Booted Out of Annual

[@michaeldautry]

And this story is a huge example of why experimental aircraft are super popular now!

[@susansticazsky9787]

Amazing story Mike!! Thanks for sharing. The FAA inspector deserves a reward and some public recognition!!

[@taltruda]

16:36.. I don’t thing cylinders are a “bolt on accessory”..

[@rickkennerly2379]

That is a profoundly disturbing story. How in the world did that shop make any money: one mechanic & dead weight management?

[@dermick]

What "Abe" did is exactly what we expect our public servants to do. We need to find a way encourage all of them to have the same kind of response.

[@doctaran]

It’s such a strange industry that the same businesses that you need to sign off to keep your plane legal are the same folk who profit from selling you unneeded work. This kind of behavior is way to common in aviation. There are so many crooked shops out there that are scamming people, Lying to people, threatening people and manipulating situation to generate wealth while doing work that is totally unnecessary and often making the airplane more dangerous. I had one guy delay talking to me on purpose until my annual timed out so I could not leave then tried to upswell me on an overhaul. I needed to bring in an outside mechanic to inspect the plane and pull a ferry permit to bring it to a non scam shop. There was nothing wrong with the engine. The plane is 100% perfect 500 flight hours later. Thank you you Mike Busch for being the voice of reason and a whistleblower in this crooked industry. Please people tell all the stories about the scam sops so the word gets out. If a mechanic tries to upsell you on sone bullshit work…. Call Savvy first. They are top Notch and have helped me several times and are a great value.

[@CatarineausArmory]

I did some contract A&P, IA work for shop that had a non-A&P manager. The man was very sharp, very well experienced, and very cordial in what needed to be done and what did not need to be done regulation wise and mechanically speaking.

[@kevinbaslee3262]

I hope someone knows the real name of the shop and posts it in the comments so the rest of us can avoid this place. What a nightmare!!

[@michaeldautry]

Agreed!

[@crono331]

And thats exactly why i will never ever buy another certificated a/c. Experimental forever.

[@oldschoolcfi3833]

Why would they not simply complete the annual, reassemble the plane, and sign off the logbook with "a list of discrepancies has been provided to the owner." and be done??

[@FlyingNDriving]

Call the airport manager and say "this is the guy you want on your field", get foreflight reviews and trash that place, and callback those other mechanics and lead with you had a bad time with Maurice being an ass. Chances are these bad shops word gets around fast and people talk. Also red flag why previous owner didn't take it to the shop on the field 20/20.

[@jadesluv]

Great story with a great outcome.

[@ShuRugal]

Man, I know some lawyers who would LOVE to have that bit of blackmail from the IA in writing.

[@normanczerski5221]

Keep in mind that an annual inspection is ONLY an inspection and not MAINTENANCE. All discrepancies may be done by an A$P, either by an A&P or by the owner under the direction of an A&P. Many shops find things to fix just to make income. Honesty can be a hard thing to come by. Find an A&P who does not have a shop, get an IA to do the inspection and have your A&P correct the problems for a conditional annul. Criminal records abound among aircraft mechanics and shops.

[@michaeldautry]

Not surprised to hear that last part…

[@n3roc]

How can Maurice deny a ferry permit? He can’t! Who cares what Maurice says. What Maurice says is irrelevant. Maurice needs to be ignored, then sued.

[@DVLITTLEPILOT]

Great Story Works best if played back at 1.25 speed

[@robertlewis5627]

He certainly does speak very slow....

[@taltruda]

I have to do 1.5 to 1.75.. pretty painful at normal speed…

[@texasspinesurgeon]

I’m doing 2x

[@jimvlahos1320]

I’m doing 2.0x as well

[@charleysantoni]

Why in the world would you not name the shop? This shop should be outed so that everyone else can avoid this hassle.

[@jadesluv]

Because Mike doesn‘t want to get involved in any possible lawsuit for libel, the shop manager has no tooth to bring forward a lawsuit without names.

[@jonasbaine3538]

KZbinrs are getting sued and losing quite often these days for defamation.

[@bradfordparker6639]

Been screwed twice by shops, more recently mechanics spent their time eating breakfast and then leaving several times, taking months to reinstall an overhauled engine and then charging me thousands, four times the estimate to simply reinstall the engine. Then withheld log books until I paid- hige nightmare.

