South Carolina is not that far. Buy him dinner, and pay him to do it.
Or, you can wheel it in to an FAA certified repair station, where the lawyers are watching every move they make, and get a ten thousand dollar annual done by folks who routinely do Cherokees and 421s. If they are like our repair stations, they will miss the muffler AD. Be sure and get that done. We had a Super Cub go through seven annuals at three different shops, and only one did the muffler AD in 700 flight hours.
Opinion.
I know I'm starting another fire, but I want to address annual inspections. We all hear those stories of $10K inspections but rarely hear how they came about.
First off an annual (or a 100 hour) is just an inspection. Period. Yes you do have to perform some R&R operations to do those inspections on items inside structure or items such as spark plugs, but it's incidental to the inspection. Part 65.95 (a)(2) requires an IA to perform the annual INSPECTION. That means he or she is responsible for determining the airworthiness of the items that make up an aircraft. This is done in accordance with part 43.15(c) and part 43 Appendix D. This means that any 'maintenance' done during that inspection can be done by an appropriately rated person. It does not have to be performed by the IA. Simply opening up the aircraft in prep for the inspection can legally be done by a helper, or the owner.
Now, if any maintenance items (needed repairs) are noted during the inspection, they need to be listed and the list given to the owner. If those maintenance items do not affect the airworthiness of the aircraft ('up gripes' or 'red slash' for you special guys, lol) the repairs may be deferred to a later date. BUT, if those items DO make the aircraft unairworthy ('down gripes' or 'red X') legally, you have a choice to make. A) You can pay for the INSPECTION and take your toys and go home with no new annual signed off. B) You can pay the shop for any repairs the IA has determined are needed, to make the aircraft airworthy, in which case, the IA will sign off your annual inspection for another calendar year. If you go for option A), there are two ways to go with it and they will be up to the IA. He might not sign off anything beyond the incidental maintenance. Or he may sign you off as unairworthy. Either way, be sure to get a list of all items he has determined make the aircraft unairworthy.
Legally speaking, you can have those repairs made by someone else and the original IA can sign it off as being airworthy or you can have a different IA determine it to be airworthy. But be aware that both IA's are required to sign stating that they have performed the annual inspection. This means that the original IA will need to inspect the repairs that were made. If you go to a different IA he may do the same, if he knows/trusts the first IA (not strictly legal but it's done occasionally) or he may perform a complete annual inspection (strictly legal).
If it was my aircraft, I'd have the annual done as a stand alone function. Then sit down with the IA if repairs are necessary and plan on how to deal with them. By the way, AD's are not part of an inspection. Treat them just as if they were a repair.
For you owners out there, you need to consider the time put into an annual inspection beyond that which entails just looking at the inside of your aircraft. For instance, if you go to an IA that has never inspected that particular aircraft, one of the first things he will do is run your AD lists and verify compliance. AD's can cover airframes, engines, props, or 'appliances'. Never heard of 'appliances'? It's everything bolted onto an aircraft that is not airframe, engine, or prop. Things like instruments, avionics, switches, breakers, or ELTs. Each AD needs to be checked for application by make, model, serial number, date of manufacture, etc. Then each one that applies needs to be verified that it was done, how it was done, if it needs to be done again (recurring), and how it needs to be documented. This can be a simple visual check or it can require disassemble of components, both to verify and to comply. Now take that and multiply it by the number of ADs your aircraft has. Remember that your IA is taking responsibility for this for the next year. Think he's going to just take to word of an AD list with unreadable initials as verification of compliance? I don't, either. It's a good idea to note the log entry on the AD list, in some way, to show documentation of compliance. Otherwise you may be looking at time/parts to open up something like an accessory case just to check. This is also why it's good to find an IA an stick with them. He knows the paperwork was done last year so all he needs to check is this year's.
So there are things each owner can do to keep that annual inspection bill down. Keeping up with maintenance is a big one. Make those obvious repairs before you need an annual. Comply with AD's before the annual is due. If your mechanic is not the one that performs the annual, have him coordinate with the IA. When the inspection goes easier for the IA, your bill will be smaller. And, as stated above, find a good IA and stay with him.
Let the shooting commence, lol
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