How much was your 2018 Annual (or Condition) Inspection?

How much did your 2018 Annual or Condition Inspection cost?

  • 0 - 1000

    Votes: 28 37.8%

  • 1000 - 2000

    Votes: 13 17.6%

  • 2000- 3000

    Votes: 12 16.2%

  • 3000 - 4000

    Votes: 6 8.1%

  • 4000 - 5000

    Votes: 1 1.4%

  • OVER 5000

    Votes: 9 12.2%

  • I can't answer because my spouse reads this forum

    Votes: 1 1.4%

  • Why do people ask about my annual? I don't get the joke

    Votes: 4 5.4%
  • Total voters
    74
Stewartb said:
An annual is an inspection. Repairs are a different expense column. Not everyone does the accounting the same way.
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I must bill them separately, that's why it's a sore subject with me.
 
My annuals cost nothing but time. I see the IA every time I shave.
 
My condition inspection costs (by Tom D's definition) zero, other than my time and that of my co-owner.

Scheduled preventive maintenance items due during the same period cost -- oh, I dunno, call it a three-four hundred bucks. Oil, filter, 8 spark plugs, and the carbs needed their 200 hour inspection & parts replacement. Last year was much cheaper; the year before more expensive because a bunch of pricey, limited-life hoses had to be replaced.

Correcting squawks found during the inspection and performing some deferred maintenance -- another 75-ish. We replaced a part that had been incorrectly drilled and installed by the builder and re-rigged the flaperons. It all worked before, but it wasn't right. Now it's right. Will it work? Ask me after the test flight. And we had to replace some cheap but *****-to-get-to parts called out in a SB.

Upgrades and other stuff we decided to do while the airplane was torn apart -- a few hundred more. We tend to defer stuff like that until the annual, which is why we have a track record of having the airplane torn apart way too long. Next year we're starting earlier in the year, and both taking time off work to do it in one shot rather than dragging it out. And now we'll have lights, so that's theoretically another hour a day of legal flying time. Important with winter coming up.
 
My condition inspection was about $1300. The discrepancies cost another $1000 or so to fix, parts and labor. Much better than last year, when the inspection itself was over $5000 - extremely slow A&P, with the shop charging by the hour, no flat rate for the inspection. Hopefully I'll never again be forced to use them for my annual.
 
Tom-D said:
How many people here can separate the maintenance done from the inspection completed?
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Inspection: $1800
Additional labor to address discrepancies: $285
Parts: $1344.70
Shipping: $50
Tax: $94.13
Total: $3573.82
 
Bill Jennings said:
Inspection: $1800
Additional labor to address discrepancies: $285
Parts: $1344.70
Shipping: $50
Tax: $94.13
Total: $3573.82
Click to expand...

Pretty much the method I use. and the customer gets all the receipts when I buy parts.
 
Paulie said:
Yeah it drives me crazy when people insist I sign a annual in their engine logbook. I don't.
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Here we make entries for in the Journey Log, the airframe log, the engine log, and the prop log. The Journey Log is for the complete aircraft.
 
kyleb said:
I didn't ask about discrepancies.

Again: How many hours did you bill for your last annual on a simple airplane with no squawks?
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Maybe he doesn't understand how to separate maintenance done from an inspection completed.
 
Stewartb said:
An annual is an inspection. Repairs are a different expense column. Not everyone does the accounting the same way.
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Very true. When the airplane is done, most folks just get a single bill from the shop and the inspection is just a single line item.
 
Seeing as how my Sky Arrow is an ELSA and I can do my own Annual Condition Inspections...

I can often get away with less than $100 all in. 3 quarts of oil and a filter, and occasionally around $30 for new spark plugs.

Major caveat: this assumes my time has zero value. I estimate it takes about 20 hours of my time, usually spread over the course of a week.

I’m about half way through one now. This one will have an extra $200 added - I had a leaky main wheel tube and decided to upgrade to two new Michelin Airstop tubes.

Every 5 years there’s an additional $2,000 or so for all new ROTAX rubber, but that’s not really an Inspection expense.
 
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Like Eddie, my Zodiac is an ELSA and I have my light sport repairman - inspection certificate, so I can perform my own annual condition inspections. For 2018 I got off easy; 6 quarts of oil and an oil filter plus the oil analysis kit from Aircraft Spruce.

I've invested in a lot of tools over the years that I use during the inspection (spark plug cleaner/tester/gapper, cable tension meter, differential compression tester, etc.), but I don't think of them as an annual inspection expense.
 
How many here believe that the inspector should service the aircraft during the inspection?
 
$4450 flat-rate for the inspection. Should be about $15k once all items are addressed. Should know middle of this week.
 
Annual inspections get a bad rap because everyone defers their maintenance and then tries to stuff it all in the "annual" bag and blame it on a AI.
 
Banjo33 said:
$4450 flat-rate for the inspection. Should be about $15k once all items are addressed. Should know middle of this week.
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4450 flat-rate.... on a 4-banger twin?! Jesus Christ. 10AMUs in 13-month mx? Did you crash the thing or something?

