How Much Maintenance Do You Do Yourself?

[201er]

How much Mooney maintenance do you do yourself?

[carusoam]

Back in the day… owner assisted everything…

Today… monitor the maintenance closely…

This provides a level of comfort knowing where everything is, and everything is still pretty well connected….

Mike, did you fill out your own poll?

-a-

[MooneyMitch]

All with few exceptions.  All with certified supervision of course. 

[Hank]

I did owner-assisted annuals until my IA retired. New IA won't. 

So I still change oil; clean & inspect plugs while I'm in there; clean up interior panels; work on the headliner; now fabricating new cover for my panel. 

Greasing the many zerks on the gear is.much less fun than R&R of inspection panels and spinner . . . . But replacing the ignition harness was much easier than I had anticipated. 

[RLCarter]

Pretty much all of it, including doing a few things for a few local A&P/IA’s that they just don’t want to fool with

[larryb]

Annuals are done by the shop. I do as much as possible for all of the maintenance in between.

[47U]

I’m the A&P and boy, has MS been a great source of information.  I have a long-time relationship with an IA that I keep informed of what I’m planning as far as repairs and mx outside the norm.  It’s the same trust that needs to be built between an owner and their A&P/IA.  You take care of them and they’ll take care of you.

The key is, no secrets, no surprises.  

[Danb]

Oil changes, borescoping, clean gap spark plugs, door seal. Went from doing nothing limited ability until Mooneyspace instilled knowledge and information. 

[Oscar Avalle]

I try to do owner assist as much as possible, my schedule permitting. I always participate very actively in any Maintenance decision, which in most cases ends up translating into more money spend. Otherwise oil change, etc I do myself.


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[0TreeLemur]

I am my current A&P/IA's lackey.   I do everything he is ok with and willing to supervise and inspect.  One benefit of this approach is that I can take as long as I want because it's my plane and I only deal with one aircraft.  I can step away, research, and just take my time.

My co-pilot and I have detected several errors committed by A&P/IA's that were inconsistent with the Mooney SMM and parts manuals.  Of course input from MS is key to helping us do the best job we can do.  Great job- thanks to all of you for the input!

[icurnmedic]

Absolutely none. That is what the professionals are for. 
Because if cars are a weathervane, I would spend more in the long term doing it myself. 
Plus, need to get to the Golf course sometime. 
Thank goodness for AGL.

Thomas

[ArtVandelay]

I usually do the troubleshooting to prevent “let’s keep replacing parts till the problem goes away” routine.
I will pull the defective part, send it out to be overhauled or order replacement which I have shipped back to my AP who puts it back together.
I would also inspect what the AP does even if you never do the work yourself.

[Skates97]

4 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

I would also inspect what the AP does even if you never do the work yourself.

100% agree. 

[Mooneymite]

19 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

... One benefit of this approach is that I can take as long as I want because it's my plane and I only deal with one aircraft.  I can step away, research, and just take my time.

Absolutely!  I may not be able to do anything as fast as a paid A&P, but I have the luxury of taking as long as necessary to do the job right.  When I consider how long it takes to do the tasks on an annual, I do not know how an IA can charge as little as he does.  I enjoy getting up close and personal with my Mooney, but If I was charging by the hour, I'd be making less than $.25/hr.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:
I would also inspect what the AP does even if you never do the work yourself.

That’s about as practical as me riding along on every flight my customers make, just to be sure they do everything right.

Clarence

[xcrmckenna]

Most of it, assisted annual, oil changes, hangar fairy work, avionics, and what I don’t work on I’m there watching a qualified IA or avionics tech do the work.


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[N9405V]

I’ll do pretty much everything that needs to be done with my IA’s supervision. My limiting factor is that I don’t have a hangar to work in, I’m under a hail shed, so I need to be able to close it up at night and fabricating anything takes a bit of time.

I’m about to start the annual this week and there is a list of avionics upgrades I had planned but those are on the back burner now due to the avionics shop on the field deciding they didn’t want the work.


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[ArtVandelay]

That’s about as practical as me riding along on every flight my customers make, just to be sure they do everything right.
Clarence

Not quite, spending 15 minutes checking if screws are tightened or doing a ground check of affected systems after maintenance is not that impractical. If you cannot spend 15 minutes verifying your plane is airworthy after maintenance, you shouldn’t own an airplane.
I have found mistakes in maintenance on more than a few occasions.

[RobertGary1]

21 hours ago, Skates97 said:

100% agree. 

Agreed too. Years ago I used to drop my plane off at mooneys service centers. I saw some scary stuff. Aileron bell crank rod attachment bolt installed without nut, wheels installed without cotter pin, rags left under cowl etc. And this was several different shops. I mentioned to one Mooney service center mechanic that I fly my family out over the sea of Cortez in Mexico and he turned white and didn’t know you ever flew outside gliding a nice field. 
No one but you cares as much as you. 

[RobertGary1]

2 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

Not quite, spending 15 minutes checking if screws are tightened or doing a ground check of affected systems after maintenance is not that impractical. If you cannot spend 15 minutes verifying your plane is airworthy after maintenance, you shouldn’t own an airplane.
I have found mistakes in maintenance on more than a few occasions.

If I were going to drop my plane off I’d at least ask them to not install the inspection panels and do that myself. As the owner operator you should have the last eyes on everything. 

[RobertGary1]

17 hours ago, M20Doc said:

That’s about as practical as me riding along on every flight my customers make, just to be sure they do everything right.

Clarence

No offense at all to the professionals but to me it’s like inspecting your own parachute. Just an extra set of eyes. 

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

43 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

No offense at all to the professionals but to me it’s like inspecting your own parachute. Just an extra set of eyes. 

I once remarked to a group of guys that I always do my own (car) oil changes because I am probably smarter than the average oil changer, and I care about doing the job right a helluva lot more.  One guy, who turned out to be the manger of a local auto dealership's service department, then said, "I don't even know you, and I can GUARANTEE you are ten-times smarter than anybody doing the oil changes!"

Edited February 8, 2022 by AH-1 Cobra Pilot

[Guest]

You guys are suggesting that you inspect everything that the A&P does, to the point of closing up the plane, that takes more than just 15 minutes. In a busy shop I’m not sure it’s practical to leave the plane sitting while you come in to inspect and close everything. I know of shops that charge for the floor space whether they’re working on the plane or not, because to them the floor space has value.

Clarence

[Yetti]

You mean other than installing a Dynon Skyview in the plane?   You should probably have a how much maintenance and how much upgrades and renovations category.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Yetti

[RobertGary1]

1 hour ago, M20Doc said:

You guys are suggesting that you inspect everything that the A&P does, to the point of closing up the plane, that takes more than just 15 minutes. In a busy shop I’m not sure it’s practical to leave the plane sitting while you come in to inspect and close everything. I know of shops that charge for the floor space whether they’re working on the plane or not, because to them the floor space has value.

Clarence

Depends on how hard the last guy mashed the screws in with the 24v driver.