I got back my aircraft after a first annual as the new owner. I got with fresh ARC during the summer, few 40-50 hours without any known issues except some oil dirpping. The is list looks long beside the annual tasks. The shame on the preovious owner, especially, that the aircraft came with fresh papers, and recent maint. Siince this,I flew only few our between the last annual and my take-over flight…seems a bit fishy. Anyway, it is over, the baby is in good shape now. Here comes the list :
- 2x Socata aileron balance weight bulletin…was not done since long long time even it had a crack…..
- sealing of landing light cover to provent rain penetration into the outer wing part.
- Crack on the left- break flexible tube
- new camlocks on the nose cover. fully corroded
- new brake pads, left brake calipper jammed(seems was not cleaned 2-3 years+)
- surface corrosion treatment, retouch (was known issue)
- flight control interference with avionics. When I returned to Tokol, i have noticed, that something is not ok with the elvator. I opened the hatch in front of the windshiled and found one of the static line was bloking the elevator in a free movement. Furthermore, I had problem with the flare. I always felt, that the elevator authority is not enough. During this annual, they discovered, that the control mechnism, before the full aft position reached the cables of the avionic rack. That was the reason, that there was no sufficent elevator control.
- change all connection joints for ailerons and flaps (corroded)
- change aileron/ flaps attachments
- reposition of the incorrectly installed OAT sensor for EDM. /was installed behind the exhaust / Amazing not?
- renewal of the landing gear switch connectors
- re-install (turn by 180 degrees) of the incorrectly fitted exhaust pipe on Cyl Nr2 !!!!
- overhaul of the nose gear strut. 1.5 (!!) x overpressure, leaking, and basically
- repaint nose gear fork and strut.
- reinstall of the missing placards
- welding of the leaking oil cooler. There was a crack just under the inlet fittng. Possible, they used extrem moment when the oil hose was attached
- cleaning the door hooks for free travel.
+100/50/ annual inspection
Zsolt
Zsolt thank you for the list – you seem to have a good and thorough shop, hopefully also charging a reasonable rate for what looks like an honest day’s work.
These bits of kit require thorough maintenance to be kept flying and the investment protected.
I think it is fair to say that even well-maintained aircraft have a bit of a bucket list annual first time around.
Well, yes, but some of that list is pure negligence, at several levels – some dumb avionics work (not securing wiring away from control linkages) and a lack of general eyeball activity post-service (post every service) to check the stuff one is supposed to check before closing up the inspection covers.
I have had that done too, when a “top UK shop” (not naming them because they threatened litigation) left the plane after the £12k TCAS installation with the controls cutting into cables. I even got videos of it. In this case I would check the cables for damage, because the control linkages have sharp edges. If you could feel a control obstruction that is really bad mechanical interference.
The OAT sensor needs to go under the wing and about 2m out. Then it indicates something closely approximating the TAT seen by the leading edges. In fact if you have a GTX330 then you may as well install a second OAT probe under the other wing, as a backup. Might need a tweak though, due to the GTX330’s notoriously inaccurate readout 
But the most important thing: congratulations on the new plane Zsoszu
JasonC wrote:
think it is fair to say that even well-maintained aircraft have a bit of a bucket list annual first time around
I was going to say the same. It seems that a change of workshop always precipitates a long list of findings, not that they don’t need doing of course.
A couple sound like bad mistakes by a previous maintenance company.
The biggest test of your shop is how much they charge for rectification. I have a regular discussion with ours about times to do jobs; often they put a minimum of say 0,5 hours to do a job, which might be OK if it’s the only job to do. However, when combined with 20 others it’s not correct.
I might not be inclined to blame the previous owner, they might have no idea about these issues.
The biggest and most regular annual bills I have come across are aircraft that are purchased with a brand new annual where the seller is also the maintenance company.
My annuals (including the first one) for TB20 were consistently below 1.500 EUR (VAT 25% included – so 1.200 EUR without VAT). Previous owner obviously ensured quality maintenance and I continued to do the same. Except this and regular 50-hour services, I replaced the engine (famous crankshaft SB), serviced magneto (stuck platinum). The aircraft was always hangared and when I sold it the new owner confirmed annuals were not more than usually expected.
Emir wrote:
serviced magneto (stuck platinum)
What is that?
Stuck impulse coupling? (plus typical spell check error)
Rwy20 wrote:
What is that?
I would think contact assy (breaker points) which where stuck. Sometimes they don’t open anymore due to worn cam due to lack of lubrication. Other could be due to excessive time in service without service. Where the mountains / pits on the contact themself prevent them from opening.
