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Reliability and Clubs...
I've been renting from the local flying club.
In the last five flights I've had 4 issues /maintance problems. 1Pilots PTT switch fails on 3 hour cross country, hand mic inop. Finished flight using copilots mic jack and PTT. 2)Alternator charge indicator fails. maintance ended up replacing the alternator. 3)Found cracked cowl on 172 , the fiberglass cowl ring just behind the spinner was cracked 3/4 of the way around and about to come loose. 4)Took off in 172 to finish my IPC tonight and at 700 feet just off the end of the runway the engine lost power for the longest 5 seconds of my life. Returned to the field did a hard runup all normal. After parking the plane I drained several cups of gas from both wing tanks and the gas sump under the engine. No dirt, no water the fuel is perfect. The Fuel seector was on both and in place. The primer was locked. (first thing I checked) Am I just having a run of bad luck, or is this normal for older (mid 70's well used airplanes. All of this really makes me want to buy my own plane, I fear that I will be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. How long does take to get the bugs and issues worked out of an older plane once purchased... a)Never, b)Its always perfect c)Somewhere in between? Lastly in a case of an issue like #4 what do you do if the mechanic doesn't find anything? |
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Reliability and Clubs...
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Reliability and Clubs...
wrote in message
... [...] Am I just having a run of bad luck, or is this normal for older (mid 70's well used airplanes. All of this really makes me want to buy my own plane An engine failure is certainly NOT normal, for any properly maintained airplane. The airplane you describe is certainly below the quality of any airplane I've ever rented, and that includes a well-aged 1950's era 172 I ran into in southwest Virginia ten or so years ago (actually, aside from being cosmetically inferior, that plane was a pretty nice one to fly). Seems to me that, at the very least, you need to find somewhere else to rent from. Individually, the first two items on your list sound like reasonably normal "could have happened to anyone" sorts of things, but the third and fourth are just plain wrong. Taken together, they imply some significant neglect of the airplane. I fear that I will be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Depends on whether you have enough cash on hand to take care of problems. How long does take to get the bugs and issues worked out of an older plane once purchased... a)Never, b)Its always perfect c)Somewhere in between? Define "bugs". Any mechanical device, including an airplane, requires maintenance. Things wear out and eventually fail. You will *always* be fixing *something*. However, it certainly is possible to get an airplane into a highly reliable state. That is, you can't guarantee that things won't break, but you can come pretty close to certainty that if something does break, it won't ruin your day. You can never get to 100% -- even the most perfectly-maintained plane can fail -- but you can get quite a bit better than what you've seen in the plane you've been renting. That said, you don't have to buy a plane to get one in that state. A large proportion of the planes offered for sale will need some significant work (and money) to get it up to snuff after purchase, since many planes are sold because the owner lacked the time or funds to keep the airplane maintained (or it became neglected simply because the sale of the plane was impending). There ARE rentals available that have had this kind of maintenance done on them regularly already. You can reap the benefits of good maintenance without making yourself financially liable for that maintenance and without putting down the capital investment in the airplane itself. There are other aspects of ownership that provide benefits you can't get from a rental situation, but quality maintenance isn't really one of them, not if you find a good rental outfit. Lastly in a case of an issue like #4 what do you do if the mechanic doesn't find anything? Don't fly the airplane until the mechanic does find something. I suppose if you owned the airplane, AND the mechanic spend two days or so looking at it and still could not find anything wrong with the engine, AND the engine had been run on the ground (including at full power) for some significant amount of time (30-60 minutes at a minimum, though probably not all at the same time) without ANY sign of hesitation, then you might consider spending a couple of hours or so test flying within gliding distance of the airport (hopefully you've got a long runway, and use Vx until you've got plenty of altitude) and eventually getting to a point where you feel you can trust the airplane again. After all, no one else is going to be your test pilot (well, actually...I suppose you could find someone who might be willing to do it if you paid them, but you'd better be sure you get them to sign a liability waiver so it's clear everyone involved knows there's a larger than normal possibility the engine could quit). And you might find it hard to sell an airplane when the reason for selling is "unresolved engine failure". But for a rental, you have no financial stake in the airplane. Why mess around with it? Just find some place that rents airplanes that don't quit on you just after takeoff. Pete |
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Reliability and Clubs...
The issues are with three different airplanes
Mic issues and Engine cough 172 #1 Bad crack on cowl 172 #2 Dead Alternator Dakota. The Club has owners that leaseback to the club. The owners are responsible for getting the maintance done. (In all fairness the dakota owner seems to stay on top of things and the only reason I ever fly the 172's is when the dakota is not availible.) As it is one of the nicer aircraft in the fleet It is also often booked weeks in advance. I'm the the process of getting checked out in a new G1000 182 at an FBO on the field, the price is a bit steep at $185.00/hr, but the part that really hurts is the 2.5 hr cross country minimum. Paul (Same as the paul that started this thread, just a differnt computer) |
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Reliability and Clubs...
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Reliability and Clubs...
Was in PCF.... Alexander...
Out of curiosity.... Was the 172 you are talking about the Blue and White one? 33WX? On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:08:28 -0700, wrote: Is this the same Paul that flies out of KCRQ? Yes Which Mike is this? Paul On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:17:27 -0700, wrote: The issues are with three different airplanes Mic issues and Engine cough 172 #1 Bad crack on cowl 172 #2 Dead Alternator Dakota. The Club has owners that leaseback to the club. The owners are responsible for getting the maintance done. (In all fairness the dakota owner seems to stay on top of things and the only reason I ever fly the 172's is when the dakota is not availible.) As it is one of the nicer aircraft in the fleet It is also often booked weeks in advance. I'm the the process of getting checked out in a new G1000 182 at an FBO on the field, the price is a bit steep at $185.00/hr, but the part that really hurts is the 2.5 hr cross country minimum. Paul (Same as the paul that started this thread, just a differnt computer) Mike Flyin' 8 Mike Flyin' 8 |
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Reliability and Clubs...
Another hint I've had thrown out to me.. the best deals are advertised
on bulletin boards at the airport.. not on the net or in glossy picture magazines. And the REAL cream puffs never make it to the bulletin board -- they sell strictly by word of mouth, to people who have been waiting to buy it. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
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Reliability and Clubs...
On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 12:19:03 +0000, Dave S wrote:
The owners were responsible for having/paying the maintenance performed at a mechanic of the owners choosing, but the club specified the minimum requirements (which were essentially the same as if it was in for-profit use - 100 hr inspections and such). One of the many things I like about the club to which I belong is that the owner of the aircraft is the club...in other words, the members. So there's no "owner" making choices; just the members. That avoids any motivational conflict. [It also makes for an excellent training ground for ownership.] - Andrew Paramus Flying Club http://flyingclub.org/ |
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