Page 20 - April22T

Engine removal in process.
option for me. I’ve known several owners who use this model and it’s worked out for them, but I certainly don’t think it’s for everybody.
Hire a Maintenance Manager
This option is somewhere between being your own maintenance manager and hand- ing your keys over to a service center because you’re going to hire someone to take care of your airplane for you. You’ll still be involved in the maintenance of the airplane, but you won’t be shouldering the weight of day-to-day stuff.
The most difficult part of using a mainte-
nance manager is finding the right person.
They can be a mechanic that you know, a friend
of a friend, or someone who comes to you via
a recommendation from another operator. If
you don’t know of anyone who fits the bill, ask
your flying friends or the folks in your type-association or aircraft club for recommendations, and you’re likely to get at least a few solid references. Your maintenance manager will play a huge role in your safety, the safety of your passengers, and your money, so mutual trust is key.
Once you find that perfect person to take care of your airplane, the first thing the two of you need to do is to col- laborate on a monthly maintenance agreement. You, as the owner, need to clearly convey what you expect to be done daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Your new maintenance manager needs to clearly convey how those things will be accomplished, the fee(s) that will be charged, and their requirements to do the job legally and safely. At the very least, your maintenance manager will need access to technical publications for the airframe and engines, full access to your maintenance tracking software, and the
18 • TWIN & TURBINE / April 2022
means to order parts and consumables. I’m a proponent of having the agreement in writing so each party can refer to it as necessary; whether you get a lawyer involved is up to you.
A maintenance manager can be what- ever you need them to be, and you can be as hands-on or hands-off as you want. Clear communication between the maintenance manager and the owner/operator is key to making this arrangement work. I’ve heard nightmare stories of airplanes being grounded because each party thought the other was responsible for taking care of cer- tain tasks, and a very big ball got dropped.
Of course, after you and your main- tenance manager have worked together for a few months, there may be a certain amount of adjustment required to form a smooth operation. As long as the two of you can work things out agreeably, this can be a long-term and mutually benefi- cial relationship.
Parts to the nose wheel.
Something Completely Different
I’ve only scratched the protective plastic coating of the surface of turbine maintenance here. There are many driven and creative people in aviation, so I’m sure there are many ways to keep a jet legal and safe that I haven’t run across yet. One big thing that people new to the world of jet maintenance, or aircraft maintenance in general, need to keep in mind is that the most expensive option doesn’t necessarily guarantee the best quality care, and vice versa for the lowest cost option.
There is a learning curve when it comes to the difference in maintenance between a single-engine airplane and a twin, and that curve gets considerably steeper when you move up to a jet. No matter which part of the curve you're scaling, the bottom line is that you shouldn't go it alone. That's not to say that you should pour a bucket of cash onto