And people have the nerve of wax poetic about Beech parts, and I own a Piper mind you!
 
MauleSkinner said:
how many here don't care? all I care about is having an airworthy airplane. who in the shop does exactly what exactly when doesn't matter to me.
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False dichotomy. Money is an object in most of our lives. This isn't healthcare. I can exercise price elasticity in the conduct of this lifestyle. That doesn't imply I do not care for having an airworthy airplane.
 
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[QUOTE="DaleB, post: 2588324, member. . . And now we'll have lights, so that's theoretically another hour a day of legal flying time. Important with winter coming up.[/QUOTE]

Is it an LSA?
 
Flat rate inspection $1200 includes logs and AD review/updates.
Sqwaks and other maintenance this year about $1600.
Owner assisted work with my shop.
Total this year $2800.
Year we did a top overhaul and panel work...don’t ask.
 
Annual inspections are cheap, maybe $500-600 depending on the shop around here. Repairs, upgrades, and static/transponder checks are another matter. Average annual total is somewhere around $1200-$1500, but this year includes an ADS-B install plus replacement of the remainder of the interior plastic that I have been postponing. As they cest, la vie.
 
hindsight2020 said:
False dichotomy. Money is an object in most of our lives. This isn't healthcare. I can exercise price elasticity in the conduct of this lifestyle. That doesn't imply I do not care for having an airworthy airplane.
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So you're saying theres a monetary difference if Bob does the inspection and Jim does the repairs vs Jim doing the inspection and Bob doing the repairs, even though the shop charges the same other way?
 
hindsight2020 said:
4450 flat-rate.... on a 4-banger twin?! Jesus Christ. 10AMUs in 13-month mx? Did you crash the thing or something?

And people have the nerve of wax poetic about Beech parts, and I own a Piper mind you!
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Ha ha, fair question!

Consider this my first “real” annual since buying the plane and it’s with a larger shop very experienced with Twincos, so they cleaned up a few things that were wrong or hadn’t been done on top of completing repairs.

For example, both props were safety-wired with the wrong gauge wire and one was missing required shims, there was no serialized inventory list of equipment for the plane, I had a cracked exhaust, both fuel strainers needed rebuilt, I had a vacuum pump die the morning I flew it to their shop, my 1000-hr gear AD was due and I wanted it done correctly (not pencil-whipped), the main gear side braces received their magnetic particle insp (also a 1000-hr AD...figured I’d get them set on the landing gear timing), 3 of 4 mags were timed wrong, seal some holes in the firewall, change filters, etc.

The gear/side brace AD’s were $3k. So, getting these (annual and big ADs) out of the way now and hopefully follow on annuals will be more acceptable. My plan is to do every other annual as owner assist to offset the costs a little and help keep me in tune with plane, while also having a sharp set of eyes involved periodically.
 
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MauleSkinner said:
So you're saying theres a monetary difference if Bob does the inspection and Jim does the repairs vs Jim doing the inspection and Bob doing the repairs, even though the shop charges the same other way?
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I must have misunderstood the thrust of your post. I took it to mean you didn't care what it cost outright, as long as you could boast you had an airworthy airplane. Apologies if I misconstrued your argument.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Inspection: $1800
Additional labor to address discrepancies: $285
Parts: $1344.70
Shipping: $50
Tax: $94.13
Total: $3573.82
Click to expand...

Ha, it's always something! So, one of the bigger items in the parts list was having to replace the steering horn with an overhauled unit as it had too much play. And this jives as I've had a few nose wheel shimmies upon landing. So, he was running up the engine to do some taxi tests after putting in the new horn, and the engine suddenly went very rough. He started investigating, found the #2 spark plugs beat to hell, and pulled the cylinder. Intake valve head snapped off and was rattling around in the combustion chamber. Cylinder and piston head beat to hell. More to follow in an update to another thread...
 
This year the Venture cost me about $200.00. Oil, air filter, grease, and a new tach sensor.

The Grumman used to run me about $450.00 for an annual inspection.
 
Most recent Condition Inspection on my RV-4 was $0.00. My IA, whom I've used for 15 years and become good friends with, was retiring and moving away. He refused any payment as a gift to me. Great guy. I'm going to miss him.
 
$300 to the A&P/IA
$650 for new engine compartment hoses
a couple hundred in SCAT tubes, fluids, lubricants and filters.

Next year we'll be back under $500.
 
Owner assist
inspection-$400 and my guy will wrench for 4 hours if needed without charge.
Last 3 inspection, nothing found, nothing needed.
Only normal maintance items in that time period.
Unfortunately the next annual will probably have a radio and a vor repair scheduled at the same time.. One cylinder is getting long in the tooth too.
 
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2018 Annuals on my planes
J-3 $150
Cessna 140 $150
Pitts S1C $150
Cessna 172 $150
Breezy $150
Christen Eagle $150
I'm not usually lazy and help a bunch though. It is nice to have some good honest mechanics on the field.
 
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