In article ,
wrote:
I'll agree that it's a minimalist design. Properly cared for it's fine,
though.... just the everything is old enough now to have seen abuse. Since
the
bone-fide Piper part is astronomically overpriced (even in *AIRPLANE*
dollars!), I'll
agree that the PMA'd replacement looks good. My only concern (as a stock
part) would
be that it looks more solid than the original... i.e. heavier. Back when
Piper
designed these suckers, they were pretty careful to minimize weight
everywhere they
could.

"Minimalist" is kind... I think it's a rather poor design, especially
for aircraft.

The PMA part is aluminum, so it can't be that much heavier, and I hardly
think that this is an area where weight should take priority over safety.

I am going to call and talk to the STC owner and see what he tells me.
You are correct, it looks like there will need to be some plumbing to
get the drain to exit the cowling properly. If the latter can't be
accomplished gracefully, then this may not be a good solution after all.

The problem with the sump valve being left open is operator error and
not a design flaw. Personally, I scan all sump valves before flight to
ensure that there are no leaks. There might be a SB, but I am not aware
of any AD relating to this issue that applies to my aircraft, and we've
done a pretty comprehensive search of ADs over the years.





JKG