Says Proposed AD Is 'Unwarranted, Inappropriate, Punitive, And Ill-Conceived'

The founder and CEO of Savvy Aircraft Maintenance Management and Savvy Analysis, a company that developed a free, web-based platform for piston aircraft engine analysis, says in a blog post that the FAA's proposed AD for ECi cylinders is "one of the most unwarranted, inappropriate, punitive and generally ill-conceived rulemaking actions I’ve ever seen."

Mike Busch (pictured) writes on his blog that the failure rate of the cylinders is 0.1 percent, the lowest in the industry, resulting in no accidents or injuries. Yet, the agency has required owners of about 6,000 Continental IO-520, TSIO-520 and IO-550 engines to perform $14,000 top overhauls. "The total cost to affected aircraft owners would be $83 million, making this one of the most costly general aviation ADs in history," he writes.

Busch contends that safety issues that could arise from that number of top overhauls "is vastly greater than the safety risk arising out of doing nothing." He said he has served as an expert witness in several trials stemming from accidents that have stemmed from improperly-performed top overhauls.

Busch said on his blog that every owner of a piston aircraft, whether or not it uses ECi cylinders, should file comments to the proposed AD. He says if the AD goes into effect, it will "set a terrible precedent could ultimately have implications far beyond ECi cylinders and big-bore Continental engines."

FMI: Blog Entry