Blackstone Lab Turn Around Time

[Mooney Fan]

I have used them since 2018. Yet I am becoming more concerned with their turn around time. I have a sample in they processed as 'received' 5-July.

They used to have a much quicker turn around which is beneficial if your engine has an issue.

I reached out to them and got a response back that essentially they are very busy and to expect 16-18 business days from receipt.

What other companies are you folks using and do they have quicker turn-around times?

Thx
MF

 

[Ryan Klems]

We use ALS Tribology, I buy their advanced pre-paid kits in bulk, they have a lab up in Phoenix so barring any USPS tomfoolery it's a 1 day trip with USPS from the shop to them. They _usually_ turn it within 7 days. I have had a few outliers that took 2-3 weeks, but generally we get the results back within a week. Looking back at the last dozen reports, the fastest was 4 days between sample date and email report and longest was 22 days. Most were 8-9 days (this includes the USPS time).

 

[Mikey52]

Yes blackstone turnaround times have increased significantly. At one time I had 3 samples outstanding for the same plane.

I hear that if you don't use their mailer, and over night the sample it gets put in the queue right away and doesn't have to wait for the person that opens all the samples from the mailers. In addition to all the aviation ones they do, they also do quite a bit of fleet analysis. So if yours is the next one to be opened and a big box comes in from a trucking company, guess which one gets opened first.

 

[pfarber]

My last Blackstone analysis was mailed 5/2/2024 and I got the report on 6/11 so a little over a month. THat's been pretty consistent over the last year or so.

Pre-Covid it was like two-three weeks.

 

[SoCal 182 Driver]

I sent a sample in to Blackstone around May 20. I got my report on June 11. With transit time, that's +/- three weeks from Blackstone's receipt of the sample until issuance of the report.

 

[NoHeat]

I have a sample in they processed as 'received' 5-July.

Curious how you found that info. When I log in to my account at Blackstone I only see lists of completed reports. No indication of the sample I mailed them about 12 days ago.

 

[Jim_R]

Curious how you found that info. When I log in to my account at Blackstone I only see lists of completed reports. No indication of the sample I mailed them about 12 days ago.

If the top of the page looks like this, click on the "head and shoulders" icon to get to your account. Log in if necessary.



Once logged in, the top of the page should look like this:

Click on "TRACKING". If you've mailed something recently and they've received it, you'll see something like this:

​

 

[NoHeat]

Click on "TRACKING". If you've mailed something recently and they've received it, you'll see something like this:

View attachment 131551​

Awesome, thank you, Jim. It didn’t occur to me to click “tracking.”

I now see that my sample’s status is “testing.” It was received exactly two weeks earlier.

 

[Gary Ward]

When I started using Them in 2018 it was 2-3 weeks. Now it is 5 weeks until I get it from them via e mail. Wish it was a little faster.

 

[Mooney Fan]

Thanks for the information folks.

Still nothing.

Here is a response I received on 17-July about the timing.



Good morning,

Your sample is here and is getting checked in. You should see your test results via email sometime around 9-10 business days. Right now the full turnaround is about 16-18 business days- we're very busy. Please be sure to check your spam/junk folder as we've been having that issue occasionally. Please let us know if you have any other questions/concerns.

Kind Regards,
The Blackstone Team

 

[NoHeat]

Followup: 13 work days and 20 calendar days was my wait time. That's how long it was after the sample arrived in Ft. Wayne IN, until today when the report came by email.

I got another good test result. At 470 hours beyond TBO, that makes me feel like I'm getting something valuable for free!

 

[Larry Korona]

Talked with the Blackstone folks at their booth at Oshkosh. Everyone is complaining about the delay in getting results. On an average day they work on 630 samples, they're expanding their capacity to run even more. They said until then to expect 13 working days to get results.

 

[Mooney Fan]

Received my report yesterday. 21 Calendar days from receipt.

I might try another vendor next time

Anyway, 102 hours SMOH and they think it looks good, sans high Silicon which they say is typical with fresh overhauls.

 

[Datadriver]

I've done two in the past year with them. Takes about a month.