When it comes to Part 91-operated aircraft, I’ve always shook my head at the tendency of some (not all) owners wanting to minimize and defer as many maintenance expenses at the annual as they can. It’s also those same owners who—by a mere signature in the logbook—expect the annual inspection alone to keep the aircraft safe for a year with no further maintenance events, despite recommendations by the mechanic to accomplish stuff that might keep the plane safe or out of the shop. It’s a false sense of security and frankly, you can’t have it both ways. The stakes are a lot higher with complex airplanes like that Navajo in the lead photo. Tough love: Commit to the right approach to inspections before you even part with your hard-earned bucks. If you can’t make the commitment, find something else to spend your money on.
Walk Away From These
When friends ask me to eyeball the maintenance records on airplanes they’re ready to drop their life savings on, the first things I look at are the last five (sometimes 10) annual inspections. It tells a pretty good story of the aircraft’s upkeep. One friend who was ready to buy an old Skyhawk (priced at a premium) sent me the log entries for the airplane and damn it, every annual for the past 10 years looked nearly identical. Compressions checks, lubed this and that, changed the oil, serviced nosewheel strut—all done by the owner who held an IA certificate. Worse, the time flown between annual inspections was no more than 20 hours and in most calendar years, the airplane flew less than five hours.
I bet my buddy cases of my favorite craft beer that when he brought the airplane to the local shop on the field—meticulous in how it maintains its customer’s airplanes—that he wouldn’t get it back without an invoice that totaled at least ten grand or more. It didn’t even get that far; the jam-packed shop told him to bring it back when he got the major squawks taken care of. In the end, he dropped a small fortune in the first several months of ownership on a plane that was priced at the top of the food chain. Several items made the aircraft unsafe and unairworthy, including seat rails that were bastardized and structural repairs that weren’t even logged.
One shop owner told me he sees plenty of owners flying 40-year-old planes with many original parts and accessories that are years past the recommended overhaul or replacement dates. “More labor—not less—during annuals are needed to keep these old birds safe, and frankly, I have so much work I’d rather pump these things out more quickly, but I just can’t let them go,” he told me. The shame of it is that many parts can be repaired or overhauled if taken care of when the problem is discovered, while avoiding the much higher cost of new replacements. There’s also the convenience factor. These days with shop backlogs stretching many months if not longer, deferring maintenance until the part breaks means a plane might not be flyable for months while trying to find a replacement part or to get on the schedule. It’s what hangar queens are made of. And what makes this worse to swallow is the cost of such parts is completely out of touch with its true value. That’s aviation.
A Matter of Trust
You should trust your shop to look closely at items that really need to be scrutinized, including magnetos and electrical system components, because these scratch the surface of the very things that suffer from deferred maintenance. And this deferred maintenance has the negative effect of causing less-than-optimal-performing magnetos, giving less than full output voltage. In the long run the owner flies a less efficient, less powerful, less safe plane and at the least, wonders why performance is lacking.
And forget about the hours you think you’ll fly the airplane in the coming year as justification for not addressing a squawk—that’s denial, in my view. If you ask “What can go wrong in 20 hours of flying a year, and how much can parts wear in 20 or 30 hours?” you’re asking for trouble. It’s also easy to make the excuse about not fixing what doesn’t seem to be broken. On the other hand, tearing an airplane apart for an inspection does risk breaking stuff. We’ve all been tempted to leave well enough alone. But that’s why you bring your bird to a skilled and honest shop, no? If they muck it up, trust that they’ll make it right.
Left To Deteriorate—Rapidly
Accept that aging flying machines simply need a lot of maintenance, and realize that corrosion and deterioration go on whether you fly or not—perhaps faster in nasty climates and especially when parked outside. Moreover, a minimized annual inspection in hopes of saving labor (unless a specific FAA AD is in place to specifically look for a problem) is not likely going to find significant corrosion until too much damage is present to fix the part, where you will be forced to replace it. During a recent visit to a nearby shop I spotted an old Piper that went in for a basic annual inspection and essentially came out as a salvage machine because of severe airframe corrosion. This airplane had to be parked in the weeds—for a long time.
We all know that an airplane that doesn’t fly is far worse off than one that flies a lot. Oil allowed to sit in the sump for five months or more with only a few flying hours is doing damage due to the buildup of moisture and nitric acid that normally gets boiled off when there is more regular use. Not flying it could also mean damage to the bearings; making it to engine TBO is almost impossible.
As we discussed in a previous report, the battery surely deteriorates unless a special effort is made to keep it charged—the correct way. It’s a snowball effect because neglecting that battery makes it harder on the alternator and other electrical components that always must work at maximum capacity to keep the system working. Also, the spark plugs can deteriorate from not flying. The bottom plugs especially need to be checked at, for example, 20 hours or five months, whichever occurs first, to see if oil is building in the lower plugs. This is a bad sign of oil leaking down the valves and cylinder problems. And then there are the pitfalls of letting avionics sit idle for long periods in damp conditions with wild fluctuations in temperature. We’ll look at that potential mess in a separate article.
