How much mechanical ability is required?

Pondering the purchase of an RV-9A or RV-6A ... but I have absolutely zero mechanical ability. Is it practical, or wise, to trust the upkeep of an RV to an A&P? Or, realistically, is some mechanical ability required to own an operate an RV efficiently? Any suggestions for A&P's in the SoCal area?

If you bought a certified aircraft, you'd be trusting the upkeep to an A&P. No reason that you can't do the same with an experimental.

No matter what, you'll have to learn your way around the airplane, understand the systems and their maintenance schedules, and learn to supervise your shop. Common sense items, like getting a written estimate before authorizing work.

It's best to find a shop that allows owner-assist and will teach you do do basic work like your own oil changes. That will save you money and also put you better in touch with your engine.

Even reputable shops take longer and cost more than you would like. It's part of being an aircraft owner.

Preferably find the shop on your home field, unless it's awful. Otherwise you'll be shuttling your plane to another field, Ubering home, Ubering back a few weeks later, discovering during preflight that something wasn't done right, Ubering home again, and then Ubering back to try again.

David

How much mechanical ability do you need to take care of your car? Ans: none.

In general, the accepted purpose of experimental planes is to be able to do stuff yourself. If youre not going to do that, then any airplane is just an object, and the A&P you choose should have experience in working on said type. Not that you have to, but as with cars, that makes cost effective sense.

Just my personal opinion, but if you know nothing about mechanical stuff and dont care to know, I dont think buying someone elses experimental is a good move - you have no idea what quality youre looking at, but with certified you do. All thats pretty is not a peach.

It will cost you a lot more $ by having to hire out all of the work and finding a good A&P that has time for you is problematic right now.

Airplanes are mechanical beasts. Not having a good/basic mechanical understanding of things makes it more difficult and expensive simply from an operational point of view. It will also be more difficult to provide good information to your mechanic for troubleshooting and repairs. And, I would argue that you are a less-safe pilot w/o a basic understanding.

All of the above could be said about a certificated airplane however. If you want to fly and be an owner I'd say "go for it", and keep developing your skills and knowledge. Including in the mechanical realm.

Some are confusing what I?ve said. I have no mechanical ABILITY which is different than no mechanical KNOWLEDGE.

I can explain systems and study how something should work with excellent understanding. Just don?t ask me to build it or repair it with tools. ;-)

SPX said:

Pondering the purchase of an RV-9A or RV-6A ... but I have absolutely zero mechanical ability. Is it practical, or wise, to trust the upkeep of an RV to an A&P? Or, realistically, is some mechanical ability required to own an operate an RV efficiently? Any suggestions for A&P's in the SoCal area?

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Before reaching a resolution to your question, the best course of action would be to research A&Ps in your area to see if you can locate a technician that is familiar with RVs and wants to work on them. If so it is just a matter of $$$$ similar to keeping a certificated aircraft in service. If a suitable A&P can't be secured then you may be spending too much money and more critically compromising safety by having someone not familiar with RVs working on your aircraft.

Do the homework first, then decide whether or not an RV is for you.

SPX said:

Pondering the purchase of an RV-9A or RV-6A ... but I have absolutely zero mechanical ability. Is it practical, or wise, to trust the upkeep of an RV to an A&P? Or, realistically, is some mechanical ability required to own an operate an RV efficiently? Any suggestions for A&P's in the SoCal area?

Click to expand...

AFTER I purchased my 7a, I paid an A&P to change the oil once, $300+. They then said they would teach me how to do it and safety wire everything. Now I can change the oil /filter in about 45-60 min ($100). Brake pads in 30-45. They have also helped me with pulling prop, replacing Alternator, rebuilding a cracked baffle, riveting, etc... I have had other help with some electric issues, and every time I just think I could be paying somebody to do this but I wouldn't know my plane near as well as I should. I have much more confidence in flying across the country with my toolkit and being prepared to fix something.

Mechanic

By admitting you have ?no mechanical ability ? you
Are already ahead of the game. The other end is
Person who says he or she invented the wright flyer.
I say read up and ask questions and decide for
Yourself. I have testified in court for cases about aircraft
Mechanical failures and usually when the when the
Other sides attorneys ask me if I am an ?expert witness?
I say ?no?. Then they ask ?why?? That?s when I say
? Because most experts... are the stupidest people
You ever meet?.
That being said, don?t listen to the experts and the
Worst that can happen is that you spend some money,
Get an education and sell it with a great tale for cocktail
Party?s!

SPX said:

Some are confusing what I?ve said. I have no mechanical ABILITY which is different than no mechanical KNOWLEDGE.

I can explain systems and study how something should work with excellent understanding. Just don?t ask me to build it or repair it with tools. ;-)

Click to expand...

So to answer your question I would want to know if you would LIKE to gain the mechanical knowledge to do some of the work. Obviously we all have our limits on how much we are willing to undertake in maintaining our planes, but if you would LIKE to participate in maintenance then by all means dive in. You will be better off for it and have more confidence in the work you hire out.

-Marc

No mechanical ability

Well, if you are physically able, but just a little gun shy, i would say go to home depot on a saturday morning, build a bird house, log cabin, whatever, and after a few months you should have enough mechanical ability to do basic maintenance with the oversight of an A&P. If you are still scared, take a autoshop course at community college.
We are all born with no mechanical ability. But some of us learn earlier in life.

One thing, even with having someone else do the work - and especially then - is to learn how proper work should look. Things like safety wire being snug and going the right way, things not chafing on stuff, all that kind of thing. Sounds like this might be something you can do and might feel comfortable doing, and if so, then you'll at least know enough to make sure that whoever's working on it leaves you an airworthy airplane.

Dave