Any thoughts on

[jetdriven]

We did the right thing and fired the mechanic.  Just as mike busch would have advised us to do, seeing as how we are responsible for airworthiness  and he was not taking direction.  We  have probably saved enough to buy some new toys, but we are happy where we are at right now. 

Quote: N4352H

Well,

"Not like the first mechanic who forgot many things". 

After saving so much on owner conducted maintenance, there should be plenty left in the kiddy for taking the Mike Busch course to better manage your mechanic.

 

[jetdriven]

Three hours!   !!!  Woohoo I saved 240 bucks!

Quote: Becca

He says that.  Ask him how long it took for him to safety wire the prop.  Just ask.  Our mechanic (the A&P/IA that supervises this work) got a good laugh at the level of effort required for him to do it right.

[Becca]

Quote: N4352H

Well,

"Not like the first mechanic who forgot many things". 

After saving so much on owner conducted maintenance, there should be plenty left in the kiddy for taking the Mike Busch course to better manage your mechanic.

 

[Becca]

duplicate post.

[Becca]

Quote: jetdriven

He says that.  Ask him how long it took for him to safety wire the prop.  Just ask.  Our mechanic (the A&P/IA that supervises this work) got a good laugh at the level of effort required for him to do it right.

[Hank]

What concerned me most was the post-maintenance test flight. If anything under the spinner wasn't right, would I know what to do? Appropriate action would, of course, be to land immediately, but the exact course of how to do that would be determined by what had gone wrong, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to diagnose the problem by its symptoms. "Hey, it's shaking really bad, and I can't see for all the oil on the windshield" is not the only possible failure mode. "Throttle to idle, pitch & trim for 90 MPH, aim for the asphalt" would work, depending on how badly it was shaking and how well I can see. We got trees at both ends of our [short] piece of pavement . . .

P.S.--Maybe he meant he "saved" three billable hours from the A&P, reducing the bill by $240 in exchange for his own days' work?

[John Pleisse]

Quote: Hank

[jetdriven]

If you are losing oil the only possible reason is the crank o-ring seal in the prop hub.  Other than that and 6 captive bolts there is nothing in there.  After you have seen it, it's not a big deal.  Timing the mag to me was a big deal.  

Quote: Hank

What concerned me most was the post-maintenance test flight. If anything under the spinner wasn't right, would I know what to do? Appropriate action would, of course, be to land immediately, but the exact course of how to do that would be determined by what had gone wrong, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to diagnose the problem by its symptoms. "Hey, it's shaking really bad, and I can't see for all the oil on the windshield" is not the only possible failure mode. "Throttle to idle, pitch & trim for 90 MPH, aim for the asphalt" would work, depending on how badly it was shaking and how well I can see. We got trees at both ends of our [short] piece of pavement . . .

P.S.--Maybe he meant he "saved" three billable hours from the A&P, reducing the bill by $240 in exchange for his own days' work?

[jetdriven]

Even according to the FAA, unlicensed persons working on aircraft under supervision of an appropriately rated mechanic is legal. Airlines do this too. This is different than someone making a mod to an experimental.  Our shop does conditionals on those too. 

Quote: N4352H

And here I was, fat dumb and happy, thinking that this correlation has more to do with "Amateur Built" than with owner maintenance. [said the happy owner who does as much maintenance as the regulations permit and his

[John Pleisse]

Quote: jetdriven

 

[Becca]

It is breathtaking to assume design and piloting are the only Experiemntal NTSB culprits. It is also improper, IMHO, to seperate design, build, non cert components and fabrication from..........maintenance.  Split hairs if you want. If you assume the task of designing and/or building and owning, you are usually tasked with maintaining it.  Gross pilot error aside, if a design fails once in service, it's a maintenance issue.

Also, the Exp accident rate affects the over all GA rate.

[Becca]

 

[carusoam]

He learned the difference between installing a prop and a wheel....

The captured nuts take much much longer to install, then wire, and will take just as long the next time, and will take a certificated mechanic equally long.  quarter turn, quarter turn, quarter turn, repeat 600 times.   This job is such a pain, that people often replace the generator or alternator belt just because the prop is off.

