"The annual inspection is due."
This is an event that aircraft owners shorten to "annual". It could also be called an "IRAN" for "inspect and repair as necessary", but it is more than that. Depending on the airframe, engine and propeller, there may be periodic detailed inspections, maintenance or even replacement of components. Virtually every production aircraft and engine has inspection guides as to what needs to be looked at, lubricated, or replaced.
The work is done by an airframe & powerplant mechanic, or "A&P". The inspection is done (or at least signed off) by an A&P who has inspection authorization (A&P-IA).
Experimental aircraft do not receive annuals, they receive "condition inspections". The difference is that there is more latitude on what should be done. Condition inspections can be done not only by an A&P, but also by the person who built the aircraft. (The builder receives a repairman authorization that is good for only that aircraft.)
Annuals can run the gamut from paper-pushing exercises to extremely detailed rebuilds. If you own a piston-engined airplane, a bad thing to do is to take it to a shop that does a lot of work on turbine-powered airplanes, as their view of what is a reasonable cost and your view will differ.
One of the biggest cons in the aircraft dealing racket are the words "fresh annual", for it means nothing. I've seen mechanically sound airplanes that, from the exterior, look like flying bales of scrap. I've seen very pretty looking airplanes that were sold with a "fresh annual" and which needed five figures' worth of repair work soon afterwards. Caveat emptor rules in buying aircraft.
So far, one of the mufflers needed to be rebuilt. That was sent off by surface freight, I'm not in a hurry as to justify shipping big metal parts by second day air.
5 comments:
When you said "annual", it scared the crap out of me, then I realized I had 11 more months to go.
Good luck with the exhaust work, lets hope for minimum squawkage otherwise.
Sounds like so far, so good, Steph. Mine's over, damages all written up over on the blog. I'm not dis-pleased, given the way I use N631S.
If the muffler is it, you dun good.
Best,
Frank
Frank, I forgot to mention that the DG crapped out on the last flight before the annual.
Steph, if you can't scare up a serviceable replacement DG at the right price, consider sending it to Mid-Continent for an IRAN. (Never say "overhaul.") They did my (shudder) NSD-360 HSI a few years back and I thought they done good.
Frank
Just flew the PMCF on mine after annual last week. I consider myself triply-lucky: I brought Krispy Kreme's and cookies to the factory as they were building it, so it really is a "sweet" airframe; my mechanics are two of the most experienced on the type around here, as they were both long time company employees and we sit down and talk about the up-coming annual in detail before they start. They know every penny spent comes out of my pocket and routinely call me anytime there's anything out of the ordinary happens, before they act on it.
All that said, good luck!
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