Anyone messed themselves in annual?

Unit74 said:
My latest shops do not allow owner-assists. :(
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That’s to bad. I do all my annuals and other incidentals owner assist. I know my plane better than anyone and my A&P/IA is more than happy to work with me. I never skimp on anything concerning airworthiness and fix all other items as they come up.
If I said what I have put into my plane money wise over the last 4 years most would call me a liar. My plane is dead simple from a maintenance stand point though. Unfortunately this year will be substantial with adsb and panel upgrades.
 
Unit74 said:
...Sooo.... what’s your “holly crap are you serious?” annual findings?
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First annual back in 2015.

1. Every fuel hose was rigid with some sort of asbestos covering on them. I thought they were supposed to be like that but I was new and didn't know any different. Replaced them with flexible hoses and the old ones broke with every little pressure.

2, Alternator wire hanging on by two strands and connected with automotive type connector which was too big.

3. Auxiliary fuel pump leaking with wire chaffed through and almost grounding (or sparking) out.

4. Magnetoes were about 200 hours past a 500 hour inspection.

Yeah...that first one was a killer.
 
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1RTK1 said:
That’s to bad. I do all my annuals and other incidentals owner assist. I know my plane better than anyone and my A&P/IA is more than happy to work with me. I never skimp on anything concerning airworthiness and fix all other items as they come up.
If I said what I have put into my plane money wise over the last 4 years most would call me a liar. My plane is dead simple from a maintenance stand point though. Unfortunately this year will be substantial with adsb and panel upgrades.
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I have owned a 77’ 172 in the past and currently a 78’ 8KCAB. I couldn’t agree more with with post. Some people do not have the interest, skill, or time to invest in learning their planes but for those of you that do, I highly recommend it. I have never had an annual cost over $2500 in 7 years of owning an airplane. Most annuals run between 900-1,500 per year. I know my plane more than any A&P and that extra bit of care reflects a long way in the cost of maintenance. I believe in safe, “everything works-no inop stickered”, airworthy aircraft.
 
Last year at annual my kick in the backside was I was forced to replace seatbelts because of no tags on them
 
I sure love my inexpensive little 150 even more after reading this thread. I did my last annual ower-assisted with a really cool A&P/IA who taught me some very cool stuff, made me do a bunch of work while he stood right next to me and showed me things, and told me that next time it would go even easier because I know my airplane a lot better inside and out now. I believe he is right. :)
 
Lachlan said:
I sure love my inexpensive little 150 even more after reading this thread. I did my last annual ower-assisted with a really cool A&P/IA who taught me some very cool stuff, made me do a bunch of work while he stood right next to me and showed me things, and told me that next time it would go even easier because I know my airplane a lot better inside and out now. I believe he is right. :)
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I stood right next to his desk where he told me how much it would cost....
 
Bought my Arrow 5 months ago. Engine had about 1300 SMOH, installed in 1990, but looked good during prebuy. Took it in for annual last week. Large crack in the engine case in the front left with oil leaking from said crack. Probably looking at an OH before it flies again.

I knew that I would need an OH at some point in the future; I just thought I’d get more than 25 hours out of flying before that happened :(
 
Jmcmanna said:
Bought my Arrow 5 months ago. Engine had about 1300 SMOH, installed in 1990, but looked good during prebuy. Took it in for annual last week. Large crack in the engine case in the front left with oil leaking from said crack. Probably looking at an OH before it flies again.

I knew that I would need an OH at some point in the future; I just thought I’d get more than 25 hours out of flying before that happened :(
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I don't feel so bad now.... But, at least its an IO360. Good shop can do it for $12-15ish.
 
My A&P told me we could do an owner assisted annual, but he would have to charge more.
That actually made me feel better.
 
Unit74 said:
I don't feel so bad now.... But, at least its an IO360. Good shop can do it for $12-15ish.
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Or your local A&P can do it for a lot less, using the same parts as a FBO/ overhaul shop/factory.
 
Jmcmanna said:
Bought my Arrow 5 months ago. Engine had about 1300 SMOH, installed in 1990, but looked good during prebuy. Took it in for annual last week. Large crack in the engine case in the front left with oil leaking from said crack.
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You didn't know it had an oil leak? How good is your pre-flight?
 
