Sporty's Breakdown Assistance Program

[Stetson20]

Anybody use this service? It seems reasonably priced. 

http://www.sportys.com/pilotshop/sporty-s-breakdown-assistance-program.html

$149 a year for some peace of mind. Thoughts?

[BradB]

I signed up for it, but thankfully have not had to use it yet.  Run by SAVVY, so it should be OK - I hope.

 

brad

[thinwing]

It's a useful service,especially if you don't have an IA on your speed dial...only available for breakdown help inside the US...so no help for me in Canada and Mexico

[gsengle]

I plan to sign up before I set off on my next big cross country...


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[Jerry 5TJ]

A close & on-going relationship with your A&P may be more useful still.

Recent example:. One fine Saturday morning I arrived back at the small upstate NY airport where the Ovation had rested overnight.  No starter action--nada.  No mechanics on the field, in fact no one there at all.

I called Tom at "my" MSC on his cell phone.  He said he would check to see if he could borrow a plane and fly up (200 miles) and call me back.   Meanwhile I pulled the top cowl and found the starter's crimp connector broken & I made a field reconnection.  Tom called back to say he could be there in 2 hours, but was greatly relieved that I could fly home.  But he was ready to fly up and deal with it.  

Come to think of it I spent somewhat more than $149 at the MSC that year...

[Stetson20]

I did buy the service. I hope to not use it! Insurance.. 

[gsxrpilot]

On 4/15/2017 at 5:23 AM, Jerry 5TJ said:

A close & on-going relationship with your A&P may be more useful still.

Yep, and my A&P/AI has a passport and isn't afraid of either Mexico or Canada. Ya gotta take care of the guy/girl who takes care of your plane.

[kortopates]

That's all very good. I've done the same thing before I had my A&P training. But this service is for when your shop is closed and its there day off. How many of you're A&P/IA's are guaranteed to answer the phone on a Sunday afternoon when you are confronted with a problem expecting to go home. Does your mechanic even give out his personal cell #? Some do but not that many. Savvy answers the phone 7x24.

If you were out of the country with BAP, you would at least get consulting support to discuss options with a Savvy IA which would help you to know if the problem was something unsafe that warranted grounding the plane or if the IA thought you'd be safe to defer. For example a Savvy IA, helped a Cirrus pilot that had an electrical problem crossing the Atlantic on an around the world flight. After landing at Reykjavik, the local mechanic weren't really sure what too do and suggested a path that would keep him there AOG for a week. But the Savvy IA, a Cirrus specialist, was confident he knew exactly what the problem and what the worst that could happen. This allowed the pilot to make an informed decision and be prepared for the worst case and continue the flight to Scotland and onto London where he had the issue fixed. That was before the days of BAP but that sort of thing is what BAP does; first tries to determine the safety aspects of the issue to see if it can be deferred till you get home. Here is the full story on this, if interested: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016/november/pilot/savvy-maintenance