Planeless

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Mtns2Skies

Final Approach
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Mtns2Skies
My plane is in the paint shop for a few months. I thought I should chronicle my increasing despair as my planelessness (yes that's now a word) grows.

Week 1: This is okay, sad to not have the plane for the moment, but I had a great adventure getting the plane to the paint shop and I'm SO excited to have it painted, this is fantastic!

Week 2: The yearning for flying grows, I more eagerly look up every time I hear a plane and try to identify it. Paint shop sends a picture of the plane ready to be stripped, and my excitement returns.

Week 3: Internal anger is growing. Jealousy of overflying aircraft is becoming palpable, perhaps there's a desire to close the nearby airport to keep those selfish rich few with their "planes" away from me. No... I must not give in to the dark side.
 
I feel ya. I was abstinent for 3 weeks because my insurance broker inaccurately informed me that I was uninsured. Got my fix in last weekend though.
 
I'm at week 57 of planelessness.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
My plane is in the paint shop for a few months. I thought I should chronicle my increasing despair as my planelessness (yes that's now a word) grows.

Week 1: This is okay, sad to not have the plane for the moment, but I had a great adventure getting the plane to the paint shop and I'm SO excited to have it painted, this is fantastic!

Week 2: The yearning for flying grows, I more eagerly look up every time I hear a plane and try to identify it. Paint shop sends a picture of the plane ready to be stripped, and my excitement returns.

Week 3: Internal anger is growing. Jealousy of overflying aircraft is becoming palpable, perhaps there's a desire to close the nearby airport to keep those selfish rich few with their "planes" away from me. No... I must not give in to the dark side.
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I feel your pain, Bro.
 
I’m with ya. Been grounded for a month. Replacing the vac pump and carb, waiting for small parts to arrive. My wings are beginning to molt...
 
Mine's been in the shop for a month, supposed to get out this week. I feel your plane. That said, when it comes back it'll be so shiny and new looking @Mtns2Skies won't recognize it. Good things are worth waiting for.
 
This is why any plane owner needs to own more than 1 airplane. It's critical to have a backup plane available at all times.
 
if it makes you feel any better, my plane is in the hangar, all cozy and ready to go at any moment I feel like flying. not sure how that would make u feel any better, but that's my situation. of course, I already have the greatest paint job circa 1975 that anyone could ever want.
 
Curious - what is happening to the plane during the 3 months of painting? They can't be sanding and stripping for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 months.

Do they just park it for 3 months, not knowing when they can start stripping and prepping? Do they do 10 minutes a day? Work on it for 5 days making it unflyable and then set it aside?

Thinking about paying for work space by the square foot, project efficiencies, cash flow, etc. I would think a shop would have all of the materials and labor in hand before hitting "go", and then get it done as quickly / efficiently as possible to minimize its costs / boost profit. For example, airplane paint is probably absurdly expensive. You'd want to have that in inventory for a short a time as possible, otherwise it's capital tied up that's not making money.

NOTE: Complete airplane maintenance novice - just an "outsider" POV.
 
WDD said:
Curious - what is happening to the plane during the 3 months of painting?
Do they just park it for 3 months, not knowing when they can start stripping and prepping? Do they do 10 minutes a day? Work on it for 5 days making it unflyable and then set it aside?
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The answer to all your questions is, yes. All of the above.

I had my RV-8 painted 10 years ago; silly me, I took it to an upstart shop in Central Texas. He was a good guy, a custom car painter that was branching out into airplanes, but, my bad for being an early customer for his new shop. He didn’t have a proper booth set up yet and no good crew, so, I got a crappy paint job that took 3 months on an itty bitty RV.
 
Day two of annual. Weather is awesome. You're welcome.
 
WDD said:
Curious - what is happening to the plane during the 3 months of painting? They can't be sanding and stripping for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 months.

Do they just park it for 3 months, not knowing when they can start stripping and prepping? Do they do 10 minutes a day? Work on it for 5 days making it unflyable and then set it aside?

Thinking about paying for work space by the square foot, project efficiencies, cash flow, etc. I would think a shop would have all of the materials and labor in hand before hitting "go", and then get it done as quickly / efficiently as possible to minimize its costs / boost profit. For example, airplane paint is probably absurdly expensive. You'd want to have that in inventory for a short a time as possible, otherwise it's capital tied up that's not making money.

NOTE: Complete airplane maintenance novice - just an "outsider" POV.
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Probably too many projects on the go.

The preparation work for painting is tremendous. We used to take the airplane all apart: wings off, all control surfaces off, fin and stab off. Lots of shops don't do that, but it's harder to get all the stripper and residue out of the structure if you don't, and if you don't take the control surfaces off you can't check them for proper balance after painting. All the fairings come off, unless they're riveted on. If they're in bad shape, this is the time to replace them.

Windshield and windows all need masking with stripper-proof stuff, usually tinfoil and aluminum tape. Stripper applied, allowed to debond the paint, and usually pressure-washed off. Big mess. Some paint will need a second strip. Paint can still be found around rivet heads, and has to be removed or it will fall off later and leave a mess. All of the removed crap is hazmat and has to be properly disposed of. You don't sand the airplane; that takes the very thin layer of pure aluminum off the alloy and leaves it open to corrosive attack. At most, you'll use some fine scotchbrite on it. The metal needs acid-etching, then alodining. It has to be absolutely free of any oils or polishes, which often contain silicone that will cause "fisheye" in the paint. Ugh. Only then can you start wiping down with a tack rag and start painting. Painting has to be done in a very clean environment or it will have all sort of ugly dust stuck in it. Bugs, too.

The paint is the easiest part of the whole job. If there are more than one color, you have lots of masking to do. Add a color, add another week to the job.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
My plane is in the paint shop for a few months. I thought I should chronicle my increasing despair as my planelessness (yes that's now a word) grows.