On the chevy tahoe there are 6 big lug nuts that hold the wheel onto the bearing assembly, surprisingly there are only three much smaller bolts that hold the bearing assembly to the stearing knuckle.  takes about 5 minutes to change a wheel and another 15 minutes to change the bearing assembly (have to remove two more rusty bolts to remove the brake caliper).  None of these important items is captured or wired in place.  None of it legally requires any training at all to perform.

No TBO times on such important items either.  Failure of the chevy system or its maintenace will go unrecorded for the most part.

Go figure...

Knowledge is power.  The more you know, the better off you will be.  Whether it is a Savvy seminar, APS seminar, MAPA seminar, AOPA seminar, reading on your own, learning from other's mistakes, learning from people on MooneySpace, or my favorite, working with your mechanic at whatever level you are a capable of.

Learn as much as you can.  This way you can decipher is someone is telling you something that is not right for you.

Best regards,

-a-

[fantom]

Quote: carusoam

Knowledge is power.  The more you know, the better off you will be.  Whether it is a Savvy seminar, APS seminar, MAPA seminar, AOPA seminar, reading on your own, learning from other's mistakes, learning from people on MooneySpace, or my favorite, working with your mechanic at whatever level you are a capable of.

Learn as much as you can.  This way you can decipher is someone is telling you something that is not right for you.

 

 

Amen....and it takes time and good judgment. If you're not working with the mechanic be looking over his shoulder, asking questions, and maybe paying for his extra time.

As the many opinions on this site prove, there are no gurus or absolute correct answers. Read, learn, study, question, analyze, listen, and don't skimp.

[John Pleisse]

Quote: JimR

[jetdriven]

Yes i think so. Experimentals do not conform to a type certificate. They are not designed with the stall speeds, spin-resistant behavior, or even the same G-loading categories as production airplanes.  They may have converted automobile engines, and auto parts such as fuel pumps, etc.  In fact, if it can fly, you can get an experimental airworthiness for it.  So, unless you can correlate it woth some real data, you are just posing opinion as fact.

 

I think the earth is flat. I think that I drive better after 3 beers. I think I think I think.

[jetdriven]

Quote: N4352H

 

[danb35]

Quote: N4352H

 Jim...more Experimental owners do their own maintenance. More Experimentals crash. Is this a stretch?

[Shadrach]

Quote: Becca

 

[Becca]

Quote: N4352H

 Jim...more Experimental owners do their own maintenance. More Experimentals crash. Is this a stretch?

[John Pleisse]

Quote: danb35

 

[fantom]

Good point....and with my experimental buddies, any accident that isn't fatal has a MUCH lower chance of being reported to the FAA or NTSB.

[John Pleisse]

nvm

[Becca]

Quote: N4352H

 it still wouldn't have anything to do with the Savvy Mx question that started this thread. 

Correct. As do all these threads dominated by extreme tangents from the usual suspects.

[Mike_Busch]

Someone just pointed me to this thread. I see my name being taken in vain, and lots of criticism posted by folks who have never met or spoken to me and haven't a clue what I do. So I thought I'd make this post and engage any of you who have a bone to pick with me or don't care for my approach to maintenance (which is modeled after the approach used by the airlines and military and high-end bizjets, and based on the very best scientific research available into maintenance best practices) to engage me in discussion about these things rather than just throwing flames.

FYI, I have not done my weekend seminar since the summer of 2010, as I'm just too busy managing actual maintenance of actual airplanes. My firm now manages the maintenance of 7% of the US fleet of Cirrus aircraft, and we've been growing 5% per month. We also manage the maintenance of a lot of Cessna singles and twins, quite a few Beech Bonanzas and Barons, and a handful of Mooneys. I have more than 20 years experience as a tech rep for the Cessna Pilots Association, helping thousands of Cessna owners deal with the thorniest mechanical problems that had their local mechanics stumped. Anyone who thinks that I'm a theoretician who doesn't deal with real-world issues on real-world airplanes is simply misinformed.

I'm here. Fire away!