Schllc

Not really enough information for me to make a suggestion. I will say this, you said you like them and are happy with them. If you “trust them” then I would say pay the bill without question and then ask for a moment to sit down and go over the discrepancies and ask if it’s possible to be involved in the future to understand the decisions. I have found in my years dealing with subcontractors, it’s a lot easier on them answering the questions honestly after the money is settled. It’s similar here because you plan on working together in the future. If the question is over half of 3700, then I would evaluate well internally before broaching. We are talking about 1800 ish dollars which will likely be more legit than not given how you describe their service, and in airplane dollars is not a massive sum… On the contrary, if you do not trust them, still best to probably pay and just leave because any other course will only pile on anxiety, frustration and expense. Good shops, with competent people and a good ethos are not as easy to find anymore so choose wisely.

My home town had an old fruit of The loom factory with about 500k sqft. When the textile industry left there were no takers. it cost the city about 800k a year to do the bare minimum in maintenance. they were so desperate for someone to take it they offered huge incentives hoping someone would at least cover the expenses. it is not cheap to maintain that size facility.

When I got out of college I was employed by a specialty tool manufacturer. They built a couple thousand very unique tools for the oil field. The shop was really sophisticated with about 100 machining stations 25 being very modern cnc machines, 300 highly skilled machinists working three shifts 24/7. I managed the schedule and traceability and they were making obscene amounts of money. The business was started by three guys in their garage, had no debt, and was known all over the world for its service, and as “the guys that had the stuff on the shelf”. They were purchased by a company who was heavily leveraging the debt right before I was hired. What the founders had figured out , was that some of the complex parts to make took more time to setup the machine than it did to make the part. Some taking 16 hours of writing the code and setting up the machine to run for 5 minutes to make the part. So when they had an order for one or two, they would make 50 or a hundred and put the extras on the shelf. (The cost of the single order paid enough to make all the rest). Pure genius in my mind and the three founders were very wealthy…. Six months later the bean counters came in. Wrote off about 20 million in “dead inventory” claiming that since most of the inventory hadn’t sold within 13 months of production. and the company went out of business shortly after. The write off was not the only factor, or even thr main, but it sure didn’t help things. Also, some companies have to pay tax on the inventory if there is value added, as in machining. This would absolutely be the smartest thing for inventory that Mooney could do, but not sure they will be permitted even if they chose to. I saw their plant several times, and the amount of material and time that goes into making one at a time really ruins any economy. Given how rigorous the traceability is, they have to know what amounts of things are made yearly, and with a modest front end investment in building inventory would really make this work for the vendor and consumer. Let’s hope they can make it work.

The Chinese didn’t buy in the same duress, I mean Mooney was desperate but the climate was different. the city of kerville does not want the liability and maintenance expense that manufacturing facility will cost simply for the bare minimum when empty. I would bet it’s close to a million a year in insurance, water electricity, fire currency etc. also, I don’t recall the FAR that covers a manufacturing license, that would take years and millions to acquire. my guess is that Laser will be bought out within five years by textron or that vc firm that bought hartzel. The market is small but it is easily to monopolize. what are our options but to sell?

It does serve a purpose. what about taping off a section and battering more rtv over it to make it look intentional. may be easier than cleaning.

The roaming plan for unlimited is $165 per month for the mini. I don't see 50gb being particularly useful, that will be eaten up pretty quickly. I can definitely see the value in having internet onboard. When i took our last trip out west, we changed destinations several times and it would have been a lot more convenient for hotels and rental cars, if that could be addressed inflight. My understanding is that the first two years is compulsory then you can go month to month, but at 165 a month, i think its easier to just do the stuff on the ground. We are only airborne for 4ish hours at a time, at the longest, and any portions of that below 7k you usually have coverage. I am also in the wait and see camp.

Seems like a lot less hassle to just fly regularly…

Wait. This cannot be possible. the venerable Johnson bar aka “gold standard of perfection” is not subject to failures. it has been deemed infallible. this must be a ruse.

I was advised that I am nearing the sb to replace the spring. I am not going to do so. I believe there was a bad batch at some point in the past and that the SB was an over reaction. no guarantee that the “new” spring will not have issues. the life cycles of these springs is pretty light in our airplanes and I see no reason to spend $3k for a $10 part that is unlikely to fail. At least that is my opinion.

This is very true, and part of the calculus, you only get one try. Whether In the Mooney or the A, total engine failure on takeoff is 90% probability you will need to put her down in a pretty narrow window. Best bet is to identify that on the ground, and have a plan if turning around isn’t an option. What’s that old saying about where every plan goes once the bullets start flying… Circumstances will always direct the path but I’m just planing for a cardinal direction and a known option. My home field the prevailing runway is the bay on 23, and golf courses on the other so those are my “plans”. I try to think of that especially on unfamiliar or urban airports. West Texas doesn’t freak me out about where I’m going to land in an emergency, north Hollywood airport in FL is a different story.

