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Recommendations for owner-assisted annual


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Hope you’re all safe and able to fly despite the circumstances.

I’m getting closer to my first annual for the 252 and feel like I still have a lot to learn so it would be great to make this one owner-assisted.

I don’t mind flying half-way through the country for a great shop. So far, I’m considering the following shops but don’t really know which would be happy going for owner-assisted or not...

Weber, AGL, Cole Aviation, Maxwell, Minnesota, Canada?

Thank you!

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I think you’re going to find most of the listed shops are not going to allow owner assisted. Even if they do it probably won’t be as helpful as you think. My advice...send it to a good shop the first year and start looking for a good local ish IA for next year. 

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5 minutes ago, xavierde said:

As much as I can, idea is really to learn what to look for and how to do some basic owner maintenance properly. 

How mechanically inclined are you? Some shops will let you do what you are comfortable with.

After all it is you ass in the airplane so they are generally confident that you will want to do everything right.

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7 minutes ago, airtim said:

How mechanically inclined are you? Some shops will let you do what you are comfortable with.

After all it is you ass in the airplane so they are generally confident that you will want to do everything right.

I'm ok with old cars/motorbikes. Aircraft, I'm just starting but an engine is still an engine, right?

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If you want to get to know your plane, X...

Be involved with its annual...

I went through 10 owner assisted annuals at 39N... participated in all of them...and a whole bunch more with the O, and participated in none of them...

Owner assisted is the best way to know what is working properly, what needs some help, how to plan having the proper parts on hand for next year...

If you have the skills of working on old cars... it is more the desire to work with machinery that counts... knowing the tools is also extra helpful...

I’m not sure what Cv19 has brought to working with mechanics in their shop... you kind of raise their risk by being their...  so expect if you can wear proper PPE and follow distancing rules... this should be a low risk activity...

First annual is a ton of learning...

Second annual is a ton of you are ready already...

Third annual still has at least one surprise for you to find...

Everyone is different...

If you are willing to travel... and AGL is willing to take you in... they are MSC level, pleasant to be with, and have supported MS and the Mooney Summit... you can’t go wrong with that combination...

The really cool part of working with the mechanics working on your plane... you now have a go to person to ask questions to... if you have done it right...

Always be respectful...   you are going to break something that they told you... “don’t break this...“  :)

My first annual... the lead mechanic said “we like working with owners, they generate more work...”  Not sure how true that statement was... There is plenty of unexpected things that need to get done... as simple as a bunch of screws that don’t want to come out...

Let me know if you are going to 39N...

Let us all know if you are going to AGL... :)

Best regards,

-a-

 

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49 minutes ago, xavierde said:

I'm ok with old cars/motorbikes. Aircraft, I'm just starting but an engine is still an engine, right?

The engine is less than a third of it....

I’m doing my first owner assisted annual from the IA side. Im doing very little actual work, I have 9 hours in it right now and probably another 2 to 3 hours before it is done.

Im working with ex airline mechanics, I’m surprised how much they don’t know. Even though I sent them the inspection section from the service manual, half the items were not attended to. 

There were about 5 recurring ADs that they haven’t even considered, even though the info was right there in their own documentation.

If you are going to do an owner assisted annual, it would help to bring your A game. You should at least know the stuff required to be a plane owner.

 

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6 hours ago, xavierde said:

I'm ok with old cars/motorbikes. Aircraft, I'm just starting but an engine is still an engine, right?

I think Lycoming/Continental engines are easy to work on. I took a IO-470 apart to do a prop strike inspection. I found it is very time consuming but the skill level to do it is on par with a small block chevy.

When I first started working on airplanes my friend told me to buy a 4113 to learn the basics like how to safety wire, rivet, structural rivet patterns and so much more.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/bvpages/asaInspectionRepair.php?clickkey=236494

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We’ve had good experiences with Eric and Paul at Oasis Aviation (Weep No More) in Wilmar, MN. They are a Mooney Service Center, very knowledgeable and great guys. They’ve encouraged us to participate (get in their way?) as much as we’ve wanted, and have taught us tons about our Mooney. We’d highly recommend going out there. 

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2 hours ago, Deb said:

We’ve had good experiences with Eric and Paul at Oasis Aviation (Weep No More) in Wilmar, MN. They are a Mooney Service Center, very knowledgeable and great guys. They’ve encouraged us to participate (get in their way?) as much as we’ve wanted, and have taught us tons about our Mooney. We’d highly recommend going out there. 

Deb, did you stay in town while the annual was happening? I live less than 100 miles away but can’t imagine commuting back and forth daily. My A&P is right on my home field and let me do almost all of the grunt work. He does have experience maintaining Mooney’s, but I wouldn’t mind having a new set of experienced eyes taking a look.

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We stayed in town; Eric and Paul graciously provided us the use of a car. We live in south Florida; it’s a testament to the experience, their expertise and hospitality that we’ll be going there again for our annual.

At our first annual, they found an unrecognized issue that had been missed by several visits to at least two other MSCs.

Edited by Deb
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