denverpilot
Tied Down
Was going to toss this privately to a couple of the PoA mechanics to see what they thought, but realized there's nothing that needs to be private about it... so... might as well document for other's in case they're thinking of getting anything with a Robby kit on it...
Just had a call from the shop. The proposed aileron hinge replacement on the starboard aileron has hit a snag... normally those are bog-standard Cessna parts and not all the outrageously priced... and on a 38 year old airplane, when it's time... it's time...
But...
Half of the aileron hinge on a Robertson STOL equipped 182 is made by Robertson. (I suspect they had to beef up one side for the "drooping aileron" that the STOL kit provides as part of the kit.)
Anywhoo... here's the non-fun part...
Sierra has the rights to the Robertson STOL now, of course.
When the shop called them to order the three aileron hinge halves, they said they don't get many calls for the 182 parts (mostly 206 and others), and they'd have to fabricate a set. 10 days.
And then the kicker. At a cost of almost $900 for three hinge halves.
Wheee! Wow. (We were replacing all three while the aileron is off... the middle one was the biggest loser, and was voted off of the island, but his buddies were going along with him to the recycle bin in the sky since taking ailerons off isn't much of an every-day occurrence.)
If that's the only option to meet the Robertson STC... we'd chalk it up to just being a bummer of a side effect of having a Robby, now that Robby is gone and someone else can pretty much dictate a price for any particular Robby component. And say... "Moving right along..."
Curious if any of the PoA mechanics have run into this one before with the modern incantation of Robby, and/or come up with other creative solutions. I can't see anyone fabricating a new one and doing a 337 for it, really, with the parts available from Sierra after they fabricate them.
I suspect it's going in the "learned a lesson about Robby kits via Mr. Wallet", and we wait on parts to arrive...
Guess that'll give the shop some time to button up and finish everything else. Sounds like they were down to pulling the Mags for 500 hour inspection, and I suspect they'll find things that need replacing in there, too... (GRIN)
So we'll be sans-airplane for another couple of weeks, no matter how we slice it.
Just had a call from the shop. The proposed aileron hinge replacement on the starboard aileron has hit a snag... normally those are bog-standard Cessna parts and not all the outrageously priced... and on a 38 year old airplane, when it's time... it's time...
But...
Half of the aileron hinge on a Robertson STOL equipped 182 is made by Robertson. (I suspect they had to beef up one side for the "drooping aileron" that the STOL kit provides as part of the kit.)
Anywhoo... here's the non-fun part...
Sierra has the rights to the Robertson STOL now, of course.
When the shop called them to order the three aileron hinge halves, they said they don't get many calls for the 182 parts (mostly 206 and others), and they'd have to fabricate a set. 10 days.
And then the kicker. At a cost of almost $900 for three hinge halves.
Wheee! Wow. (We were replacing all three while the aileron is off... the middle one was the biggest loser, and was voted off of the island, but his buddies were going along with him to the recycle bin in the sky since taking ailerons off isn't much of an every-day occurrence.)
If that's the only option to meet the Robertson STC... we'd chalk it up to just being a bummer of a side effect of having a Robby, now that Robby is gone and someone else can pretty much dictate a price for any particular Robby component. And say... "Moving right along..."
Curious if any of the PoA mechanics have run into this one before with the modern incantation of Robby, and/or come up with other creative solutions. I can't see anyone fabricating a new one and doing a 337 for it, really, with the parts available from Sierra after they fabricate them.
I suspect it's going in the "learned a lesson about Robby kits via Mr. Wallet", and we wait on parts to arrive...
Guess that'll give the shop some time to button up and finish everything else. Sounds like they were down to pulling the Mags for 500 hour inspection, and I suspect they'll find things that need replacing in there, too... (GRIN)
So we'll be sans-airplane for another couple of weeks, no matter how we slice it.
)
