Annual Costs - Take the Pledge

I learned a lesson recently relating to annual cost vs value. Two
years ago I took on the renovation of a 78 Piper Lance that had sat
outdoors untouched for 3 years. As the service dept. of the flight
school I was teaching at was too busy to fit the plane in, I ended up
having the annual done at another shop on the field. In retrospect I
should have gotten a ferry permit(it was out of annual) and taken the
plane to another airport to have the work done.
IIRC, the total bill was around $1400. This for a plane that sat 3
years without having the engine pickled(!). They replaced the tires
and tubes(only at my insistence) the battery, and ELT batteries (they
used the wrong type) and the wheel bearings on the mains (sprayed a
little Corrosion-X too for good measure) I flew this plane for a year
(about 30 hours) until the next annual. During that time I had a gear
emergency in the pattern (frozen in mid-extension) due to a severely
corroded power pack that was never inspected by the first shop.
My flight school service dept did the 2nd annual. The service mgr.
told me the plane was "scary" there was so much wrong with it. The
second annual cost over 23k, as the squawk list had 130 items on it. A
bunch of these were cosmetic, but mostly airframe related stuff.
Admittedly it was dumb to accept a $1400 annual as a thorough
inspection of a neglected airplane. At least now I know the plane is
safe to fly, and as someone else was paying for the service work I
offer this anecdote to anyone else in a similar position.
In aviation, you really do get what you pay for.

Will

In article ,
(Wiley) wrote:

In aviation, you really do get what you pay for.

but it's not always what you thought you were going to get.

:-(

--
Bob Noel

Wiley wrote:

The
second annual cost over 23k, as the squawk list had 130 items on it.

The whole point of this thread is that your annual didn't cost anything close to
$23,000. An annual is an *inspection*, nothing more. Your *annual* cost perhaps
$1,000 and you spent $22,000 on repairs.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.

Actually, often you don't get what you pay for either.

What I always say is "you don't get what you don't pay for." That's true
almost 100% of the time.

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Wiley) wrote:

In aviation, you really do get what you pay for.

but it's not always what you thought you were going to get.

:-(

--
Bob Noel

You always get less than you pay for so, the less you pay, the less you
aren't getting that you paid for.

--
Roger Long

Dan Thompson wrote in message
om...
Actually, often you don't get what you pay for either.

What I always say is "you don't get what you don't pay for." That's true
almost 100% of the time.

Wiley wrote:

In aviation, you really do get what you pay for.

No, in aviation you pay for what you get; not necessarily the other way 'round.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.

Wiley wrote:
: outdoors untouched for 3 years. As the service dept. of the flight
snip
: inspection of a neglected airplane. At least now I know the plane is

I don't think I'd call 3 years unloved as neglected. While it's certainly not
good for it, there are a lot of people flying planes out there that sit for long periods
of time (or worse yet, run for 5 minutes on the ground when it's cold out). If it was in
good shape beforehand, the camshaft is probably the main concern.

If the plane truly needed $23k worth of maintainance, it should have been fairly
obvious. As your post states, having a conflict of interest is a bad thing... the main
reason why I don't trust any work that's not a *combination* of my personal inspection,
and a mechanic who knows more than me. It's my butt in the plane if it goes TU.

-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
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In article ,
"Roger Long" om
wrote:

You always get less than you pay for so, the less you pay, the less you
aren't getting that you paid for.

--
Roger Long

Dan Thompson wrote in message
om...
Actually, often you don't get what you pay for either.

What I always say is "you don't get what you don't pay for." That's true
almost 100% of the time.





Very often, you pay for what you get!

I'm waiting for Ron Wanttaja to chime in...

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

Um that's nitpicking but okay, George... The annual plus repairs -
referred to by everyone as "the annual" cost over 23k.



"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message ...
Wiley wrote:

The
second annual cost over 23k, as the squawk list had 130 items on it.

The whole point of this thread is that your annual didn't cost anything close to
$23,000. An annual is an *inspection*, nothing more. Your *annual* cost perhaps
$1,000 and you spent $22,000 on repairs.