Snip> Paul Wrote...
Their credibility is low with me. Something like this is easy to fix by
replacing the
aluminum (really bad) or steel line with AN -4 or -6  double braided
stainless steel flex
line. I think they cannot admit they have serious problems with this engine
because  to do so
would cause the entire program to collapse. The airplane design and engine
are  closely
dependent on each other. It is not like you could take the engine out and
put in a  Lycoming.

Wrathall Mark wrote:

The S-51 fleet must be up to about ?? accidents by now.

At least half a dozen. Maybe eight.

Have all engine
failures been traced back to these lines? 

Don't know but I don't think so.

Are the customers also sticking
slavishly to these lines?

Good question.

What caused the customer aircraft fatality?

Don't know but I think there is a search engine somewhere on this site. 

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/months.htm

Have they ever experienced any
structural problems with the S-51? 

I don't think so. It is a very heavy airplane with thick skins.

I was looking at the Oil schematic on the 13B, and it appears that there is
an oil gallery which runs through the aft housing to the E-shaft bearing
from the oil cooler outlet line (if I remember right, I don't have the book
here at work). Has anyone thought of tapping into this line to lubricate the
PRSU with internal galleries. It would cause a fair bit more machining, but
fireshielded aeroquip hoses are expensive too. Does anyone have an old
housing, an electric drill, an electric drill and a half hour to spare to
see if youcan tap into this gallery without hitting the water jacket? This
could reduce one more failure point.

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