Previously I was under the very false illusion that you could trust the Part M system, and those that operated it, to properly maintain your aeroplane. I was very wrong.
I don't believe you can or should trust any 'system' to maintain your aircraft safely.
Well I was under the bizarre notion that an organisation, accredited by a regulatory authority, to maintain your aeroplane, then charge you accordingly for doing so, noting work done, would at least engender some faith in the customer. Eh, no....
How very wrong, but then we thought our banks were all doing us a favour, and looking after their customers interests and investments.
I don't believe you can or should trust any 'system' to maintain your aircraft safely.
Well, you have to trust somebody, and no system will be perfect.
The problem with the European system is that the approval is vested in the organisation, and for simple reasons that gives the aircraft owner less choice than if he could use a freelance A&P (or A&P/IA). In the FAA system the approval is vested in the individual, so it's obvious where the buck stops. It's a very different philosophy, and arguing the point with European regulators is a complete waste of time (I did once try it with the head of rulemaking at EASA, face to face, but his previous career was in Euro-style maintenance; a friend of mine has a number of certificates on the wall signed by that chap).
This in turn means that an EASA company can get away, on a long term basis, with more malpractice (much more actually) than a freelance A&P could get away with.
The situation is compounded by the regulatory bodies being unwilling to go after bad companies, because those companies pay them substantial annual fees. If the UK CAA just shut down every company which has done some life threatening bodge, the industry would be decimated. Actually much worse than decimated, because IIRC "decimation" in the Roman days meant executing just 10% of the soldiers.
Throw in a few other circumstances (e.g. most aircraft owners being very tight on spending money) and you have a scene where there is little competence and where there is competence there is no project management so the jobs overrun massively.
The bottom line is that light piston GA maintenance is not like taking your BMW to a dealer and leaving the keys on the seat, and it never will be. The Cirrus community was recruited on that kind of promise (the plane is like a car) which is one reason they sold so many, and Cirrus dealers have a large % of customers who do exactly that. Whether they get a good job done depends on who does it, obviously...
A lot of maintenance is unnecessary if it is based solely on time. Here in the US, I recommend that the prop not be blindly overhauled based on time in service. In most instances, this is a total waste of time and money and reduces the useful life of the propeller. Instead, I recommend that the prop be periodically "Resealed". This involves removal, disassembly, and inspection. If some component is out of tolerance, it can be replaced or the prop can be overhauled. A typical prop can be overhauled at most three times before the blades and in some cases the hubs are unusable. My aircraft is hangared and was resealed after it started to sling what appeared to be a light oil spray. This is an indication that the grease is breaking down in the hub and needs to be replaced. The prop had no worn parts and was simply disassembled, cleaned, new seals, regreased and reassembled. I then had it dynamically balanced. The cost was half of an overhaul and I didn't need to have the blades ground, thus saving the useful life substantially. If the prop shop had found any defects, they were authorized to overhaul it, but as is often the case, it was unnecessary.
The most dangerous time with an engine is in the first 100 to 200 hours after overhaul. I would much rather fly an airplane 100 hours past TBO than 100 hours past overhaul across the pond. One has demonstrated that it was put together correctly, the other is still a work in progress. Maintenance induced failures are a significant cause of engine and other system failures. A lot about this subject has been written by Mike Busch of Savey Aircraft Maintenance, see or read his columns in various forums.
Well, you have to trust somebody, and no system will be perfect.
My approach to maintenance is to determine best practice for my aircraft, based on first principles and by reference to any useful source of data, regulator approved or unapproved. Then, assuming it is required by regulation, I will look for an A&P (or A&P IA) to be individually responsible for the decision that this course of action will not be outside the law. His logbook entry follows the work. If that's a system, it's the one I believe in :-)
I have spent my career watching ever more 'disciplined' systems produce unpredictable and often poor results, along with ever more waste. Through that, I came to the opinion that people are what produce results, and when the best people are involved (I try to make sure they are) any prescriptive process serves best as a reference.
FWIW, I have heard a lot of smart people express NCYankee's point of view about propeller maintenance.
Despite claims otherwise, I don't see a major difference in how I do my maintenance under EASA D-reg and how I could do it under FAA N-reg.
I can do all maintenance and repairs myself under supervision (unless either the IA or I doubt that I am qualified) and apart from a few minor annoyances like avionics checks and expensive paperwork, there is hardly anything that would be significantly cheaper or easier under N-reg. Some STCs yes but then also I'd have the problem of hard/impossible to get 337s as a foreign based N-reg.
Of course this requires a Part 145 shop with an IA that you trust and have a good relationship with. He could tell me that I cannot do any work and that he only works on my plane if it's in his CAMO but then I'd be gone and so he wouldn't. To the contrary, he told me I'd be stupid to put it in a CAMO.
Both my engine and propeller were overhauled in 1995 and it doesn't look like they would need another anytime soon. If there'd be a requirement for CAMO or to stick to manufacturers' overhaul recommendations, I'd move my plane to N-reg.
Hi Peter, I see what you are saying. I still think a fix "6 year period" for prop overhaul makes no sense. It is one thing to follow a stupid "rule", and it's something else to just fly until the prop falls off. I for one would carefully inspect it every now and then and then overhaul it on condition. It is quite ridiculous to overhaul a prop after 500 hours only becasue it is 6 years old.
I agree.
You can also just open up a prop and have a look around inside, replace any "mandatory replacement on opening" parts (probably oil seals) and put it back together. That should cost something like €300.
I (German) just bought a San Marino registered SR22 and let it be transferred to G. After 6 weeks I will (hopefully) pick it up in England next week. I just thought it's maybe less of a hassle to have it G registered.
The first surprise was that the CAA will not let the German Cirrus dealer do the maintenance "on condition" like they do it on most the German SR22s. All "recommended" items MUST be done. I am lucky because the prop was already oh'd last year (after 700 h / 6 years) and all other expensive items were done too. So i have a little time until next year.
If I see that it will get to expensive I can still transfer the plane to the German register, although this will ground it for several weeks again - and cost sevel 1000 Euros ...
The plan for the moment is to let Cirrus Germany do the maintenance for the UK CAMO (RGV). If the german shop does it all according to the UK rules then RGV can sign for the german maintenance.
Anybody know more about this?
Hi,
Could somebody please give me some rough guidance talking from previous experience on how much would I expect to pay for a C182S 5 year old 3 bladed prop overhaul.
It has some 600hr TT but its due an overhaul at the end of this year. I’ve emailed some companies in UK which never replied to my emails, and just want to get some info before I need to come up with money…:)
And if someone can give a recommendation on where to, be great!
Thanks in advance!
