November/December 2023 - 31

need to follow those recommendations set forth by
the people who design the product and want you
to do what's best. "
Sometimes, neglect isn't a direct cause of penny
pinching, it stems from a lackadaisical attitude
toward the need for this maintenance developed
either as a result of bad habits or from seeing OEM
recommendations as " busy work. "
" People start to take a lackadaisical attitude and
an attitude that the OEM or the manufacturer is
making busy work. And we're not in the business
of making busy work. We want our customers at
Superior, we want them to be safe, we want them
to be informed, we want them to do the items of
maintenance. We want their engine to go to TBO
and beyond without ever having any issues. When
we circumvent these things, we get the attitude that,
oh, what do they know? They only did the design
and the engineering and the endurance testing and
all that, what do they know? I get a little scared
because we can open up Pandora's box for a lot of
problems, " Ross said.
Advocating for Maintenance
For mechanics, it's pretty simple what needs to
be done to keep engines healthy - follow the OEM
guidelines. And while that might be obvious to
maintenance professionals, they may need to convince
aircraft owners of the importance, notes Ross.
" If the owner has questions, brings articles to
the mechanic that says, oh, you really don't need
to do that. I think that collectively, the mechanic
and the owner can call the manufacturer, respected
manufacturer, and discuss why? What is the premise
behind this and why does this have to be done?
So that the owner understands, too, how critical
some of these things can be and how in the end
game, they're not saving a dime, they're not saving
anything at all, " he said.
If there's a service document that suggests that
they perform something, Ross recommends that
mechanics should research it and be ready to talk
to owners and operators about it.
" We as aviation professionals, A&Ps, IAs, we need
to make sure that we're doing what the manufacturer
says from a liability point of view. We don't
want to cut corners. And I think every mechanic
out there should look at an A&P or an IA as a license
to learn, " Ross added.
With that in mind, when speaking to pilots, Ross
tells them to look at the resume of their mechanic.
" How much time do they have an experience on
your particular product? And if you like the guy and
he worked for American for 45 years or whatever,
maybe he needs to go to the Continental school or
to the Lycoming school or to Superior school, or
go to some type of training where maybe there are
some technical data that they need to subscribe
to. You as the owner will be money in the bank to
provide that for him. Because the mechanic's up
against the rock and a hard place too with regards
to costs, " he said.
Ross said he advocates that the mechanics and
the owners communicate and develop an effective
relationship between them so they can understand
why they should be moving toward doing the recommendations
set forth by the manufacturer to
maintain the aircraft.
" You're maintaining the aircraft in this constant
state of readiness and you're doing the best thing
that you can do. You're doing all that you can do to
prevent problems, " said Ross.
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November/December 2023

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