Why is an annual so expensive (NorCal)?

[Bob_Belville]

The previous owner of my plane took it to a shop in Maryland for his second annual in 2007. (I see that shop is still there but seems to be mostly avionics.) The shop made a list of 21 discrepancies. I have the list, mostly Mickey Mouse stuff. He was retired Air Force and had his (military) buddy A&P/IA, who had done his first annual, get a ferry permit and brought the plane back to his hanger where the IA dealt with the squawk list and completed the annual.   

[Shadrach]

The previous owner of my plane took it to a shop in Maryland for his second annual in 2007. (I see that shop is still there but seems to be mostly avionics.) The shop made a list of 21 discrepancies. I have the list, mostly Mickey Mouse stuff. He was retired Air Force and had his (military) buddy A&P/IA, who had done his first annual, get a ferry permit and brought the plane back to his hanger where the IA dealt with the squawk list and completed the annual.

Inquiring minds want to know which shop in MD? I've been burned by a few of the best. You can PM me if you'd prefer!

[fantom]

Annual = paid for licence to hunt. 

 

Caveat Emptor!

[Marauder]

The previous owner of my plane took it to a shop in Maryland for his second annual in 2007. (I see that shop is still there but seems to be mostly avionics.) The shop made a list of 21 discrepancies. I have the list, mostly Mickey Mouse stuff. He was retired Air Force and had his (military) buddy A&P/IA, who had done his first annual, get a ferry permit and brought the plane back to his hanger where the IA dealt with the squawk list and completed the annual.

Inquiring minds want to know which shop in MD? I've been burned by a few of the best. You can PM me if you'd prefer!

Yeah Bob, PM this too! My mechanic is retiring this year and I am the search for a new one. I have been looking at a couple of shops in Maryland.

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[Bob_Belville]

Yeah Bob, PM this too! My mechanic is retiring this year and I am the search for a new one. I have been looking at a couple of shops in Maryland.

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WestAir Aviation. @ W29.

Caution, this was 2007.

Their current website emphasizes avionics.

They are still promoting the FAA Certified Repair Station #:  LI1R297K that is in my log book.

I might add the Mike had had them do some avionics work. He was very dissatisfied with the work and the cost. They swapped out a VFR GPS for an IFR one. Several call backs and the STEC never played nice with either the KNS80 or the GPS 155 TSO they worked on. The HSI/STEC still did not work in NAV mode when I bought the plane in 2012.  

[jetdriven]

I got an estimate for a $9K annual this time around, after an $8K annual last year. WTF. It just annoys me. I think I'm just going to do the bare minimum -- then there are a lot of smaller items but the estimate for each one is like an hour each. At $110 per hour that adds up, especially when it's things like "replace rivet - 1hr." And there are 5 rivets that need replacing or need screws, and suddenly it's a $500 cost item because it's listed 5 different times, when at most it should take 10 minutes or be subsumed in the base cost of the annual inspection, which is already $3K.

 

So I think I will defer all the smaller items, and just find a small local A&P to take care of all of those at the same time for a fraction of the cost.

Which shop is this?  Did you ask them if they did such a good annual last year why the 5 grand extra in repairs this year?

[Marauder]

WestAir Aviation. @ W29.

Caution, this was 2007.

Their current website emphasizes avionics.

They are still promoting the FAA Certified Repair Station #: LI1R297K that is in my log book.

I might add the Mike had had them do some avionics work. He was very dissatisfied with the work and the cost. They swapped out a VFR GPS for an IFR one. Several call backs and the STEC never played nice with either the KNS80 or the GPS 155 TSO they worked on. The HSI/STEC still did not work in NAV mode when I bought the plane in 2012.

Looks like they are dedicated to avionics work only. No mention of mechanical work on their website.

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[Bob_Belville]

Looks like they are dedicated to avionics work only. No mention of mechanical work on their website.

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Yeah, that's what I saw. Might be just as well... (I guess an avionics shop has to have a FAA CRS #?)

[Shadrach]

Yeah, that's what I saw. Might be just as well... (I guess an avionics shop has to have a FAA CRS #?)

Yup. I believe any type of component work requires a  FAA CRS #.  They are often limited in scope though.  The guy that does my ECI is not an A&P/IA but owns a workstation with FAA CRS #. However the station is limited to non destructive testing.

[bonal]

Which shop is this?  Did you ask them if they did such a good annual last year why the 5 grand extra in repairs this year?

We have not seen the response to this but its possible there were a number of items that were deferred that were not airworthy issues that they are needing to address this time round.  I would think that on the previous annual they would have pointed them out as such.  I would like to know what shop as well.

last time I almost had no repairs perhaps I will get lucky next time.  what I have learned is when a shop charges flat rate based on model type the amount of time you spend assisting is not directly taken out of shop rates its really at their discretion. Regardless I still want to see it first hand so I know its right although someone with no mechanical experience might have a hard time with that,

[Marauder]

Yup. I believe any type of component work requires a FAA CRS #. They are often limited in scope though. The guy that does my ECI is not an A&P/IA but owns a workstation with FAA CRS #. However the station is limited to non destructive testing.

The avionics shop that I use went through a name change and that delayed things for a bit as they were going through the documentation requirements with the local FSDO.

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[Bob_Belville]

... what I have learned is when a shop charges flat rate based on model type the amount of time you spend assisting is not directly taken out of shop rates its really at their discretion. Regardless I still want to see it first hand so I know its right although someone with no mechanical experience might have a hard time with that,

I think I have a great A&P. We do my annual in my hanger. I get the plane ready for inspection with belly, cowls, inspection plates removed. The jacks are in place. After Lynn does the inspection and I lube everything I put it back together. I tell him how many hours I've put into the annual and he credits me at his shop rate. Last year the annual cost me $500 or $600 plus my time.

 

Throughout the year I talk to Lynn about anything that seems amiss and we fix it then. I remove the cowl every few flights check hydraulic, look for oil leaks, anything loose or chaffing, tighten valve cover bolts. We've never discovered anything to fix at annual.