JetCat USA News

We are back in the shop after the 2013 Best in the West jet rally. A great time was had by all and we saw a lot of great flying by all the jet pilots present. It has been a little over a month since I took the reins at JetCat USA. As with any transition, things are done differently. Our team is working to build a stronger JetCat USA for the future.

Top priorities for JetCat USA are 90% of all engine repairs turned in seven working days and our four core engines in stock all the time. We are changing our process to meet those goals. Bob, Scot, Dennis, and myself are working diligently every day, and even into the nights to keep things flowing during this high demand time.

Annette is a new addition to our customer service team. She is the one who is managing the shipping out the door and back to our customers. She has been with us a short time and is getting to like the "jet crowd" so when you call say hi, she will make sure you are taken care of.

I have been asked about the P-180RX’s dependability. Just returning from Germany I know they have concerns regarding the P-180RX dependability during hard acceleration. We share their concerns but believe you do not need to stop flying if your engine is operating and accelerating correctly.

We will be contacting all original P-180RX owners in the next thirty days to outline the update process. Our plan is to get all the P-180 RX’s that were sold thru JetCat USA or our dealers updated before the 2014 flying season begins. I want to ensure all of our customers are taken care of.

All new P-180RX’s sold thru JetCat USA and our dealers as of October 22, 2013 will have the update when received. We appreciate your patience as we build a stronger JetCat USA. Until then . . . let’s enjoy the flight.
　

Understand guys we will contact you by mail very soon to schedule your update. I appreciate you working with us to best serve all of our customer and Jet Modelers across the country to enjoy a great flying season in the future.

Its nice to see JetCat put such an effort in timely customer service.

Although Bob and that crew were ALWAYS great guys who gave great service, those turn around times were brutal.

Nice to hear John!

John, thanks for your effort and best of luck to the Jetcat group.

Question: do we (180RX owners) have to get on a list for the upgrade? How do we proceed?

Regards
Jack

Edit: I just read your post again. I see you will contact us. Sorry.

No worries Jack. Look for a letter very soon. Just to better outline what is coming I have built the program like this.

We are breaking the customers into three different groups.
The sun belters (where they are flying right now).
The Florida Jets attendees.
The snow belters.

The sun belters will have the highest priority and be serviced first as they can still fly.
Those who will be attending Florida Jets will be done during the first and second group (even if you are a snow belter). I do not want anyone missing Florida Jets because of a P-180RX update.
And finally the snow belters.


All should be complete no later than May 1st.

Also we need to ensure we continue to service all other JetCat customers with the level they expect from us. I appreciate everyone working with us as we get all of our jet buddies back in the air at full throttle.

Hi john, what about those of us who have already sent their 180's in? Having to wait another six months is pretty tough to accept.

thanks

Hello John,

Is there a range of engine serial numbers that have issues? Can you confirm which batch has problems if any?

thanks

Is this a software upgrade or is it mechanical? I have two 180rx's the oldest was sent back for upgrades several months ago. It would be good to know if we are talking about all or just a serial number range.

Both. Best you speak with John on actual serial numbers.

Dw

John,
Are there any precautions we need to take (change any settings??) with the motors that are out there running. My friend lost a very expensive jet due to this spool up problem and I don't want the same thing to happen to me or anyone else.
Thanks,
Vin...

I am curious about this as well. My 180RX was sent back for a mod around March of last year and I was without it for about 3 or 4 months.

I had a spool issue on my 180rx. Spitting and sputtering with varying rpm and temperature and eventual shutdown. Luckily it was prior to takeoff. It was similar to issues I've seen with high humidity and temperature. The day it started though it was 60 degrees F and 10% relative humidity. I set the spool to very slow and seems to have resolved the issue for now. Looking forward to the update and getting my throttle response back. Model is grounded until then. Now that I know there is an issue I probably wouldn't have messed around with ithe settings and just put the model up. I am not condoning or saying this is the way to stop gap this issue, I am just saying what I did based on symptoms the turbine displayed at the time.

