Maintenance Costs

[JJ Campbell]

The maintenance shop at my home airport just charged me their "flat-rate" for an oil & spark plug change: 2 hours for the oil and another hour for the spark plugs (done at the same time) at $110/hr.

I felt two hours for the oil change on a P92 Eaglet might be a bit long but not unreasonable. However, most of the labor for the spark plugs is already done and another hour (which is what they would charge if done all alone) seemed really excessive. I told the lead mechanic my concerns and he basically shrugged it off as an "It is what it is."

Sadly, I have a tie down and will probably never have a hanger so doing it myself is not going to happen.

Should, I suck it up and pay what they want or explore flying someplace else and getting this work done while I wait?

[chicagorandy]

Sounds similar to getting any car repairs done at a dealership/union shop. The manual for shop rate labor is pulled out - doubtless all done online these days - and whatever time is listed for each job is posted on the bill. So I would surmise that an oil change is listed as 2 hours and spark plugs at 1 hour?

The price one pays for not doing the wrenching oneself.

Having a 'happy' local maintenance shop seems like a good investment in future needs to me anyway, but it isn't MY money.

[drseti]

I presume you're talking about a Rotax engine. Actually, if it's done right, an hour for a spark plug change is not all that unreasonable.

The spark plugs come out of the box ungapped, so one has to set the correct gap first. Then you should measure the pull-off forces of the plug wire boots when you remove them. I recommend always inspecting the boots for tears at this point, and inspecting the condition of the old plug electrodes (this kind of preventive maintenance can save you $ downstream). Then you have to apply silicon heat-sink compound to the plug threads, screw the plugs in, and torque them properly before refitting the plug wire boots. Finally, reinstall the cowling. If this takes less than an hour, the mechanic probably is skipping things.

The hourly rate varies by shop, overhead, and location. After a decade at $85 an hour, I just had to raise mine last month to $95 (which is still less than I had to pay a plumber the other day).

If yours is an SLSA, and you are a Sport Pilot or above, and the maintenance manual doesn't say otherwise, plug and oil changes are preventive maintenance tasks you can certainly do yourself. Dont forget that you are required to use a calibrated torque wrench (which brings to mind that, when you go to a shop, you're not just paying for labor. The rate has to cover the shop's rent, insurance, the mechanic's initial and required refresher training, and purchase and calibration of tools.)

[3Dreaming]

Did you warm the engine and bring the airplane to the shop? Was it just draining the oil, or did they clean the oil tank? Did they perform a pressure purge? It has been a while since I worked on a P92, but I seem to remember having to remove the front left exhaust pipe to get the oil filter off.

I agree that an hour to change the sparkplugs sounds like a lot with the cowling already removed, but it does take longer than on might think to prep the new plugs for installation.

[drseti]

Should, I suck it up and pay what they want or explore flying someplace else and getting this work done while I wait?

Whether you stay there or go elsewhere, such work should not be done while you wait, JJ, but rather while you participate! The experience will make you a better and safer pilot. Just don't expect that to save you on labor - figure you'll be paying for training.

[3Dreaming]

The spark plugs come out of the box ungapped, so one has to set the correct gap first. Then you should measure the pull-off forces of the plug wire boots when you remove them. I recommend always inspecting the boots for tears at this point, and inspecting the condition of the old plug electrodes (this kind of preventive maintenance can save you $ downstream). Then you have to apply silicon heat-sink compound to the plug threads, screw the plugs in, and torque them properly before refitting the plug wire boots. Finally, reinstall the cowling. If this takes less than an hour, the mechanic probably is skipping things.

You also have to unscrew those little doohickey things off the top of the plugs.

[drseti]

You also have to unscrew those little doohickey things off the top of the plugs.

True. And since you can't risk using them, the mechanic has to pay for every plug he or she drops on the floor! (Ask me how I know...)

[3Dreaming]

You also have to unscrew those little doohickey things off the top of the plugs.

True. And since you can't risk using them, the mechanic has to pay for every plug he or she drops on the floor! (Ask me how I know...)

I don't ever remember dropping any of the cheap NGK plugs, but I dropped a new Tempest UREM40E a while back. That was $25.48 into the scrap pile.