I don’t know that I could process wind direction, speed and all those other critical factors if you are on the edge. If I were to lose the engine on takeoff. I usually try to identify where I can put it down when I am filing my flight plan and then recite to myself where I will put it down as I am taking off. I don’t think I would try the turn from anything less than 1500’.

Kind of hard to practice that… But the video is informational regardless of the success or failure. I know that since I fly the exact same plane, this will be imprinted on my brain forever. just hoping I can overwhelm the instinct to pull up…

You could literally get an annual, fly it directly to another shop from that annual and find a bunch of squawks. Some may be in this category where it should have been caught. Vigilance, learning your machine, asking questions and regular use will make this less of an issue over time. People are fallible, sometimes its incompetence, sometimes it’s an honest mistake, sometimes it’s communication. Adjusting your expectations is somewhat required in this genre. Everything is more than it should be, and takes longer than it should as well. All these things aside, you’re in the middle of it all and it feels overwhelming. It could be worse, you could have discovered these things under more urgent circumstances. I think subconsciously I assumed everyone in this whole industry would somehow be different from people everywhere else. My reason was the consequences are so much more elevated, but people become inured. While this may sound cynical, it really isn’t, it’s just reality. There are good guys out there so don’t feel hopeless. You will find your groove. If you can find one that will fly your plane after service, that gives me a great level of confidence. Not only because they will fly in their repairs, but someone who flys will experience what you explain, and come to know her idiosyncrasies.

Yep, merely requires the software update to eliminate the extra tach.

I’m all for Darwinism.

insurance is typically based on revenue, but aviation may be different. With regard to airports taking a cut, ours does as well. 10% vig to do business here.

While I believe the entire insurance industry is broken from top to bottom, I don’t see a $1,000,000 liability policy as a high bar, it cannot possibly be that expensive, and owners should demand it as well. I would not want someone uninsured doing repairs to my plane. add on…. adding a specific certificate holder for a hangar or owner is usually provided at no charge, or for a nominal fee, it protects owners. the onerous nature of airports in Florida is no lost on me. The city that owns our airport property is earnestly trying to close the airport. a hyper vocal minority is driving the case, but no one shows up for the other side of the argument so it moves forward. they have put a moratorium on all development on the field and have voted to immediately cease accepting FAA grants. they are also proposing to eliminate base tenant fuel discounts, and to start charging landing fees. The future does not look bright for GA.

Interested to find out if these charges end up being reversed at some point due to fraud. but if that continues I think it would need to go to full membership to post. I don’t understand what value of these spam posts. I’m sure the spammer is getting paid, but this kind of site has to be a pretty low yield.

A big thumbs up foe Joe Cole a Cole aviation. He is the salt of the earth, a really good guy. Wouldnt hesitate for a moment to bring my plane back to him.

Don’t think anyone here is saying suck it up like money doesn’t matter. but there aren’t any legal options. how exactly would you fight back?

i don't believe it is an industry shift. it is more than likely one underwriter finding themselves having too many of one type on their books for the actuarial. my aerostar has the issue every year. i will get quotes from 11k to 60k for the same coverage.

About 12-18 months for reapplication depending on exposure. Nothing in between. I use waterless cleaner about three times a year, the belly about eight times a year. The first time I used it, I did my own cut and buff. I didn’t really try to get every swirl or imperfection out. I did hit scratches and oxidized areas. This product applies like rain-x. It has a slight haze that you wipe on, and then off a few minutes later when dry, with little effort. Water beads like fresh wax, bugs come off easier and it seems to attract less dust/dirt via static cling. It just seems to stay cleaner and be easier to clean.

So interior and exterior schemes have been decided. the interior is going to me caramel, black and white. exterior is finalized as shown. interior and annual happening presently. paint to begin in November. hopefully back in the air by January.

https://planeperfect.us/products/clear-coat-finishing-spray-reload this is what I usually buy. They have changed the configuration. it used to be two of these small bottles for $35. Looks like it’s $20 a bottle now. each bottle will do two planes, or a plane and a car if you can do them at the same time. the solution cures in a few days in the bottle, once mixed, and becomes un-useable. between the price and the ease of use, I feel like it’s a great value.

Plane perfect is a product I have been using for several years. It is 35 bucks a batch which realistically could do my Mooney twice. however, once you mix it you have limited time to use it before it crystallizes in the bottle. it’s basically wipe on, wipe off, no real effort and produces fantastic results. I don’t know what it is, what is in it, or how it works.. what I can tell you is once the plane is clean it takes about 30 minutes to apply, and the water beads off like fresh rain-x for about a year or so. it won’t address paint corrections or swirls and scratches, but I guarantee it will move your paints appearance by several degrees at a minimum , regardless of the condition. I have no financial interest or connection to the product. I only know that I am thrilled with the cost to value.