Foothill Aircraft Sales in SoCal PIREP

[NotarPilot]

Has anyone had any experience with Foothill Aircraft Sales for annuals? I'm thinking of having another mechanic do this years annual just to get a different set of eyes on my plane. If you have negative experiences and don't want to post in an open forum please PM me.

Thanks,

Steve

[steingar]

I would never invite a second mechanic to look at my plane if I didn't have to.  Airworthiness is in the eyes of the mechanic.  

[dlthig]

In my experience, the first time a mechanic annuals an aircraft you will see higher bills. AD and SB searches don't really need to be started from scratch after the first time and you should save money in subsequent years. Likewise, as a mechanic learns the airplane he will generally become more comfortable with its quirks. On the other hand, if you have doubts about your current mechanic for whatever reason, you may want to cut your losses and move on. If you are getting charged for work not done that's one thing, but if you have a mechanic that is minimizing his time and your money on only necessary things that's a completely different situation. One you can work with, the other you need to get rid of. My last mechanic from many years ago did what was necessary and my costs reflected that. If it wasn't an airworthiness issue, he would give me an opinion and let me decide how long I wanted to wait to address it. Good luck.

[Yetti]

Get the 100 hr/annual inspection form from the Mooney website. Bring it into Word and start filling it out for your plane as some things don't apply.  Then go through it and think about your plane and how another mechanic might do something different than your current mechanic.

Now that you have a personalized form.  Hand it to the mechanic when he does the inspection

Pull the AD log from the FAA website for your plane compare it to your current AD log.  Are there any new items.

[NotarPilot]

I appreciate the input but I'm looking for anyone with experience with Foothill Aircraft Sales in regards to maintenance work, specifically annuals.

[Jim Peace]

14 hours ago, steingar said:

I would never invite a second mechanic to look at my plane if I didn't have to.  Airworthiness is in the eyes of the mechanic.  

You have no idea what you are writing about.  When I was a full time 91 corporate pilot we paid mechanics at other fortune 500 departments to preflight our planes every now and then.  A fresh set of eyes can see things that were missed.  And they did find things wrong.  

I have had the same mechanic do my annual now two years in a row on my C and I am now pondering the idea of getting a fresh set of eyes on it for my third annual.  I feel fortunate that I have had two Mooney service centers do light items like oils changes and install new starter etc since my annual with my normal guy.  

[steingar]

Works if you like spending lots of money.

[NotarPilot]

I have to agree with Jim. Having a second set of experienced eyes look at your plane is like getting a second option from a doctor, IMHO. Having only one guy look at/work on your plane is putting an extraordinary amount of trust on one person. I don't see how you think having a second mechanic look at your plane is a bad idea. But that's just my opinion sir.

[kortopates]

Finding problems early is when you can save yourself from big expenses later; such as corrosion. Plus the issue found early could save you from a real emergency in air later. Just saying but wanting to truly know the condition of my aircraft and intimately know it's systems is why I went to A&P school (nights after my engineering day job).

Sorry, but I don't even know anyone that has used Foothill. I can only recommend CrownAir further south in San Diego.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jim Peace]

On July 21, 2016 at 8:23 AM, steingar said:

Works if you like spending lots of money.

I like not being injured or killed or injuring someone else.  It is guys like you that think these planes are safer than driving.  You do not understand and have a false sense of security with these flying lawnmowers with wings.  And yes this includes the pilatus and TBM's etc....

The only planes that are safer than driving are multi engine all weather jets that are cared well for with highly trained crews with good judgement and with a union that can back them when they say NO.  Everything else is just nonsense.  

All we can do with these single engine planes is give ourselves a slight edge by open checkbook maintenance, respect the weather and reading about every accident or incident that happens.  Then you may just slightly beat the accident rate of motorcycles.  

 

Also if you don't have the money than you should just buy a plane ticket or take the bus.

Edited July 22, 2016 by Jim Peace

[N601RX]

Like many of the other owners here I prefer "smart maintenance" rather than a "open checkbook policy".  But I would also think that someone who believed in an open checkbook would at least care enough about their planes wellbeing to hanger it instead of leaving it outside in the elements.