PIREP Wichita, KS

Chrisgoesflying

Chrisgoesflying

Pattern Altitude
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Dec 7, 2018
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The Lone Star State
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Chrisgoesflying
I'll have to fly up to Wichita and there are so many airports. What's your recommendation? Does the Beechcraft Airport have an FBO? I prefer towered and the Beechcraft and ICT airports are the only two towered ones but I can't find any FBO info for the Beechcraft airport.
 
Yingling is a great FBO at ICT, I use them anytime I'm in Wichita.

Scotch and Sirloin is a great restaurant, with some cool, subtle Textron/Cessna/Beech theming.
 
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Actually while you're at it you should go to airport 07S just to experience taxiing your plane off the runway and into town. You drive along main Street stop at a stop sign and pull your plane up to the Beaumont hotel. Don't eat there and don't stay at the hotel but driving your plane into town on the roads is a very cool experience.

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I'm not staying long. Just one night. My destination is actually Webco. I'll fly into Wichita the day before, get the rental car so I can drive back home - then the next morning, I'll fly from Wichita to Newton, drop off the plane, get a ride back to Wichita and then head back to Texas with the rental car. Two weeks later, same thing just reverse.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
What are you getting done at webco?
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Aussie horn and gear. Both ADs are due. I'm getting the Aussie horn installed so I no longer have to deal with that AD. Gear is coming up to 1,000 hours (I'm like 50 hours shy of it) so getting it all done in one trip.

TCABM said:
They’re going to take his sixty year old plane apart, put all new parts in it, put it back together and give him a sixty year old plane back all while emptying his bank account.

It’s the magic of aviation.
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LOL - that sums it up pretty much.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Aussie horn and gear. Both ADs are due. I'm getting the Aussie horn installed so I no longer have to deal with that AD. Gear is coming up to 1,000 hours (I'm like 50 hours shy of it) so getting it all done in one trip.



LOL - that sums it up pretty much.
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If you don't mind, what's the total charge for Aussie horn parts and labor?
 
Second stearman field. We just stopped for food & gas though. It's kind of an airpark, so I don't know that you could get a car there. I think I'd base my decision on where I could get a car.
 
Jim K said:
Second stearman field. We just stopped for food & gas though. It's kind of an airpark, so I don't know that you could get a car there. I think I'd base my decision on where I could get a car.
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My car is with Enterprise but at the downtown location since they had the best price for a one way rental to Dallas. I'll use Uber from whichever airport I end up choosing.
 
Short of the early morning rush to get airlines out to their hubs and the late evening return from the hubs, the airport is relatively quiet. Or at least it was 10 years ago. They also had some of the lowest 100LL prices around.
 
ICT is a piece of cake. That would be my choice, and definitely Stearman for lunch or Beaumont hotel if you want to land on the grass and taxi down the street and check out Barry Seal's Barron.
 
ICT Yingling or AAO are your best options.

BEC is a private airport for Textron Aviation ops.

Enjoy your brief stay.
 
What's the estimate for the thousand hour gear?

I can probably hold off one more year before I have to.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Somewhere around the $1,000 mark depending on what they find when they do it.
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That's for 77-13-21(a) ?

My A&P estimated quite a bit of time for labor to disassemble and measure the limits.
 
So, the total came really close to their estimate. It was just over $1,000 per gear for labor and some minor parts. This was for both gear ADs. Just over $1,000 in labor for the tail and just over $1,000 for the Aussie Horn. All in all, they got it all done within a week. Dropped off the plane on Monday and was told they're done today. They also checked some other ADs on my request just to make sure I won't run into any issues when registering the plane with the FAA this summer, but that didn't add much to the bill.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
So, the total came really close to their estimate. It was just over $1,000 per gear for labor and some minor parts. This was for both gear ADs. Just over $1,000 in labor for the tail and just over $1,000 for the Aussie Horn. All in all, they got it all done within a week. Dropped off the plane on Monday and was told they're done today. They also checked some other ADs on my request just to make sure I won't run into any issues when registering the plane with the FAA this summer, but that didn't add much to the bill.
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So what was the total parts + labor for the horn?
 
You couldn't find anyone in the DFW area who could do this?
 
WDD said:
You couldn't find anyone in the DFW area who could do this?
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This stuff is super Comanche specific. There are a couple places that do it. The Aussie horn is something that is rare enough that they send out an alert that they are ordering them and do you want to get in on the next inbound batch.

Clifton aero and webco are the primary places that can do the work. Used to be a site called Comanche gear that provided parts but the guy running it died and webco bought his stuff.

Comanches are great planes but it is one airframe where when people say " parts can be hard to find", they are correct.
 
WDD said:
You couldn't find anyone in the DFW area who could do this?
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What @SixPapaCharlie said. Also, the gear AD is a beast. All the mechanics i asked at my home airport or nearby in Dallas said they’ll need at least 2-3 weeks to do it if they need no parts. If they need parts, they’ll have to order them from Webco anyways pushing turnaround to over a month. All the mechanics i spoke with said they can do it but highly recommended me to bring it to Webco for faster turnaround and accuracy. I actually have a mechanic at my field who is very familiar with Comanches yet advised me to go to Webco.

