I think there are many factors getting a poor annual. The mechanic definatley, but the owner holds the biggest torch.

I bought my first plane from an outfit that ran a big service shop specializing in Bombardier jets, they ran a flight school on the side which they were shutting down. I bought the 172 including a fresh annual done in their shop. They serviced this plane for years, had literally cabinets full of maintenance records on it and I mean they fix jets. Whats not to trust? Well they supposedly needed a full week to annual the plane, ended up being two weeks before one of their ex instructors delivered the plane for me. I started flying the plane and starting noticing weird things, lots of nose wheel shimmy - found scissor bushings and bolts beat out and also found the strut actually loose - wow , how do you miss that? Well, being a wrench puller myself (not aircraft) I started going over the whole thing, found seized and incorrectly spaced flap rollers, sloppy loose aileron cables, incorrectly adjusted elevator stop causing the u-control to hit wiring harnesses under dash, no lock wire on brake caliper bolts, engine baffling loose with missing bolts, wing eccentrics way out of adjustment, list went on. But I will give them credit for well greasing the wheel bearings, lol.

After years of doing owner assisted annuals with my mechanic in his shop you start to see the full story on some of these annuals. Biggest issue I think is cheap owners who don't want to pay and don't want to get their hands dirty to help. These same owners usually only put a handful of hrs on a year if any at all. If one of these owners had my 172, all the issues I found and addressed probably really wouldn't have affected them. They just would have been happy with a cheap annual and a flying airplane for the few hrs a summer it would actually leave the ground. As bad as I felt the issues were, honestly the plane wasn't going to fall out of the sky. These owners then eventually sell their plane to someone who is actually going to fly it. This new owner then blames the shop who has annual'd this rarely flown tie down queen for the last 10 years for crappy annuals.

The other end is some shop's/mechanics . Like the one who did my original annual. Huge hourly rate, weeks worth of chargeable hrs and an extremely well written, pencil whipped inspection with no real work done. No excuse for that.

I feel being an airplane owner you need to get more involved than just dropping off the keys once a year and wanting a cheap bill. You need to get more involved in your aircraft maintenance than you typically would your car. You need to be your own maintenance manager. One bad annual - you can blame the shop - two bad annuals - blame is on you.

Mark Y. wrote:I feel being an airplane owner you need to get more involved than just dropping off the keys once a year and wanting a cheap bill. You need to get more involved in your aircraft maintenance than you typically would your car. You need to be your own maintenance manager.

This sums it up. You have to educate yourself enough to know what you are getting, and observant enough to ensure it.

Agreed!

And I would that my opinion has always been that an annual inspection is just that... an inspection. If your annual got expensive, it is generally a reflection of your over all maintenance program. Yes there are certain items that just may not get looked at well until annual, but tires, windscreens, bearings, and so on really shouldn't be considered as part of your annual. Coincidental timing maybe, but these are simple mx items. If you waited until annual to do them, it is not your mechanics fault

Take care, Rob

I agree the annual is just an inspection. Rest is maintenance cost. My annual inspection is probably only about $500 on my 182, with myself helping, the rest we do at that time is deferred maintenance cost as my plane is in a continual state of repairs and upgrading throughout the year. Would be a big bill if all I did was add fuel and oil all year.

Corrosion and cracks...

The tail spring yoke was found to be cracked while I was repeating the annual once I got her home. During removal, when the tail spring was pulled out of the airframe, brown water poured out of it all over the floor....aaaand the bill went up another few AMU's. All the parts were replaced with new from Airframes and everything is right in the world once again.

Our Husky has great records from the USDA when they owned it for 10 years.

It has 3 inspections where the compressions are all 78 or 79 (of course) over 80.....

On six cylinders....

Your airplane doesn't need to be "new" to be "airworthy" I am one of those $500 annual IA's but Its not my primary income to annual someones airplane, I do it because I enjoy it. I just drove 270 miles one way to annual a cub, beabrhawk and start another one that was 100 miles closer on my way back home. The inspection consists of the items for the checklist, anything else is maintenance. AD compliance is a maintenance item. Its funny that most of the locals want me to pencil-whip their inspections and risk my certificates...oh and I am too picky because an AD requires me to check a muffler for cracks or if a bladder has collapsed inside the wing. One owner refused to replace his Cessna killer caps, I wont inspect that airplane anymore... What I have found is that I get stuck with the first annual, where we get to do exhaust, mags, carb, etc. then the owner gets pissed and runs to someone else who is cheaper. now it is easy because I already fixed what was wrong. Their next annual winds up being easy, the new mechanic has to do just the basics, and he has the balls to tell me that after I do an annual, he gets 2-4 years of easy annuals, which is easy money for him. When I get the airplane back we get to start over with the mags, carb, etc. so if you want to poo poo a 500 annual you may just need to buy a new airplane or if you are too cheap to fix a problem, get out of aviation...

