How long do you wait on a shop....?

[Dan Thomas]

Add the unavailability of parts, other delays are repair stations for props, cylinders, ect, and shop owners who are quick to accept too much work or too large projects and won’t pay OT to get it out the door.

And so how do you deal with the owner that insists that you take his airplane in? Who won't take NO for an answer? When the numbers of mechanics and shops are decreasing, it will only get worse as owners get desperate.

Some owners could help themselves by finding out when the slow seasons are in the shop, and scheduling their airplane in during that time. The shop will appreciate it and the job will get done sooner. But owners are bad for waiting until nice flying weather comes, and then getting all panicky because the annual is due in a week or two. The same thing happens at shops that deal with other seasonal stuff. Motorhomes, travel trailers, motorbikes, boats: Their owners all want the job done right now, in May. The stupid vehicle sat all winter, doing nothing, and the shop was slow and maybe had to lay off mechanics.

So get the thing in when there is room, and stop trying to get 13 months out of every annual. Your airplane's dispatchability will be much better. It's not dispatchable sitting outside a shop already full of airplanes.

 

[Clip4]

And so how do you deal with the owner that insists that you take his airplane in? Who won't take NO for an answer? When the numbers of mechanics and shops are decreasing, it will only get worse as owners get desperate.

Some owners could help themselves by finding out when the slow seasons are in the shop, and scheduling their airplane in during that time. The shop will appreciate it and the job will get done sooner. But owners are bad for waiting until nice flying weather comes, and then getting all panicky because the annual is due in a week or two. The same thing happens at shops that deal with other seasonal stuff. Motorhomes, travel trailers, motorbikes, boats: Their owners all want the job done right now, in May. The stupid vehicle sat all winter, doing nothing, and the shop was slow and maybe had to lay off mechanics.

So get the thing in when there is room, and stop trying to get 13 months out of every annual. Your airplane's dispatchability will be much better. It's not dispatchable sitting outside a shop already full of airplanes.

Real simple - honesty. “We would love to have your plane, but we can’t give you an accurate start or end date”.

 

[Magman]

April 1st got its other name because of folks that didn’t do their Annual by then!

 

[libertas]

Who did the last annual 2.5 years ago? It would seem they should be doing it?

Not to be rude, but if you are looking to flip/sell this plane then I understand more why the shop is putting it on the back burner.

What about selling it out of annual. Let the buyer do a annual/pre buy all at once?

Our main A&P hung it up. He did us a favor on the last annual and told us this will be the last one he will do for us. Cabin class, when out of annual, is uninsurable. That really limits the range that we are willing to fly it uninsured to do maintenance, and we aren't willing to take the risk to fly it to the other shops we have used, too far away.

I want to be in control, not the buyer, of the annual. We can beat each other up during the pre-buy.

This is not a flip, but a one owner plane for 40+ years, and it will be replaced. I can understand taking care of regular customers and putting ours on the back burner, but tell me that up front. I don't harbor any ill will, but the honesty would have been appreciated, and another path would have been chosen.

 

[libertas]

Totally agree...
Covid has affected just about every business, sadly...

Cincinnati State College has a AP program and owns our airport.

The airport manager said most leave school after graduating for a good paying job at Amazon over at KCVG. Working in a well equipped shop on clean Jets.

I was at my avionics shop last week and Scott said it takes 6 months to get a Garmin 650GPS, GMA345 and a 255com/nav. My buddy paid a deposit to get them ordered and be put on the schedule sometime after the parts show up. Hopefully they will be here in 6 months???

Concur, I was told the same thing today.

 

[Magman]

You actually do not need to lose a lot of people to bring a project to a standstill.
One can be too many.

There are at least 2 ways your Annual could be handled:

1. By an IA that has prior experience with the type. He/she MUST perform the
INSPECTION portion of the Annual. Servicing and repairs may be delegated.

2. More likely it is a Certified Repair Station. Last time I checked a CRS must
have a “ Capability Statement” that defines the tasks each employee is
qualified to perform.

Either way; if the qualified person is not available things will quickly slow down.

 

[AdamZ]

Until they parts they need come in.