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LYCOMING SCHOOL

rwarre

Well Known Member
Signed up for the engine assembly class at Lycoming in PA. Something I always wanted to do. Anyone have any experience, comments?
 
This is something I have always wanted to do - I'm envious. When it is time to OH my HIO-360 for my Acroduster project, it might make financial sense for me to go to the school and do the OH myself. Please report back with your impressions and mostly, enjoy!
 
Signed up for the engine assembly class at Lycoming in PA. Something I always wanted to do. Anyone have any experience, comments?

Went to both classes a couple of years ago - great experience! All of your friends will then want you to build engines for them......

The long-time instructor has retired since, so I?ll be interested to hear how the new guy does.
 
What Paul Dye said, same here. Took it when Jim Doubler (sp?) taught it, long time Lycoming guy, so curious how the class is and how you liek the format vs the two week format we did. Either way, its worth every penny - hope you get the factory tour as well.

I took boat load of written notes and video taped a bunch of the engine building "team" activities cause I knew Id forget it....and have. Didnt have time to do that during the paired engine build tho......

That said, as just a vanilla vehicle wrench, I felt kinda outta my depth with the typical young aviation guys/gals that get sent to the class and who went to school for this stuff. But I decided I'd just be the idiot and went ahead and asked all the stupid questions anyway. Turns out I wasnt so stupid after all.......

Enjoy it - I loved every minute I was there.
 
2 week class now, 1 week class coming in Feb 2019

The current class is 2 weeks and the instructor is top notch with lots of experience in General Aviation, Experimental, and Lycoming factory. The first week is all classroom with the exception of a Lycoming factory tour. The tour was yesterday and very informative. If you are a motor person, you will like this class. Our class has some who are IA's, a couple of A&P's, several pilots, and a couple of folks who are building or flying experimental aircraft. One guys is building a RV-10 and another building a Panther. Its amazing to see the impact the experimental sector is having on all aspects of aviation.

Starting in Feb 2019, the class will only be one week. The mornings will be classroom, the afternoons will be lab work on engines (disassembly / assembly).

Want to know more about your Lycoming engine? Then this is the ticket. If you are an IA, then this class qualifies as recurrent training.
 
The current class is 2 weeks and the instructor is top notch with lots of experience in General Aviation, Experimental, and Lycoming factory. The first week is all classroom with the exception of a Lycoming factory tour. The tour was yesterday and very informative. If you are a motor person, you will like this class. Our class has some who are IA's, a couple of A&P's, several pilots, and a couple of folks who are building or flying experimental aircraft. One guys is building a RV-10 and another building a Panther. Its amazing to see the impact the experimental sector is having on all aspects of aviation.

Starting in Feb 2019, the class will only be one week. The mornings will be classroom, the afternoons will be lab work on engines (disassembly / assembly).

Want to know more about your Lycoming engine? Then this is the ticket. If you are an IA, then this class qualifies as recurrent training.


That brings several questions to mind with probably no right answers until after the first 2019 class is conducted.

  1. Currently, the classes are two 3 day classes. Will the 2019 classes still be three days or will the duration be extended to more days? Personally not having to spend the weekend would be advantageous.
  2. With the consolidation of classes, is there any material that is anticipated to be dropped?
  3. Will the price jump to $2k for the combined class?
  4. I'm just trying to determine if it's better to take the class in 2018 or 2019. Thoughts?
 
If you can get it, take it now. I wouldnt say the class room or build is a relaxed pace when youre in it and paying attention - and you need to pay attention all the time cause golden nuggets come out when you least expect them, but yeah staying over a weekend is a PITA. Oh well.
 
Response

The classes will be 5 days in 2019. Right now, its 4 days of classroom the first week, 3 days of hands on engine work the second week.

Its beautiful country up here and I'm sure there is lots that can be done over the weekend such as visit the Piper Lock Haven museum nearby or maybe Hershey Chocolate factory for momma.

The material is supposed to be the same with more hands on since every afternoon is dedicated to working on engines. Their feedback from previous classes is the desire for more hands on engine work.

As far as cost, I'm not sure since they haven't made an official announcement yet. I'm not sure when they are going to announce the new times and format but no one said not to tell so that's why I'm sharing.

An interesting note is that when we did the factory tour, we weren't allowed to go into one area as it was dedicated to a top secret project that they are expected to announce shortly. Rumors were that they were going to make the announcement at Oshkosh but no joy. There seems to be lots of excitement around the announcement but so far, no one is sharing the big secret. Being an innovation guy, that really got my interest.

That brings several questions to mind with probably no right answers until after the first 2019 class is conducted.

  1. Currently, the classes are two 3 day classes. Will the 2019 classes still be three days or will the duration be extended to more days? Personally not having to spend the weekend would be advantageous.
  2. With the consolidation of classes, is there any material that is anticipated to be dropped?
  3. Will the price jump to $2k for the combined class?
  4. I'm just trying to determine if it's better to take the class in 2018 or 2019. Thoughts?
 
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