EASA requires the 50h check so you would still have those competent eyes. You can do the oil change on your own schedule. It’s a nice little job and saves you a bit of money.
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
Yes, but what degree of competency?
That’s a matter of self-assessment. Immanuel Kant wrote the FARs on that… 
Michael wrote:
Sure enough, half the rocker cover screws were coming loose
Yes, a common issue and they require frequent checking. Same goes for the rubber induction hoses held by hose clamps in the in Lycoming. I check them every 25 hours (with the oil change).
one does need to be competent to do this.
Yes, but what degree of competency?
If you know how to do it on a car, you can do it on an aircraft.
Yes – one does need to be competent to do this. I wonder what % of owners do any own maintenance and, if not, why not?
Although I am very pro- owner/operator maintenance involvement , having a very experienced set of eyes under the cowl every 25 – 50 hours can be extremely beneficial .
One recent example – a Mooney Ovation owner asked if I could have a look whilst he was doing an oil change. After just a few minutes poking around I saw a machine screw that had obviously fallen off the rocker cover. Sure enough, half the rocker cover screws were coming loose and no doubt that engine was getting very close to dumping copious amounts of oil in flight !
This may be of interest.
A ~35hr interval is a lot better than a 50hr interval.
The oil gets trashed by getting a lot of combustion products into it, which slip by the piston rings.
The ability to do your own work depends on the airfield politics i.e. “health/safely” attitudes or whether the airport owns a maintenance company (and even if it doesn’t, a based maint co. which pays significant rent can make a big fuss to the management). Here in the UK, it is generally not allowed although at many places you can do it if you keep a low profile e.g. work in a hangar with the door closed and not ask the management for an official permission
A basic service – oil change and spark plug inspection and clean – takes about 4 man-hours. It’s well worth doing this because sometimes you find stuff which needs attending to which would otherwise not get caught till the next annual e.g.
On some types (e.g, my TB20) 2 people are needed to remove the lower cowling. Also you need to remove the prop spinner; it can be done without that and some do it but the sure result is a cracked cowling.
It’s a great thing for an owner to do this because he/she becomes familiar with the aircraft.
I do it (every 50 hrs only) at my shop where we do owner assisted maintenance and annuals. No big thing with a newer Cirrus with the split cowl. After doing the oil analysis for a while i did not do one last year. I am really not completely convinced about its value after reading about very different results coming back from the different labs … but i might do one at the next oil change again.
For a while i did my maintenance at MeierMotors. Flew over, stayed at a great little hotel near the airport and enjoyed working with them. Great shop, very nice people, but when they told me “no slot” a short time before my last annual i left. I need a reliable place that i can count on, for the annual at least.
achimha wrote:
Don’t change shops/IAs for your annual, that would be very painful. However, I see no problem doing oil changes / 50h checks outside that environment.
Yes, that’s what I’m thinking about doing.
I admit that I have a bit the feeling that an owner-pilot of a SEP should be able to do these things. Especially when one doesn’t only fly when the sun is shining to eat the $100 burger :-)
When I was living in Panama I’ve driven my Jeep numerous times through rivers and had to dug it out of the mud here and there … so the oil change doesn’t scare me. Just need to get the opportunity for doing it the first time.
If you know how to do it on a car, you can do it on an aircraft.
Second that. Actually I do both, but the plane is a good deal easier.
No need to lie on your back to loosen the drain plug, to begin with.
Don’t change shops/IAs for your annual, that would be very painful. However, I see no problem doing oil changes / 50h checks outside that environment. Buy yourself filters, DC lubricant, safety wire, safety pliers, an oil filter torque wrench, a form-a-funnel and some oil sample kits and you’re ready to do it anywhere, yourself or with somebody’s help who does not have to be an aircraft technician. If you know how to do it on a car, you can do it on an aircraft.
I’ve done several oil changes thousands of miles away.
My main concern is the practicality of going always to the same shop. That certainly works well if the shop is around 1 hour flight away but it becomes more challenging if not.
I don’t want to do “shop hopping” either, because I already got some hints that they don’t like that. One reason as I’ve been told is the need to check the paperwork for 50/100 hours inspections and find out which ADs/SBs do apply before being allowed to release the aircraft. So they seem to prefer to know the plane and be the only ones doing work on it. That, of course, also depends on the registry and their experience with it.
So I’m trying to figure out my options in the case I end up flying as much as it looks at the moment. If I do, my case is probably a rare one. I was told at a shop that the aircraft they had in the hangar at that point in time at most are flown mostly between 20 to 50 hours per year and they were all on the German registry (D). I’m not in that category :-)
I’m trying to build a relationship with one shop or a single A&P IA for the annual and more serious work. For everything else like oil change and lubrication I want to do this as fits “on the road”.
