The letter about being frustrated and unhappy by Bjorn Rafnar ( AM, August/September 2008) is all too close to home. What is happening is that the independent FAA-licensed mechanic and inspector is being put out of the business of providing superior maintenance on aircraft in the low end of the spectrum, such as antiques, classics, and the otherwise relatively low-cost end of the aviation spectrum.
As a retired engineer and licensed A&P with IA, I had been performing maintenance and annual inspections for several years on various aircraft at an airport with only around 30 based single-engine aircraft, no airline service and no maintenance-providing FBO. My home and shop were located directly across the road from the airport. The only FBO at that time just provided fuel. Aircraft owners that leased T-hangars had to either take their airplanes elsewhere for maintenance and inspections or contract with an independent mechanic to do the work or supervise their work in leased hangars. There were at least two or three mechanics from outside the county that were doing part-time work for individual aircraft owners.
Then, soon after the airport director at the time went to an AAAE conference, where apparently some lawyer or insurance type lectured about all the hazards and liability to an airport from "through the fence" folks providing maintenance on individuals’ own aircraft. Also, at about that time the airport authority had bought out a flight school with taxpayer money and decided to get into the maintenance business to help support maintenance on their own money-losing aircraft.
That is when I got a letter to "cease and desist" unless I provided the airport authority with a liability insurance policy. The fact is, I normally grossed from $5,000 to $8,000 total in any one year and, after expenses associated with that work (such as attending IA meetings, subscribing to AD software, etc.), there is no way to pay $2,000 – 5,000 in insurance premiums. I checked with a couple insurance companies and they said, "Sorry."
There are not enough active based aircraft on this field or even at nearby fields to support a full service FBO. Most modern FBOs do not have personnel qualified to work on these older, smaller aircraft as their bread and butter has to be the corporate turbine fleet in order to pay the insurance companies, etc. There is no turbine equipment based on this airport at this time. Now the airport authority has decided to invoke "minimum standards" on anyone setting up a business on the airport, and they are trying to get someone to take over the flight school and fuel and maintenance "business."
There is no way that a full-time, taxpaying FBO entity can make it on this airport. I am sure the same is true at many other GA rural airports throughout the country that are busy banning mechanics that are independent contractors between the aircraft owner and the mechanic.
True insurance is when an organization collects premiums from a wide spectrum to spread the risk. Nowadays, insurance companies want to sub-group every "risk" and charge premiums accordingly so that they can maximize their profits and pay salaries to multi-million dollar CEOs.
The little guy that loves airplanes and has the talent and licenses to provide a much-needed safety service just can’t survive in the lawyer-regulated environment that is being created within the low end, grassroots aviation airports.
Name withheld by request
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Editor, Aviation Maintenance, 4 Choke Cherry Road, Second Floor, Rockville, MD 20850 or e-mail jfinnegan@accessintel.com.
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I was gainfully employed and doing restorations and light general maintenance on private aircraft at a local airfield on the side to keep my hand in and also to give much needed technical aid to the local crowd who operated antiques and as such I happily worked out of the owners T hangars until the day that the fellow who had the money losing \"FBO\" on the field informed the local township planning board that only \"Commercially Licensed\" mechanics and shops could repair aircraft. The bastard was one of the members of the board and since I was cutting his legs out from under him by providing a better service and higher quality than he was he used this dirty trick to try and force me out. I called the board and informed them that the air regs state that \"Commercial Aircraft require all work to be done by a suitibly licensed AMO\" but there is no such requirement for private GA aircraft. If you are licensed on type yuo can release the work. I was informed the boards word was final and no amount of complaining would change it. Well, 911 saw the fall of a lot of aviatino related businesses and I moved on to a better field, the FBO owner was forced to close his shop due in part to the antique aircraft owners not having enough free cash to pay for his enourmus bills. After which the owners had no money left for fuel.