Oh and I have probably more tools and hardware than most FBO's, I have stocked up with scales, dynamic prop balancer, thermal imager, milling machine, lathe, multiple sheetmetal machines, so not everyone who is affordable is incapable of doing a repair...Tim

astjp2 wrote:Your airplane doesn't need to be "new" to be "airworthy" I am one of those $500 annual IA's but Its not my primary income to annual someones airplane, I do it because I enjoy it. I just drove 270 miles one way to annual a cub, beabrhawk and start another one that was 100 miles closer on my way back home. The inspection consists of the items for the checklist, anything else is maintenance. AD compliance is a maintenance item. Its funny that most of the locals want me to pencil-whip their inspections and risk my certificates...oh and I am too picky because an AD requires me to check a muffler for cracks or if a bladder has collapsed inside the wing. One owner refused to replace his Cessna killer caps, I wont inspect that airplane anymore... What I have found is that I get stuck with the first annual, where we get to do exhaust, mags, carb, etc. then the owner gets pissed and runs to someone else who is cheaper. now it is easy because I already fixed what was wrong. Their next annual winds up being easy, the new mechanic has to do just the basics, and he has the balls to tell me that after I do an annual, he gets 2-4 years of easy annuals, which is easy money for him. When I get the airplane back we get to start over with the mags, carb, etc. so if you want to poo poo a 500 annual you may just need to buy a new airplane or if you are too cheap to fix a problem, get out of aviation...

Oh and I have probably more tools and hardware than most FBO's, I have stocked up with scales, dynamic prop balancer, thermal imager, milling machine, lathe, multiple sheetmetal machines, so not everyone who is affordable is incapable of doing a repair...Tim

Tim, You are the kind of A/I I look for. Thanks for doing it right.

Kurt

G44 wrote:

astjp2 wrote:Your airplane doesn't need to be "new" to be "airworthy" I am one of those $500 annual IA's but Its not my primary income to annual someones airplane, I do it because I enjoy it. I just drove 270 miles one way to annual a cub, beabrhawk and start another one that was 100 miles closer on my way back home. The inspection consists of the items for the checklist, anything else is maintenance. AD compliance is a maintenance item. Its funny that most of the locals want me to pencil-whip their inspections and risk my certificates...oh and I am too picky because an AD requires me to check a muffler for cracks or if a bladder has collapsed inside the wing. One owner refused to replace his Cessna killer caps, I wont inspect that airplane anymore... What I have found is that I get stuck with the first annual, where we get to do exhaust, mags, carb, etc. then the owner gets pissed and runs to someone else who is cheaper. now it is easy because I already fixed what was wrong. Their next annual winds up being easy, the new mechanic has to do just the basics, and he has the balls to tell me that after I do an annual, he gets 2-4 years of easy annuals, which is easy money for him. When I get the airplane back we get to start over with the mags, carb, etc. so if you want to poo poo a 500 annual you may just need to buy a new airplane or if you are too cheap to fix a problem, get out of aviation...

Oh and I have probably more tools and hardware than most FBO's, I have stocked up with scales, dynamic prop balancer, thermal imager, milling machine, lathe, multiple sheetmetal machines, so not everyone who is affordable is incapable of doing a repair...Tim

Tim, You are the kind of A/I I look for. Thanks for doing it right.

Kurt

Yes, we’ll said Tim! Good for you. Now how about sharing your location so some of us can send you a PM.

MTV

Since ignition is such a common failure, I wanted to pay very close attention to my magnetos.
I read everything I could and looked at them myself. I have a lot of mechanical experience.
I had my AI look them over.
I had a trusted and very talented A&P friend look them over.
...then I paid the local shop to look them over.

...and it was not until then that a bearing spinning in it's bore was found, requiring that and the housing be replaced.

Lesson learnt; different people find different things, you get what you pay for, and good help is sometimes hard to find.

-g