Long time in annual... is this normal?

[ScottinIowa]

An Arrow is just a Cherokee with retractable gear. No reason for an annual to take this long. No reason at all. Time for a heart to heart with the owner, or a new shop.

Agree. My first annual with my Arrow was owner assist and we were done in 4 days. Would of been 3 except for Spruce took an extra day on parts.

 

[NordicDave]

BTW, an aircraft owner is under NO obligation to have the same IA repair the aircraft for air worthiness issues found in an annual inspection. The IA is only responsible for the inspection. Legally you can get the A/C back with the logbooks signed with a list of discrepancies to resolve. Any A&P can make the repairs, update the Logs with those repairs and the A/C is ready for service.

 

[Plano Pilot]

For an Arrow I would guess 2, max 3 weeks for a normal one. I schedule 3 weeks for our C340 and it is usually 2 weeks or a little over. Our last one was close to 1 month because we had to change an Engine.

 

[Lon Stratton]

1. To gain an intimate understanding of every system on the airplane, it increases my confidence when flying the plane;
2. To improve the ability to recognize the root causes of and troubleshoot problems in flight;
3. Get a sense of satisfaction doing things and working with my hands;
4. Makes the cost of owning and operating the plane a bit more palatable.

Exactly my reasons too. Except I'm not sure it actually costs less, but it doesn't matter. I've done deep owner assisted annuals since I've owned the plane (1995) at two different shops. Only switched because of the death of my first mechanic who treated my family like his. My current mechanic was his good friend.