Week 1: This is okay, sad to not have the plane for the moment, but I had a great adventure getting the plane to the paint shop and I'm SO excited to have it painted, this is fantastic!

Week 2: The yearning for flying grows, I more eagerly look up every time I hear a plane and try to identify it. Paint shop sends a picture of the plane ready to be stripped, and my excitement returns.

Week 3: Internal anger is growing. Jealousy of overflying aircraft is becoming palpable, perhaps there's a desire to close the nearby airport to keep those selfish rich few with their "planes" away from me. No... I must not give in to the dark side.
Click to expand...
Get a big laundry basket. Make some cardboard wings and attach to sides. Get a stick and place it between your knees. Put on headset. Make airplane noises.
 
Morgan3820 said:
If you had purchased two planes, you would not be having this problem.
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Both would be broke or out of annual…

A friend of mine owns a dozen airplanes. Seems we can only manage to keep 3-5 of them 100% airworthy at one point in time. Admittedly, some of this is self inflicted because we generally are always improving or upgrading them.

I went out of town this past weekend and only one airplane was registered, in annual, and not broke. It made the choice of airplane to take pretty easy.
 
WDD said:
Curious - what is happening to the plane during the 3 months of painting? They can't be sanding and stripping for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 months.

Do they just park it for 3 months, not knowing when they can start stripping and prepping? Do they do 10 minutes a day? Work on it for 5 days making it unflyable and then set it aside?

Thinking about paying for work space by the square foot, project efficiencies, cash flow, etc. I would think a shop would have all of the materials and labor in hand before hitting "go", and then get it done as quickly / efficiently as possible to minimize its costs / boost profit. For example, airplane paint is probably absurdly expensive. You'd want to have that in inventory for a short a time as possible, otherwise it's capital tied up that's not making money.

NOTE: Complete airplane maintenance novice - just an "outsider" POV.
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You’re assuming that no repairs need to be made once they get the airplane stripped. Every major project I’ve done always has surprises. That accounts for at least some of the time, plus the other time consuming parts of the paint process.

Paint and metal restoration is a time consuming process regardless if it is on an airplane or a ground vehicle. Ask someone restoring cars or building hot rods how much time it takes to get a decent paint job and what the cost will be. It will make airplane paint jobs seem cheap.
 
luvflyin said:
Get a big laundry basket. Make some cardboard wings and attach to sides. Get a stick and place it between your knees. Put on headset. Make airplane noises.
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works for me! and the laundry basket never needs a paint job!
 
Sounds like they are indeed working on it continuously 8 hours a day 5 days a week for months?
 
luvflyin said:
Get a big laundry basket. Make some cardboard wings and attach to sides. Get a stick and place it between your knees. Put on headset. Make airplane noises.
Click to expand...

If you make some good wings and have a snow covered hill nearby ... wheeeee!
 
Pilawt said:
Fiberglass, too. That was a major part of my airplane’s recent paint project.
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I should have mentioned that too. In my experience, good composite work (fabrication or repair) is more time consuming than sheet metal work. Lots of time spent waiting in between processes.
 
GeorgeC said:
Day two of annual. Weather is awesome. You're welcome.
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Oooh we are annual-racing! Day one for me (dropped off yesterday)... Let's see who gets out first... If we both get out by the weekend, let's fly for a big lunch to celebrate :D
 
...I'm on month 5 of last year's annual. My IA has been waiting since late November for a "kit" to complete the new AD repair. I called the shop that he "ordered" the kit from today. There is no kit. The parts are readily available (rivets and tank sealant). Existence is pain. (insert Debby Downer harumph)
 
Rich Holt said:
...I'm on month 5 of last year's annual. My IA has been waiting since late November for a "kit" to complete the new AD repair. I called the shop that he "ordered" the kit from today. There is no kit. The parts are readily available (rivets and tank sealant). Existence is pain. (insert Debby Downer harumph)
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Sounds about right
 
Rich Holt said:
...I'm on month 5 of last year's annual. My IA has been waiting since late November for a "kit" to complete the new AD repair. I called the shop that he "ordered" the kit from today. There is no kit. The parts are readily available (rivets and tank sealant). Existence is pain. (insert Debby Downer harumph)
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??????? Are all IA's like this? For an annual or any major work does one have to adopt the attitude and role of a general contractor, checking in regularly, trouble shooting, ordering parts, etc.?
 
WDD said:
Sounds like they are indeed working on it continuously 8 hours a day 5 days a week for months?
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Not exactly. They can't be working on it all the time. For example, stripper needs some dwell time to work. While that's happening the crew can be doing work on someone else's plane. The focus is on keeping the crew busy for all the available work time. That means having more than one plane in process. The shop is trying to solve for minimum customer turnaround time, maximum shop productivity, minimum waste and re-work and maximum quality. The ones that hit all of those tend to be able to charge higher prices.
 
Hang 4 said:
Not exactly. They can't be working on it all the time. For example, stripper needs some dwell time to work. While that's happening the crew can be doing work on someone else's plane. The focus is on keeping the crew busy for all the available work time. That means having more than one plane in process. The shop is trying to solve for minimum customer turnaround time, maximum shop productivity, minimum waste and re-work and maximum quality. The ones that hit all of those tend to be able to charge higher prices.
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If they hired painters instead of out of work strippers, maybe they could get that dwell thing done a little faster:goofy:
 
luvflyin said:
If they hired painters instead of out of work strippers
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:rofl: that's how I read it, too! I was trying to think, "What the heck is stripper dwell time?" I mean, it's been a loooooong time since I have been to the ballet, so I thought maybe I missed something.
 
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