- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by
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Rich,
Or you could do what I did yesterday and call Fletchair and get a certified 525A electric pump from them. I just removed one from a plane that did not have the safety wire feature on the pump but it had been on the plane for a number of years. Want a deal on an illegal Air Napa pump?
Cheers
Roscoe
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To my knowledge the biggest difference is the Facet pumps you see on Aircraft Spruce are not FAA-PMA, while the Fletchair pump is. Which (correct me if I’m wrong) means the Fletchair pump has been tested and QA’d, while the Facet one is a anyone’s guess.
(Just replaced ours in Dec and was wondering the same thing, did a little research and that’s what I came up with). -
Nathan is correct. Fletchair buys a batch of the Facet 525A pumps and then send them to a testing lab. About 50 percent fail. They are tested to deliver a certain range of volume at a certain range of pressure. Those that fail are sold on eBay for ‘experiential only.’ Those that pass are scribed with a engineering log reference number, the lab number and finally a Fletchair Sticker.
Why is this important? I recently had a 160 HP STC’ed AA1B come into the shop because the new engine would miss at high rates of climb. What we found was that the engine was STC’ed to have a redline of 2340 (but would climb at 80 knots at 2650 aT 1800 FPM). When we examined the fuel pump (after checking the ignition system and valves on a 130 hour new engine) we found an electric fuel pump with no bent tab and no safety wire. removed the pump and scotchbrited away the new silver paint to find, you guess it, a ‘National Aviation Parts Association’, (NAPA) sticker. Replaced electric pump with one from Fletchair and miss on high climb rate and rpm was gone.
So I say, buy the unapproved Facet from Aircraft Spruce, but when you starve the engine, be sure and tell the insurance company how you saved 130 dollars.
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