So no oil on the hangar floor, I add about a quart every 10 hours (for the 30-ish hours I have owned the plane). Do you take the bottom cowling off every preflight? I admit that I don’t. I didn’t say that oil was pouring from the engine, I said that there was oil leaking from the crack, which was on the bottom side of the case. There was no other evidence of a problem, hence why I posted here saying that I was surprised by the discovery during my first annual with the airplane.
 
My belly is covered in oil and I have two cylinders off right now. Yea, what fun....
 
my arrows io360 had a crankcase crack repair done a couple of years before i became the owner. it wasnt overhauled, just IRAN. Thing was, bottom end items were updated during the opening, which is another way of saying i benefitted from certain aspects of an overhaul without actually getting one, if you catch my drift. im basically flying a refreshed engine at the expense of resale, which is a fine trade by me. i didnt see the invoice for the RR, but i doubt the cost of the stunt was anywhere near the cost of an overhaul, which is prob why they went that route.

again, folks who hone in on resale probably would have opted for an OH. for a cosmetically discounted sample like mine, im actually glad they went with iran. to each their own.
 
This is why this forum can be a bit hard to take....either a bunch of comedians or a bunch of flamers looking to call someone out for making a "mistake" or not knowing something.

Jmcmanna - sorry you had to put up with that reply to your post.
 
Stephen Shore said:
This is why this forum can be a bit hard to take....either a bunch of comedians or a bunch of flamers looking to call someone out for making a "mistake" or not knowing something.

Jmcmanna - sorry you had to put up with that reply to your post.
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Reported!
 
Bean Outdoors said:
Last year at annual my kick in the backside was I was forced to replace seatbelts because of no tags on them
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We took that opportunity to install shoulder harnesses, as well, so no "extra" money, at least. Still a lot of money!
 
Stephen, I'm sorry you failed to see the humor in Unit74's post about his own aircraft.
 
Unit74 said:
Sooo.... what’s your “holly crap are you serious?” annual findings?
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Not mine per se, but on the Baron I was flying. Owner just had a huge mx bill as part of the annual. Same guy has maintained it for a 3+ years now. One of the items was an alternator was installed improperly. Three guesses at who installed that alternator; and the first two don't count. :mad:
 
My annual was incredibly expensive, but nothing showed up that was off of MY squawk sheet. I've flown my plane long enough and have a good enough understanding of it to know what I wanted fixed. It cost 11k, but well worth it in paying it forward in Mx. My philosophy is to fix it now so it doesn't surprise me or cause me issues later. I believe that ultimately this philosophy is cheaper in the long run AND results in a better plane than nickel and diming the thing to death. I intend to keep the plane for the rest of my life, so might as well invest in it sooner than later.

***Avionics investment doesn't count, avionics become obsolete so fast there's no point in trying to keep up with them.
 
Plane owners keep track of what they spend on maintenance. Parents do not keep track of what they spend on maintaining their children. If parents did, it would be the end of the human race, because children are even more expensive than planes. When my daughters were in college, I dealt with this issue by appointing my wife the CFO of our family. She wrote all the checks for our daughters’ tuition, books, and housing expenses — and at my request, said nothing at all to me about them. Ignorance was bliss. I have my own separate credit card and checking account for my flying expenses, about which my wife doesn’t ask.
 
Lon33 said:
Plane owners keep track of what they spend on maintenance. Parents do not keep track of what they spend on maintaining their children. If parents did, it would be the end of the human race, because children are even more expensive than planes. When my daughters were in college, I dealt with this issue by appointing my wife the CFO of our family. She wrote all the checks for our daughters’ tuition, books, and housing expenses — and at my request, said nothing at all to me about them. Ignorance was bliss. I have my own separate credit card and checking account for my flying expenses, about which my wife doesn’t ask.
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I firmly believe it is not my responsibility to put them in college. Get good grades and get scholarships or play good sports. Your other option is working your way through or the military. At 18, you pay rent or earn the right to live here. You think I'm kidding, they know I m not. But I'm not ****ing away my retirement for school. YMWV
 
Barb and I put both of our girls thru 4 year degrees, both are doing very well, we are proud of them and we were happy to have helped.
 
Unit 74 has my Dad’s philosophy which resulted in 4 out of his 5 kids spending time in one of the military branches. At 18, I joined the Marines but before I reported for boot camp, had a terrifically bad motorcycle accident which resulted in my discharge. Several years later, I joined Army ROTC, was awarded a scholarship and as they say, the rest is history. The irony of some of that is I ended up representing my older brother in a Navy court martial proceeding at Fighter Town USA. That’s a 3 beer story if there ever was one.

