Lycoming says it’s working with the FAA after the agency announced it wants to fine the engine maker $60,000 for allegedly faulty maintenance on four TEO-540-C1A engines, one of its most advanced designs used in the Tecnam P2012 twin. The company pledged to cooperate fully with the agency after the proposed sanction was posted on the FAA website last Friday. “Lycoming is working closely with the FAA on this matter and will fully support the agency throughout its review,” Lycoming said in a statement to AvBrief. “Because the investigation is ongoing, we cannot provide further comment at this time. Safety and regulatory compliance remain core pillars of Lycoming’s business, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards in every aspect of our operations.“
The FAA said it wants to fine the company for “allegedly violating aircraft maintenance regulations.” The FAA announcement is as follows:
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes a $60,000 civil penalty against Lycoming Engines of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for allegedly violating aircraft maintenance regulations. The FAA alleges that the aircraft repair station in September 2024 failed to follow the manufacturer’s manual while performing maintenance on four Lycoming TEO-540-CIA engines. The company released the engines for return to service without replacing the Exhaust Bypass Valve Assembly as required. Lycoming has 30 days to respond to FAA’s enforcement letter.“
Although the alleged infraction occurred two years ago, the company recently issued a service bulletin (copied below) that says the springs in the bypass valves manufactured by Hartzell Engine Tech from May 26, 2024 to March 13, 2026 might not meet specifications and can cause the exhaust pressure to fluctuate. The fix is to replace the assembly.
Availability of quality steels used for parts like aircraft valves, bolts and springs has become a huge issue over the past decade or so. Cheap imported steels from a large Pacific Rim country have forced many domestic U.S. steel suppliers out of business. Any industry that requires high quality steel has been affected. Many (many) years ago, a very famous communist said “ the capitalists will sell us the rope we use to hang them”. A long term strategy, which seems to be working.
“Cheap imported steels from a large Pacific Rim country have forced many domestic U.S. steel suppliers out of business. Any industry that requires high quality steel has been affected. Many (many) years ago, a very famous communist said “ the capitalists will sell us the rope we use to hang them”. A long term strategy, which seems to be working.”
Disagree with your reason for lack of quality steel. The famous communist you quoted explained the reason for lack of quality steel. Capitalism is only concerned with bottom line…pure profit. What “forced” the quality steel manufacturers to move their manufacturing was and is profit. How many times have we all seen the statement ” the company bottom line did not meet analysts expectations”. Often, the company was profitable, but not profitable enough for Wall Street “experts”, who always seem to know the best way to produce an item, even better than the people producing the product. So, a healthy local company, employing trained, quality, long term employees residing close to their employer, is sacrificed at the altar of capitalism for nothing more than bottom line profit. A profitable local company employing local, good loyal employees is bought out by a private equity firm whose goal is capture a market segment to replace with an overseas country and eventually monopolize this market segment. That creates a market segment that cannot return back to America. Why? Too expensive to restart. Too expensive to find and train capable employees. Too expensive to “meet analyst’s expectations” preventing American capital investment.
Capitalism ended the small to medium businesses, especially high quality manufacturing, turning places like Galesburg, IL, Flint/Detroit/Romulus MI, Pittsburg, PA, Gary, IN, for example, into blue collar ghost towns. Cirrus Design is an
other classic example of being sold to China because American Private Equity Capital did not want to invest in the most popular piston single SR line, the most popular very light jet because Cirrus “did not meet analysts expectations”. The Klapmeiers saw the US credit/investment market was not interested, basically waiting for Cirrus to go BK. Then a PE firm buys the remains for pennies on the dollar, and sells it and all the assets required to produce the airplanes including the type certificate, to an overseas bidder. The Klapmeiers lose, the company closes doors, another US aircraft company is history. China recognizes the value of this company, sees that it indeed has quality employees who make a quality product, and makes the long term investment in keeping the company in the USA, adding further refinement to the product line, developing a long term customer service center that includes some of the best training opportunities for customers of BOTH new and used Cirrus aircraft. And who did the Chinese/US management turn to for better training for Cirrus owners significantly reducing Cirrus accidents? The American Bonanza Society! The results? Owner loyalty reflected in repeat business for new airplanes. That loyalty has protected the value of the used market, while increasing sales of new models.
If it was not for the war in the middle east, the constant need for capitalism to always have an enemy to maintain an economic “victim” image to blame for whatever it takes “to meet analysts expectations”, Cirrus Aircraft would not be on the DOD list under Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act preventing Cirrus Aircraft from entering into direct DOD contracts which started 6/30/2026 with indirect procurements restrictions following a year later.
China has validated the US worker, US manufacturing capability, and continues to show how to work cooperatively rather than by “gunboat diplomacy”. They put their money into US capability. The US did not. Unfortunately, many Americans still believe the need for an “enemy” to justify the decline of the American economy. Therefore…“ the capitalists will sell us the rope we use to hang them”. In this case, China still believes in the US worker, US manufacturing, resulting in the most popular series of airplanes sold and delivered. This cooperative relationship should not result in the US GA aviation market being sore winners.
I am sure, as a couple of others have indicated, there is more context and nuance to this story than being currently reported. Often in these regulatory “oopsies” it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. At this point in the absence of nuance, this looks like an apology for being caught doing what regulations was designed to prevent. I hope I am wrong.
200% Agree!
More details are needed in this story, but if Lycoming’s Repair Station performed a repair to these engines and the wastegate was considered unrelated to the repair, then it would not have been replaced whether a SB or SI was issued or not, assuming the engine functioned properly in the test cell. (That’s not the case with engines or parts to which an AD applies.).
Nevertheless, that wastegate sells for around $10K in the US and is manufactured by Hartzell Engine Technologies (HET). They also make the $12K fuel pump which has an MSB against it and the $18K-$20K electronic throttle body. All on back order, of course.
What’s taking us down are the small piece parts like springs and diaphragms integral to these components that fail to meet specs and manage to slip through QC, or what passes for QC. It plagues this industry today and has for decades. And you get to pay the bill.
In the past these kinds of valves were callled wastegate control valves. Which modulate boost from the turbocharger. Who renamed them exhaust bypass valves?
In a word: EXPERIMENTAL.
Market forces are a powerful thing. Cirrus currently have an order backlog of over 1000 aircraft and deliver +/- 700 aircraft a year. They just switched all their propeller business over to MT. With MT props added to the SR type certificates, that will also put a big dent in Hartzell’s aftermarket business. Owners can probably buy a brand new MT for less than the cost of a Hartzell overhaul. Karma….