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Why manufacturers, installers and maintenance shops dislike forums?

Fenland_Flyer wrote:

Long may he stay in business!

It seems that I have the same engineer – or maybe his cousin. He’s two and a half Maule hours from here, but once the old tub is airborne an extra hour or two makes little difference. I wouldn’t consider going to anyone else.

OTOH, there are some scoundrels in the business. A local syndicate (whose members seem to be afflicted by a variant of Stockholm syndrome) taxied to their “only game in town” maintenance shop a few days ago for a new Lyc oil filler cap o-ring. No problem, it was in stock, they fitted it themselves and went flying. The syndicate then received a bill for £0.99 for the o-ring….. plus a £160 “minimum call-out” charge.

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

A local syndicate (whose members seem to be afflicted by a variant of Stockholm syndrome)

So funny, and so true. You have a great way with words Peter!

Buying, Selling, Flying
EISG, Ireland

There is a thread of truth to the poster that Peter has put on the top of this thread.

Years ago when working for British Airways I was told that if a tradesman was doing the on the job training of an apprentice his productivity reduced by an average of 30%, obviously a new apprentice would reduce the productivity by up to 80% but at the end of an apprentices training the tradesmans productivity could go as high as 180% if the apprentice was good.

Having aircraft owners in the shop rather reflects the BA numbers, unfortunately there are owners who think they are at the top of the game and these are the ones that are most likely to reduce the tradesmans productivity the most.

One of the most well respected engineers in the country told me recently that a customer told him, as if he didn’t know already, that metric and imperial threads were different.
This actually happened, it is not a joke.

Forever learning
EGTB

Here is a good article by Mike Busch on the topic of aircraft owners keeping out of maintenance hangars

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

On the other hand….

You can buy all the oil and fuel hoses for a TB20 engine compartment from e.g. Saywell for something like 500 quid.

I have a pile of emails over the years where somebody was charged upwards of 2000 quid for the same items, purchased by his maintenance company from Socata. One particular hose is about 60 quid versus €464.36.

So an owner who is uninvolved will pay dearly for the privilege – as in the rest of life, really…

Of course if the company is deprived of the 25% or so on the 2000 quid parts supply, they will end up charging you the extra 500 quid on something else, because they have to make a living somehow.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I just came across this old thread – I changed the subject to include “installers” – and I am puzzled as ever why this remains almost totally the case.

Provided they appoint someone who participates usefully and politely, doesn’t go beating up others, etc, they can get only positive results. Well, unless the company makes bad products or does bad installations…

Nowadays almost nobody reads printed media so traditional adverts are a waste of money. Even in B2B this is the case. Effective participation in social media is the key to getting business. And this has been the case for at least 10 years.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter the reason might be because participating in the way you describe can be described as “work”. People post here because they want to, not for any economic incentive. If this were my job, I would hate it. I write my posts for pleasure. The moment it became a requirement, I would lose interest. That’s the same reason I have no desire to fly for hire. Flying would lose its value as a pursuit of delight.

Tököl LHTL

The social behavior in a typical forum on the internet is not suited for business other than ‘social’ media itself.

The social behavior in a typical forum on the internet is not suited for business other than ‘social’ media itself.

I don’t know. There are several manufacturers and installers participating at the vans airforce forum. If they didn’t see any advantage of being there, they would surely leave. I think maybe the key is to treat it as a forum, and not as a usual corporate advertising scene.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway
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