My non pressurized TSIO 550B IV just passed 1000TT.  Its been flying for over ten years.  All compressions are hovering just above or at 60 and it uses 1 quart every 12-15 hours.    To give insight to the maintenance and operational concerns particularly focusing on dispatch reliability, I wrote up this summary- there was only one flight I didn’t do due to mechanical issues- a demo flight when an alternator didn’t come on line- I could have flown with the other one alone but it was just a pancake breakfast flight so it wasn’t an issue.  I could have easily gotten home if need be.

 

Over the last 40,000 miles it has averaged 229 knots per the Garmin 430. That includes al flight time above 30 knots movement.   The slowest groundspeed I saw at cruise against the teeth of a winter blast at 186 knots and the fastest to date 408 knots has been eastbound with a big tailwind.  I routinely operate at 28 inches 2360 RPM LOP at 16.4 to 16.9 gph at any altitude.  The engine just seems to get smoother the more it is flown.

 

Once the plane was completed, I had to redo the mags at 500 and 950 per the service bulletin.

 

I needed to replace the nose gear hydraulic cylinder at 45 TT.

 

I had some baffle cracks at 409 that required doublers.

 

I had ice ingestion that somehow got the turbine intake and I had to replace those wheels only at 470 TT.  It may have snuck around the alternate air door, it seems.

 

I had a vacuum pump go out at 574 TT.

 

I had a vacuum artificial horizon go out at 437 TT, and a gyro warning flag go out at 930 TT.

 

I had a bad alternator diode at 885.

 

So that’s it other than oil changes and two sets of tires.

 

For what it does I just couldn’t ask any more other than maybe deice.

 

Michael Smith\

411MS