The warped world of airplane ownership

[Jay Honeck]

It's been too damned cold here to change my oil, so we took the plane over
to our A&P's heated hangar this morning to have it done. He offered to let
us do the work inside, if all we wanted was to borrow his heated hangar -- a
kind offer that Mary wanted NOTHING to do with!

So, we left him to his business, while we attended to ours.

Thirty minutes later, my desk staff called me to let me know that our
mechanic had called, and needed to speak with us immediately. There was no
other message.

My heart sank. With trembling fingers I dialed the phone, all the while
pondering the options. What could it be? On this bleak and dreary February
day, the ONLY thing that sprang to mind was that he had discovered our
engine was making metal -- after all, what else do you check while changing
the oil? Worse, our A&P had found metal in the filter of this very plane
at our pre-buy -- thus saving us $5000 -- so there was a historic precedent
to be reckoned with.

As he answered the phone I steeled myself for the inevitable answer.
Stomach churning, I wondered: Could our new, 150-hour old engine be trash
already?

His voice was somber -- my heart sank further. Slowly, and apologetically,
he explained to me that one of the latches had broken off our cowling while
he was reinstalling it. The latch had been bent back and forth one too many
times, and had snapped off while latching.

Weak-kneed, I almost giggled as I told him to go ahead and order a couple of
them from Piper -- at $70 apiece. A $140 bill never sounded so good!

What a screwy world airplane ownership is, no?

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Dude]

LOL, I had a similar situation when a starter died. The part was "only"
$290. I was sure it would be over $1000!





"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:zbyUb.225405$I06.2454912@attbi_s01...
> It's been too damned cold here to change my oil, so we took the plane over
> to our A&P's heated hangar this morning to have it done. He offered to
let
> us do the work inside, if all we wanted was to borrow his heated hangar --
a
> kind offer that Mary wanted NOTHING to do with!
>
> So, we left him to his business, while we attended to ours.
>
> Thirty minutes later, my desk staff called me to let me know that our
> mechanic had called, and needed to speak with us immediately. There was
no
> other message.
>
> My heart sank. With trembling fingers I dialed the phone, all the while
> pondering the options. What could it be? On this bleak and dreary
February
> day, the ONLY thing that sprang to mind was that he had discovered our
> engine was making metal -- after all, what else do you check while
changing
> the oil? Worse, our A&P had found metal in the filter of this very plane
> at our pre-buy -- thus saving us $5000 -- so there was a historic
precedent
> to be reckoned with.
>
> As he answered the phone I steeled myself for the inevitable answer.
> Stomach churning, I wondered: Could our new, 150-hour old engine be trash
> already?
>
> His voice was somber -- my heart sank further. Slowly, and
apologetically,
> he explained to me that one of the latches had broken off our cowling
while
> he was reinstalling it. The latch had been bent back and forth one too
many
> times, and had snapped off while latching.
>
> Weak-kneed, I almost giggled as I told him to go ahead and order a couple
of
> them from Piper -- at $70 apiece. A $140 bill never sounded so good!
>
> What a screwy world airplane ownership is, no?
>
> ;-)
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
>

[No Spam]

> It's been too damned cold here to change my oil, so we took the plane over
> to our A&P's heated hangar this morning to have it done. He offered to let
> us do the work inside, if all we wanted was to borrow his heated hangar -- a
> kind offer that Mary wanted NOTHING to do with!
>
> So, we left him to his business, while we attended to ours.
>
> Thirty minutes later, my desk staff called me to let me know that our
> mechanic had called, and needed to speak with us immediately. There was no
> other message.
>
> My heart sank. With trembling fingers I dialed the phone, all the while
> pondering the options. What could it be? On this bleak and dreary February
> day, the ONLY thing that sprang to mind was that he had discovered our
> engine was making metal -- after all, what else do you check while changing
> the oil? Worse, our A&P had found metal in the filter of this very plane
> at our pre-buy -- thus saving us $5000 -- so there was a historic precedent
> to be reckoned with.
>
> As he answered the phone I steeled myself for the inevitable answer.
> Stomach churning, I wondered: Could our new, 150-hour old engine be trash
> already?
>
> His voice was somber -- my heart sank further. Slowly, and apologetically,
> he explained to me that one of the latches had broken off our cowling while
> he was reinstalling it. The latch had been bent back and forth one too many
> times, and had snapped off while latching.
>
> Weak-kneed, I almost giggled as I told him to go ahead and order a couple of
> them from Piper -- at $70 apiece. A $140 bill never sounded so good!
>
> What a screwy world airplane ownership is, no?
>
> ;-)

Jay, when are you going to write a book? I'd buy it!

No Spam

[RV6John]

Which brings up the old differance between a renter and an owner.

When the engine get rough in flight the renter's first thought is where he is
going to land this thing. The owner's first thought is what is this going to
cost.

John

[[email protected]]

Jay Honeck > wrote:
: What a screwy world airplane ownership is, no?

I had a similar experience when I finally took off the finicky (and ancient)
starter last annual and found it had a cracked mounting flange. "Yay! What an excuse to
get a new modern starter!"

Something like $400 later it starts great. Twisted!

-Cory


--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

[[email protected]]

On 5-Feb-2004, "Jay Honeck" > wrote:

> Weak-kneed, I almost giggled as I told him to go ahead and order a couple
> of
> them from Piper -- at $70 apiece. A $140 bill never sounded so good!


Actually, Jay, that seems like a fairly reasonable price for that part. The
other day I had my Dodge minivan in for service and the shop replaced a part
of similar size and complexity to a PA-28 cowling latch. As I recall, it
cost around $60.
--
-Elliott Drucker

[Jay Honeck]

> Actually, Jay, that seems like a fairly reasonable price for that part.
The
> other day I had my Dodge minivan in for service and the shop replaced a
part
> of similar size and complexity to a PA-28 cowling latch. As I recall, it
> cost around $60.

Yeah, I didn't think it was bad at all.

I musta mis-heard him...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[JerryK]

"Jay> What a screwy world airplane ownership is, no?
>
> ;-)


I defintely is. I just had to order a flap track for my plane. It only
took then 10 weeks to make it. I got the bill and it was only $1200. I was
overjoyed!!!

jerry