[@aero3085]

Note to self: NEVER leave your logs with a shop:)

[@williamkennedy2069]

What a crazy crazy experience😮

[@iancormie9916]

Is pitting only caused by water/corrosion, or are there other factors. (Other than the rare occurrence of materials failure)

[@mrwonk]

I took my airplane to have landing struts removed, sandblasted to remove paint, and x-ray to look for microfractures (I had one that had factory defects in the casting that eventually caused one to break on a landing and was field replaced by a mobile A&P. I wanted to confirm there were no internal fractures in the other and the replacement. A&P went bananas taking things apart, disassembled my airplane almost entirely and had to hire help to re-assemble it. Tried to hand me a $20k bill for the "mechanical" work he had to hire out (aka, putting back together because he didn't know how). I went ballistic. got him down to about $7k I believe and made the entire shop (and field) know, just how much of a disaster he was. I ended up ferrying to a nearby field to have another mechanic go over it and make sure he put it together right (he had forgotten a safety wire on rudder connection, which did come undone during a pre-flight check thankfully). Quite an upsetting experience for me; as all of my prior mechanics had been amazing and taken such good care of the airplane whenever I wanted to check something or asked for advice.

[@anthonyklein2944]

This is a very good lesson for all to learn and I am grateful it was told, but my word, it could have been told in less than half the time!

[@dennisnbrown]

Not sure why not disclose shop

[@craigsanders6925]

I wonder if this was in Petaluma?

[@stevespra1]

Was Maurice the shop owner or just the manager? I can't see how it's ok to override the judgment of the A&P IA.

[@TheReadBaron91]

Shop owners/management do what they want

[@SoloRenegade]

this is extortion. I would have called the cops and a lawyer.

[@michaelgill7994]

An unnecessary engine overhaul could do more harm than good, not to mention the amount of time and money that would cost the customer. "Isaac" was really in an ethical dilemma.

[@texasspinesurgeon]

I know Jeff and he is truly awesome!

[@mikeryan6277]

I picture Maurice working as a launch manager for NASA when the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up. Engineers for Morton Thiokol Thiokol ( the manufacturer’s of the rocket boosters ) were telling management at NASA not to launch do to freezing temps but management went ahead and made the call to Launch. Was Maurice that manager?

[@gclaytony]

I don't know if the shop manager is a pilot. If so, I suspect he wanted the Deb and saw a means to put the owner in a position faced with either exorbitant repair costs or an unserviceable airframe gather dust, where he coult "take it off his hands" out of the goodness of his heart. IMO, that is the only thing that makes sense of the otherwise nonsensical actions on the part of Maurice. Greed for a definitive item/goal is a stronger motivator that a nebulous fear of some future liability suit. IMO. Oliver also had a fairly solid case if he wanted to pursue a civil suit - Maurice was not qualified to make the recommendations/decisions he was trying to force on Oliver. Add on the fact that Maurice's demands were contradicted by the IA performing the inspection, the certified engine overhaul station, and Continentals published procedures for the issues identified. Taking the additional effort to intimidate outside mechanics from assisting Oliver clearly shows malicious intent (Strike 1, 2 ,3). If Abe were willing to add his own testimony as an AP/IA, there seems little probability that the shop would win and the negative publicity would be a cost that would never end. Even now, I'm sure (as I would in the same position) that Oliver is making it his mission to spread the story of what happened to anyone considering that shop who will stand still long enough to listen. He may even be taking his tale to the airport management council, and I would certainly be working hard on a one on one meeting with the Shop Owners to insure that they understand that is now Oliver's life mission to warn off everyone he can from doing business with them as long as Maurice is employed there.f Maurice is his own worst enemy, nothing about how he conducted himself was professional, nor did it represent his employers in a good way. As Oliver spreads his story, that shop may well become a ghost town. Taking Oliver's perspective, I don't think he viewed the risk as negative. As things stood, he had a pile of parts and effectively scrap aluminum sitting in a hanger that Maurice was making an active effort prevent any remediation. Short of a totaled aircraft in a hangar fire (which insurance would cover in part), he was facing an almost complete financial loss on the aircraft.

[@darrylday30]

Interesting idea. I hadn’t considered a financial motivation. I assumed that the manager got an idea in his head and couldn’t let go of it despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. ie boring old Flat Earth stuff. Your financial gain theory is much more juicy!

[@larryegilman1]

The Secretary of State of each state is responsible for issuing business licenses and that is the agency to file the complaint. Just like auto repair shops that performs unnecessary work is subject to contact by the state business inspector when there seems to be a pattern of larceny To me, I see no humor in this situation, when the owner submits an aircraft that is complete, and receives it back in pieces and told in so many words,”go fish”

[@christianjforbes]

This happened to a friend of mine Way back in the early 80’s. His American Champion wound up needing wings recovered, the Bill came to over $8k … he signed over the aircraft to the shop to cover the invoice.

[@SuperYellowsubmarin]

Agree. The call sign is the fact that problems were brought up gradually.

[@firebird-wc6ue]

You are completely and totally wrong. I assure you Maurice wanted no part of that pos deb. Find my lengthy comment on this thread for the actual rub. The shop actually would have probably made more patching the motor than it would have throwing an overhauled unit on. I was there

[@SoloRenegade]

So.....Maurice got away without legal repercussions?

