Linda, I just came out of an Annual at the Frederick. Md airport, where my Coupe is based. They have an excellent knowledge of Coupes as they do several Annuals each year. Before I bought into this one, it had been in their flight school and I flew it for about 18 months before the owner took it off line due to abuse by renters. During that time I noticed the work performed by the mechanics was excellent.
I have a friend that owns a maintenance shop in Winchester, Va, about 35 miles from Frederick. I knew he also does excellent work so I took it to him just for a " pre Annual" check. Some of his comments, such as " I have never worked on Ercoupes so I will have to get all the maintenance manuals, and the first one will be very detailed and expensive led me to believe I may be paying for his learning time. To be fair I took it to him to have shoulder harnesses installed. I gave him the package with instructions before arriving to insure he understood its installation. Much to my dissappointment he had me remove all the back floor, rear panel, rear side panels, seats, etc. Then it took him over 5 hours to complete the job and it appeared most of what I did was not necessary. But I was charged 5 hours labor at $ 85 per, when the instructions said average of 2. He also said when I came over for the Annual with a base price of over $ 800 I would again have to remove the same panels I did which may be the case as it was not an Annual. I took it to the Frederick mechanic for the Annual. As a comparison. 2 mechanics plus a helper and me, was charged around $ 1200 for 17 hours labor of which only $ 23 were parts. I stayed there the entire time. They really checked it over and found 3 small corrosion spots on the ailerons which they removed and repainted. Since they had worked on this Coupe for several years they were familiar with it but still did a thorough job. My DG was spinning and they found a break in the hose at the connection point on the DG. New hose corrected it. After watching their work I felt very comfortable with the Annual. I also felt comfort in the fact they were experienced with Ercoupes, especially mine. But they did not " cut" any corners because they knew the aircraft .Of course they always say the first flight after an Annual or major work is usually the most critical but in my case it was just another flight. I did hang around the airport just a little longer before launching off to smash bugs. Sorry for the lengthy reply - Hope it helps. Jim Truxel N3439H ----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Abrams To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 1:06 AM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Philosophy of the Annual I've received many helpful replies to my "legitimate charges?" query, both on-list and off-list -- thank you all! Most helpfully, some explained enough about magneto problems happening &/or being detectable (or not) to give me some clues on how my 'Coupe's immediate-post-annual mag problems could have come about. There was enough variation in one area of the replies that I'd like to invite more comment on it: some seem to feel that an Annual is just a "safety check," mainly reviewing ADs and for corrosion, some that it is a"safety check" of all systems and parts and anything that could break/leak/fail/etc., and some seemed to consider it in addition also a maintenance marathon , including *servicing* everything like a 100-hr. check-up & tune-up & fluids/lubes & preventative maintenance. Is there a consensus within the industry on the scope of what it means to "Annual" the plane? This is very interesting since many mechanics seem to offer a flat-fee "Annual" or have a set # of hours that it takes them to "do an Annual," and there seems to be is a wide range of what that is. I am not asking folks to address the absolute $-cost (it's clear there's a wide variation among even those of us on the list), but rather the scope and "philosophy" of the Annual: "safety check," "safety+maintenance," or ______? Thank you all for sharing the benefit of your experience and for the education you're giving me! Linda
