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Operating and Flying a 1970 Piper Arrow, and operating costs discussion

And why should you freelance if you’re offered a position with a shop?

More €€€

There are some hard working people out there. Perhaps fewer these days, and fewer in some places.

But you can’t. Why not? Your boss won’t like it, because you are stealing his (existing or potential) business.

→ airfield politics

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

But you can’t. Why not? Your boss won’t like it, because you are stealing his (existing or potential) business.

It’s very common in all kinds of enterprises that you’re not allowed to compete with your employer in your free time. It has nothing to do with either “airfield” or “politics”.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

zuutroy wrote:

Almost €115 per hour labour incl. VAT? That will add up pretty quick I guess.

It does. I just checked, my shop in Switzerland charges CHF 140 including VAT per hour, which at usual exchange rates is not too far of what Snoopy posted.

My last Annual cost CHF 5.5k, which is pretty normal for the last several years. Additonal work was xponder/ELT check, 3 CB/Switches changed and 3 SB’s performed.

My maintenance shop and CAMO are not based on the airfield I am based at. So no airfield politics whatsoever. My shop allows me to help within my capabilities, which I have done in the past, it saved me some hours at the time.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

It has nothing to do with either “airfield” or “politics”.

I must disagree:

A mechanic working freelance can earn twice the money compared to working for a company (GA salaries are not great).

So why don’t they all do that?

  • many are not enterprising types and just want a “normal job”
  • some don’t want to work much (paper pushing is often an option in fully time employment)
  • some aren’t very good and know it (if freelance, they would be in deep water instantly, no bread on the table at home, but if working in a company, an unhappy customer will prob99 not even discover their name)
  • if FAA A&P/IA (these are already working mostly freelance) you can easily get struck off if you do a bad job, whereas an EASA66 is virtually impossible to get struck off especially if working in a company
  • a freelancer has to be proactive to find the “next job” (the original reason for LinkedIn, for computer programmers )
  • a freelancer needs to be nice to everybody “in the ecosystem” e.g. hangar owners, local maint companies… and diplomatically deal with maint companies who want him to sign off garbage work (in Europe, most of these companies are EASA approved; there are very few FAA145s specialising in light GA)
  • a freelancer needs a hangar for most work, 100% for jacking-up
  • a freelancer needs a hangar in a “sensitive” location; you can’t always wait for a OVC001/25m day
  • in some places, all hangars are owned by a maint company, and if they don’t need the freelancer for something else (e.g. he’s an A&P/IA and they need him to check and sign off work they did on an N-reg) then he will not be able to work, so he may as well get a full time job
  • for best results, someone using a freelancer needs to be personally involved in the maint programme (e.g: “your brake pads are half worn, I last did them 2 years ago, shall we do them now, or do you want to see how it goes?”)
  • in many scenarios, a freelancer won’t get much work e.g. a country where most GA activity is within clubs/schools (these customers generally cannot agree on anything re point immediately above, or they want “100% paperwork coverage”)
  • most freelancers end up working for private owners, and in certain countries the private owner scene is a small %

The bits in bold are tightly controlled in most of Europe, for obvious reasons! It is the key to company revenue protection. That and the rest of the scene, 99% politics, is what creates and maintains a shortage of EASA66 mechanics.

I’ve been around this block many times over 20 years and know many others.

my shop in Switzerland charges CHF 140 including VAT per hour

The mechanic doesn’t get that though What does he get? Then, perform the X=Y-Z to find the difference and it becomes clear why revenue protection is such a priority.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

So why don’t they all do that? many are not enterprising types and just want a “normal job”

Probably, the main reason? You have two distinct mentalities: work for yourself (all risks are on you) or do what you told (risks are with the employer).
And as Airborne_Again has pointed above, quite often the employer puts this in the contract that you cannot “moonlight” as a mechanic for precisely that reason – you either share the risks & income or you don’t.

EGTR

Sorry to labour the point but the threshold at which people make the employment v. freelance decision will itself depend on how hard the freelance life is.

Unless the guy is bone idle in which case he will go for an ISO9000 / ROHS / REACH / CE / WEEE / Conflict Minerals compliance manager job

Disclaimer: I have never had a job in my life – except vacation work while at school, college and univ. Since 1978, always been in business.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Disclaimer: I have never had a job in my life – except vacation work while at school, college and univ. Since 1978, always been in business.

Disclaimer: I’ve practically never had a freelancer job in my life, almost always in employment :).

Peter wrote:

Sorry to labour the point but the threshold at which people make the employment v. freelance decision will itself depend on how hard the freelance life is.

Or the perception of that. Or the family situation. Or how bad the clients at the local airfield are – if they are mostly muppets, then why would you want to deal with them yourself?

EGTR

Peter wrote:

Disclaimer: I have never had a job in my life – except vacation work while at school, college and univ. Since 1978, always been in business.

I’ve done both…

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Running a fixed gear PA28 need not be expensive.

My most expensive Annual was last year which was £ 3,984 including the cost of a second hand (but never used) prop. The prop alone was £ 2,636 including a new bolt fitting kit.

Cheapest Annual ever was £ 850 when the plane was in bits for a respray so the airframe had already been fully inspected. Next cheapest annual £ 1,250. In 8 years of “Annuals” most come in at £ 2,500 and always under £ 3,000. 50 hour checks are the cost of oil and a filter. All Annuals are owner assisted so I do the donkey work. Self Declared Maintenance Programme. My insurance is less than £ 2,000 for an £ 80,000 hull value.

I just don’t recognise some of the costs quoted above. The above is does not count “improvements” like a bare metal respray so you could say my figures are low because of that. However my plane is very well maintained, no corrosion and probably in the top 5% of being looked after. I do 100 hours to 110 hours a year. I have used 3 different engineers and all were good but I have been with the present one for 5 years.

Gear would complicate things as one could not do your own 50 hour check as the plane would need jacking so I chose fixed gear on purpose.

United Kingdom

Archer-181 wrote:

Gear would complicate things as one could not do your own 50 hour check as the plane would need jacking so I chose fixed gear on purpose.

I have installed a 3-ton autohoist for that and for maintenance in general, and re-engineered it a bit so that it lifts my plane. That is plain fun doing maintenance without an aching back. You just lift it to the perfect height…(and to be able to retract the gear you lift the plane up, put jacks and set the plane on the jacks)

In fact I typically store the plane up there so that nobody can scratch it. And there’s yet more room below..

Last Edited by UdoR at 11 Jan 22:23
Germany
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