AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2022 - 96

RUDDER & WRENCH
Savvy Maintenance coverage sponsored by AIRCRAFT SPRUCE
SAVVY MA INTENANCE /OPINION
Disastrous annual
Out-of-control annual inspections are painful-and avoidable
BY MIKE BUSCH
Chuck's frame of reference based on his
flight school experience was that annual
inspections normally take five to 10 days
and cost $3,000 or $4,000 depending on the
complexity of the aircraft involved. The big
Twin Beech was significantly more complex
than what he was used to, so he expected
this annual to take longer and cost more.
He was certainly right about that.
I RECE I V ED A heart-wrenching email
from the owner of a Southern California
flight school-I'll call him Chuck-who
operates 10 airplanes, mostly Cessna
172s and Piper Archers and Arrows, with
a Seneca twin and a Cessna 140 taildragger
thrown in for good measure. With a
fleet like that, Chuck has a lot of experience
with airplane maintenance and
annual inspections, so he's not the sort of
person you'd expect to get into deep maintenance
trouble, but sadly that's exactly
what happened.
Chuck wanted to expand his
business to provide air tours, so he
96
AOPA PILOT / July 2022
purchased a 1957 Twin Beech E18S for
$160,000 with the help of a bank loan
and spent another $40,000 to upgrade
the avionics. Then it came time for
the first annual inspection on Chuck's
watch. His regular mechanics didn't
have any Beech 18 experience, so Chuck
flew the airplane some 350 nm to a specialty
shop in Northern California that
was well-known and apparently wellrespected
in the Beech 18 community.
Chuck told the shop's owner that he
would be using the Twin Beech for an
air tour operation, and wanted to make
sure it was safe and airworthy.
The never-ending story
When Chuck delivered the Beech 18 to
the shop, the shop owner promised him
he'd do his best to have the airplane ready
" soon. " Communication from the shop
was sparse after that, but Chuck assumed
that the inspection was progressing normally.
After three months, Chuck received
an email containing an extensive squawk
list, but no estimates of what repairs
would cost. Chuck repeatedly asked the
shop for cost estimates but received only
vague replies.
Five months into the process, the shop
emailed Chuck stating that he needed to
send a check for $20,000 as a deposit for
parts and supplies that the shop would
have to obtain. He sent the check as
requested and once again asked for repair
estimates and an ETA for completion but
received no response.
Months passed with no communication.
Then in month nine the shop
emailed Chuck to say that they expected
to have the airplane finished by the end
of month 10, but that date came and
went. In month 13, Chuck received an
email from the shop owner apologizing
for the delays and saying that they
couldn't provide a specific ETA but " they
will get it finished as soon as they can. "
After more than a year, Chuck had had
enough. He jumped in an airplane and
flew up to the shop to see firsthand what
was going on. He arrived to find the shop
owner and his two mechanics working on
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2022

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