Concierge Maintenance

[toyotadiesel]

When my wife woke up this morning she had no idea I’d come home and tell her I’m shutting down at the airport and opening a Tesla shop. Thanks Mike

[tm]

Great description of a great service - and ironically it's something I've unknowingly benefitted from for many years here in the UK where we have CAMO (Continuing Airworthiness Maintenance Organisation) doing the routine maintenance. My aircraft maintenance programme requires a check every 50 hours, a larger check every 150 hours, and an even larger Annual check every year. The cost of these checks plus all the associated paperwork are fixed, with only defect rectification being an unknown cost. Yes, those defect costs can be quite large, but the service we've had from our shop over the last 12 years has been exemplary, and we've been able to budget based upon fixed cost services for all of the routine work.

[Avionics_test_pilot]

Central Flying Service in Little Rock is doing this. It’s called the Select program and they have 75 aircraft on the program. All maintenance is planned out over 13 months and scheduled.

[tomdchi]

(preface - this is an excellent idea!) Along the lines of "rejecting an aircraft with pre-existing conditions", an entrepreneur owned shop would "not renew" some aircraft/owners that were too difficult. A difficulty of a coop would be first setting the rules for the coop to be a "bit harsh" to themselves, then have to take the difficult decision to kick out some members whose aircraft were excessively expensive to serve. Another issue is that the doctor serves patients for a few tens of minutes or at most a few hours at a time. A maintenance shop has to block out multiple days of direct work per aircraft, and may have a physical slot tied up for weeks depending on parts availability. The "actuarial" side may be more difficult for a shop than a GP because of more variability in the cost to serve compared with a GP.

[ronaldbuschman]

Interesting topic, i`ve been running my shop at least partialy like this for 25 years in europe, one big pro Mike didn`t mention is that it seriously simplifies the invoicing paperwork for the shop, no need to track the hours spend per job or send invoices for every half an hour spend on servicing a nose strut or pumping tires and best of all not spending time on countless estimates for work that ends up not being commissioned or taken elsewere for being 10 dollars cheaper

[daleyingling]

Mike, I could see this working really well for the A&P shop and the owner.
It would create a good working relationship with the customer and make the maintenance as needed. Not the current Time and Materials, which give no incentive to be efficient and effective for the owner.
Today, the longer they keep your plane in maintenance, the more they charge the owners.
Moreover, I agree that maintenance induced failures occur all of the time. That is why the military has different maintenance schedules and appropriately do maintenance as needed; increasing the reliability and readiness of the aircraft.
Remember, the FAA (CAA) was originally created to make booming business out of being a pilot, and owning an airplane. Maybe that's why the FAA declined to give Wings credit for this program...🤔

[firstielasty]

I agree that many GA aircraft are over maintained..but, due to 43 appendix "d", and 43.13 (a), I continue to remove and replace panels and cowlings as required wearing out fasteners, checking compressions, etc, etc... because I'm supposed to. The annual and 100 hr. list is requested, I can't sign it off without doing it, whether it is repetitive, redundant, or not.
They could also ask for my own brand of inspection and endorsement, but that wouldn't help when they are ramp checked by a fed, or when I'm explaining my "custom, abbreviated" inspection after an incident.

[olympiashorts]

I’m curious about the perception of a physician as “excellent”. Is such a doctor one who will order any test or treatment requested by the patient? There is a body of literature that suggests that physicians with high “satisfaction scores” aren’t necessarily providing the best care. As a doctor myself, I would often spend a lot of time explaining why the patient didn’t need imaging, lab tests or opioids only to receive complaints. I had a number of colleagues who apparently felt that it was “easier to write than fight”. By that I mean it is easier to write an order for a test or medication than it is to fight about it. If concierge docs practice evidence based medicine without capitulating to unreasonable requests then I think it is a reasonable approach. However, if one’s goal is to maintain a patient base at all costs then it’s likely that bad medicine is being practiced.

[FosterBrooks]

I think it is a great idea especially if you were to focus on certain makes/models aircraft being that my experience is based on certain aircraft. I am getting ready to begin full time a/c maintenance.

