zyttocs

Hey guys. Oppinions.....

Pros and cons of using local maintenance facilities for citations out of warranty rather than ferrying to at Service center?

We have a very good local shop that has worked on pistons for a long time but started taking in King Airs a couple years ago. The owner went to Flight Safety for citations a year ago and is now taking care of a local CJ as well. Their quality of work has always been top notch and we're concidering giving them a chance to work on an Ultra we're getting ready to buy.

Anybody have any thoughts to share?

ockham

You already seem to trust the local shop. As long as they are willing to maintain current manuals for the aircraft, engines and avionics on your aircraft, I would give them a shot. I would also look for them to give you a better price since you are having a positive influence on their local base. Also someone else besides the owner needs to eventually get a shot at school, so as to keep the angle on your jets maintenance in a state of active debate rather than only one "expert". You can always change. The more dollars you keep in your local economy during these times the better.

BoilerUP

No reason to avoid taking work to a shop you know and trust.

A big benefit, IMO, to going to a Citation Service Center is turnaround time. Most small shops only have 1 maintenance shift and even larger shops (WestStar, for example) only have 2 shifts...and when the boss wants his plane back from maintenance yesterday, that third shift can really speed things along and make the Cessna shop rate premium well worth it.

When we had our 1983 C-II we did all our heavy maintenance (Phase 1-4/1-5 checks, fuel leaks, etc) at a Citation Service Center for this reason...but had our based FBO, who has a 145 certificate, do brakes/tires/all pop-up items. Their work was good, the price and convenience right, and they always appreciated our business (which Mother Cessna doesn't always appear to).

TedStryker

I agree wholeheartedly, based on my past experience with a 1981 Citation II. The local FBO's service manager attended Citation school and we were happy to have him perform a lot of minor maintenance (tire changes, a/c Freon troubleshooting, etc.) He was incredibly hard-working, willing to put in overtime, and his shop rate was very fair.

The areas where you will realize an advantage from visiting a manufacturer-approved or -operated facility are:

1) Parts availability: I had an audio panel fry itself on a Saturday afternoon flight back to home base. We were able to ferry the plane to the MKE service center on Sunday, have a replacement shipped counter-to-counter, and be fixed in time to fly another important trip again on Monday. Expensive yes, but it saved the day.

2) The simple ability to throw a lot of man-hours at your airplane, as BoilerUP mentioned. Local FBO's are generally great for line maintenance and squawks, but they simply can't compete on delivery dates with the service centers unless you are talking about the most minor phase inspection. Labor-intensive tasks like cockpit windshield replacements also come to mind as situations where several shifts are a life saver.

ANY MRO facility in this market is dying for your business. Like the rest of us, I think you will achieve the best results from a hybrid of local maintenance for minor issues and a full-time service center for heavier checks. However, a point to ponder: you should seriously consider a Cessna-approved facility instead of limiting your search simply to the Citation service centers. You'll often be able to get in quicker, particularly for drop-in maintenance, and they seem to fight a little harder to guarantee your satisfaction than the regular service centers.

For instance, our airplane had the Branson IGW mod which resulted in the Cessna-owned service centers declining to perform phase inspections on the aircraft. We ended up doing most of our subsequent maintenance with Premier Air Center (now West Star) and Elliott Aviation with great results from both organizations.

zyttocs

Thanks guys.....

The local shop we're concidering using has completed phase inspections on the one CJ they are currently servicing to include a phase 5 that he said he took his time doing (3weeks) because it was the first time he had done one.

They are also doing the work for about 30% less than the Cessna Center would have done it for.

The time thing may very well be an issue.

AtlCSIP

Tell him that the time is an issue and see if he can do anything about it. He may know someone he can bring in for short term contract work to guarantee a quicker turn around. Just a thought.