Cost of replacement wingtip

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CFIDave
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by CFIDave »

Damage to DA40 wingtips happens all the time, mostly in "hangar rash" incidents caused by renters. I've seen it happen twice just in the past year at my home airport.

Because the DA40 wingtip is easily removable, just have your local mechanic remove it and ship to a shop that specializes in composite repair. I would strongly recommend sending your wingtip to SouthTec Aviation in NC, http://southtecaviation.com which has its own paint shop and specializes in Diamond aircraft composite repairs. It's generally a lot cheaper to repair than to replace a DA40 wingtip.
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Colin
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by Colin »

+1 for SouthTec. I wouldn't even blink if that was the logbook entry for a wingtip repair. That would be as good as new for me.

Personally, I'd fly with speed tape until the annual and then send off the wingtip, but I know passengers don't love the "duct tape" look. (All sorts of Youtube videos of people on planes with speed tape covering various issues.) Maybe you could put a piece on the other wingtip so it looks like a symmetrical pin-striping effect you were going for.
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TomJ
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by TomJ »

Thank you very much Dave (and Colin) for the lead on Dave. It turns out I know Glenn Lawler, he did the pre-buy inspection and some additional work on my DA40.

The wingtip is on its way to Southtec. ACE aviation mistakenly shipped it by UPS Ground (!) and so it will only get to Glenn next Wednesday. He quoted $800-$1200 for the repair, including paint, and said he could turn it around in a week. That compares to $1772 for a new wingtip from the factory, with a two week lead time. The two weeks starts from the time you commit to purchasing the part - I presume this is for painting or other customization depending on the model year.

I can't wait to get N787DM back! I'll update here as things progress.
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by TomJ »

The following is from Sean at ACE Aviation regarding the LED position lights that have to be replaced because one of them is cracked. My question to this board is: have any of you done a straightforward LED position light retrofit that I can leverage the knowledge from, as Sean is enquiring? Note that the current lights are Aveo Engineering AVE-WPSTG/R-602 units, which the previous owner installed with a 337. Unfortunately these are no longer made.

I scoured the board and found that some of you have done retrofits to LED but these seemed really complicated. However there is a recent post from Rich (N40XE) (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4385&hilit=orion+600&start=60) earlier this year that sounded like a straightforward conversion to Orion units and I’m going to try contacting him directly. Any other advice?
“Hi Tom,

Service information exists for installing the Whelen OR600 lights to DA-40 NG aircraft, but unfortunately the older DA-40's are not included. I'm currently working with the local FSDO for field approval information on installing them. It should be pretty straight forward to get a field approval for this installation if you would like it. I can have Manny work up a quote when I have positive information from the FSDO. As far as mounting goes, we would restore the original internal bracketry as the OR600 and A600 use the same mounting.

Thanks,
-Sean

P.S. There are a lot of great minds on diamondaviators.net, it is possible someone has done this before and may be willing to post a copy of their field approval 337? This would eliminate the need for us to do research on this independently.

Sean Quinn"
Thanks,
Tom
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Rich
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by Rich »

The paperwork to replace the A600's with the Orion's was simply a logbook entry - no 337 was done, though there was an update on the W&B. The Orion's are TSO'd and have the same "form fit and function". I'll try to post a scan of the logbook entry shortly.

The one complication was dealing with the bracket in the wingtip that is both the mounting plate for the strobe power supply and provides the grounding for the wingtip and its lights. This was dealt with by adding a ground wire to provide the necessary grounding. It's likely this was dealt with similarly for the units you have, so I think this'll be pretty easy, assuming there was not a munging of the mounting holes.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by Rich »

Here is the logbook entry for my Orion conversion.
LED logbook entry.jpeg
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by Rick »

If it helps make your case, mine was done the same way - minor modification, no 337. Here is my logbook entry:
Logbook Entry.jpg
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by TomJ »

Yes, it will, Rick - thanks!
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Tim H
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by Tim H »

Tying into the grounding (actually lightning protection) is easy if you order these parts from Diamond:

1 DA4-5731-10-00 Bracket LH
1 DA4-5732-10-00 Bracket RH
12 DIN 7337-B2.4x8.5 Rivet (you only need 8 but I ordered extra)
2 AN4-5A Screw (to attach the bracket to the lightning protection strap)
6 MS24693C28 Screw (to attach the LED to the wingtip)
2 NAS1149F0463P Washer (to attach the bracket to the lightning protection strap)

The brackets replace the loop clamp on the existing strobes and tie directly into the lighting protection system. Works and fits perfectly.

Tim
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Rich
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Re: Cost of replacement wingtip

Post by Rich »

For whatever reason, Diamond was not forthcoming with the availability of the parts Tim mentioned. I was aware of them and so informed the shop (a supposed Diamond Service Center). But Diamond said it was acceptable to simply provide a ground wire and provided information on how to handle it. One of these days I'll pop the wingtip off and see just what was done.

Since Tom no longer has the A600's it'd be interesting to see what was done about grounding the units he does have in there.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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