Posted: 6/22/2012 8:36:15 AM EDT
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It looks as if my vacuum pump is only a year younger than my girlfriend. It's an Airborne with a manufacture date of 1995. The engine was overhauled around 1400 hours ago in 1996 and I have not been able to find a log book entry for anything other than the filter having been cleaned. Having experienced a vacuum pump failure in the past, it's not something I take lightly and I assume it's something that I should preemptively replace before it fails.
Mine is an Airborne 211CC. It says DO NOT OVERHAUL or something to that effect. I'm going to have the repair performed by an A&P, but I find it odd that the only replacements listed on aircraftspruce are listed as overhauled units and that new pumps are not available. |
| Replace the pump! If you fly IFR or at night and are in doubt about it, replace it. Look into some sort back-up for your vacuum system. For one customer I installed an electric back-up attitude gyro that he can turn on and cage when needed or he gets bored. He would use the Garmin 530 for heading and the elec AG in case the vacuum pump takes a dump. I have many customers with SVS standby systems. |
| We've been seeing our RAPCO vacuum pumps (with measuring hole) go 1200 hours before hitting minimum tolerances. I used to be a big fan of early/preventative replacements, but we've had a a couple of very low time pumps die on us recently. Replacing early may still not be a bad idea by itself, but don't let it give you a false belief that you will not have a failure... I like the standby vacuum system that our one airplane has, that seems to be the best option. It also has a standby backup AI (electric), but I'm not happy with it. We've had more failures of that then we have vacuum pumps (and I'd prefer an electric heading indicator as a spare anyway, should be more reliable and I can fly all day long on just altimeter and heading)... One particular trip we lost the backup AI and the vacuum pump on the same flight. Standby vacuum worked great. |
| I lost a vacuum pump and the electric failed when I turned it on a couple years ago in a rental. The vacuum pump also drives the Mooney PC wing leveler. My plane has an HSI and the TC is both vacuum and electric. I should get an enunciator light and a flag in the TC if I have a failure, but I'd rather not lose the AI. I think recovering from an upset in IMC would be difficult enough. I don't know if I'd be able to identify my attitude from the other instruments alone. As for right now, I'm only flying daytime VFR while I become more familiar with the airplane. |
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Yes, you can recover with just the other instruments. I won a steak dinner recovering from unusual attitudes with just altimeter, airspeed, and compass( note no needle & ball). Not that I would like to do it in real life but I was hungry. That was 30 + years ago and yes it wouldn't hurt me to miss a meal now.
The point is, when it's your lilttle pink butt in the seat AND your paying, make it the way you want it to be when it all goes south ( and you're always paying - blood or bucks, your choice) |
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Quoted:
It's sad that General aviation (and aviation in general  ) relies on 1950's technology because the FAA has become so overbearing and made it so difficult to get anything new certified. On a second note, your girlfriend was born in 1994?  Damn I feel old. I said she was, not me :-) |