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OT: helicopter fuel gauge sender unit - source wanted

Billtodd

Billtodd

Titanium
Joined
Feb 8, 2009
Location
Colchester UK (where the lathes used to be made)
Calling aviation experts.

I'm looking for a source for a heli fuel sender unit (the bit that goes into the gas tank).

It's for a Enstrom and the part number is : CGF-30.75-28V-0/5V-MTP. (DWG E/P:ECD 4037-5 REVB) probably a Centroid unit.

We've bee quoted the most ridiculous price and looking for alternatives

Bill
 
1.
A drone ? A toy ?

2.
A real chopper with people as your OP implies ???

If 2. call all the EU suppliers of maintenance, in germany, france, uk etc. and tell them you are looking for a cheaper price.
Almost certainly, 2. will result in 50% reduction, from someone, with original specs/docs/part numbers.
Ask for certs !
Then, with certs in pdf, consider carefully the ramifications - and go back to original supplier and ask for 50% off.
Pay the competitive bidder something !



Billtodd said:
Calling aviation experts.

I'm looking for a source for a heli fuel sender unit (the bit that goes into the gas tank).

It's for a Enstrom and the part number is : CGF-30.75-28V-0/5V-MTP. (DWG E/P:ECD 4037-5 REVB) probably a Centroid unit.

We've bee quoted the most ridiculous price and looking for alternatives

Bill
Click to expand...
 
I can assure you Hanermo, an "Enstrom" is a REAL helicopter, I toured the factory.
Pretty remarkable little company with a couple of "first's" in the industry.

5 seconds in google will reveal all.
 
Billtodd said:
Calling aviation experts.

I'm looking for a source for a heli fuel sender unit (the bit that goes into the gas tank).

It's for a Enstrom and the part number is : CGF-30.75-28V-0/5V-MTP. (DWG E/P:ECD 4037-5 REVB) probably a Centroid unit.

We've bee quoted the most ridiculous price and looking for alternatives

Bill
Click to expand...

Pilot's license didn't make me an "expert", but I had a couple of professional Airframe & Powerplant mechanics for friends. "Generally", a large portion of the "ridiculous price" on aircraft parts has to do with keeping the overall aircraft's airworthiness certification intact. Read certification to specs, and "traceability" of such. Garden-variety item or otherwise, it's the "paperwork", most especially on onsesies vs OEM volume/batch buy-in, that adds to the end-luser cost.

Serious business, what with even Boeing and Airbus making the newspapers ever' now and then over being hit with counterfeit repair parts. Or even NEW parts.
 
Yeah, I was just thinking to myself "typical ripoff aviation pricing," but then I started thinking what would be the big deal if that part failed. For one, it's kind of bad not to know how much fuel you have when you're in the air, so it would probably be a "set down ASAP" situation. And then you're stuck at an unfamiliar airfield and if you have cargo or are transporting people you pretty much have to buy the part you need at whatever price you can get it quickly anyway or lose your butt on payment for the transpo/cargo delivery. Even if it's a pleasure craft your not going to want to leave it in the middle of nowhere distant from your home airfield while you try to find a great price. Not to mention needing to pay for a place to stay or getting transport out of there and back while you wait for it.
 
eKretz said:
Yeah, I was just thinking to myself "typical ripoff aviation pricing," but then I started thinking what would be the big deal if that part failed. For one, it's kind of bad not to know how much fuel you have when you're in the air, so it would probably be a "set down ASAP" situation. And then you're stuck at an unfamiliar airfield and if you have cargo or are transporting people you pretty much have to buy the part you need at whatever price you can get it quickly anyway or lose your butt on payment for the transpo/cargo delivery. Even if it's a pleasure craft your not going to want to leave it in the middle of nowhere distant from your home airfield while you try to find a great price. Not to mention needing to pay for a place to stay or getting transport out of there and back while you wait for it.
Click to expand...

Fuel management - as much for weight and balance as for range/endurance - is a major part of pilot training and responsibility. And.. we are required to carry enough reserve to be able to divert to an alternative airfield. In theory, a wristwatch will do as well as a gauge. The very need of such an emergency set-down could be classed as 'pilot error' as much as mechanical failure.

In practice, however, if it does NOTHING else at all, it is the gauge that can be the only warning of a LEAK that knocks all that careful fuel-burn calculation right off the table!

"And foidemore.." .. Fuel burn rates of rotary-wing aircraft CAN be harder to predict than fixed wing. There are generally more variables to deal with that can affect consumption rates.

:(
 
Hi Bill

Are you aware that if you fit a secondhand fuel send to the Enstom the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority / Cancel All Aviation) will want ALL the reference paperwork and in fact don't even allow used items to be fitted in some systems ...

I'm thinking the fuel system maybe one of them :eek:

John :typing:
 
Jersey John said:
Hi Bill

Are you aware that if you fit a secondhand fuel send to the Enstom the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority / Cancel All Aviation) will want ALL the reference paperwork and in fact don't even allow used items to be fitted in some systems ...

