PRESS RELEASE     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     FAA Issues Proposed AD that will Cost Aircraft Owners $83 Million     ECi believes the FAA's proposed action will degrade safety, not improve it. Affected owners and associations have 60 days to submit comments.   SAN ANTONIO, TX. August 12, 2013 - The FAA proposed an Airworthiness Directive (AD) to limit the allowable time-in-service of more than 30,000 TITAN brand 520- and 550-series cylinder assemblies installed on about 6,000 Continental IO-520, TSIO-520, IO-550 and IOF-550 engines. The proposed AD affects a broad serial number range of cylinder assemblies (p/n AEC631397), and would require that these cylinders be removed from service at 1,000 hours time-in-service. In addition, about half the affected cylinders would be required to be removed from service within 25 hours if their time-in-service is less than 500 hours. Cylinders permitted to continue in service would be subject to repetitive 50-hour inspections until they are retired. The FAA estimates cost of compliance to be $82,620,000. Engine Components International (ECi) believes that the FAA's proposed AD is unwarranted, inappropriate, and unnecessarily punitive for the owners of the affected aircraft. The FAA's action was prompted by 30 instances (out of 30,000 installed) of head-to-barrel junction failures in TITAN® cylinders, but none of these failures resulted in an accident or injury. Such failures result in a loss of 20% of engine power, leaving ample power to make a safe landing, which is exactly what happened in every case.  In fact, FAA regulation requires that engines must be designed to operate safely with one cylinder not functioning.  A substantial number of the failures occurred in twin-engine aircraft, where the safety consequences were even less significant. In fact, there have been more than 1,200 similar head-to-barrel failures in 520/550 cylinders manufactured by other Production Approval Holders for which the FAA has taken no action.       Full story...   Press Release PDF version About Engine Components International ECi is an international distribution leader of piston engine parts, repair services, and powerplants. Since 1943, ECi has been a leader in engine component repair, parts design engineering, and manufacturing.

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