We had the first annual on our SR20 at 170 hours (it spent a lot of time out of service waiting for repairs). The basic annual was $1300. The SB to improve starting was $760. Miscellaneous repairs were $350. The total bill was $2407 plus $200 for the ferry pilot. It took 2 weeks.
Some discrepancies were repaired under the warranty or included in the annual labor (I canÂ’t tell which): lubricate throttle linkage, install drain holes in doors, enlarge drain holes in rudder and elevators, replace left main landing gear well nuts (?) and epoxy anchor nut that fell off, replace rocker cover gaskets for the 3rd time, replace #2 alternator for the 3rd time, forward baffle hitting lower cowling, replace prop governor, nose gear bushing lose with signs of fretting (?), lose fuel line clamp, plug wires chaffing, replace starter o-ring, lubricate cabin door handle mechanism, re-attach left and right wing root fairings, bolt holding elevator trim actuator rod to motor lose, and clamp on breather to #6 intake lose.
Still not fixed is the wind howling from the passenger door. When passengers complain I tell them to pull the door handle toward them and it stops (until they release it). They can decide which is more annoying, the howling or constantly pulling on the door handle. This problem existed when we picked up the plane and I suspect is related to the fact that the passenger door is not flush with the fuselage, Cirrus is unable to fix the problem (but what do you expect for only $250,000).
The $760 spent on the improved starting SB was worth it. I had to taxi the plane to a different location the other night. It was 22 degrees. Prime 5 seconds, boost, and start. No voodoo required. According to the POH only 1 second prime is required for normal cold, and no prime at all for warm starts.
Art, just out of curiosity, regarding your noisy door, 1) have you inquired with Cirrus about installing a new door (on the theory it could be out of shape), or 2) have you tried putting several layers of teflon tape inside the hole where the door closing rod seats (on the theory that this hole may be too big or out of line, and the tape could assist in jamming the door tighter)?
You are right curt. As a policy here at Airways We pre-heat anytime the temperature is below 32.Fer. Not pre-heating an engine at 22deg F. is going to shorten the TBO.
If you are starting your engine at 22 degrees without preheat, I weep tears for your engine. Please don’t expect to make TBO.
If you go to www.teledyne.com, select products, select aviation reciprocating engines, and select aviator services you can get a list of all SBs for a specific engine model.
The Cirrus says it is just an adjustment of the plastic piece around the hole in for the door bolt, but no amount of adjusting by the service center (or the Cirrus representative who was at the service center during one of my “visits”) has fixed the problem. After trying for a year to get this fixed I partner is now grumbling about having to get his lawyer involved (and he owns Cirrus stock).
As for my trying to fix it, my cars work a lot better now that I don’t fix them myself. While the plane is under warranty I am sure not going to start using home remedies which might void the warranty.
In Reply To:
…(on the theory that this hole may be too big or out of line, and the tape could assist in jamming the door tighter)?
FWIW, the nylon sockets that the door posts slide into are asymmetrical. Turning them 90 or 180 degrees will change the alignment of the pins then they enter the sockets, allowing the door to fit tighter (or looser if you’re having trouble getting the pins to engage…) My door wasn’t fitting flush and wind was whistling through at cruise. Just turning the sockets stopped the problem and the door fits flush now.
Same thing on our 20, which is now 2 years old. From the first day, the right door wouldn’t fit. The service center was not able to fix it, so we requested a new door from Cirrus. They denied it. It sure doesn’t look good and surely costs a knot or so in cruise (all adding up to the 10 knot cruise speed discrepancy from the book values…). But at least we hardly have any hissing from the door, so we can finally live with it. Nevertheless, these are the things that cause the bad perception we europeans used to have about american cars, aircraft etc…It’s the poor manufacturing quality. As you said, Art, you americans are so used to these minor glitches that you finally accept them on a 250,000$ airplane. We europeans sure don’t! Not even on a 10,000$ compact car!
On the other hand: I’ve seen these things also on european-built aircraft, so the problem nowadays seems to be rather an aviation problem only than anything else.
Phil