Options After Items Flagged as Unairworthy (was TBO and Airworthiness)

(I decided to move this to a separate thread since its a bigger issue
than engine TBO.)

Matt...I read the Avweb article. The author correctly notes that
whether its a car or plane, you should always insist on seeing or
discussing the problems with the mechanic so there are no surprises
later. However, in a car, you can simply tell the mechanic "Thanks but
no thanks" on some recommended repairs and move on. But for a plane,
once the item has been flagged as an airworthiness issue, you have
little choice. You can talk to the A&P all you want and until you are
blue in the face (as I did in the case below on every single item on
the estimate). But if he says "Sorry...in my view, these must be
repaired", you have only two options...suck it up, or close up the
plane, go thru the hassle I describe below, take it someplace else,
and hope the new shop will be a little more lenient.

In the case of our Warrior annual, I was NOT interested in cutting
safety corners. But there were items (like a small dent in one of the
exhaust risers--$300) that had been there for many years but Landmark
decided to take a hard line on what was "airworthy" vs "suggested".
The pilot has little say in this. As a result, our normal annual of ~
$1800 went up to $6000. (Obviously, we won't be using them next
year!)

--Jeff


-------------------------

Jeff B wrote:
While not directly related to the engine/TBO question, I ran into this
exact problem on the recent annual for my 79 Warrior. We used a new
FBO this year (Landmark) and they took a "lets make it new" approach
on the initial inspection and estimate. The list of issues ran 3
pages long even though many had been there for many years and signed
off by 2 other smaller FBOs in previous annuals. The cost estimate
was 3x what we were used to!!


THe point being that after I recovered from heart failure over the
estimate, we considered having Landmark close it up and take it
somewhere else. But we learned that once a shop flags something as
unairworthy, its too late to "change your mind", ignore the
inspection, and start over someplace else. You can go elsewhere, but
an A&P must now sign off that the plane is safe to fly and ferry to
another shop, a FSDO has to sign off on a ferry permit, and then the
new A&P must either the fix the flagged items or note in the logbook
why he/she didn't agree with the initial diagnosis. This process
requires permits, signatures, more permits, more signatures. (In the
end, we decided it was too hard and we let Landmark suck our wallets
dry.)


Matt Barrow wrote:

http://www.avweb.com/news/savvyaviator/189710-1.html

The Savvy Aviator #18: Avoid an Annual Calamity


Pay particular attention to the part titeld, "Mismanagement Of The
Annual"