Am I jinxed today or are planes just unreliable?

VWGhiaBob

VWGhiaBob

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VWGhiaBob
Well I tried to fly today!


Plane 1: 182 in our flying club. Person right before me squawked it as "plane down" due to serious mag rpm drop / rough engine.


Plane 2: Cirrus SR22 at an FBO: Transponder INOP reported 15 min before my reservation (not legal or good on my flight path over LAX!).

Plane 3: (1/2 hour drive away) Cirrus SR22 at another FBO: Big prop dent, which the FBO said maintenance had cleared. Finally was ready to go...then 190rpm mag drop in run-up and very rough. Felt like a fouled plug, but could not clear it / burn it off. Taxi'd back.

My first time passengers were very disappointed. I told them some more courageous pilots might have flown, thinking the fouled plug might clean itself. Not me.

What's my point? Not sure. Just venting after a big disappointment. Makes me think twice about owning, as I don't have time to deal with all this s#$%!
 
Good for you, you didn't cave to the pressure.
Sux about the pax. First time and all.

I would have queried about the 182 to ask if they tried the burn off procedure to clear the plugs. If they did, don't fly. If they didn't I might try to burn it off but not sure what is worse, telling Pax today is a no go or getting them in the plane, getting to the run up area and then telling them it is a no go.

Either way. Good on you for not making poor choices.
 
VWGhiaBob said:
Makes me think twice about owning, as I don't have time to deal with all this s#$%!
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if it was your plane and had a fouled plug, you'd take 10 minutes to clean it and then be on your way. You also wouldn't have other people damaging your propellor and claiming it was "ok"
 
JHW said:
if it was your plane and had a fouled plug, you'd take 10 minutes to clean it and then be on your way. You also wouldn't have other people damaging your propellor and claiming it was "ok"
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Yep, I find owned dispatch reliability is much better than rental. I don't put enough fuel through my engines to foul the plugs in the first place.;)
 
Its common among rentals. Rental planes are treated just like rental cars because some people don't treat them as they would their own. They are flown more often and harder. On a checkride once I had to do the same thing as you and step to 3 spare airplanes. It happens, but 3 in one day is pretty rare.
 
I had a mag **** the bed today at about 200'...I've had mag failures before, but this one was BAD. I thought the engine was in the process of failing. I had a full load of pax, too. Then, I hopped in a different airplane and after 1 flight the side was covered in oil. Apparently a valve cover gasket failed at some point and painted my airplane a nice oily grey/brown.

That was all before noon. Some days you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

edit: strangely enough those were the first 2 times I've had any mx issues here (outside of something I thought needed replaced, like brake pads or tires), and they both happened in a day.
 
JHW said:
if it was your plane and had a fouled plug, you'd take 10 minutes to clean it and then be on your way. You also wouldn't have other people damaging your propellor and claiming it was "ok"
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:yesnod:
 
VWGhiaBob said:
Well I tried to fly today!


Plane 1: 182 in our flying club. Person right before me squawked it as "plane down" due to serious mag rpm drop / rough engine.


Plane 2: Cirrus SR22 at an FBO: Transponder INOP reported 15 min before my reservation (not legal or good on my flight path over LAX!).

Plane 3: (1/2 hour drive away) Cirrus SR22 at another FBO: Big prop dent, which the FBO said maintenance had cleared. Finally was ready to go...then 190rpm mag drop in run-up and very rough. Felt like a fouled plug, but could not clear it / burn it off. Taxi'd back.

My first time passengers were very disappointed. I told them some more courageous pilots might have flown, thinking the fouled plug might clean itself. Not me.

What's my point? Not sure. Just venting after a big disappointment. Makes me think twice about owning, as I don't have time to deal with all this s#$%!
Click to expand...

When I used to rent, I would go to the airport 2 hrs prior to my "new passengers". I would pre-flight, run-up and take it on a 10 minute flight to check everything out. Then call them if we could not go up that day. Better than them finding out at run-up. This would have only helped in your case #3.

Now, with my family of "regular fliers", they fully understood the lack of maintenance and beatings that some rentals received.

I have never had an issue with my own, because it gets post-flighted and maintained very well. Of course it also helps to have 150 TT too. If we have a big trip coming up, I usually go up the day before to partially load and check everything out.
 
The counterpoint of ownership is that some owners will still fly the plane with high mag drops and other smaller items, "Because they know the plane."

Second counterpoint is that you just tossed the keys back. The owner of the Cirrus might be facing a $1000 repair.

I'd argue that the rental fleet, in some ways, is in better shape mechanically. The two planes that had a high mag drop could have been fixed in less than an hour. This assumes they have a mechanic on staff.
 
