From one European avionics repair shop:
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I don’t think the above is a complete list; this directive probably covers a whole lot of stuff. An “interesting” method of revenue generation… There is always US Ebay I suppose
Is this legal, or an illegal restriction of trade?
That’s what many of them try now. Fortunately some dealers will still repair older units and they still have the spare parts. This is one of the developments that will create short term revenues – and finally destroy their business.
They may be able to require their dealers to stop doing these repairs, but I doubt they can impose anything on repairers they have no contractual relationship with.
Indeed; they have dealers over a barrel. But they can also stop selling spare parts anytime. In terms of anti competitive practices this is below the radar of anybody who cares…
The little shops will carry on, as they have always done. But their repairs will – as usual – come back without any paperwork, so have to be installed off the books. Most CAMOs refuse to touch these items.
It gets better…
HBK dealers will lose access to maintenance manuals. I can see all the HBK dealers who read EuroGA daily but never participate reaching for their keyboards to download all they can. However, the rationale is that without “current” manuals you are not authorised to do the work and release the repaired product, and with download rights terminated you by definition won’t have current manuals. This is practically bogus, for all this ancient HBK kit whose manuals have mostly not changed for 10-15 years or more and will not change because there is nobody left at HBK who can switch on a soldering iron, but it is a cunning legal device to shaft the independent firms.
This is the list:
Some interesting parts on there e.g. the KI256 horizon. Also the KEA130A encoding altimeter. The whole KFC225 system (not that anybody could repair it anyway, officially). KT76C transponder (popular in the USA). KR87 ADF (FTOs here will love having to pay several times more). KX155A, KX165A (8.33).
This reads like another suicide note for HBK. No more of these gyro overhauls, with paperwork acceptable to a Part M CAMO or a relatively anal (but misguided) A&P.
This will move a lot of maintenance under the table, especially in Europe where anything overhauled or repaired needs an EASA-1 form.
Peter wrote:
This will move a lot of maintenance under the table, especially in Europe where anything overhauled or repaired needs an EASA-1 form
A repair company may not have a repair/overhaul authorisation for a given item, yet be able to issue an EASA Form 1 for it with the box 11 (status/work performed) stating “INSPECTED/TESTED”.
They can’t claim to test it against “current” data. They could claim to test against a MM Version xx.yy I suppose.
I am being totally anal here but that has always been the position trotted out by the most strict people in the business. No factory-supported MM => no work can be done legally. Of course this is bollox but that is the position one takes to cover all bases.
Anyway, if you have any avionics that need repairing, get it done before 1st July 2017 otherwise it is going to cost you a whole lot more.
Potential upside is that working equipment may become dearer on the second hand market. I’m on the fence exchanging my working KCS55A HSI system with an Aspen.
It was the lack of investment in GA that has seen Bendix/king ’s fall from the premier avionic supplier thirty years back to the also ran that they are now, you would think they would have learned their lesson the first time they let the bean counters dictate policy……………it would appear not !