In the Rocky Mountains, engine reliability isn't a nicety but a necessity. When minimum enroute altitudes routinely top 14,000 feet and your path is lined with cumulo-granite, your motto quickly becomes "In thrust we trust." Which may explain why so many West Coast operators look to Western Skyways for quality engine overhaul work when the clock strikes TBO.
The name Western Skyways has been legendary in engine-rebuild circles for more than a quarter century. The original Troutdale, Oregon-based Western Skyways was, in its day, the premier name in engines on the West Coast. When the famous Troutdale facility was shut down in 1987 (as part of a corporate restructuring by parent company AAR Corp.), a number of the shop's top piston-engine gurus went to Monarch Aviation in Grand Junction, Colorado where they helped form a new shop, West Star Engine Corporation. In late 1993, the Troutdale alumni left Grand Junction to start yet another shop, in nearby Montrose, Colorado - this time under the original name, Western Skyways.
Today, Western Skyways overhauls an average of 25 to 30 engines a month. Many are turbocharged engines and quite a number are for air taxi, air-ambulance, or other "revenue aircraft" operators who could just as easily purchase factory-remanufactured engines rather than Gold Seal overhauled engines. They come to Western Skyways because of the shop's reputation for top-quality work and bend-over-backwards customer service. "Many of our customers have been with us since our Oregon days," says Sales and Marketing V.P. David Leis. Like shop manager John Robinson and chief inspector Perry Nicholson, Leis started at the Troutdale-based Western Skyways in the 1970s.
In their more than five years of engine overhauling, the top technicians at Western Skyways have seen what works, and what doesn't. They have definite preferences for doing things a certain way. For example, all of an engine's major components are matched and balanced, whether the customer requests it or not; valve lifters are replaced with new (rather than getting sent out for regrinding); and 80% of customers go with new cylinders (rather than chrome or nickel plating of their existing cylinders).
Most accessories get rebuilt in-house by a team of experienced accessory specialists headed by one of Western Skyways' original accessory experts from the Troutdale days. In addition to magnetos and fuel injectors, Western Skyways is equipped to overhaul turbo controllers and a variety of other items that aren't generally rebuilt in-house by smaller shops.
After a rebuild to new tolerances, all engines get a test-cell run per the manufacturer's recommendations before release. The run is done with a special cooling prop and the run sheet is part of the documentation package that's given to the customer. Also in the documentation pack is a new log with laser-printed sheets detailing service bulletin and A.D. compliances.
Attention to detail in all aspects of engine rebuilding is one reason Western Skyways' customer list now includes famed airshow pilot Chuck Lischer. Founder and former lead pilot of the Team America formation aerobatics team, Lischer currently flies the Jane's â D F-260 SIAI-Marchetti in a solo routine for Jane's Combat Simulations (a computer software brand of Electronic Arts). Lischer's 1997 schedule includes the 4th of July show at Tacoma and the Edwards AFB airshow scheduled for October 18, among many other engagements. The Lycoming AEIO-540 engine in Lischer's plane was overhauled by Western Skyways.
A relatively new offering in Western Skyways' lineup is an STC that allows Cessna 421A and 421B owners to upgrade their GTSIO-520-D or -H engines to a 1,600-hour-TBO configuration (from the present 1,200 hours). The modification involves changing various components and replacing cylinders with upgraded, heavy-style factory-new assemblies to give an engine with a 33% lower hourly engine reserve cost. "We've done about thirty customer engines under this program," David Leis remarks, "and customers are really happy with them."
One reason customers are so happy with Western Skyways is that there's no core charge up front. Unlike dealing with the factory, say, there's no need to put up a large deposit pending the return of a "run out" core. Also, there's no extra charge for crankcase repairs or crankshaft regrinding (providing the incoming core items are repairable). "With some shops," David Leis notes, "you can get hit with a big laundry list of surcharges at the end. With us, there are no surprises."
Once a Gold Seal engine leaves Montrose, it is backed by a six-month unlimited warranty, followed by pro-rata coverage of major components all the way to TBO (based on 40-hours per month utilization). The Western Skyways warranty is thus on a par with Continental's Gold Medallion warranty. It's significantly better than Lycoming's warranty on overhauled engines (which ends abruptly after one year) and exceeds most "small shop" engine warranties.
When something goes awry, of course, what counts is not just the paper warranty but the kind of action it brings. This is where Western Skyways shines. With a network of more than two dozen authorized Gold Seal service centers in 15 states, customers seldom have far to go to get warranty action. (Service centers include Flightcraft in Portland, OR; Million Air in Salt Lake City, UT; Crownair in San Diego, CA; and Kansas City Aviation Center in Olathe, KS, among others.) If necessary, David Leis or Perry Nicholson will hop in the company vehicle and come visit the customer in person. "We go out of our way to keep customers happy," Leis explains.
To keep up with customer demand, Western Skyways will be breaking ground soon on an all-new 18,000-square-foot complex on four acres of land adjacent to Scaled Composites (Burt Rutan's facility) on the Montrose airport. "This is something we've been trying to get underway for several years," David Leis notes. "Now it's finally going to happen."
For more information, contact David Leis, Sales and Marketing V.P., Western Skyways, 21 Creative Place, Montrose, CO 81401. Phone 1-800-575-9929 or (970) 249-0232, or fax (970) 249-4155.