I recently had engines installed on my twin Cessna at Yingling Aviation in
Wichita Kansas. I am leaving this review because of the bad management
and poor workmanship I received at Yingling. The total cost was more than
the aircraft is worth. I just do not see how general aviation can survive the
current pricing. Yingling charged a premium price, but had substandard quality
of work and customer service. I would recommend looking elsewhere for
maintenance.
Yingling was acquired by a private equity firm in 2023 and has had high
turnover of personnel since then, as normally happens in this situation.
In the end I was left feeling it was Yingling in name only. It is not the same
company it once was. It is sad to see a once reputable shop go downhill
like this.
Below is a list of items I noted during the process. Items 1 thru 12 were
from before I paid the invoice and 13 thru 28 where after the invoice was
paid and taking delivery of the aircraft. This list was provided to Yingling
and their response was that my aircraft was old.
1) Both of the project managers I dealt with were not very organized, they
often did not respond to emails to answer my questions and did not keep
me informed of the progress. I had to specifically ask to get updates,
only sometimes would an update be provided.
2) Initially and multiple times I requested that new hose kits be
installed, but over a month into the project they still had not ordered
them, which caused further delays.
3) Initially and multiple times I requested that the silicone baffle seals
be replaced, they did not order these soon enough causing delays.
4) Initially and multiple times I requested that new SCAT tubing be
installed, but the old was reused and some of it had holes in it.
5) I was charged over Ram's list price on the hoses and baffle kits. Ram
gives the FBO a discount and normally the FBO would then charge the end
customer the list price. The price of $9,275 seems very high and when I
asked how many hours it was for, I never got a response.
6) There was a lot of confusion over the exhaust stacks and they asked
about this three different times, both project managers asked at
different times. I had provided all of the exhaust except both LH
stacks as they were recently replaced. They thought one stack was
missing and that both outboard stacks were the same part number and
both inboard another part number. I had to explain to them that while
some of the 400 series Twin Cessna's might be like that, the Cessna
T310/320 use the same part number on the LH stack on both engines and
the RH stack on both engines share another part number. I had to send a
diagram showing this. It appears that Yingling does not do many Twin
Cessna engine installs anymore.
7) They broke one of the alternators and never informed me of this, I saw
the replacement on the invoice, but was not charged for it directly.
8) I was charged $1,228.89 for shipping. I assume this was for next day
shipping, but if they had ordered the parts when I requested them the
first time, next day shipping would not have been needed.
9) The invoice shows, customer requested prop overhauls, I only agreed to
it because I was told it was a safety of flight issue. I requested pictures of the
damaged parts, but no pictures were provided to me. The props only had
800 hours on them since new and have a 2000 hour TBO. It is hard to believe
they had this much damage to the bearing races and piston.
10) After having the aircraft for a month they said there was a crack in
the LH throttle body bracket, this caused further delays. They should
have inspected everything on engine removal.
11) They broke a hose fitting p/n 0850695-1 in the right engine throttle
body, which caused further delays. They were unable to find one so I
had to find one and since the fitting was not available I got the
whole 632855-1A6 throttle body from a shop parting out a C310Q. A day
later I was able to find new surplus fittings. They knew this was broke
for at least a week, but never told me, given more notice I could have
gotten a new fitting. This caused a couple more days of delay.
12) My first choice of a shop to install the engines was Continental
Services, but Yingling quoted about $11,000 less. In the end it cost
much more to have Yingling do the work. Assuming the props had
worn/damaged parts that needed replacing, Continental would still have
cost less. The Continental quote included: prop overhauls, prop
governor overhauls, remove inspect install exhaust, new Teflon fluid
hoses with integral fire sleeve, new engine mounts, new SCAT hoses,
baffle seal, ducts, hardware, and supplies, engine oil fill, dynamic
prop balance, and flight test. Yingling's quote only included removal
and install of the engines. They did not perform a flight test.
The following items were found after paying the invoice and taking delivery
of the aircraft.
13) RH engine tach generator cannon plug was not safety wired.
14) There were no AN931-5-9 elastic grommets installed where the spark
plug wires go through the metal baffle to the spark plugs. Some of the
spark plug wires are already starting to chafe from rubbing on the
metal baffle. This also causes cooling air to be lost instead of being
forced through the cylinder cooling fins.
15) Elastic grommets (AN931) where not installed in the metal baffle
on the aft section where the upper deck air lines pass through the
baffle. These open holes in the baffle will cause cooling air to be
lost instead of being forced through the cylinder cooling fins.