With my kids, I was a little different. My wife and I paid the costs associated with the bachelor degree provided certain conditions were met. When they were not met, they left school, borrowed some money or something else. And each child had various scholarships - academic and athletic- that helped. And my oldest son had medical school paid for by the U.S. Army and served a total of 9 years including a tour in Afghanistan. All of my children have at least 2 degrees. It worked out well for us.
 
Unit74 said:
I firmly believe it is not my responsibility to put them in college. Get good grades and get scholarships or play good sports. Your other option is working your way through or the military. At 18, you pay rent or earn the right to live here. You think I'm kidding, they know I m not. But I'm not ****ing away my retirement for school. YMWV
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You KNOW they will be choosing your nursing home don't ya? ;)
 
Timbeck2 said:
You KNOW they will be choosing your nursing home don't ya? ;)
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I’ve already bought the property in the Bahamas..... they can visit When they want. Or not. Either way, the blender will be ready and the bugs on the grill. They won’t be choosing anything but a flight plan.
 
Yes, I had a few adult diaper changes on my first annual! My airplane was at one airport and owned by my cousin. When I got my license my cousin put me on his insurance, flew it south and threw me the keys. It had just come out of annual at his airport. First annual I had done at my airport was $8,000!!!!! Let me repeat...$8,000:

- prop was sent out and red tagged
- AD on the carb was due
- both mags were a few hours from rebuild plus an AD on the impulse couplings
- fuel lines and oil lines were showing signs of old age
- spark plugs needed cleaning and 4 had worn electrodes
- few other minor typical annual items

The prop was the biggest ticket item. It is now in my garden with vines growing around it and the red tag kept in the log files. My A&P was able to secure a low hour used one that passed inspection.

I hear similar stories about an airplane that was moved from one owner to another and the annual done by a different A&P. Certainly don't see consistency between annuals performed by different people. As a side note my cousin no longer uses that same A&P on his other airplanes!
 
You all kvetching about sending your kids to college ... university ... community college gets your first two years of your BS/BA for nickels and dimes. Transfer to a state university and you've got a BS/BA for ten grand tops.
Now, they want to go to a school of their choice out of high school and out of state, let THEM work to pay the bills. Nobody ever guaranteed them a university education out of the womb. Besides, now they've got real life experience that gets them a good job along with their sheepskins when they graduate.

Jim
Community college professor and four years university part-time work with an airline that bought me a plum job right out of university.
 
I wanted my girls to have it better than I did. It was my decision as a parent that I would pay for their bachelor's degree. Anything beyond that is on them. I had tuition assistance for my degree through the Air Force and passed my GI bill on to them, same with their mother. (She's retired ANG) I went to high school in Arkansas which competes with Louisiana and Mississippi for the lowest level of education of all 50 or at least it used to. I never knew there were such things and grants and scholarships and tuition assistance for poor kids. The rich kids went to college and the poor kids went to work. Times have changed now but looking back, I can't remember anyone talking about tuition assistance for college at my high school.
 
weirdjim said:
You all kvetching about sending your kids to college ... university ... community college gets your first two years of your BS/BA for nickels and dimes. Transfer to a state university and you've got a BS/BA for ten grand tops.
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Maybe in California. Here, a year at one of the state universities is pushing $25k, all-in.
 
weirdjim said:
Jim
Community college professor and four years university part-time work with an airline that bought me a plum job right out of university.
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These days, a piece of appear that sez your is edjumekated doesn’t get you much. Back in the day, it was a given. Today, you are a well educated Starbucks Barrista. But that’s about it. A BA/BS has become a HS diploma. The Marine Corps gave me much, much more opportunity than my degree every did. Kinda feels like 4 years wasted honestly.
 
Unit74 said:
These days, a piece of appear that sez your is edjumekated doesn’t get you much. Back in the day, it was a given. Today, you are a well educated Starbucks Barrista. But that’s about it. A BA/BS has become a HS diploma. The Marine Corps gave me much, much more opportunity than my degree every did. Kinda feels like 4 years wasted honestly.
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An engineering degree will get you pretty far. Hell, it got me a Skywagon at 23.
 
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