GW Increase
 

Hi,
Has anyone experienced Aviation Enterprises (Owen Bell) Gross Weight Increase STC up to 5100 lbs, or even 5400 lbs ?
If the answer is yes, what do think about it ?

Tread very very carefully. This person has a very bad history documented in the public record. He is a physician (btw, I am too) who had his medical license revoked by the state board (I did not). He had a lawsuit brought against him for mechanical alterations to a Skymaster that was later involved in a tragic accident and deaths. And when I looked to him to get my own turbos fixed, he wanted a crazy high price for the fix. Then I did my research.

All of the above is publicly available on the web and was previously published in newspapers and court records. The above statements are the results of my own research and I make no claim that they are the definitive truth. Rather, I am sharing this information to advise the broader Skymaster community that you really should carefully research the background of any A&P. You are trusting your life to him/her as much as to any doctor.

I think the issue is their winglets. It’s part of their weight increase package. Unfortunately the winglets were involved in a fatal wing failure potentially contributed to by the winglets over stressing.

Subsequently the skymaster fleet now requires wing inspections.

See below AOPA article.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/...s-skymaster-ad

Lastly, this guy has publicly available court records concerning bankruptcy proceedings. Now in a day when our past president had many bankruptcies, that might not mean much to many people. But it means a lot to me.

There are a few ways to process this question. You can try to analyze the aerodynamic forces upon the aircraft. Or you can evaluate the character of those to whom you’re considering entrusting your life. I think the second approach has much to say for it.

Tim

O-2A's regularly flew with 5400 lbs in Nam, and that was without winglets.

I would trust the airplane the way it left the factory unless there was a compelling reason to change it, and this ain't one. Why open yourself up to 100 hr required inspections for the rest of the aircraft's life? :confused:

As above

I personally wouldn’t want to be the second person to find out about wing separation with this mod.

GW Increase
 

Thank you all for your wise advices !