[@TD_YT066]

Perhaps in the end , it did save that motor if the lifters were so badly damaged. They would have eventually torn up the cam. I think I'd have them all looked at in the next annual if they can be pulled and inspected without pulling a cylinder. And put some CamGuard in that motor.

[@d.thorpe2046]

I've worked for 2 Maurice's!

[@kczbluesman]

Maybe a ‘Maurice’ will become a new term of “ ‘endearment’ ” much like the term Karen seems to have become for a certain type of person.

[@kczbluesman]

Your two Maurices were probably good guys, but I’d still like to ask where were their shops

[@mercibeats7625]

Wild story

[@brucer81]

What a great story and well told. Unbelievable but knowing human nature it’s oh so believable. Vengeance is mine sayith the lord. Leave it to him and get your airplane back in the air as painlessly as possible and you back to doing what you love. Flying! My only other comment or question would be is how does “Maurice” stay in business? He obviously doesn’t rely on repeat business that often once the word gets out. And God bless “Abe” for his level headed decision making, kindness and compassion. What state in the US did this occur in if you can say?

[@wlbrobinson]

shortage of mechanics

[@alje311]

That shop manager needs to be fired, any chance for Oliver reaching out to the shop owners? If you want to manage an A&P shop you should be an A&P yourself

[@hamdude2109]

Is Maurice posting as LtVoyager?

[@deeremeyer1749]

"Polish the cam as much as possible with emery cloth...or krokus cloth". A "C" cam is as close to an "F" as an "A" and cam "pitting" was nowhere near the whole cam issue. The base circle is clearly "cupped" and the lifter wear pattern has reached to the outside edges and beyond and lifter rotation obviously stopped long ago and the camshaft has failed. The Continental recommendation says nothing about "pitted" cam lobes to go with "spalled" lifters and the "acceptable" lifter "failure" where the "recommendation" is new lifters and 100 hours and reinspect involves "wiped" lifters that have not been rotating on the cam. Which is nearly always a combination of a "flat" cam which should have "taper" on the lobes to "spin" lifters with a convex "domed" face. Replacing "lifters" - which should never mean a full "set" in that situation where lifter condition is "perfect" besides a "scuffed" face when there is at least a 50% chance the cam is the issue and the only "fix" is a "major overhaul" which will be "cheap" as "preventive maintenance" versus running "acceptable" parts after a 100-hour old cam/new LIFTER "test run" to DESTRUCTION because it "passed" a supposed 100-hour "test". Those "recommendations" are also for newly "overhauled" engines with new camshafts and lifters showing "premature wear" of new parts at post-break in inspection/adjustment/retorquing/service and "improper break-in" is the likely cause. If a new lifter looks like the "old" lifter and is "scuffed" identically after its 100-hour "break-in" the camshaft is the problem. Period. And proving it only cost 100 hours of additional "break-in" and one new lifter while "fixing" it will be "cheap" at an engine removal, disassembly as far as necessary to do a "cam swap", a brand new cam and ALL lifters and the various "cheap" parts like seals, gaskets, fasteners, supplies and CORRECT break-in lubri cant and filter AND doing everything by the book to the letter during assembly, installation, inspection, prelubrication, startup, CAM BREAK-IN, tuning and adjustment, ground test, flight test and of course the "100-hour inspection".

[@LTVoyager]

This is a great video, but highlights one of the issues we have in aviation in regard to safety. We have seen it several times in regard to pilots who haven’t met performance standards, yet get passed along as nobody wants to risk exposing them. We see the same thing here in regard to maintenance. If this story is really true, there is zero risk in naming names so that others can avoid having the same thing happen to them. Letting this shop get a free pass on this is a real disservice to the aviation community.

[@alje311]

I think they avoid naming names to avoid legal headaches like lawsuits claiming slander.

[@FlyingNDriving]

I think Oliver should have just told Maurice to flop right off, wtf does he know

[@MikeOxlong-sw7gt]

Just a wild guess. A shot in the dark here. I wonder if the low time owner/operator was hell bent on not overhauling the engine because the previous owners have kicking the can down the road on splitting the cases because it’s the last O-470 left that has not had the VAR crank AD complied with. Also pure speculation but i bet that the cyl head temps were sky high and the pressure was just above the red after run up. I wonder how much it’s flown since it made it to the new shop. Maybe the maintenance facility didn’t want their names on it when it drilled a smoking hole. But it sounds like the owner got it to a shop that will deal with it. all’s well and ends well.

[@prussiaaero1802]

Crazy story. Would have been easier for them to complete the annual, declare it not airworthy, write up the discrepancies, and ship it. Then decline to participate in any repairs.

