So, you own and operate an aircraft. Now what?
After you’ve financed, insured, crewed it, and given your plane a place to live and eat, sometimes you’ll need to put it in the hands of trusted technicians to take care of the required maintenance, inevitable repairs when things break, and desired upgrades. What does that look like when it’s done right and what should you expect?
In 2022 Stevens took you through the process of “What to expect when you’re buying an aircraft”. This 18-part short video series took you through market trends, pre-purchase evaluations, the value of your logbooks, specifics on certain types of aircraft, upgrades, and major inspections. This series was designed to give potential aircraft buyers insight into many areas prior to closing the deal. That series can be found here.
Over the next several months, we’d like to take you through a “now what” series of short articles on what you can and should expect out of a service provider, starting from the initial communications, to turning wrenches, to post visit follow-ups.
Stevens, like many other top-tiered repair facilities, has been refining the process for well over 70 years and continues to update the flow as both technology and customer needs change. In this series we will be focusing on several general areas, including:
- The “post-purchase” maintenance sales and consultation process to understand how you fly, what you need, and what you want.
- What a well-run input event looks like when you drop off your aircraft to the repair center.
- Communication and expectations with your service provider while the work is “in-process”.
- What to expect when the aircraft is Returned to Service (RTS).
- The post event follow-up from your service provider representatives.
- And lastly, on-going communications with your service center contacts to ensure a smooth transition to your next visit.
Inside these general areas are many details and moving parts all arranged to minimize the time in the shop, maximize your time in the air, and increase your level of enjoyment owning an aircraft. 
In general, all aircraft require recurring maintenance events. These can range from the basic “annual” inspection to items dictated by hours flown and calendar dates hit. These are all laid out by the OEM when the plane was born and usually updated throughout the years as new information on specific airframe, engine, and avionics issues become available. Given all that, your plane will eventually be serviced by someone, somewhere. Having a deep and on-going relationship with a credible repair facility will help ensure your ownership experience remains smooth and level and will for certain lower your cost of ownership. Some flight departments are run by the owner/operator who does everything from buying it, to flying it, to determining what maintenance and updates it needs and who will do that work. To the other end of the spectrum, some flight departments do all their work “in-house” with full maintenance and avionics capabilities where the plane never sees an outside shop for anything other than major avionics upgrades or complete paint and interior refurbishments. Either way, the same concept applies; having a deep relationship with your service provider will make your ownership experience better and allow you to focus more on “flying” the plane, rather than “maintaining” the plane. Think of it this way, your shop should be using a “thorough, but practical” approach where your aircraft is clearly maintained to the high OEM and FAA standards, but your long-term ownership objectives are considered and implemented with good judgement by both parties where able. That’s easy to say, but let’s open that up a little bit and talk about what that looks like when you interact with a shop that’s “on your side” and looking out for what you need to be successful.
To start, let’s point out the obvious. Having an unknown sales rep call you out of nowhere or, worse yet, show up at your hangar can most times be annoying and is usually inconvenient. Even if the call or visit is not inconvenient, some will say it is to make the sales rep go away. This is probably well-deserved by the sales rep community to some degree as “the game” began at the beginning of time when some aggressive caveman had something to sell and saw another caveman with a wallet. Unfortunately, this abuse and distortion of position continues today. This type of mindset misses the mark and selfishly focusses on making sales and quotas instead of serving and communicating. Seriously, who doesn’t love it when a sales rep calls to sell you maintenance you’ve already done or push avionics that do not apply to your plane. So, putting that “age-old technique” aside, let’s look at what a “customer-focused” process looks like and why that will ultimately get you what you need to stay legal, safe, and keep your cost of ownership as low as possible. Here’s a hint: have a “mutually” beneficial relationship. 
So, you have a need and have made a call to a shop, or a shop called you. Here’s what should happen. First, a good shop representative will seek to listen first about how you use and fly the plane, your budgets and timelines, and understand what your pain points are and what your long-term goals may be. Also, they will learn what you’d like to do to the plane whether paint or interior related, going faster, or maybe even finding ways to stay connected “with those back on earth” no matter where you fly. Second, understand that “sometimes” a rep will have more information than you do with regards to the latest software upgrades, vendor offerings, or perhaps airframe maintenance changes as they hear from the FAA, OEMs, and countless vendors almost daily. And, “sometimes” they hear it first before it hits the public. A reps’ job then is to consult on solutions for things you need as well as discuss issues coming out in the industry. Then and only then they will look to see how they can fill those needs as well as offer alternatives. It’s easy to get quote on a specific inspection or upgrade because “it’s due”, but it’s better to have a discussion leading to a mutual understanding of the bigger picture so you end up with the best solution that fits your scenario in a thoroughly thought-out and practical way.
In the next part of this series, I’ll continue to explore the processes you can expect to experience during that pre-input period as well as what should happen on the day you drop off the plane. If you’re ready to learn a little more click here to explore more of our offered services. Happy flying!