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Shop Tip: Pre-Buy Inspection
When you find your plane and negotiate the contract with the seller, you will have to agree on where to have the pre-buy inspection completed. This is where all that research and footwork will pay off. The seller may offer to use their favorite shop that they’ve “been using for years.” Politely decline that option even if their shop is on your shortlist. The seller’s shop has a vested interest in finding nothing but a pristine airplane. There’s nothing wrong with the seller offering up their trusted shop, but if they refuse to have the pre-buy done anywhere else, this is not the airplane for you. A seller afraid to have their airplane inspected by anyone other than “their guy” sends up red flags. A seller who has confidence in the pedigree of their airplane will have no qualms about having any reputable, mutually agreed upon shop inspect the airplane.
but because we’re creatures of habit. We tend to do a task the same way every time, and if we run our hand along a control cable one way with a rag, that’s probably the way we’re going to rag that cable every time. I add tasks that I routinely do in-house to work orders that I farm out because I’m aware of my own biases, and I sleep better knowing that another technician/inspector has performed the same task and came up with the same conclusion.
Each shop brings something different to the table. Shop A may focus on corrosion detection and prevention more than Shop B, but Shop B is looking at bigger picture stuff to keep you ahead of the curve for heavier maintenance items that will be coming due. Shop C may be hyper-focused on preventative maintenance that costs you a little more now to save a lot later. The benefit of the rotation is that I get the best aspects of each shop.
The bigger point that I’ll leave you with is there’s a lot to learn about the maintenance world – a whole lot. I’ve been a maintainer for 27 years and no two days have been the same. There’s always something new to learn, and there will always be something that you didn’t know that will bite you right in the tail beacon. All we can do is learn from our mistakes and educate ourselves to the highest degree possible. Read as much as you can and talk to as many experienced people as possible. Better yet, find a mechanic you can trust and buy them lunch.
Elliott Cox is a pilot and the Director of Maintenance for a Part 91 Corporate Flight Department in the Southeast. You can reach him at his website TheWritingFlyer.com or by email at elliott@thewritingflyer.com.
Yingling
https://www.yinglingaviation.com/
August 2022 / TWIN & TURBINE • 21