Are you happy were you work ?

[I_WANNA_BE_ATP]

I haven't been able to fly this week because of maintence issues with the planes. I had lunch with one of the A&P's earlier and he was very disgusted working there, the owner of the school just wants to bandaid the planes to get them flying. The planes fly basically for about 1 -2 weekd before something breaks.
The owner is an AI. The fleet is 4 152's, 1 172, 1 PA-28R, 2 PA-34's.

I was just curious how often does this occur? Is this a system wide problem or an isolated one?

Thanks for the input

[falconvalley]

IMO, every single maintenance department violates FARs whether intentionally or not.

Here are the things that bother me specifically:

(1) A dirty floor that hasn't been cleaned of FOD in a while.

(2) Airplanes that consistently don't pass a walkaround inspection with, for example, worn tires, leaky drain ports, bad fuel cap seals, etc...those are signs that you have a bad maintenance program.

(3) Any manager that brushes off a mis-entry or missing entry.

You'll see stuff like that from time to time. There are companies that handle maintenance great and there are companies that don't. Sometimes the issues go straight to upper management and sometimes the issues revolve around the maintenance managers. I think every maintenance department could use some improvement, but for the most part the industry does well with maintenance.

[NJA_Capt]

Originally Posted by falconvalley

Here are the things that bother me specifically:

(1) A dirty floor that hasn't been cleaned of FOD in a while.

(2) Airplanes that consistently don't pass a walkaround inspection with, for example, worn tires, leaky drain ports, bad fuel cap seals, etc...those are signs that you have a bad maintenance program.

These are not mx issues these are PILOT/CFI/Student issues.

(1)If you bring trash in the plane take it out. Mx guys are not our babysitters. Clean up after yourself and make it presentable for the next crew.

(2) These aren't signs of a bad mx program, they are signs of a bad PILOT program. If the plane doesn't pass a preflight because of things you listed, they are the fault of the previous crew. Not at fault for causing them but for not reporting them. A postflight inspection is also part of our duties. Take a look at the plane after the flight, if you see something leaking or a flat spotted tire (after your last short field landing ) tell someone. Don't leave it for the next pilot to find.

[PanJet]

I've been pretty pleased with where I'm at until more recently. Just over a year ago we hired our own mechanic (actually three, but two are just new start A&P's) and started our own in-house program. There was a lot of speed bumps and the program got off to a rough start with almost all our aircraft (7 total) being down for extremely extended periods of time.

Most of that has gotten a lot better, but for some reason now we have a lot of petty little stuff that never seemed to happen before. For some reason when we the instructors squawk stuff, the mechanic, along with the other directors treats us like we don't know what we're doing and the problems are somehow our fault. We had a plane that was squawked nearly on a weekly basis for fouled plugs. MX would clean and gap the plugs and send the plane out again, and if anyone squawked it again, they would ask "Are you leaning the plane correctly?" Finally after months of complaints they are finally realizing that it's more than just a plugs issue.

Most of it is politics because no one wants to see most of our fleet down again like it was when the MX program started, so they let things go until the absolute legal limit it seems. There's a push from admin. to keep the planes flying since a couple of students have spent a lot of time on the ground. It's unfortunate, and I really hope it gets better. All in all though, if you're a motivated student, its really a good place to train.

[moxiepilot]

luckily where i work, the owner comes from a background where his job was to fix things and make customers happy. that has carried over into owning an FBO. it actually eats away at him when things are broken, and i don't just mean big things. he replaces upholstery because the sun bleaches it out.

what he recognizes is that if his planes are flying then he makes $$. if his customers are happy they come back and keep us in business. all in all i'm quite happy knowing the planes are exceptional in quality from the mx hagar, but it is trickle down. if he wasn't willing to go all out then it wouldn't be the case for such high standards.

[TXAV8R]

Most FBO's that rent airplanes don't fix alot of what needs to be fixed. I have seen rentals that shouldn't even be flying come out of a fresh 100 hour with no squawks. Always do a good pre and post flight and inform someone if you see any discrepancies. If you give it in writing they will have to fix it if it is an airworthy item or they will be in violation. Remember it is the pilot who has to determine if the aircraft is fit to make the flight.