Why don't you have a Maintenance Manual for your airplane-

[Hank]

I got a PDF version not long after I bought my Mooney. My A&P had a bound version, it was easier to reference in the hangar. Now I also have a bound version, bought rig there on MooneySpace.    wish I could email copies out, but it's ~35MB. I got the Owners Manual, Maint Manual and Parts Catalog PDFs at the same time. Where, where, where . . . eight busy years ago???

[Shadrach]

I don't have a maintenance manual because my A&P does. I'm an expert on what I do so I can afford to pay him for what he does. I'm still a maintenance savvy owner. I bet most aircraft owners also don't own the maintenance manuals personally... Maybe I'm wrong.

 

 

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You're likely right that most aircraft owners don't have MX manuals. I would bet that members of this forum are more likely to have those publications than the general pilot population.

What makes you a maintenance savvy owner? How do you know that you're savvy?

[gsengle]

What makes me or anyone savvy? Educating ones self on technologies, how aircraft are built, different brands, different engines. Asking questions, reading forums. Subscribing to aviation consumer, AOPA, or EAAs mags. Talks at Oshkosh or at an AOPA expo. Talking to my A&P. Hard won experience. Ask me how I know what a roller tappet is? Or a p lead? Or what bulb goes in my landing lights or annunciator panel? Or whether to go overhaul or reman or do the 310hp stc on the R? Or who to call to fix the panel rheostats when they don't work. When to preheat and how. What oil to use. There is WAY more to know than what is in those manuals, it's just a piece of a huge puzzle... A good piece, but just a piece.

For me when the knowledge gets that specific, I'm glad I have a good A&P to execute the work.

All I know is I'm way savvier than I was before ten years of aircraft ownership and conscientious self education and hard knocks.

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[Hank]

Having the Maint Manual and being able to do everything it describes are two different things . . . So says this Mechanical Engineer with an MS in Engineering. Lots of aviation-specific knowledge was assumed when these books were written, things that A&P students learn but were not covered in my classes. I learned to balance the combustion equation, figure fuel consumption in lbs per hour and determine the energy output of an engine given very few operational parameters; they learn the correct way to safety wire propellers, the difference between many different types of bolts and screws based on what is forged into the bolt heads, and how to open up a magneto without parts flying all over the room.

fortunately I'm mechanically inclined enough that I rarely need to be shown these things more than once, although my safety wiring skills are abysmal. Is there a preferred direction of twist when doing this? Is it always the same? I would guess Yes and No, but have no idea when to twist in which direction.

its about developing a relationship with your A&P, getting to know your plane AND how to work on it, and getting him comfortable with your knowledge and skill levels. The more he checks you doing and finds right, the more he will let you do. If you want to. Personally, I want to. The more I can do, the better shape I can keep my plane in all the time.

[Yetti]

Maintenance Manual, Parts Manual, Propeller Manual, Engine Manual, Still learning the safety wire thing.   I got an "it will work, but we don't want other shops to think we did that"   I think I want to try for my Airframe certificate one day.

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Edited October 29, 2015 by Yetti

[gsengle]

I think my best education will come that day (year) I put together that RV12 I want as a 2nd airplane...

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[Shadrach]

Having the Maint Manual and being able to do everything it describes are two different things . . . So says this Mechanical Engineer with an MS in Engineering. Lots of aviation-specific knowledge was assumed when these books were written, things that A&P students learn but were not covered in my classes. I learned to balance the combustion equation, figure fuel consumption in lbs per hour and determine the energy output of an engine given very few operational parameters; they learn the correct way to safety wire propellers, the difference between many different types of bolts and screws based on what is forged into the bolt heads, and how to open up a magneto without parts flying all over the room.

fortunately I'm mechanically inclined enough that I rarely need to be shown these things more than once, although my safety wiring skills are abysmal. Is there a preferred direction of twist when doing this? Is it always the same? I would guess Yes and No, but have no idea when to twist in which direction.

its about developing a relationship with your A&P, getting to know your plane AND how to work on it, and getting him comfortable with your knowledge and skill levels. The more he checks you doing and finds right, the more he will let you do. If you want to. Personally, I want to. The more I can do, the better shape I can keep my plane in all the time.

Absolutely.  Plus all of the tedious and laborious stuff that a Mechanic really does not want to do. like replacing vac and and avionics cooling hoses behind a tight panel. Someone this forum just spent $600 installing a $40 gear horn. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'd rather take a Saturday morning to get my hands in there.  If you have this done at a repair station, it's likely the youngest, lowest guy on the totem pole will be doing the work.  I worked for a repair station when I was learning to fly in my mid 20s.  I was taught how to buck rivets when a Cherokee 140 came in that had been backed into an top folding door. The top of the tail and the top fuselage skin needed to be replaced. I got to learn how to buck rivets because no one else wanted to crawl back into the tail section of a Cherokee 140...in August...in Indiana.     

The tube behind my  panel going to the Xponder cooling diffuser is spliced off another cooling tube that is fed by an NACA duct on the right side.  I recently replaced mine; it took me several tries to get the angle just right but it is 10X better than the one that was installed previously.  I've spent considerable time on routing tubes, cables and hoses behind a panel thats had a number of changes made over the years. There's more to be done, but I'm happy with what I've done.  The cost to pay someone else to do what I have done it is not outrageous, but it would $1000s not $100s, and while I'm sure it wold be adequately done. Not everyone will take the time to make sure it's optimal. There is likely some margin of profit between good enough and perfect. I understand this which is why I like to do the tedious stuff...

 

 

[Shadrach]

I think my best education will come that day (year) I put together that RV12 I want as a 2nd airplane...

 

 

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I know where there a nice one for sale! I know the builder, it's a nice bird!

[gsengle]

That's no fun! Gotta build it yourself!

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