Need info: Lycoming 350 horsepower TIO-540 turbocharged engine (C-206)

[StSanta]

A C-206 crashed shortly after take-off in Australia a few days ago. Of the 7 people on board (1 pilot, 2 tandem masters, 2 tandem passager, 1 video man), only two survived. The plane was observed having trouble gaining altitude with black smoke coming from the engine. This engine reportedly had been the cause of another crash where a number of people were killed.

A dropzone not so far from here is considering buying a C-206 with such an engine to replace their existing C-206 which, due to wear and tear and generally being poorly treated, is grounded (engine, prop, brakes need replacement and this was only noted after it had run a fair amount of time over mandatory maintenance).

Don't jump there much and after hearing about the maintenance issues, my jump frequency there is sure to go down. Now I need to know if this engine can be relied on, if it's maintenance heavy etc - might have to avoid that place totally. Which will be a bit of a bummer since with such an engine it's a comparatively fast jumpship.

Any pilot-types/mechanics out there with some info?

[Golfer]

All turbocharged engines are more maintenance reliant than normally aspirated ones.  They generate lots of heat to compress the air going into the cylinders, more heat is more wear and more wear means more maint.

I've sat behind the TIO-540 and I'm fine with sitting behind it tomorrow.

If the skydive outfit is not maintaining the engine (not necessarily the airplane...heh) properly with regular inspections then the only way I'd get in that airplane to begin with is to have a parachute on.

Don't not fly because of the engine, choose not to fly because of the outfit.

[Golfer]

One thing that does happen somewhat often is a turbo hose comes loose.  There have been fires as a result and if it happens you're going to have a horrible running motor and its a matter of luck where the hot air is being blasted as to whether or not the cowling will melt or you'll catch on fire.

It's not an uncommon thing to have turbo hoses come loose and cause fires.  Not long ago in a Flying magazine there was a story of a guy who's Mooney was just out of an inspection and that caused a fire.  During the investigation the investigator from the NTSB checked the hose first because early on in his career he said he saw the same thing happen in a fatal accident.

It could have been a number of things, the worst thats happened to me was an oil return hose sprung a very small leak and dripped oil onto the exhaust...such things create smoke and smell very bad when back on the ground.  This was just after departure and I chose to shut down that motor after reaching a safe altitude.  A few bucks in the maintenance shop and an oil change the airplane was returned to service.

[eagl]

An improperly serviced engine will bite you at 10 hrs just as badly as at 1000 hours...  A guy I know had his engine blow an oil seal or something, just 10 hrs after overhaul/rebuild.  It was at night over a cloud deck, and the windscreen sheeted over with oil.  Fortunately he was an "old guy" F-15E WSO with a few thousand hours and more "air sense" than almost anyone I know, so he was able to do everything right and get the plane down safely.

I've flown a few planes with old engines that burned oil or had other problems, and I was never comfortable with them.  They were going to go sooner or later but the owner was either trying to save money or simply couldn't afford the rebuild, so they were planning on flying them until they died or until forced by regulations to rebuild.  I decided to not fly those planes...  Crash test dummy is not printed anywhere on my medical certificate or license.

[Maverick]

The description you gave is indicative of an engine running very rich. It may have been a case of the injector going bad and pushing way too much fuel into the engine causing it to be over rich. It may also have been the turbo siezing again causing a rich mxture. Both will cause the engine to dump black smoke and cause a loss of power. The pilots main reaction to low power is to push the throttle and mixture to the max possibly making the situation worse. The examination of the engine may be able to find the cause.

An engine that sucks a valve or has a problem causing oil to be burned puts out grey smoke.

An engine can have a catastrophic failure at any time in its service life. It may or may not be maintenance related. There are many FAA AD's because a poorly manufactured part was sold and put in engines by the mechanic who had no idea there was a problem.

If the operator has a reputation for scrimping on maintenance I would certainly rethink using their equipment or services.

I wouldn't let one incident be an indicator of a problem with that model of engines. There are a bunch of them out there flying all the time.