The renters folly,whenever you go to rent,when you really want to fly ,something will go wrong.
 
frfly172 said:
The renters folly,whenever you go to rent,when you really want to fly ,something will go wrong.
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Has nothing to do with renting...:rofl: The difference is the renter is disappointed and has to find alternate transport if traveling. The owner has to do that, plus find repair, plus find the money for the repair and a way to get the plane home.
 
Wow ! This is really interesting to me. Having never rented (except in the sense of trainers or flying club A/C), I have never experienced these kind of difficulties. Sure, I've had questions about the maintenance status of my own A/C when starting out but it was easy enough to either resolve or simply call off the flight and arrange for whatever corrective action was required. As far as passenger disappointment is concerned, it has always been possible to give a rational explanation and apology. If your passengers don't like that, introduce them to the local CFI and suggest they take up pursuit of their own ticket. Henning makes, I think, a compelling argument for ownership. It doesn't work in every case, usually the "gettheritus" complex winning out over common sense, but perhaps another stroke in favor of self ownership. No question you did the right thing in your experience. I think you should follow up with these purveyors of aircraft services to say-Whoa here, I should get better service than this for my rental dollar!

Also an interesting thing here will be the number of responses from owners and renters and their experience with "not quite ready" aircraft.
 
Oh yea, the reason I finally gave up renting ...

The other issue is trying to squeeze a family trip between two other renters or simply wanting to go flying at the last minute.

Downside: annual starts this month ..
 
Gucci Pilot said:
Its common among rentals. Rental planes are treated just like rental cars because some people don't treat them as they would their own. They are flown more often and harder. On a checkride once I had to do the same thing as you and step to 3 spare airplanes. It happens, but 3 in one day is pretty rare.
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that's known as the "rental hat trick"
 
Henning said:
I think if I hit a 'rental hat trick' I would take that as a sign today I shouldn't be flying.:rofl:
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After my last "rental hat trick" day, my next flight was RV transition training 6 mo later.
 
From the OP...

Love all the comments, plus the one below about pre-flighting the plane with a short flight or even just a run-up (other than the extra rental cost) before the passengers arrive.

I take my philosophy from Jason Miller - The Finer Points (http://www.thefinerpoints.net). His theory is one of the reasons the GA accident rate is so high (500 times higher than airlines) is that we don't use and stick to Standard Operating Procedures. Instead, we stop using checklists and let stuff slip by. If you don't listen to his podcast, I highly recommend it.

Jason works at an FBO. I suspect rental aircraft are not that different from owned aircraft, other than they fly more (which is better for the engine) and tend to look crappy inside and sometimes outside.

The owners I know are constantly in a mode of fixing this or that. The FBO's where I rent use management as CFI's. I know these guys and trust them. They wouldn't be risking their own lives if the planes were bad.

I also suspect that many pilots let "small" squawks squeak by, like a mag drop that's just over the limit. Me...I just want to know the plane is safe.

Regarding passengers...I have a briefing I send them via e-mail before flying (I take someone new up almost every week). The briefing states to be ready to not fly if there's even a small problem with the plane or weather. So far, I've had to turn back 4 times from taxi and canceled 6 times due to pre-flight squawks. Helps to have told them in advance.

RV10flyer said:
When I used to rent, I would go to the airport 2 hrs prior to my "new passengers". I would pre-flight, run-up and take it on a 10 minute flight to check everything out. Then call them if we could not go up that day. Better than them finding out at run-up. This would have only helped in your case #3.

Now, with my family of "regular fliers", they fully understood the lack of maintenance and beatings that some rentals received.

I have never had an issue with my own, because it gets post-flighted and maintained very well. Of course it also helps to have 150 TT too. If we have a big trip coming up, I usually go up the day before to partially load and check everything out.
Click to expand...
 
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jonnyjetprop said:
I'd argue that the rental fleet, in some ways, is in better shape mechanically.
Click to expand...

I have seen a few rental planes I would not get into. I have seen many privately owned planes I would not get into due to maintenance reasons.

Not picking on owners, not all owners are the same.
 
"Time to spare, go by air" :D I have never been a renter, and I try to take good care of my airplane. But, sometimes stuff happens, bad mag, flat tire, battery was fine last week, etc.
If you don't cancel a flight once in a while for mechanical reasons, you aren't paying attention. :nono: I'm not saying everything has to be perfect to fly, but make sure you are comfortable with any and all concerns BEFORE you leave the ground. :D
 
Some planes are just born to be hanger queens.

We've had a plane here lately that has needed a jump on every flight. At first, when I flew it, I thought someone had just left the master on. I finally found out that no one has ever squawked it. The MX were as surprised as me and happily replaced the batt within 20 mins.

So sometimes its because the guy before you was lazy and never told anyone about the problem.
 
Rentals are what drove me to ownership. The only good rental I've flown was a nearly brand new 172 from Yingling Aero in Wichita. That was a nicely maintained ride. Most everything else either ate oil, gyros rolled on me, or half the radios worked. No more of that.
 
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