[FlyingNDriving]

Won't work if scheduling won't work if two airplanes are going down at the same time... Also only really works for specific make and model where experience and common issues can be solved quickly efficiently so the mechanic isn't losing money

[TheBarzook]

I don't think this would work in the long run. The shop owner will want to charge a fee that's way over what he thinks each airplane will cost him. So at the end of the year, you'll pay way too much for the work that has been done on the plane. If you ever have major work needed, like top overhaul, leaking fuel tank, etc. You can be sure the contract will be made so that this kind of work is excluded. I don't see how it could be fair. The shop owner would also need to price the annual fee in terms of size of engine, number of engines, year of manufacturing, the state the plane is in when taking it on, etc.

[cannon]

One problem, how would you spread out the annuals?
Fifty people sign up and 20 of the annuals are due in the same month, now what?

[richardturner]

The biggest problem with maintenance is the shortage of quality mechanics and this will be the end of GA if mechanics dont start getting serious pay for what they do. Super simple. There's a serious breakdown between what an aircraft owner pays and who actually gets the money. I went to school to be an A&P 25 years ago and found out real quick i could make triple the money fixing automobiles. Easy to compared to the knowledge required to be a really good GA tech. It takes a long time to gain experience. I have no training in the automotive world. Totally self taught and people dont care. They just want their vehicles repaired. I have a small clientele that pays good. My passion is aviation but now i stay with experimentals. This is the new gold mine in aviation. I truly think that GA will almost be dead in 10 years. Maybe not for people that can afford a Cirrus, but the lower end of old Pipers and Cessnas will be parked. Simply not feasible to maintain them anymore for what they offer in return. Supply issues won't get better because experimental aviation has put a hurt on the market. Bottom line is, why would any young person spend all that money for an A&P only to realize they can make more money with no responsibilities and not be in debt for years? Just no incentive. Its absurd to not pay good experienced techs 3 times what they offer now. Who gets all the money these shops charge? Techs sure aint gettin it!

[BrianMaria-pl]

I really appreciate your efforts! I have a quick question: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). Could you explain how to move them to Binance?

[firstielasty]

@ 38:55..."taking a bath" with some customers and "making a killing" on others?
This working for a shop depends on having customers willing to part with their money so that the shop can "make a killing" at their expense. I doubt many people want to be that customer. Why would they? The average profit of the shop is probably less of a concern to them (or simply NOT a concern) than paying fairly for no more work than they need. The fact that you have taken a bath on certain customers is not for others with cheaper aircraft to compensate you for.

[williamhealy]

This sounds good but what about abuse like the American Airlines Unlimited Flight Pass? AA failed to consider "supertravelers", people who game the system and take advantage. How can the agreement be structured so that if abuse takes place the subscriber can be deleted? I am asking because I am thinking to get my A&P and hang a shingle.

[dano]

Few problems, Mike -
1-you point out that concierge medicine works - but with elderly patients only. You are advertising for a GA model that will attract really old twin owners, not the really young Cirrus pilots with deep pockets you want 2 - You invite owners to do endless, unnecessary mx - something you have railed against for decades. If there's one price to be paid, what stops a 'patient' from complaining about every tiny squawk or any 'recommended' maintenance item from the manufacturer? 3- People don't want to see the doctor - they go when they need it. Definitely not so with your airplane. you'd need to find a buy-in where even the deep pocketed ones will blanch.

[Trump]

I can't think of a worse idea for the customers, unless they have an absolute shitbox. No offense but your doctor's system seems like a ripoff as well. What the hell is a PCP going to actually do for you, other then send you to the hospital for surgery or something that's not covered by your contract? I have a PCP and he hasn't ever done anything for me other then send me to the hospital whenever I need repairs.

[davidtorrente]

The hallucinogenic nature of the AI illustrations is amusing, if not telling.

$20k/yr? Even including annual? I would have thought a $20k maintenance year on a piston single was nothing less than catastrophic.

Parts -- Tires and brake pads are ordinary wear items. Why shouldn't they be included?

[nick.simmer]

Not a fan of the recurring “subscription”. This is a really bad idea.