Page 17 - April22T

Standard Aero
http://standardaero.com
Service centers are busier now than ever due to many fac- tors – workforce shortages, increases in private air travel, and supply chain problems rank highly among those factors. Earlier this month (February) I scheduled a maintenance visit for the Falcon 900LX that I maintain, and the facility I’m using was booked solid until November. Thankfully my inspections aren’t due until December, otherwise I’d be scrambling to work out a Plan B. Many times, a service center can “work you in,” but be prepared to be last in line for the available labor pool that the shop has on hand. It’s best to use that crystal ball to stay as far ahead of the maintenance schedule as possible.
Another responsibility you will have to sort out as your own maintenance manager is figuring out who will be doing your pre/post-flight inspections, services, and da- tabase updates. The simplest solution is for you to do it all yourself, but a few factors may prohibit this. If you have your own hangar, external power cart, and oxygen and nitrogen bottles, this is a no-brainer. Otherwise, you may need to find someone on the field you can trust to check tire pressures, oil and oxygen quantities and keep your navigation and chart databases up to date.
Hand Your Keys to a Service Center
If there’s a maintenance facility with which you have a good relationship, you can throw them a spare set of keys and grant them access to your maintenance tracking soft- ware with the understanding that they’ll let you know when tasks are due. This is probably the most expensive option, but it frees you from putting a lot of time into maintenance tracking and planning. If you’re based at the same drome as the service center, you get bonus points because you won’t have to ferry an empty airplane every couple of weeks to accomplish minor tasks. Otherwise, you’ll be paying travel expenses and labor for the service center to come to you.
The upside of handing over the keys is that you have a group of professional maintainers keeping an eye on your airplane’s due items and service schedule. The downside of that is you’re going to be paying a premium for most of the tasks they perform. Most shops won’t nickel-and-dime you to death for the small stuff if you use them exclusively. Still, you can’t expect them to tie up an avionics tech for a half a day to download, transfer, and install databases, download and submit engine data, and reset computer faults for free.
The “hand them your keys” model also limits your options when it comes time to comply with larger inspections. Even if there isn’t a written contract, if you’ve handed your keys to a service center, they’re going to assume that you’ll use them exclusively. If another service provider offers you a great rate to do the next inspection and you take them up on it, the shop that has your keys will lose out on a decent payday. They’ve likely provided time and labor “on the house” for a lot of smaller tasks with the understanding that they would be the one to get that big inspection to even things out.
I’m not the biggest fan of using just one service center for all your maintenance, so this is the least desirable
April 2022 / TWIN & TURBINE • 15