SixPapaCharlie said:
So what was the total parts + labor for the horn?
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They bunched labor for gear and horn together on the invoice so i just see total labor time. But, they estimated 8-10 hours for the horn and 8-10 hours per gear (shop rate is $95 per hour). Total labor for gears, horn and two other ADs i asked them to take care of was right around 40 hours so i’m assuming their estimate was accurate. The horn itself was just over $1,100.

All very costly but all very much expected and within the estimates i got. I knew this was coming when i bought the plane two years ago so i could mentally prepare for it and sweet talk my bank account to make sure it has the $$$ lol. I could have possibly saved $1,000 in total on this entire job with someone else but it would have come at a cost of much longer down time and the risk of finding something that would require involving Webco anyways with the gear or tail being in pieces hundreds of miles away from their shop.
 
When I bought the Comanche i actually had the option to buy a Mooney. My mechanic was doing an annual on one which was for sale. I test sat in it for 2 minutes and immediately said “nope”.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
What @SixPapaCharlie said. Also, the gear AD is a beast. All the mechanics i asked at my home airport or nearby in Dallas said they’ll need at least 2-3 weeks to do it if they need no parts. If they need parts, they’ll have to order them from Webco anyways pushing turnaround to over a month. All the mechanics i spoke with said they can do it but highly recommended me to bring it to Webco for faster turnaround and accuracy. I actually have a mechanic at my field who is very familiar with Comanches yet advised me to go to Webco.



They bunched labor for gear and horn together on the invoice so i just see total labor time. But, they estimated 8-10 hours for the horn and 8-10 hours per gear (shop rate is $95 per hour). Total labor for gears, horn and two other ADs i asked them to take care of was right around 40 hours so i’m assuming their estimate was accurate. The horn itself was just over $1,100.

All very costly but all very much expected and within the estimates i got. I knew this was coming when i bought the plane two years ago so i could mentally prepare for it and sweet talk my bank account to make sure it has the $$$ lol. I could have possibly saved $1,000 in total on this entire job with someone else but it would have come at a cost of much longer down time and the risk of finding something that would require involving Webco anyways with the gear or tail being in pieces hundreds of miles away from their shop.
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Ok I'm getting the horn. I thought it was going to be like 8k
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Ok I'm getting the horn. I thought it was going to be like 8k
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Horn will run you around $2k part and labor unless they find something else that needs replacing (they explained to me what could cause the bill to be higher - i forgot what it was lol). Fortunately that part was in good condition in my Comanche.
 
What is this magic “horn” and where does it go / what does it do?
 
WDD said:
What is this magic “horn” and where does it go / what does it do?
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The Comanche has a stabilator horn AD. The Aussie (stabilator) horn is an AMOC for that AD by replacing the OEM stab horn. IIRC, the Aussie replacement horn has a much less intrusive 100-hr visual inspection as part of the ICA.

Comanche Stabilator Horn Inspection

www.piperflyer.com www.piperflyer.com
 
TCABM said:
The Comanche has a stabilator horn AD. The Aussie (stabilator) horn is an AMOC for that AD by replacing the OEM stab horn. IIRC, the Aussie replacement horn has a much less intrusive 100-hr visual inspection as part of the ICA.

Comanche Stabilator Horn Inspection

www.piperflyer.com www.piperflyer.com
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Correct. If you keep the original horn, the AD calls for an inspection every 500 hours or 5 years whichever comes first. That inspection entails non-destructive testing of the horn, which means it has to be removed. That's $1,000 in labor. Plus, taking it out and putting it back in can cause damage as well especially if you do this a few times. If you install the magic Aussie Horn, that AD goes away and all you have to do is visually inspect it every 100 hours, which is a 10 minute job. Only the 250s and 260s are affected by the AD. The 400 and Twin Comanches have a beefier horn from the factory and don't have that AD. The Comanches, for being such an old airplane, don't have a lot of ADs. You have the horn AD, which you can get rid of with the Aussie Horn. You have two gear ADs every 1,000 hours (most shops do both at the same time) which you can't get rid of - that's $3,000 every 1,000 hours. You have two aileron ADs which you can get rid of by installing specific kits (most Comanches have the kits by now - I know mine has both) and then some minor visual inspection ADs on the fuel bladder, vertical stabilizer but those don't take a lot of time to comply with. I think there is another AD on one of the two blade props the Comanche came with but you can get rid of that with a three blade prop.
 
Kitch said:
ICT is a piece of cake. That would be my choice, and definitely Stearman for lunch or Beaumont hotel if you want to land on the grass and taxi down the street and check out Barry Seal's Barron.
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Minor correction. It’s a twin beech 18.
 
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