Service & MX

Any DA40 related topics

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Rick
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Re: Service & MX

Post by Rick »

Rich wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:31 pmTo be fair, how many of us religiously do all the drain hole inspections listed in section 5? :D Gotta be over 100 of these things hidden inside the wings, tail and fuselage :shock:
Maybe that's what the OP's shop is charging all that labor for every year! :D
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Roxi5m9
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Re: Service & MX

Post by Roxi5m9 »

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you are being ripped off. We have a 2004, we fly it 200 hours a year, and it is serviced by a Diamond Service Center. We always have them fix everything that comes up (not just airworthy, but recommended) and our annual is consistently around 2.5k-ish.

Just based off the ELT story, they are crooks and unethical.

Find another place...any other place.
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Charbie
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Re: Service & MX

Post by Charbie »

It never hurts to change up the maintenance shop every few years if you start asking yourself these questions, or even if you don't.
Unless there are major items, it should run you between $1800 and $2500 plus fixes. Owner assisted can speed up the annual to 1.5 days.
I concur with the whole ELT trouble shoot. I have noticed like many other businesses that they can be tight for cash these days and may need as much work as possible. Owner assisted always ensures a fair number of hours as you are onsite tabulating the hours as well.
Go with your gut feeling and double check elsewhere.
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AirbusAddict
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Re: Service & MX

Post by AirbusAddict »

This is awesome thanks for the replies everyone. A lot of good information.

Here's a post to close the loop on this years annual. I ended up spending about 16k to get the aircraft signed off. This included the annual inspection itself and taking care of required items that were discovered in the annual. A small portion of the cost were to take care of recommended items.

This was at a Diamond Service Center near a large metroplex. That itself increases the price of labor, inspections, etc. but not to the degree I should seeing. I listed some of the major items in my previous post.

I should also mention the aircraft has been flown to each annual to have work done at a "Diamond Service Center" but I am now working with local A&P/IA at my field. Already I am seeing improvements in the costs and work itself. I will update annual number 4 when it comes around.

Thanks again for the input and any other tips would be great.
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pietromarx
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Re: Service & MX

Post by pietromarx »

There are people who swear by having a "Diamond Service Center" do the work and those, like me, who tend to mutter about them. :-) (NB: I bought this last airplane from one of these "reputable" shops in your state, a bit north of Miami, and they neglected to find an actual honest-to-God lightning strike on the composite propellor that a "regular" shop who actually works on lots of types of airplanes found in a few minutes, so enough said.)

I've had two Diamonds and the annuals have never been about $3K even with some required work. The airplanes are simple and easily maintained. Any competent shop can handle a Lycoming engine designed in the 1940s and highly-distributed avionics with good support from Garmin. The airframe itself is well-designed and has few quirks (note the lack of ADs).

There are always edge cases, but 18 hours for an ELT is absurd and $16K for an annual with no big replacement parts is equally absurd.

Be safe, but let's be serious here: the airplane is easy to fly and easy to maintain. There is nothing on a DA-40 that would drive up the cost of an annual other than the seller's motivations.
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