[@boogiebeareats5]

Being Right over getting right syndrome, or the Shop Managers ordered an engine by mistake and found a unsuspecting plane owner to solve his problem.

[@cameronh5442]

As an A&P, there's been a few airplanes I really didn't want to work on. Sometimes you catch some shoddy maintenance work that wasn't in the logbooks, or a shady owner and it's not an issue of what you catch, but what you don't catch. The owner probably didn't want to be sued if the low time pilot lawn darted the plane if the engine quit.

[@MikeOxlong-sw7gt]

I’m not sure the comment section would appreciate someone bringing logic into this.. i fully agree with you on this. No one wants to see someone and potentially their family get killed or injured.

[@matthewevans8469]

If anyone knows where the shop is that “maurice” is manager please let me know so I can be sure to not ever go there, even if i might die!

[@FougaFrancois]

I think Maurice was interested in buying the plane to flip it around and make more money$

[@fi3555gtefu2]

I've been to several shops like this. I would gather that only 1 out of 10 aircraft shops are legit , the others are owned and run by shysters. Buyer beware !

[@syitiger9072]

Sounds like he was getting scammed

[@johnopalko5223]

Well, I hope Maurice is happy that he lost a potential long-term repeat customer.

[@alje311]

Maurice is probably thinking he got rid of a potentially bad customer.

[@davefoord1259]

All this bullshit is why for my whole career i avoided inspections as much as possible and focussed on defect rectification that owners soight me out to do. So they had a problem and wanted something fixed. Much better than telling them they had a problem that they didnt know about. I also avoided new installations but rather fixed existing systems properly. Id often not see a customer again for 10 years, but would get referrals that customer had pointed my way

[@iancormie9916]

This is what happens when narcissists are in positions of authority. Better Business Society might also be an alternative.

[@blainefield8829]

It seems to me that finding the bad lifters was a good thing. Had they not been discovered because the maintenance blew off the low compression on #6 then the next likely event would have been metal contamination in the oil pump or the main bearings and of of course potential destruction of the engine at a less than opportune time. Further, if it was in my shop I would have withdrawn all the lifters to see if all the same and replace them all. If two are bad -- likely all are bad. There is balance between getting an aircraft back flying and ignoring potential issues that could shorten the life of the engine. I listened at 2.0 x speed

[@LTVoyager]

If everything here is true, there is no risk of a libel or slander action. 😁

[@michaelclements4664]

No, that risk always exists. Even if everything said here is true, it doesn't stop them from being sued and spending thousands if not millions defending themselves in court.

[@LTVoyager]

@@michaelclements4664 Very few judges would let this go forward if the facts are as presented. The risk of an expensive defense is miniscule to nonexistent.

[@timward4301]

@@LTVoyager Even if that's true, you have to hire a lawyer simply to have a summary dismissal. The fact that you can win doesn't make it less of an expense or hassle.

[@LTVoyager]

@@timward4301 I would be surprised if the manager of a GA repair shop has the financial wherewithal to file suit and generally you have to use the person where that person lives. I don’t know how far from the shop Mike is, but if often is very inconvenient to file a lawsuit against someone who is far away from you, particularly with the odds of the suit being dismissed are high.

[@TheReadBaron91]

In Aviation especially, you know you can do everything correctly and still get sued….

[@emilberesford]

😮😮😮

[@RaceMentally]

Maurice wanted it to leave that shop with no issues whatsoever. I can relate. I have 4 shops now and this sets not only the customer up for success but everyone attached to this engine or repair now. Do it right and once or GTFO of my shops. I don’t have time for unsafe cheap people. You can’t afford the plane go buy a kite. It’s lead me to success and expanded acting just like Maurice. Drain the swamp of broke low life’s who can’t think on how to do the right thing. After listening more. A ferry permit to fly?!! Wtf?!! No!!! Maurice needs to have in writing if it’s taken apart and found to be not safe to fly or run again that the customer knows the total costs worst case. This is where Maurice messed up. His process and also screening the customer. Maurice has been in legal issues before and why he did what he did. I can relate 10000%. If you don’t get it you’re not successful and haven’t done this long. Again I have 4 shops working on a 5th. Right and once or go somewhere else. No time for cheap skates. Again go buy a kite. Ha, story gets even better. The next mechanic who was a fly by night mechanic never showed up. Typical!!!! He’s a bottom of the barrel customer. Maurice literally knows his shit. I’m sure I’ll add to this low life’s story the more I listen. So let me get this straight. FAA guy had a shop, couldn’t make it having a shop so became an FAA. Lol this gets better and better. Now the FAA will have some liability to this case now. What morons. Then trying to get a shop in trouble too?! This paints the real picture of the low life bs. This screams cheap skate and cut corners which Maurice obviously won’t do.

[@allahabumboclaata1427]

Issac was a coward