Engine fail, customer service WIN

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jprhode
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Engine fail, customer service WIN

Post by jprhode »

Fun weekend, went to Telluride in the DA62. KTEX wasn't reporting weather, so I asked Denver Center - winds calm. Great, head up the canyon, cancel IFR. Ask CTAF for a wind check - 19G28 straight across the runway. Not what you want in that canyon. Flew the pattern to 27 since I figured it would be easier to go missed, which was likely. We got close but landing safely was clearly beyond my ability with the crazy turbulence so I cleaned up the plane and while climbing back out of the terrain I got an Left ECU A and B failure! The plane was still flying so gracefully that it took a second to connect the dots that Left was only making about 50% power. Anyway, rerouted and landed at Montrose with no issue.

Got a car to Telluride. Now for the cool part: I looked up and called the customer service number on Diamond's website, mind you this was probably around 6pm in Canada. Imagine my surprise when an actual human (Will) answered the phone, and actually knew exactly what to do. By 9pm he had arranged for one of their technicians to be in Montrose in the morning to figure it out. And he was actually there the next morning, and figured out in an hour or so that the air intake hose to the turbo was collapsing under high load. He verified this by swapping the Left and Right hose, and the problem (on the ground) moved to the right side. The Ontario crew put two new hoses on a UPS for Saturday AM delivery. Now of course UPS screwed us and didn't deliver until Monday, but they did deliver this morning, Paul put the new ones on, we did a full power test, problem solved. Flew home no issue.

Score one for Diamond customer service, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Also, score one for having two engines in the mountains. That could have been a bad scene in a single. As it was, it was pretty close to a non-event flying wise. I was super nervous of course because who knew if my partial power would last, but really a great testament to how these things handle. The old hoses are going back to the factory for a look, but the ones Paul installed were clearly beefier. Mine is 62.010 so maybe they switched suppliers or something.

Anyway, huge kudos the the fine folks at Diamond!

cheers
Jason
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pietromarx
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Re: Engine fail, customer service WIN

Post by pietromarx »

Will is and has always been a awesome person in a helpful customer service group.
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Colin
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Re: Engine fail, customer service WIN

Post by Colin »

Great story of the plane and the company.

A guy is in Europe driving his Rolls Royce when the ride seems a little bumpy. He makes it to the chalet where he was spending the next few nights. Poking under the car he sees one of the rear leaf springs has broken. He calls his dealer and explains the situation and where he is. He gets a lot of British tut tut and sorry old chap, see what we can do, but it is a Saturday evening and all that.

He comes out in the morning to perhaps just ride to town for a baguette. The car drives fine. When he gets back with his bread and chocolate he looks under the car and the rear spring has already been replaced. He calls his dealer in surprise. "How did you get in here and fix this broken spring?"

"I am certain you are mistake, sir, a Rolls Royce does not simple *break.*"
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
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N972RD DA42 G1000 2.0 s/n 42.AC100 (sold!)
N971RD DA40 G1000 s/n 40.508 (traded)
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CFIDave
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Re: Engine fail, customer service WIN

Post by CFIDave »

Jason:
Glad to hear that your flight ended well, and that you exercised great judgment in not attempting the crosswind landing. (BTW, the most challenging crosswind landing I've ever made was landing my DA42-VI at the Diamond factory in London, Ontario with 30 knots direct crosswind amid snow drifting visibily across the runway; this was the only time I've ever run out of rudder authority with my foot all the way to the floor. With gusts causing the plane to "weathervane" into the wind, taxiing straight turned out to be harder than landing the plane.)

As you know, you own the demonstrator that made the rounds as the first DA62 in North America. Before the first owners (located in PA) acquired the aircraft from Diamond Canada, I recall (since we sold it to them) that Diamond installed "fresh" engines on it. But Diamond may not have replaced the original air hoses connecting the engine to the intercooler, intercooler to turbo, turbo to air intake, etc.
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ATP, CFI, CFI-I, MEI
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Colin
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Re: Engine fail, customer service WIN

Post by Colin »

the Diamond factory in London, Ontario with 30 knots direct crosswind amid snow drifting visibily across the runway
You are a better pilot than I am. My current limit in the DA42 is 19kts crosswind. Did they only have one runway plowed? I'm trying to picture the wind direction that gives you that crosswind but doesn't make the other runway better. (I admit it is late at night for my brain.)
Screen Shot 2018-07-06 at 9.01.20 PM.png
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
colin@mightycheese.com * send email rather than PM
http://www.flyingsummers.com
N972RD DA42 G1000 2.0 s/n 42.AC100 (sold!)
N971RD DA40 G1000 s/n 40.508 (traded)
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CFIDave
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Re: Engine fail, customer service WIN

Post by CFIDave »

Colin wrote:Did they only have one runway plowed? I'm trying to picture the wind direction that gives you that crosswind but doesn't make the other runway better. (I admit it is late at night for my brain.)
London tower assigned us Rwy 27 to land, and I recall that the wind was coming from the south at around 200, so it would have been a crosswind landing on either runway.
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Former DA40XLS, DA42-VI, and DA62 owner
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