Fw: Monkey Lads (TM) work on airplanes, too! (NAC)

[Stephen Bigelow]

Yikes!
(NAC = No Audi Content)

----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Arman <armanmik at n-jcenter.com>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 3:26 PM
Subject: Monkey Lads (TM) work on airplanes, too! (NAC)


>
>
> This is from the Cessna 150 club list - it seems there are Monkey Lads
(TM)
> in aviation as well.
>
>
>
>
>
> > I just didn't realize how much labor was going to add
> >up. They billed me 50 hours of labor at $60 an hour. Every part they
> >installed was billed at the full retail price. Cowl screws were $1 each.
>
>
> Well, THAT part sounds familiar, anyway.
>
>
> >
> >Later I discovered they had read the wrong page in the maintenance
manual,
> >and installed my spinner bulkhead incorrectly. The page they used shows
the
> >front spinner bulkhead bolted underneath the prop bolts, but that was for
an
> >earlier model spinner bulkhead made of aluminum. Mine is plastic, and it
was
> >quite a bit of trouble for them to install it wrong. First they had to
drill
> >the holes to match the bolt pattern without cracking the bulkhead. (It's
> >made of hard, non flexible plastic), They actually fabricated a retaining
> >plate out of aluminum, and used it as a pattern, accidentally hitting the
> >prop with the pilot drill and almost making it unairworthy.
> >
> >So get this, the prop bolts were then torqued down onto the plastic
> >bulkhead. Because the bulkhead belonged on the other side of the bolts,
it
> >was now about half an inch too far aft, so it no longer lined up with the
> >spinner. Their solution? Carefully wrap layer after layer of duct tape
>
>
> And this is the unbelievable part . . . .    ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
> ^ ^  !!
>
>
>
>
>
> >around the bulkhead until it was thick enough to fill the gap. When they
> >were done, the spinner was so crooked that it looked like I had a bent
> >crankshaft when it was rotating. They expressed concern about this, but
> >assured me that it was within the "normal" tolerance limits for a
spinner.
> >It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened next. The plastic
> >bulkhead soon cracked and the out of round spinner transmitted vibration
to
> >the bulkhead causing it to disintegrate. In short order I had a prop with
> >about an eighth of an inch play in it. I first noticed a change in the
sound
> >of the prop, it got lower in pitch, and made more of a slapping sound.
Next
> >I began to notice more and more vibration, the panel was noticeably
shaking.
> >( I later found several of those expensive new screws had vibrated off
the
> >airplane) I made a landing as soon as possible, and found a fine white
> >plastic dust all around the front of my cowl. The mechanic who did the
final
> >repair was absolutely shocked by what he found.
> >
> >If there's anything to say in defense of this shop, it's that they rarely
> >work on 150's, They are mainly a Cessna shop , but most of their
customers
> >have twins or 210's so I guess they are used to paying those kinds of
bills.
> >They seemed real sticklers for the rules, pointing out for example that
they
> >had refused to return a 210 to service for 6 weeks because it had an
> >unapproved instrument dimmer installed. (The dimmer was an aviation part,
> >but not STC'd for the 210, and they didn't want to be liable for a field
> >approval.)
>
>
> A Cessna 210 is worth between $75,000 and $200,000, depending on
equipment.
> Figure the payments on it, and figure the loss of income while the shop
> fiddled around and the owner didn't have use of the aircraft . . .
>
>
>  It's hard to imagine how they let my spinner bulkhead get through
> >their shop. To my surprise, they actually accepted the blame (I imagined
> >they would deny it, in case I decided to sue) and refunded my money for
that
> >part of the annual. I ended up with mixed feelings about the whole
> >experience. On the one hand they were very nice to me, and seemed
genuinely
> >meticulous about their work. Most of what they did was done right. On the
> >other hand, I believe they gouged me for labor, and inflated the hours
> >spent. (no way to prove this.) And finally, the incompetent work they did
on
> >my spinner bulkhead nearly killed me.   In the end, it was an excellent
> >lesson for me, they had the reputation of being the best shop on the west
> >coast, but I'll never take reputation for granted again.
> >
>
>
>
> Sheesh, and we thought WE had problems . . .
>
> Basically, they used duct tape to hold the propeller onto this guy's
airplane.
>
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Mike Arman
>