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"Owner authorized maintenance"

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Dec 24, 2011
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Question for all.....do you do ANY authorized owner maintenance items on your aircraft?

I do, or did at least. Due to a disgruntled flying club member, who called the CLT FSDO and told them there was "unauthorized maintenance" and "auto parts store bolts" being used on our field (all BS)....we got a visit from the FAA at our monthly meeting. There are several AP/IA`s on our field, the whiney one included. He`s ticked that no one will use his services. This is due to the guy being an (insert fav derogatory term)....

Anyway, according to the FSDO guy, there are authorized owner maint items. Duh, we know that...... You must use approved parts, oils, greases, etc. Again, nothing new there professor......

Here`s where he stuck it to those of us who do our own (legal) maintenance....According to him, you must have the "same training and tools as an AP". ....huh?
-If you haven`t been "properly trained" to change your oil, "you can and will be violated"
- Your oil filter, wheel nuts, etc, have torque specs. You must use a torque wrench that has been calibrated, tagged, and have the paperwork on-site showing where it was done within the last 12 months or "you can and will be violated"
-you MUST have, in your possesion, at the worksite, a valid and complete parts manual and service manual or "you can and will be violated"....yep, even to just change oil...

Many more I`ve forgotten, probably several I didn`t even hear him say due to ignoring his presentation and listening to the growing calls to put him into an abandoned well nearby.....

Anyway, I guess until they quit "doing surveillance"(his words) on our grass field in the NC foothills, I`ll quit flying. I refuse to have the .gov stand over me due to a simple oil change. I`m a degreed mech engineer who`s built NASCAR late models for 34 years, making a living at it for 9yrs, even up to the old Winston Cup cars. I know how to pack wheel bearings. I don`t need an AP to show me how. I don`t agree with the "MIL_spec" grease requirements set by Piper on an airplane that operates in the southeast under 8500ft most of the time, but abide by it unwillingly. I`ve torqued enough spark plugs into aluminum heads that NO I don`t need to pay someone $50+/year to tell me my torque wrench is 1/4 ft-lb off at 30 ft-lb torque as if it actually meant anything in the real world.

Sorry for the rant guys...I guess the older I get, and given the current administration, the more I have a general disdain for anything related to the feds.

Anyway....anybody here do their own owner maintenance?
 
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