Contact Southwest Aviation Specialties in Tulsa. They have an interior shop and a warehouse full of P180 furniture.

Thanks Tony - that was a great lead. I just spoke with them and they do have them in inventory and can do the work.

Has anyone seen their interior work? Look half decent? I'd probably have them redo all the seats so we can get everything matchy matchy.

The divan is nice for kids but also for bags with a smaller load of pax.

Yes, I have. I'd use them.

Wow! Until Brad Knight mentioned this forum to me a couple of days ago, I had no idea P180’s were being discussed in this depth anywhere online. It is good to see and we are big fans of the airplane.

Bryon Mobley
Wetzel Aviation, Inc.
Bryon@wetzelaviation.com

Welcome, Byron! Great to see you on BT and a great first post.

Of course, Beech Talk has it all for everybody, it's the best!

Welcome Bryon.

Any of you guys have the engines on ESP or JSSI? Or are you finding minimal unscheduled maintenance on the PT6A-66

Matt,

My market research indicated about a third of planes on a program. Mostly P&W's. The P&W contracts are not uniform so if you're buying a plane with a program you need to read it carefully.

The plane I bought had Gold but in looking at the hourly fees associated with it, and the time to go to HSI and OH I thought the "insurance" portion to be excessive. Even though it was fully paid with 978 hours I'd pay far more from there for HSI than even a very pessimistic projection. I negotiated my deal with the owner so that he kept the cash value of the contract and lowered the price. I hope that will prove to be a good decision but only time will tell.

I had some corrosion discovered in the power section during the HSI on my TBM which doubled the estimated cost, so I'm aware that not all inspections turn out on budget. But I think the most important things to do are a careful borescope and review of exceedances. Unlike jets, where a lack of program reduces value in more or less lock step with engine program hourly costs, I found that in the P180 programs don't really add to market value unless the engines are very close to HSI or OH interval. Mark can speak about his experience, and perhaps philosophy, as it's different IIRC.

I've lost track of the original full resolution version but this is one of my favorite photos. I believe Mr Henriksen took it shortly after the lighting was installed at KTME.

True enough Tony. I bought my aircraft with a fully paid up program on both engines sitting at 3250 hours. With 350 hours to go at 378.00 per hour I get two brand new engines (well, newly overhauled anyway) for a total cost of $132,300 spread out over the next 3 years. No brainer as the over haul costs of the engines runs about 800k for the pair.

Now once these engines are newly overhauled in 3 years? I will def drop the program then.

A good time to purchase is just after hot sections but will 1800 hours to go on overhauls. Get it at a discount and fly it out. Unless you plan on using it 300 hours a year its a better deal that way.



Mark

Don't feel too bad. Even if you had been on a P&W or JSSI engine plan with the TBM (not that common, I know), corrosion wouldn't have been covered anyway.

Definitely something to think about when considering the cost/benefit of an engine program on a Pratt turbine.

How many Evo's have been delivered and in the wild?

There's at least two for sale right now. Bryon from Wetzel sent them to me last week.

14 delivered to date.