[Type47]

With the “retiring” of mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and all the other trades, I would expect to see that price doubling soon .
The younger men who are entering or already in the trades realize how rare they are and are charging accordingly.
Who can blame them?

[Otto]

If your local EAA chapter is cool you'll make friends with people that can help you learn how to do this stuff yourself. Also possible access to tools and hangar space to do the work.

[Warmi]

With the “retiring” of mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and all the other trades, I would expect to see that price doubling soon .
The younger men who are entering or already in the trades realize how rare they are and are charging accordingly.
Who can blame them?

That is not a problem and it will eventually fix itself as it always does in a market economy. If there is not enough supply of something , the price of it will rise ( as you point out) and then more people will go back into the business because it has become so profitable which will bring the price down etc. ...

[JimParker256]

The A&Ps who do the work make only a fraction of that hourly cost. Ain't nobody getting rich here... As Dr. Paul points out, there's lots of overhead that goes into the flat-rate charges, and the mechanic's time is only one of them.

Our local A&P shop shares a "corporate" type hangar with an excellent avionics repair station. In 2019, the city (who owns the entire airport, and operates the FBO that leases all the hangars) informed them their lease rate would be tripled at the end of that lease term. The new rate would be over $20K per month ($10K for each shop). That's more than either shop makes in profits, by a healthy margin. Fortunately, the avionics guy retained a copy of the previous lease, and it had a "max increase" percentage in the contract that the city was violating with that increase. The city's answer was to grant the renewed lease at the "capped" rate, but for only a single year. After that, they fully intend to put both shops out of business so they can lease space to well-heeled airplane owners as a "community hangar."

So my A&P/IA buddy opened a second shop at a nearby airport that is more "GA-friendly" and will almost certainly be shutting down the operation when their current lease expires. Good luck finding another maintenance shop owner who can pay $10,000/month for the hangar before even thinking of paying the employees!

The sad thing is that when the A&P/IA closes his shop on that field, the avionics shop will likely also leave (or go out of business), since there is no way they can pay that huge rent by themselves... And the airport manager has gone on record that he will not let him sub-lease space to other airplane owners, since that would constitute "competion with the city-owned FBO" that operates the airport... All this on an airport that is owned by the city and used federal grant money to build the new runway and FBO building. If there's no on-field maintenance shop, they will no longer be in compliance with the terms of their federal grant... Wanna bet that the FBO manager's cousin will show up and get preferential rates to bail them out by opening up a maintenance facility? Sigh...

My solution is to learn to do everything I legally can do on my airplane, and then do it myself. And since I elected to purchase an E-LSA (I would likely have converted an S-LSA to E-LSA otherwise), I can already do all the maintenance myself. I have recently completed the Light Sport Repairman - Inspection course, and am awaiting the arrival of my FAA LSR-I certificate so that I can perform my own annual condition inspections.

[Warmi]

It is simple , one can either make this work as a business or not and then somebody else will ... local pathologies aren’t really indicative of global trends anyway.

And if nobody can make it work as a viable business then it is generally indicative of overregulation and bureaucracy... or lack of market in the first place - pick your poison.

Personally I will do things on my plane that I think I am safely capable of doing but ultimately I don’t want to be my own baker ,my own tailor or manufacture all my tools because I will never be as good as people who do it professionally.

[ShawnM]

My solution is to learn to do everything I legally can do on my airplane, and then do it myself. And since I elected to purchase an E-LSA (I would likely have converted an S-LSA to E-LSA otherwise), I can already do all the maintenance myself. I have recently completed the Light Sport Repairman - Inspection course, and am awaiting the arrival of my FAA LSR-I certificate so that I can perform my own annual condition inspections.

I went the same route Jim, learn everything I could about my SportCruiser and convert to E-LSA. I also took the LSRI class so I didn't have to pay exorbitant prices for service and keep that money in my pocket for flying. I slashed my annual flying expenses because of this and can now use that once wasted money for other upgrades on my plane. I feel I do a far better job and pay more attention to the details than any LSRM or A&P would ever do. Best thing I ever did.

[3Dreaming]

Shawn and Jim,

The only problem as the OP stated in his first post, is he is tied down outside with no place to do his own work.