16) On the LH engine by the #5 cylinder spark plug wire, the new
silicone baffling that was installed has tears in it. The #2 cylinder
baffle area had a 1 inch square cut out of it. I was charged $3,002.50
for new silicone baffling to be installed, I would expect it to not
have holes in it.
17) The quote included cleaning of the engine compartments. There was
obviously no cleaning performed as the compartments are full of oil,
grease, dirt, and grim.
18) The RH engine oil temp probe was suppose to have a new
MS3106A12S3S cannon plug installed. The cannon plug was
owner supplied. The old cannon plug is still installed. The log
entry shows it was replaced, but it was not. The old wiring with
splices is still there, a new connector would have needed new
wires soldered to the connector. The new connector that was
provided to you, but not installed, needs to be returned to me.
19) The old SCAT tubing that was re-installed has numerous
holes in it. I had several times requested all of the SCAT to be
replaced. Why would an A&P/IA or FAA repair station install
SCAT tubing in this condition? This is not cosmetic, the SCAT
tubing has a purpose.
20) The clamps which mount the air/oil separators onto the
engines are missing.
21) Both exhaust tail pipes have new life limited S1921-1 clamps
installed. The old clamps were installed a couple years ago, p/n
NH1000897-40 and are $694.95 each. The old clamps need to be
returned to me, they are the style that are NOT life limited. I was not told
new clamps were being installed and did not approve this.
22) None of the old exhaust was returned to me. It could be inspected,
recertifed and sold.
23) Mixture controls are mis-rigged, when leaned they do not line up, they
are off about 3/4".
24) LH engine idle is low at 500 RPM, RH engine idle is high 800 RPM.
25) Full power fuel flow is low on the LH engine at 27.4 GPH. The RH
engine is 28.6 GPH. They both should be 29.5 GPH. Idle mixtures are
off too, was the fuel system setup per the Continental service builtin?
26) On both engines the 25 year old flexible fuel lines between the flow
transducers and fuel manifolds were not replaced. I requested multiple
times that all the fuel lines be replaced and Yingling confirmed they would be.
27) Both engines had the main fuel line routed too close to the turbo charger,
the RH fuel line was within an 1/8" of the turbo!
28) They used a white pipe sealing compound on the AN fittings in the fuel flow
transducers, but JPI specifically says to not use any compound on the threads.
They did not follow the manufacturers instructions.
Wichita Kansas. I am leaving this review because of the bad management
and poor workmanship I received at Yingling. The total cost was more than
the aircraft is worth. I just do not see how general aviation can survive the
current pricing. Yingling charged a premium price, but had substandard quality
of work and customer service. I would recommend looking elsewhere for
maintenance.
Yingling was acquired by a private equity firm in 2023 and has had high
turnover of personnel since then, as normally happens in this situation.
In the end I was left feeling it was Yingling in name only. It is not the same
company it once was. It is sad to see a once reputable shop go downhill
like this.
Below is a list of items I noted during the process. Items 1 thru 12 were
from before I paid the invoice and 13 thru 28 where after the invoice was
paid and taking delivery of the aircraft. This list was provided to Yingling
and their response was that my aircraft was old.
1) Both of the project managers I dealt with were not very organized, they
often did not respond to emails to answer my questions and did not keep
me informed of the progress. I had to specifically ask to get updates,
only sometimes would an update be provided.
2) Initially and multiple times I requested that new hose kits be
installed, but over a month into the project they still had not ordered
them, which caused further delays.
3) Initially and multiple times I requested that the silicone baffle seals
be replaced, they did not order these soon enough causing delays.
4) Initially and multiple times I requested that new SCAT tubing be
installed, but the old was reused and some of it had holes in it.
5) I was charged over Ram's list price on the hoses and baffle kits. Ram
gives the FBO a discount and normally the FBO would then charge the end
customer the list price. The price of $9,275 seems very high and when I
asked how many hours it was for, I never got a response.
6) There was a lot of confusion over the exhaust stacks and they asked
about this three different times, both project managers asked at
different times. I had provided all of the exhaust except both LH
stacks as they were recently replaced. They thought one stack was
missing and that both outboard stacks were the same part number and
both inboard another part number. I had to explain to them that while
some of the 400 series Twin Cessna's might be like that, the Cessna
T310/320 use the same part number on the LH stack on both engines and
the RH stack on both engines share another part number. I had to send a
diagram showing this. It appears that Yingling does not do many Twin
Cessna engine installs anymore.
7) They broke one of the alternators and never informed me of this, I saw
the replacement on the invoice, but was not charged for it directly.
