Textron Lycoming is making its weekly progress report, on the 6-cylinder engines, available to us. We're bringing it to you, as we know a lot of readers are impacted by this stumble. If you, as a customer, have a story about your 540 that's related to this (good or bad), please let us in on it. We may compile several customers' experiences,' and bring you an article on the program. (After all, everybody makes mistakes; it's what you do after the mistake that shows your character.)

As of Friday, January 31:

Crankshaft recall

• 1189 crankshafts have been forged and all have passed our new, more rigorous manufacturing and testing process.
• 352 engines affected by Service Bulletin 552 have been returned to their owners.
• 567 engines affected by Service Bulletin 553 have been tested for the crankshaft issue. Of those,
• 396 have passed inspection and have been returned to service.

Lycoming says, "We continue to remain confident in our plan to complete the return of all engines to service by early in the second quarter of 2003."

FMI: www.lycoming.textron.com