Desert Rat
Well Known Member
Hey all-
I could really go on a rant here, but I'm going to try and restrain myself to just the facts;
When I was deciding on a prop, I went to the whirlwind site and discovered that the spec sheet for a 300-72 stated the overhaul interval was 6year/650 hour. same calendar limit as Hartzell and likely more hours than I'll fly.
Note- before somebody else says it, yeah, I know that limit is more like a suggestion in this world.
Anyway, I ordered that prop and when it was delivered yesterday the data sheet said 5 year/500 hours.
I emailed the sales guy at Whirlwind and he was like oh, it's always been that, the website you saw doesn't exist any more.
I'm like "This was the data I used to make my buy decision. It does exist I'm looking at it right now, here's a screen shot!"
Anyway, the result is that as of about an hour ago, if you google "whirlwind 300 prop". it now takes you to a different website that states overhaul limits of 5 years/500 hours.
Sales guy has chosen to say that the 300 series has always been a 5yr/500 hour overhaul, in spite of me bringing up the bigger numbers in an email when I was ordering it plus evidence to the contrary published by his own company, but now evidently deleted from the face of the earth.
He also stated that those numbers may go up at some non-specific point in the future as more of them go into service.
I'm sure it will be a great prop and will hopefully give me a lot of years of happy flying, but if anybody is weighing their options for props, just know that as of right now, the recommended overhaul limit for a Whirlwind is only 5 years.
I could really go on a rant here, but I'm going to try and restrain myself to just the facts;
When I was deciding on a prop, I went to the whirlwind site and discovered that the spec sheet for a 300-72 stated the overhaul interval was 6year/650 hour. same calendar limit as Hartzell and likely more hours than I'll fly.
Note- before somebody else says it, yeah, I know that limit is more like a suggestion in this world.
Anyway, I ordered that prop and when it was delivered yesterday the data sheet said 5 year/500 hours.
I emailed the sales guy at Whirlwind and he was like oh, it's always been that, the website you saw doesn't exist any more.
I'm like "This was the data I used to make my buy decision. It does exist I'm looking at it right now, here's a screen shot!"
Anyway, the result is that as of about an hour ago, if you google "whirlwind 300 prop". it now takes you to a different website that states overhaul limits of 5 years/500 hours.
Sales guy has chosen to say that the 300 series has always been a 5yr/500 hour overhaul, in spite of me bringing up the bigger numbers in an email when I was ordering it plus evidence to the contrary published by his own company, but now evidently deleted from the face of the earth.
He also stated that those numbers may go up at some non-specific point in the future as more of them go into service.
I'm sure it will be a great prop and will hopefully give me a lot of years of happy flying, but if anybody is weighing their options for props, just know that as of right now, the recommended overhaul limit for a Whirlwind is only 5 years.
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