Boy, our planes are inexpensive!

Sam D

Pattern Altitude
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Sam D
Compared with this...

Friday is check signing day here at the office. Annual renewal for aircraft maintenance manual on CD ROM for the company plane: $9,625.

That would buy me a few annuals, with squawks, on the Lance.
 
Embraers are reaching 40k.

Unfortunately, copyright is not within the FAA's control, so the manufacturers have realized they can charge a fortune for manuals.
 
Hmmmm ... is it like the Jeppsen IFR charts, you get only those pages that were changed and the rest of the manual stays as is? Or is it a whole new manual?

Seems to me that a bright enterprising young lad might get the list of owners of that aircraft, get one legit copy of the renewals, type up the words without plagiarizing but with the same meaning, take whatever images are necessary, draw whatever charts/graphs/engineering drawings, and undercut the airframe folks by an order of magnitude or so.

Just thinkin' out loud ...

Jim
 
Repair stations pay a boatload for tooling, calibrations and techdata. Price a new muel or set of jacks for the next latest & greatest jet over 20k pounds empty...
 
Hmmmm ... is it like the Jeppsen IFR charts, you get only those pages that were changed and the rest of the manual stays as is? Or is it a whole new manual?

Seems to me that a bright enterprising young lad might get the list of owners of that aircraft, get one legit copy of the renewals, type up the words without plagiarizing but with the same meaning, take whatever images are necessary, draw whatever charts/graphs/engineering drawings, and undercut the airframe folks by an order of magnitude or so.

Just thinkin' out loud ...

Jim

You get a CD or a digital format of your choosing. My coworker just got one for a new business jet erroneously mailed to him. They will defend their copyrights with vigor.

Given the exposure to lawsuits and the amount of trouble you'd have to go to to make your own manual, the price is still going to be up there.
 
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What's a muel?

Jim

A typo for mule, otherwise known as a hydraulic test stand or hydraulic power cart. $$$$$ to buy the ones listed in aircraft maintenance manuals.


§145.109 Equipment, materials, and data requirements.

(a) Except as otherwise prescribed by the FAA, a certificated repair station must have the equipment, tools, and materials necessary to perform the maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations under its repair station certificate and operations specifications in accordance with part 43. The equipment, tools, and material must be located on the premises and under the repair station's control when the work is being done.
(b) A certificated repair station must ensure all test and inspection equipment and tools used to make airworthiness determinations on articles are calibrated to a standard acceptable to the FAA.
(c) The equipment, tools, and material must be those recommended by the manufacturer of the article or must be at least equivalent to those recommended by the manufacturer and acceptable to the FAA.
(d) A certificated repair station must maintain, in a format acceptable to the FAA, the documents and data required for the performance of maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations under its repair station certificate and operations specifications in accordance with part 43. The following documents and data must be current and accessible when the relevant work is being done:
(1) Airworthiness directives,
(2) Instructions for continued airworthiness,
(3) Maintenance manuals,
(4) Overhaul manuals,
(5) Standard practice manuals,
(6) Service bulletins, and
(7) Other applicable data acceptable to or approved by the FAA.
 
You get a CD or a digital format of your choosing. My coworker just got one for a new business jet erroneously mailed to him. They will defend their copyrights with vigor.

Given the exposure to lawsuits and the amount of trouble you'd have to go to to make your own manual, the price is still going to be up there.


Do the math. If the manual is ten grand and I can sell ten copies of my original work (only using the factory manual as a reference, all my own work) then I can afford to spend half a year in the production and make a hundred grand a year clear. Or sell the manual for only a grand and sell a hundred copies. Same same.

Look at the Chilton or Haynes auto fixit manuals. Don't you think Chevy and Ford would go after them? And why not? Because they are careful to NOT infringe on copyrighted material.

I tellya, there is money in this aviation game and it AIN'T fixin' CessMooBeePip airplanes.


Jim
 
A typo for mule, otherwise known as a hydraulic test stand or hydraulic power cart. $$$$$ to buy the ones listed in aircraft maintenance manuals.


Ah. Of course. Should have figured that out. The ones we used on the Baby Boeings also had an electrical output so that we could run the whole airplane on the ground without firing up the engines.

So why aren't folks buying pumps and valves from Northern Tool and building mules for sale for these pocket rockets?

Jim
 
Ah. Of course. Should have figured that out. The ones we used on the Baby Boeings also had an electrical output so that we could run the whole airplane on the ground without firing up the engines.

So why aren't folks buying pumps and valves from Northern Tool and building mules for sale for these pocket rockets?

Jim

I'm not that familiar with the VLJ market so can't really say. Most of the smaller Cessna Citation series use phosphate ester based hydraulic fluid tho. The 525 series all use a mineral oil based.

I don't believe most VLJs need a hydraulic mule as the brakes and gear are typically operated by electric/hydraulic power packs. Almost all Citations have a said power pack for brakes even if they have an engine driven pump for other hydraulics.
 
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The only two hydraulic fluids I'm used to working with are 5606 and Skydrol. The latter is nasty, horrible stuff to be around. Sit in it and it will turn you into a girl.

Our mules for the 737 had Skydrol, 400 Hz 3 phase AC, and 28 vdc outputs. THe airplane never knew that it didn't have an engine running.

Jim
 
Skydrol is a brand of phosphate ester hydraulic fluid.
 
The latter is nasty, horrible stuff to be around. Sit in it and it will turn you into a girl.

Had an instructor from school talk about how he was safety wiring something, and the end of the wire flicked a tiny pool of skydrol right into his eye.

The other guys grabbed a water hose and turned it on full blast at his face.
 
Hmmmm ... is it like the Jeppsen IFR charts, you get only those pages that were changed and the rest of the manual stays as is? Or is it a whole new manual?

Seems to me that a bright enterprising young lad might get the list of owners of that aircraft, get one legit copy of the renewals, type up the words without plagiarizing but with the same meaning, take whatever images are necessary, draw whatever charts/graphs/engineering drawings, and undercut the airframe folks by an order of magnitude or so.

Just thinkin' out loud ...

Jim

You get the whole manual on CD. You also get access to the online version which is what our guys use almost exclusively. Apparently we have to get the CD to get the online access. That one little disc costs us $900 in sales tax.
 
Do the math. If the manual is ten grand and I can sell ten copies of my original work (only using the factory manual as a reference, all my own work) then I can afford to spend half a year in the production and make a hundred grand a year clear. Or sell the manual for only a grand and sell a hundred copies. Same same.

Look at the Chilton or Haynes auto fixit manuals. Don't you think Chevy and Ford would go after them? And why not? Because they are careful to NOT infringe on copyrighted material.

I tellya, there is money in this aviation game and it AIN'T fixin' CessMooBeePip airplanes.


Jim

I am doing the math. I'm well aware of chilton and Haynes. Now count up the number of 2007 Ford F150s vs the number of 2007 GIVs. Now Factor in the difference in complexity of those two machines and the amount of liability should your manual deviate from the factory's in any way. Now hire your type setters and computer guys, figure out your distribution channel, stay on top of engineering changes between serial numbers etc... It's just not feasible and probably not even possible. Hint: a respectable part of my job is doing this for a living. I know what the sales figure are, what the profit margins are and what the bottom line is. The factories putting together these manuals already have 90% of the personnel on staff anyway and you'd be hiring them just for this purpose.
 
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