Hello everyone!
In my time between the turbine Jet Cat P-160SX came 25 hours. The engine runs perfectly, flawlessly. I want to ask: Now be sure to send the turbine in service? Or you can fly on to the time when the bearing wear?


Sincerely.
Vladimir Sotnikov.

Then let it run, I have a P100 with over 45 hours and still running fine. I think you will notice when bearings are bad.

If it is fine keep it flying.. absolutely.

Those 25 hours is a arbitrary amount of time determined by place and context. The same turbine in Germany has a 50 hours revision time.

It is fairly common to find old jetcats between 50 to 100 plus hours and working as good as new. (in fact in some cases, better than new, lol)

However if you hear or see something that seems that is not ok, send it to service no matter it has only 2 hours running time.

best regards, Enrique.

If there is a warranty I would send it in.

OK, guys, thanks a lot! I will fly farther.

You need to be very careful about what you do here.
JetCat DE are getting very fussy about their warranties - although they offer a 3 year warranty, they strongly state and operate the following.

Section 5 of the Warranty document........
5). The buyer must operate and maintain the Model Engines in accordance to the Model Engine manual.
The Model Engine must be returned to JetCat for mainaitinance on or before the TBO (Time Before Overhaul) interval of every 25 hours.
If Buyer fails to return the Model Engine within the TBO interval, any damaged parts affected by this negligence will be subject to additional repair costs.

I know this, as they have just pulled this one on one of my customers when his P120 disintegrated in the air after only 20 minutes of running after coming back after repair work by them.

Just saying what is going on now.

modtron
Oxford UK

Just checked the Jetcat site in Germany, and downloaded the 5.0 ecu manual (written in english) and they declare a aproximate 25 hours service interval.

However... googling to find the german manual in german I found " Das Wartungsintervall der Turbine liegt bei ca. 50 Stunden."


I will call this the "Schroedingers Jetcat" manual.. the result depends if the observer is reading in german or english.

Thank you all for advice and assistance. Udo Topfer of Jet Cat told me that you can fly on, if the engine is operating normally.

Wren 54SS = 58 hrs
Jetcat P80SE= 49 hrs
Jetcat PP120SE= 34 hrs

jose

Yes, thank you, I think so too.

Thanks, Jose, This is a very good performance.

If you intend to fly beyond the recommended 25 hour service interval, upon each shutdown, keep track of the "spool down time". i.e., the amount of time it takes for the rotor to come to a complete stop after shutdown.
If the spool down time becomes shorter, for example, if it drops from 15 seconds to 10 seconds, it is an indication that the bearings have worn, signaling that service is required.
Another sign of bearing wear is noise...bad bearings sound noisy when shut down.

Hi Harley, how you doing!!???
great explanation about spool down time, i will do this procedure.

thx and have a great day

jose

Yes, Harley, I understand. I am a pilot super heavy helicopter turbine engines, and I know how important it is to control the stick of the turbine rotor.

Hello Jose!
I am doing well, thank you. How are you and yours?

Good hear you Harley!! We are fine and flying so much; thank you for info about bearings!!!

have a great weekend
jose

A couple things to consider from past experience:

1. When the JetCat turbine was new it was test run then shipped to you as long as it passed some basic quality checks.
2. During the 25 hour inspection the technician at JetCat USA will take your turbine completely apart, adjust the fuel nozzles for optimum performance and precision balance the internal parts, replace the bearings and any other parts that show wear, adjust anything that is off, update the ECU...then test run the engine.
3. Call and talk with the servicing facility to make sure you aren't going to void your warranty. Saving a few bucks by skipping service may cost a lot more down the road.

Good luck, let us know what you find out.

"adjust the fuel nozzles for optimum performance"

Never knew that?

Udo Topfer of Jet Cat told me that you can fly on, if the engine is operating normally.

I can only say again - be very, very carful about your warranty status as it's Udo that is pushing the warranty issues back at people !

modtron
Oxford UK

If you have questions about your turbine's performance and what they do at a 25 hour service, give them a call and ask. A service is a lot more than just replacing the bearings. I contemplate having my next new turbine gone through before it is shipped.