cramped, or had to leave anything behind. The Baron cockpit is "cosy" by comparison, but would be perfect if I was 6 inches shorter than I am. A 310R would fly faster and higher, but I've decided it's not enough of a difference to warrant the time and effort to change - still an older airplane with all the attendant issues that implies for the incremental improvement in utility.

I would prefer the next plane to be pressurized (for the trips west to the coast), and since the Malibu and 340 are far too tight quartered up front (there's that need to be 6 inches shorter again), and the Cirrusjet is too rich for my budget , what you have, a 414, is the only plane I consider a viable possibility at this point. There's three for sale at my airport alone; seems owners of them are stepping up to turbines in growing numbers now.

It's tempting, but I have to rationalize the higher investment capex, insurance, opex and maintenance for purely non-commercial, personal use, and convince the Secretary of the Treasury (Mrs. GRG55).

The Aztec is a pretty fine machine in a lot of respects, seriously underrated, and I will probably miss it in due course when I change. Landed at Minot, ND for lunch on the way back from OSH. By total coincidence I landed in between two arriving piston engined Piper Malibus from my airport, also returning from OSH. Went off for lunch with these pilots I know. Over our sandwiches discovered their westbound planned flight time for the final leg home at 20,000 ft was 3 hrs, 38 min. Mine, at 8500 ft was 3 hrs, 59 min. If I was jammed in the front of a Malibu I'd want to get there faster too. S

 

[Ted]

Mine has 5600 TT. I've put about 450 on it. It just hauled 4 big guys (we avg >200 lbs), 3 tents, 4 lawn chairs, 3 beer coolers and a pile of other stuff to OSH and back, and nobody felt cramped, or had to leave anything behind. The Baron cockpit is "cosy" by comparison, but would be perfect if I was 6 inches shorter than I am. A 310R would fly faster and higher, but I've decided it's not enough of a difference to warrant the time and effort to change - still an older airplane with all the attendant issues that implies for the incremental improvement in utility.

I would prefer the next plane to be pressurized (for the trips west to the coast), and since the Malibu and 340 are far too tight quartered up front (there's that need to be 6 inches shorter again), and the Cirrusjet is too rich for my budget , what you have, a 414, is the only plane I consider a viable possibility at this point. There's three for sale at my airport alone; seems owners of them are stepping up to turbines in growing numbers now.

It's tempting, but I have to rationalize the higher investment capex, insurance, opex and maintenance for purely non-commercial, personal use, and convince the Secretary of the Treasury (Mrs. GRG55).

The Aztec is a pretty fine machine in a lot of respects, seriously underrated, and I will probably miss it in due course when I change. Landed at Minot, ND for lunch on the way back from OSH. By total coincidence I landed in between two arriving piston engined Piper Malibus from my airport, also returning from OSH. Went off for lunch with these pilots I know. Over our sandwiches discovered their westbound planned flight time for the final leg home at 20,000 ft was 3 hrs, 38 min. Mine, at 8500 ft was 3 hrs, 59 min. If I was hammed in the front of a Malibu I'd want to get there faster too.

If you rewind the clock 7 years or so, I didn't really get the 414. If you have the bigger airplane, why not get a 421 at the GTSIOs? Obviously I've changed my mind. I've seen a few too many problems with the GTSIOs, notably engine failures on takeoff. The 414 also fits into smaller hangars better with the short nose (note this doesn't apply to the 414A), and is more efficient. While the 421 has better useful load, there are ways around that.

Personally, I think it's a great upgrade and noticeably better than the Aztec in a lot of ways. Be glad to talk to you some more about it and what I've done.

 

[Lance F]

If we can get two of these 414s flyable long enough to get to Gaston's, we can have a real pity party about keeping these old twin Cessnas in the air. And twin owners of all types will be welcome to cry in their drinks with us. (but d@%m if they ain't great to fly.)
Ted, your work is quite inspirational. Keep it going.

 

[Ted]

If we can get two of these 414s flyable long enough to get to Gaston's, we can have a real pity party about keeping these old twin Cessnas in the air. And twin owners of all types will be welcome to cry in their drinks with us. (but d@%m if they ain't great to fly.)
Ted, your work is quite inspirational. Keep it going.

This weekend I'll be cleaning dog cages in preparation for my next dog run. How's that for inspiration?