How long should an annual take?

[Tommy]

It's hard to say whether 2 weeks is normal or not without knowing anything specific about your plane. My annual averaged 1.5 days with two mechanics working on it plus me helping every time. I always insist on owner-assist not to save money but to learn my plane and to make decisions right on the spot instead of calling back and forth.

I always end up saving money (has anyone counted how many screws are there on a Mooney?) and the annual gets done quicker because the shop knows your time is valuable as well. They tend not to muck around if they are seeing you working hard on the plane. 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Tommy

[Guest]

9 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

You should be very very afraid. You don’t have the same legal protections in Aviation you do in cars. This mechanic could be refurbing the interior, etc and you get a 5 figure bill. 20 years ago I learned that lesson the hard way. You have to watch them very carefully.  

-Robert

Yes!  We're all giant rip off artists.

Clarence

[NJMac]

10 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

Yes!  We're all giant rip off artists.

Clarence

Kinda what i was thinking.  Way to paint with broad strokes.  I truly belive Ive got nothing to worry about with this guy.  Truly seems like a stand up gentleman.  

[RobertGary1]

9 minutes ago, NJMac said:

Kinda what i was thinking.  Way to paint with broad strokes.  I truly belive Ive got nothing to worry about with this guy.  Truly seems like a stand up gentleman.  

No broad strokes in anything related to what I posed unless you intended possible semi-humorous hyperbole. 

-Robert

[NJMac]

4 hours ago, triple8s said:

Anytime a plane is "new" to a mechanic it will take a lil longer and cost a lil more. A mechanic has a plane for the first time he will always look harder for things amiss and of course he finds things. Once he has seen it before he is more familiar with how all the components are working with each other. Next annual time wont take as long or cost as much unless the plane is doing something its not supposed to be doing. An airplane seems to be a critter of systems that may or may not be playing well with each other. So much vibration and the components are not made any more robust than absolutely necessary because weight created from something being over built hurts performance. You may have chaffing of control cables, engine baffling or a myriad of other things going on and these need attention. May not be a huge costly repair but just an adjustment here or a tightening up there until the mechanic meets your airplane, learns it and its wear patterns he may or may not be comfortable signing it off until its perfect. No airplane is perfect and until he goes over it, sees it next year and and goes over it again and learns it and its wear patterns it will take more time and more money to go through an annual inspection process. Change mechanics and it all starts over again, just ask someone who has a plane that gets its annual done by the same mechanic for several years then takes it to a new mechanic and see if it isnt more expense than the previous year. Does this mean that the annuals werent done properly? Not necessarily, lots of times a plane will have something that the mechanic who's done the annual many times may have something that he has been watching and a new mechanic would possibly just replace and not watch to see if it is wearing abnormally.  1st time? more time/more money. 

Really appreciate this insight.  I figured with him doing the annual and prebuy at the same time, it would drag out.  

I forgot to mention, he also runs the books for the flight school and is the airport manager.  Ive gotten to know him well over the last year and a half doing lessons in the rental and totally trust his integrity.   I had been buying 1 amu blocks from the school and his math was always dead on with my spreadsheet. 

I talked with him earlier today.  They have most everything inspected less the landing gear.  He is fitting mine in among a few other planes in his shop. He did say there were a few items that needed attention now.  2 exhaust gaskets.  Replacing something with a slick start coil pack type thing.  Said the oil analysis came back clean.  Suggested replacing /adding some insulation in the cabin.  A gasket on a fuel sender unit. Really minor things. But, he did take 10 lbs of old avionics oit of the pannel.  Hard to think its been updated but apparently there were some old items not needed but left hidden behind the pannel.  

@gsxrpilot i think you might can put this one in your win column.  I think you saw the ebay listing.  He took $1500 off that and flew it to us no charge.   Looking like we will have funds to go straight into the pannel updates.  

[NJMac]

Just now, RobertGary1 said:

No broad strokes in anything related to what I posed unless you intended possible semi-humorous hyperbole. 

-Robert

Maybe i dont understand the legal protection you referenced.  

[gsxrpilot]

Just now, NJMac said:

  

@gsxrpilot i think you might can put this one in your win column.  I think you saw the ebay listing.  He took $1500 off that and flew it to us no charge.   Looking like we will have funds to go straight into the pannel updates.  

Awesome! I sincerely hope you get many hours of inexpensive enjoyment out of this one... you'll be one of the lucky one's with this find.

[Yetti]

panel work takes awhile.  You would like to rush but there is no way to work faster.

[bradp]

No rushing in panel work.  You need to set the stage for the next upgrade in the level of organization you leave in your last upgrade endeavor.  Even if you’re just ripping out an adf it’s worth the extra time to properly terminate and label wires.  Nothing worse than a rats nest of who knows what.  

[RobertGary1]

3 hours ago, NJMac said:

Maybe i dont understand the legal protection you referenced.  

AUto repair shops are highly regulated and state license and can only do work that’s been explicitly approved. You don’t get that guarantee with aircraft repair. You’re on your own to monitor shops to not do work beyond what is authorized  

-Robert