Hi John,
welcome!!! well, we had 12 engines, and, bought last july an new P180RX in ours Friends Todd and Linda ( DREAMWORKS ), our software was upgraded by JETCAT BRAZIL ( our friend Fernando ), i would like to know if needs any other upgrade.
We waiting for to maiden our SKYGATE VIPER powered by P180RX.

bst rgds
Jose

Okay guys, here is the main info. This update affects all engines bought thru JetCat USA or our dealers. It affects all serial numbers from 180101 thru 180678 . Any P-180RX purchased thru JetCat USA after October 22, 2013 (serial number 180679 and higher) is not affected. All others are.

There is a check for the proper software on the engine, ECU, and pump that will be accomplished.

There is a new combustion chamber that is going to be installed as well as a modification to the current vapor stick assembly plate.

If you have seen one of the latest engines run you will find a very noticeable difference in how they accelerate. They are very smooth and like we have been accustomed to on the older P-120/160SX series of engines.

I currently have 8 engines in the shop that are awaiting this update. These will be the first 8 complete and should be done by late November, Right now we are just waiting on the parts from JetCat Germany. These should begin to arrive in the next two weeks.

The update process has been positioned to begin in early December with a thru-put of 7 engines per week. The program I have built is designed to get everyone's motor thru the shop by the beginning of the flying season of May 1, 2014. I have broken the territory down into three priorities:

The southern sun-belters who are currently flying now. They will have top priority.

The individuals who have full intentions of going to Florida Jets and have attended regularly in the past (snow and sun-belters).

The snow-belters who are currently in building season.

You should receive your letter by November 25th explaining the process. You can begin calling at your convenience and ask for Annette. She is managing the program here. She does the scheduling and will let you know when you need to send your motor in to meet your scheduled repair time.

Please do not just send your engines in. Just sending your engine in will not position you higher on the list. If you send the engine in without scheduling it thru Annette she will call you when your engine arrives and give you your scheduled update date.

The letter you will receive outlines all of this. Total time out of your hands if we work this together and meet the schedule is listed below.

5 days for shipping (figured on transit from the east coast to the JetCat USA facility)
5 days in the shop for the update
5 days for shipping (figured on transit from the JetCat USA facility to the east coast)

Total time out of your hands is just at 3 weeks which includes shipping both ways.

I hope this helps better explain the program. I look forward to working with all of you thru this update and getting everyone in a better position for their next P-180RX flight.

Thank you,

John,
what the procedure to international customers ?

Jose

Hello Jose,

Fernando is stopping by JetCat USA this coming Friday and this is one of the topics of discussion. I will post here once Fernando and I have come to what we feel will be the best solution for our customers.

Good song John!!
Fernando is an great friend and JETCAT DEALER!!!

thank you so much for quick answer

Jose

I just bought one from the original owner, is my eligible for the repair?

Absolutely. We warranty the engine, not the owner. Any P-180RX's in the us that fall within the serial numbers listed above are fully covered. In your case essyou35, please contact Annette at JetCat USA and give her your information. She will get you taken care of.

Thanks John, I am looking forward to continued service and success with my Jetcat turbines.

I live in MN but certainly would still like to get this turned around before May. Sometimes we do get to fly in November and March...so I hope that being a snow belter isn't going to delay things too much.

Is there any information about whether the "changes" might lower any temperatures?

Thanks
Dave

John sent you a question via pm

John,

Do share your thoughts on international (non USA) customers. Shipping in and out of India is prohibitive... lets say in excess of 200USD one way shipping. I would hate to pay that for no fault of mine. I wonder if the company is covering for all this as well? To add to this, the customs duty etc which is an added PITA. I guess that is something we will have to deal with, but I do expect shipping in/out to be at company's account.

Lucky we keep an eye on the net we had nothing from jetcat about our 180rx issue, don't we get a fully tested engine.

I'm glad to see an active approach to the issue.


I don't own a Jet Cat engine, because of all the horror stories of CRAZY long service turnaround times. It would be nice to see a normal (1~2 weeks) service time. If next summer... your comments prove true... I may have to consider one.

Well done Jetcat !!
At least here's a company that is recalling a defective product and not waiting for it to fail !
Unlike other companies that we've seen here on RCU , its really commendable that Jetcat have taken their responsibilities seriously and have initiated such a wide scale recall regardless of cost.