Having recently suffered a prop strike only four years and 100 hours since the last one, I have just learnt that the insurance company are refusing to pay for the shock damaged mags because they are “required to be overhauled every four years anyway”.
Certainly they paid for the mags foour years ago when they were at least 20 years since last overhaul!
Has anyone else come across this?
Bendix magneto overhaul requirements are covered in Service Bulletin SB643B:
http://www.tcmlink.com/pdf2/sb643b.pdf
As it is an SB, it is not mandatory as far as the letter of the law is concerned. Whether or not extra work is called up for a shockload inspection on a Bendix magneto over a standard overhaul, I’m not sure. The engine overhauler will know.
Slick magnetos do not have a calendar based overhaul period – 500 hour checks (inspection not overhaul) and then in line with the engine overhaul.
Insurance will normally not pay for betterment unless there is a clause in the policy covering that. One previous thread is here.
A shock load inspection does (IIRC, IO540 engine) require the overhaul (not inspection) of the accessories i.e. magneto(s), governor, vac pump and alternator I am not sure but I suspect not. I went through this in 2002. These items need to be NDTd (checked for cracks) so an “inspection” is not enough. In my case the plane was brand new (1hr TT, 2002) so the insurer paid for everything without a question.
In this case it might be that the insurer overlooked it the first time around, but it would depend on the argument of which SB or SL is mandatory on an EASA-reg aircraft and the actual engine. If the requirement is a periodic “inspection” then the insurer should pay for the extra cost of an “overhaul”.
I have paid extra on my insurance to allow new for old. The extra premium was not huge. I fly at least every 10 days and do oil changes every 25 hours. I watch CHT’s so if I am lucky like Mike Busch, I plan to run my engine well past TBO.
I would be gutted to have a prop strike at 2,000 hours when the engine might be capable of going to say 2,700 ++ hours. If I had not added the “betterment” premium one would normally get nothing at TBO. I know of of a few engines running past TBO and they run perfectly. My biggest concern if your engine is in good condition is having really good maintenance on mags as the plastic gears can break up on Slick Mags
Most engines get clapped out due to being under used so that’s why I have chosen to pay the extra premium.
There’s more to this than I first thought. It appears to be disinformation from the engine builder but we’ll see………..
You mean the engine builder was trying to get more work?
