So work has been progressing on getting PA-31 ZK-WHW flying. As background this aircraft had been ground run only the last 6 years. It was with a small regional airline that went bust late 2018. There was a question on maintenance records and logbooks. The engines have timed out so the intention is just to fly this on private ops on condition.
I went and looked at the airframe (yes brought sight unseen). The logs and maintenance records were all available and tallied. There has been big ticket items done which was nice. Oil changed, defueled and refueled. Spark plugs pulled, checked and replaced depending on condition.
So in the last week we prepped the engines and ground started it. The engines ran with the only issue being one of the alternators not generating charge. We moved on to the airframe which looks good. The airframe has only 6700 hrs. The ADs and MSBs are being run through. If anyone has advice on the cracking AD in the tail thanks in advance.
So the 100hr and Annual seem to be progressing. Who knows maybe this will fly.
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Thank you to all of you who have responded to my post. I contacted Hartzell (HET) and they have volunteered to provide a replacement starter indicating that the problem was a manufacturing defect that they inherited from their purchase of this line of starters. They indicate that the problem has been rectified in the current production starters. I am grateful to the FBO owner who posted and alerted me to this endemic problem with these starters. I had my mechanic clean and reassemble the starter and reinstall it. Apparently, the problem would have re-surfaced. With the starter properly assembled and the new copper power cables installed, the starter runs like a scalded dog. I believe that HET is responding to this issue in an honorable manner.
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