The takeaway here is to make the most of annual inspection, while trusting that your shop is giving you sound advice. If you don’t trust that the shop is giving you the right guidance because it wants to bleed you of your money, go to another shop. If you do trust the shop, yet make it a habit of deferring items that need to be addressed, you could find yourself with an airplane nobody wants to work on.
Nothing like an owner assisted (or impeded 🙃) annual to learn your acft systems, condition changes from year to year, and concerns your mechanic has first hand. May even save you some money doing the mindless grunt work yourself.
For most of us bugsmasher drivers, these acft have few complex systems aft of the firewall…and most of those forward are something a pre-1980’s shade-tree car mechanic would understand.
and what’s good about owner assist is you can see the issues needing to be addressed firsthand, rather than taking the mechanic’s word for it when you aren’t playing an active part in the work. Trouble is, we’re finding that more shops aren’t embracing owner assist maintenance.
I think “aren’t embracing” is being too polite. I had to find a new shop when my regular AI was medically unavailable for an annual. I was luck to find 3 shops within reasonable distance, but none of them would even consider allowing owner-assisted inspections. I finally found an individual with a shop hanger nearby and ended up providing all the manuals and teaching him all about the Navion. It actually was a great experience for both of us because I had to answer questions I’d never considered before. One shop I talked to didn’t allow owners on the floor (because of insurance) and the other two only had room on their schedules if I did not participate. This was in 2020 and one of the shops’ single-retract annual inspection minimum price was $2,300. If you’re the owner of older birds, finding any shop is a challenge. – BTW, you put together some great articles Larry.
“For most of us bugsmasher drivers, these acft have few complex systems aft of the firewal”
Though it’s important not to confuse “simple” with a lack of engineered design. The other good thing about owner “assist” annuals is that if one really pays attention to the little details, you learn that even simple aircraft have a lot of deliberate design features.
Always nice to read your articles, Larry. Thanks for this one.
“More labor—not less—during annuals are needed to keep these old birds safe, and frankly, I have so much work I’d rather pump these things out more quickly, but I just can’t let them go,”
Annual inspections, especially for a new-to-the-shop airplane or those with neglected discrepancies, should be handled like a work-in-progress. Do what must be done to make the airplane safe and legal for flight, then work off the remainder throughout the coming year(s). This gives the owner and the IA time to plan for an efficient remedy to long overdue maintenance items while keeping close contact with the daily condition of the machine.
Fortunately, for me my last flying machine was an Aeronca Chief. Although rated for all, I’ve always been an Aeronca fan through my flying years. My first annual I needed on the Chief, I found a very experienced IA but with very limited knowledge of small bug smashers. The first annual, we worked together, me showing and him inspecting. With each year after that, we followed the same routine. I did the grunt work and he watched over my handwork. He corrected me occasionally. I kept that Chief 20 years, and because of him being available for one of the big reasons. A mentioned, from the firewall back, straight forward to see and understand. And on an A65, no electric engine, new mags purchased twice, not complicated. Jim died a few years ago, and I sold the Chief at that time. I am just not ashamed of what we did. And I learned sooo much about that flying machine. And so did Jim who proudly kept the operation safe. I realize me, Jim, and an Aeronca are an exception.
Thanks for weighing in. And it shows that I left out a pretty important point: Bring the airplane to a shop/tech who knows the model well. Easy for a plain vanilla Cherokee/Skyhawk but not so much for the classics and rare birds.
For Aeronca folks, the National Aeronca Association, and specialists like Bill Pancake, can provide a wealth of knowledge and love to do so. I’m sure the other classics have similar folks also.
As the New Sport Aviation finds it’s legs it’s important that the old guard educates the new generation of GA Pilots. Learning from the past will help these young aviators keep their cost down and their standards up. This regulation should have a special Owner/Operator course requirement before purchase or even joining up with a club aircraft.
“91.403 General.
(a) The owner or operator of an aircraft is primarily responsible for maintaining that aircraft in an airworthy condition, including compliance with part 39 of this chapter.”
Many Aircraft Mechanics have Appendix A to Part 43 (specifically “Preventive Maintenance” part) posted in the front of the Aircraft Records.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/appendix-Appendix%20A%20to%20Part%2043#p-Appendix-A-to-Part-43(c)
&
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/part-43/section-43.3#p-43.3(g)
I see a lot of people going with a $1500 (or there about) flat rate annual. On my aircraft (complex) the factory 10 hour/annual inspection checklist takes around 30 hours. With shop rates of even $100, that is $3000 without having to fix anything.
So where are the low priced annuals cutting costs?