8) I was charged $1,228.89 for shipping. I assume this was for next day
shipping, but if they had ordered the parts when I requested them the
first time, next day shipping would not have been needed.
9) The invoice shows, customer requested prop overhauls, I only agreed to
it because I was told it was a safety of flight issue. I requested pictures of the
damaged parts, but no pictures were provided to me. The props only had
800 hours on them since new and have a 2000 hour TBO. It is hard to believe
they had this much damage to the bearing races and piston.
10) After having the aircraft for a month they said there was a crack in
the LH throttle body bracket, this caused further delays. They should
have inspected everything on engine removal.
11) They broke a hose fitting p/n 0850695-1 in the right engine throttle
body, which caused further delays. They were unable to find one so I
had to find one and since the fitting was not available I got the
whole 632855-1A6 throttle body from a shop parting out a C310Q. A day
later I was able to find new surplus fittings. They knew this was broke
for at least a week, but never told me, given more notice I could have
gotten a new fitting. This caused a couple more days of delay.
12) My first choice of a shop to install the engines was Continental
Services, but Yingling quoted about $11,000 less. In the end it cost
much more to have Yingling do the work. Assuming the props had
worn/damaged parts that needed replacing, Continental would still have
cost less. The Continental quote included: prop overhauls, prop
governor overhauls, remove inspect install exhaust, new Teflon fluid
hoses with integral fire sleeve, new engine mounts, new SCAT hoses,
baffle seal, ducts, hardware, and supplies, engine oil fill, dynamic
prop balance, and flight test. Yingling's quote only included removal
and install of the engines. They did not perform a flight test.
The following items were found after paying the invoice and taking delivery
of the aircraft.
13) RH engine tach generator cannon plug was not safety wired.
14) There were no AN931-5-9 elastic grommets installed where the spark
plug wires go through the metal baffle to the spark plugs. Some of the
spark plug wires are already starting to chafe from rubbing on the
metal baffle. This also causes cooling air to be lost instead of being
forced through the cylinder cooling fins.
15) Elastic grommets (AN931) where not installed in the metal baffle
on the aft section where the upper deck air lines pass through the
baffle. These open holes in the baffle will cause cooling air to be
lost instead of being forced through the cylinder cooling fins.
16) On the LH engine by the #5 cylinder spark plug wire, the new
silicone baffling that was installed has tears in it. The #2 cylinder
baffle area had a 1 inch square cut out of it. I was charged $3,002.50
for new silicone baffling to be installed, I would expect it to not
have holes in it.
17) The quote included cleaning of the engine compartments. There was
obviously no cleaning performed as the compartments are full of oil,
grease, dirt, and grim.
18) The RH engine oil temp probe was suppose to have a new
MS3106A12S3S cannon plug installed. The cannon plug was
owner supplied. The old cannon plug is still installed. The log
entry shows it was replaced, but it was not. The old wiring with
splices is still there, a new connector would have needed new
wires soldered to the connector. The new connector that was
provided to you, but not installed, needs to be returned to me.
19) The old SCAT tubing that was re-installed has numerous
holes in it. I had several times requested all of the SCAT to be
replaced. Why would an A&P/IA or FAA repair station install
SCAT tubing in this condition? This is not cosmetic, the SCAT
tubing has a purpose.
20) The clamps which mount the air/oil separators onto the
engines are missing.
21) Both exhaust tail pipes have new life limited S1921-1 clamps
installed. The old clamps were installed a couple years ago, p/n
NH1000897-40 and are $694.95 each. The old clamps need to be
returned to me, they are the style that are NOT life limited. I was not told
new clamps were being installed and did not approve this.
22) None of the old exhaust was returned to me. It could be inspected,
recertifed and sold.
23) Mixture controls are mis-rigged, when leaned they do not line up, they
are off about 3/4".
24) LH engine idle is low at 500 RPM, RH engine idle is high 800 RPM.
25) Full power fuel flow is low on the LH engine at 27.4 GPH. The RH
engine is 28.6 GPH. They both should be 29.5 GPH. Idle mixtures are
off too, was the fuel system setup per the Continental service builtin?
26) On both engines the 25 year old flexible fuel lines between the flow
transducers and fuel manifolds were not replaced. I requested multiple
times that all the fuel lines be replaced and Yingling confirmed they would be.
27) Both engines had the main fuel line routed too close to the turbo charger,
the RH fuel line was within an 1/8" of the turbo!
28) They used a white pipe sealing compound on the AN fittings in the fuel flow
transducers, but JPI specifically says to not use any compound on the threads.
They did not follow the manufacturers instructions.
