Aircraft Maintenance Facilities??

#1

I was wondering if anyone has some good input on where I should recommend other pilots have routine aircraft maintenance performed in the US? There are so many FBO’s and repair stations out there that have unsatisfactory turn times and a lack of motivation that it drives our pilots crazy! This is pretty broad but I was just wondering from your experience which ones seemed to the best jobs for you?

APTech
http://www.aircraftshoptalk.com

#2

Ummmm, maybe I am a skeptic here, but was this post just to try to drive traffic to your website???

You are in the A&P business (Pardon me if I am wrong, but you did put A&P tech) and you come to us for suggestions?

Maybe I am missing something, but with you being in the business, I would suspect that you would have recommendations for us pilots, not the other way around???

Allen

#3

Understood. I am an A&P technician that quite frequently receives this question from charter pilots. Not being on-site during the AOG or routine maintenance first hand I was just posing the question to see if I could potentially improve the recommendations in my response. I would prefer to drive any pilot to a repair facility that is “turned on” as opposed to a facility that causes unneeded delays. The blog was not meant to be malicious and was just a general inquiry.

#4

Pardon my ignorance, but you are an A&P tech that can I assume works for someone and you want to suggest a place other then where you work?

Is business where you work booming that much where service is bad in regards to timeliness? You don’t indicate your geographical location in your profile, so it would be difficult to pin down an answer to your question.

Maybe if you are not your own boss, your shop manager needs to be brought up to speed on the complaints.

You really got me scratching my head as I would think you would have much more “insider information” then a pilot / owner of an airplane would. Especially when you have a much higher exposure to a variety of pilots. Something just doesn’t add up.

To answer your original question, for my own plane, I use the onsite A&P at my own airport. He has always been responsive to my needs, no matter how small and I never have had to take a problem back to him for “refixing” as when he fixes it, it’s fixed the first time. **I know I am VERY fortunate **to have such good quality both in timeliness of getting to my plane and quality of work.

Now, I am in the market for upgrading the interior of my plane, so let me pick your brains, and try to get some inside information on a good source to contact within an hour or so of KMBO. You can PM me with this information (preferred) since I don’t think these forums are designed for advertising specific businesses.

Allen

#5

Allen, you have to consider the forum that we’re in. Many charter or corporate aircraft travel around the country far away from their home base. Many aircraft seldom return to their home base and repairs often need to be done off-site. I think the OP was looking for opinions of national FBO or MRO (maintenance repair overhaul) chains like Landmark, or Atlantic that can do the work. They’re not looking for Uncle Bob’s aircraft maintenance at LowDown Airport.

#6

Fully understood, but he does have what looks like a very well established website (I did peek b4 posting) that answers his questions (shop talk link)?

And he did say “routine maintenance” not unscheduled services which lends me to think one has time to do the research well before repairs are needed thus my red flags going up since one would think he currently works for a company?

Why is he looking for companies to give work to outside whom he works for. Dunno!

If the original post had came from a pilot or a non A&P, then the question would make more logical sense, at least to me.

Allen

#7

Just to clarify, by “routine maintenance”, I mean Phase 1’s and Linechecks which often involve clearing MEL’s or potentially dealing with Non-dispatchable mx items. Indeed, the pilots who have posed these questions to me are almost ALWAYS stuck somewhere far away from homebase and quite often end up dealing with shops that do not meet there expectations even for simple mx items. This means lost revenues, lost flights, and a loss in customer satisfaction which directly or indirectly impacts everyone involved. I understand your concern but the blog was meant to be a constructive way of potentially bringing above par shops to the surface to benefit everyone that leaves homebase on a frequent basis. If the aircraft was located at “homebase” this would obviously not be such a challenge for those who deal with real AOG and pending AOG situations everyday. As for Allen’s question, I will contact some fellow professionals in the area and see if they have any good contacts in the completions industry. I can PM the response to you as requested.

#8

Thanks! 1976 Beech Sundowner is what I have.

If you need additional info, pm me and I will get you what you need.

Allen