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#1
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The warped world of airplane ownership
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" |
#2
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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" |
#3
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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 |
#4
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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 |
#5
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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 $400 later it starts great. Twisted! -Cory -- ************************************************** *********************** * The prime directive of Linux: * * - learn what you don't know, * * - teach what you do. * * (Just my 20 USm$) * ************************************************** *********************** |
#6
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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 |
#7
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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" |
#8
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"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 |
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