I'm thinking the fuel system maybe one of them :eek:

John :typing:
Click to expand...

I think allot of the stuff is "yellow tagged" so is that what the CAA wants as far as "reference paperwork" ?
 
digger doug said:
I think allot of the stuff is "yellow tagged" so is that what the CAA wants as far as "reference paperwork" ?
Click to expand...

Most of my "hours" were in PA-28's A rented PA-28-150 and a PA-28 180D that was "shared" with no one but an FBO staff member where it was tied-down, the owner, and myself.

The owner was an A&P, so.. most of what I needed to know was to keep him informed, then leave those things in HIS ken. Same applies here. (S)he will KNOW, not guess. More important part of their tasking than just turning a wrench the right direction and torque, keeping sacrosanct the airworthiness is.

It ain't about risking yer own arse, after all.

It is the very real possibility the aircraft and its fuel load comes down atop a school bus or through the roof of a hospital or a classroom full of kids.
 
Monarchist said:
Fuel management - as much for weight and balance as for range/endurance - is a major part of pilot training and responsibility. And.. we are required to carry enough reserve to be able to divert to an alternative airfield. In theory, a wristwatch will do as well as a gauge. The very need of such an emergency set-down could be classed as 'pilot error' as much as mechanical failure.

In practice, however, if it does NOTHING else at all, it is the gauge that can be the only warning of a LEAK that knocks all that careful fuel-burn calculation right off the table!

"And foidemore.." .. Fuel burn rates of rotary-wing aircraft CAN be harder to predict than fixed wing. There are generally more variables to deal with that can affect consumption rates.

:(
Click to expand...

Yes sure, I used to do the same on a beat up old truck with a broken fuel gauge and the trip odometer. But it's those exact potential things you mention like a leak or a clogged air filter that causes excess fuel consumption or any of a number of other similar issues that will ruin your day (life) if they happen in the air. Hope you've practiced up on your auto-rotation landings and have a clear place to set down if that should happen. Not to mention the potential liability should you injure or kill someone during the process of coming down.
 
Ok guys, i asked a silly question…

First it's only the bosses chopper , if he dies in a horrible crash we'll mourn his passing




Second, Yes i know CAA will get airborne if the paper work does have all the right paper clips etc. and sent a message back up the food-chain to that effect.


Anyway it turns out that the ridiculous price ws actually for 'rewiring' the machine to fit an alternative because a replacement sender is not instantly available from whoever wws asked before me.

Bill
 
Monarchist said:
It is the very real possibility the aircraft and its fuel load comes down atop a school bus or through the roof of a hospital or a classroom full of kids.
Click to expand...

It's an ENSTROM....not that big and/or heavy....merely a dent in the roof of said bus...:D

Now one of Frank Piasecki's Chinooks....:eek:
 
digger doug said:
I think allot of the stuff is "yellow tagged" so is that what the CAA wants as far as "reference paperwork" ?
Click to expand...

Yes very similar ... but more paperwork. In the 80's when I rebuilt a "written off" Supercub so many items were scrapped and deemed unfit to refit.

At that time there were lots of light aircraft imported from the US like C-150 / C-172 / Pa28 etc and the CAA had a field day with inspections ... always remember they published a picture of a shim on a retacactable single ... it was a Coke tin that used :D

It's only got worse as we've joined the EU ... even nuts and bolts need paperwork.

John :cheers:
 
Ahh don't bother, just fit a fuel tap of any old honda motor bike or most other jap bikes, you turn it one way for 90% of the tank, then flip it the other way to reserve for the rest when she starts to splutter. May want to extend that pipe a we tad, but don't see why the basic idea wont work just as well in something that flies as it does in something that rolls.
 
adama said:
Ahh don't bother, just fit a fuel tap of any old honda motor bike or most other jap bikes, you turn it one way for 90% of the tank, then flip it the other way to reserve for the rest when she starts to splutter. May want to extend that pipe a we tad, but don't see why the basic idea wont work just as well in something that flies as it does in something that rolls.
Click to expand...

Uhm....'Cause when you hear the "Loudest Silence" which is the sputtering, your hands and brain
are kinda busy....:skep:

How about the OP just fix it the right way, with the right parts eh ?
 
digger doug said:
Uhm....'Cause when you hear the "Loudest Silence" which is the sputtering, your hands and brain
are kinda busy....:skep:

How about the OP just fix it the right way, with the right parts eh ?
Click to expand...

Doug, ...I think you will find Adam was shall we say? being a little tongue in cheek.
 
Jersey John said:
It's only got worse as we've joined the EU ... even nuts and bolts need paperwork.

John :cheers:
Click to expand...

John, I know paperwork was needed for nuts, bolts, screws and even washers in 1977 .........I knew of a VW powered plane that was being built,(can't remember which one) and the CAA would not accept a single VW made fastener on that engine, ......it cost the guy a fortune. :eek:
 
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