Extending annual signoff?

Tom-D said:
This is a prime example of What I feel is very poor maintenance practices.
when a fuel leak is properly repaired it does not leak again.
brakes are tested from both sides prior to being released for flight.
and there are test sets for all indicators, specially the air speed. this could have caused an accident on a test flight. A simple pitot-static system check would have caught this.
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FTFY

But, agree. That thing sat for 6 years. It needed more than an annual.
 
GlennAB1 said:
That thing sat for 6 years. It needed more than an annual.
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Yeap. Project plane. Thanks for recognizing that. I fully expected to be pushing the plane back into the hangar so no surprises there or anger at my mechanic. It was his test pilot. So far I've been for the most part pleasantly surprised. The fuel leaks were multiple, first some fittings that needed to be tightened then after some flying a bladder started to leak a little.
 
weirdjim said:
I would beg of my colleagues one unconfusion factor when we read these things.

1. It is true that an Inspection Authorization is only given to a current Airframe and Powerplant mechanic.

2. A mechanic may not sign off an annual.

3. An inspector may not repair an airplane.

When the A&P/IA signs off on an annual, (s)he is doing it as an INSPECTOR.

When the A&P/IA repairs an airplane (s)he is doing it as a MECHANIC.

Not all A&Ps are IAs. All IAs are A&Ps.

When you are referring to the mechanic as signing off the annual, it gives at least me the heeby-jeebies that some A&P is signing off that which (s)he can't. When it refers to the fellow that signed off the annual doing the repairs it doesn't much bother me.

And yes, an IA can sign off as inspected the work (s)he did as a mechanic.

I know Tom has done this a hundred times, but after 40 years as an A&P and 20+ years as an IA, I finally signed a 337 (Major Repair/Alteration) on which I played ALL 3 parts ... an aviation hat trick, as it were.

I entered it as the owner of the airplane, signed the installation of an ADSB as the mechanic, then approved my own work as the IA. It seemed kind of funny, but them's the rules.

Jim
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That's the sad part part Jim, we work with out a safety net of a QA department, we must be perfect every time or pay the price.
I built the Fairchild from bare steel fuselage out for over 11 years, I had every system apart, and back together again, built many new parts from scratch. the return to service entry was 5 pages long, every system had been tested, checked, and was known to work as it was designed.
It flew day one 4 hours with no discrepancies.
N2623V same - 2 years in work
N3934V same -2 years in work
N2801C Same- 6 months major repair & restoration
N6988S Same - 1 year rebuild from salvage.

The time an aircraft is most vulnerable is after maintenance.
IMHO the most important phase of an Annual is the Pilots pre-flight inspection. We as mechanics work a dual roll when we do annuals, we both fix and inspect, we use all of our certificates "AP"xxxxxxx"IA".
To me, going flying with unresolved maintenance issues, unforgivable.
 
Tom-D said:
I just have a real hang up with that attitude.
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Their test pilot, don't care. It's is/was a project plane and I'm fully expecting additional problems to crop up. That wasn't my question.
 
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Tom-D said:
Yes they can. there is nothing saying there can't be more than one annual inspection per year/month/week.

and there is nothing saying how long an annual must take.

But I really don't see why the first annual isn't good enough.

the proper way to have done this is a ferry permit for a test flight.
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Nothing says how long it takes but there is plenty of guidance on what must be done. The only way to issue a new annual inspection logbook entry is to complete a new annual inspection. If the repair work completed meets the full scope of an annual inspection then it would be fine to sign off again. Otherwise they would have to complete the annual.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Nothing says how long it takes but there is plenty of guidance on what must be done. The only way to issue a new annual inspection logbook entry is to complete a new annual inspection. If the repair work completed meets the full scope of an annual inspection then it would be fine to sign off again. Otherwise they would have to complete the annual.
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As long as the required items on FAR 43-D were completed in a timely manor I see no problem. It really is up to the IA.
For example:
If I had tested the fabric a month ago, I don't believe I'd test it again, If I had seen the brake pucks month ago, I'd probably not have them pulled again.

Common sense goes a long way here.

Had I seen a fuel leak, I'd certainly want to know how it was repaired and would investigate if it still was leaking.
 
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Tom-D said:
As long as the required items on FAR 43-D were completed in a timely manor I see no problem. It really is up to the IA.
For example:
If I had tested the fabric a month ago, I don't believe I'd test it again, If I had seen the brake pucks month ago, I'd probably not have them pulled again.

Common sense goes a long way here.

Had I seen a fuel leak, I'd certainly want to know how it was repaired and would investigate if it still was leaking.
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Having caught up on this thread I believe the question should be why the aircraft was returned to service. Sounds like a lot of issues for there to have been a return to service.
 
Jeff K said:
Which is fine, but it wasn't my question. The fuel leak was discovered, fixed, but then started leaking again after the test flight. The brakes were on the passenger side. The airspeed indicator needed airspeed to test it.

I'm not mad at my shop nor was I looking for a critique of it.
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There's other ways to test a airspeed indicator.
 
Yep! Surgical tubing has many uses!
 
If the aircraft was out of annual for six years was the transponder check also not done? When ever I test transponders I also do a quick check of the airspeed indicator since the box is hooked up. Just saying.
 
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