My first Condition Inspection as a Purchaser

Hello all.

I purchased a -10 in April of 16. I have loved every minute of it.

But, I had my A&P friend (also an RV owner) help me with my annual inspection this month. I have heard folks say you don't really own it until after the first annual...that's when it becomes yours.

We gave it a great work over. Every inspection plate was removed. The seats and carpet came out. The wheel pants, engine cowling...etc.

We had the bore-scope out and checked all all the service bulletins. Plus compression, oil change, timing....

I downloaded an inspection check list and we went through ever single item.

Guess what !

After 100 hours of flight in the last 12 months and three 8+ hour days we found only one thing. The polarity on one of the cigarette adapters was reversed...that's it !

We changed the oil and plugs, made few baffling modifications to help out on CHT, and put it back together.

Cheapest annual I have ever had.

Welcome to the club! I am finishing up year 3 on my purchased -10. After the first annual, you know your bird pretty well. Each year will only get better. You will find yourself (at least I do) just replacing items (tires/tubes/battery/brake pads, etc...) in a proactive manner to stay ahead of the failure curve and still come out with the cheapest annual inspections ever! Hail to the mighty RV-10!!!

istrumit said:

Hello all.


But, I had my A&P friend (also an RV owner) help me with my annual inspection this month. ad.

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Just to be crystal clear: since you are not the builder with a repairman certificate, nor an A&P, you helped him do the condition inspection. Your A&P had to sign it off.

Indeed.

I took off plates. Put on plates. Handed tools etc...etc

Great way to learn your plane.

But he did all the real work and signed the paperwork.

istrumit said:

Indeed.

I took off plates. Put on plates. Handed tools etc...etc

Great way to learn your plane.

But he did all the real work and signed the paperwork.

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You could have done 100% of the real work-- the A&P just has to make the log entry.

Auburntsts said:

You could have done 100% of the real work-- the A&P just has to make the log entry.

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The AP is actiing just like an IA when inspecting an EAB aircraft, he is not allowed too delegate the inspection to a "helper" so he has to do quite a bit more than provide a signature.
He is also fully responsible for the "safe condition' of the aircraft (which is why I generally don't do "owner assisted" inspections).

istrumit said:

After 100 hours of flight in the last 12 months and three 8+ hour days we found only one thing. The polarity on one of the cigarette adapters was reversed...that's it !

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Not meaning to be critical but if you only found one discrepancy you're obviously not looking hard enough

I've never done an inspection and only found one item, even on airplanes I've done multiple times.

Condition inspection

Awesome. Disregard all the negative comments. You, like most of the rest of us are learning about and enjoying your plane. I had a $12k annual once on a Debonair. Makes no difference if we (my A&p and IA supervising me) find one thing or ten, we (RV owners) enjoy great airplanes and experiences for a reasonable cost.

Congratulations on your new plane!

Walt said:

The AP is actiing just like an IA when inspecting an EAB aircraft, he is not allowed too delegate the inspection to a "helper" so he has to do quite a bit more than provide a signature.
He is also fully responsible for the "safe condition' of the aircraft (which is why I generally don't do "owner assisted" inspections).

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Reread my post. I didn't say anything about delegating the inspection although I can see I should have elaborated on the log entry comment as the A&P obviously does more than just make a log entry. However the wrench turning most certainly can be done by the owner-- happens all the time with owner assisted condition and annual inspections and post inspection repairs.

WOW! that's a pretty simple wire hook up, are the wires color coded or all white? One reason I went with standardized power and ground color codes. glad you found it!

I maybe biased but I have to agree with my brother on this one - unless were just talking semantics of a discrepancy.

Without exception, I have found fasteners that need to be re-tightened every year. It may just be a 1/4 or a 1/2 a turn but it always amazes me the number of nuts that need to tightened just a bit. (and I am always doing maintenance throughout the year too)

Of course, the only way to find these is to put a wrench on EVERY nut/bolt and screw that you can find.

If you want to count things that needed tightened. Oiled. Re-gapped. Cleaned. Anti-corrosion sprayed. Re-filled. Adjusted. etc. then the list is long...but, since those are all simple and expected, I did not include them.

For me, I am thinking anything that needed to be replaced or rebuilt...the bad news kinds of stuff that grounds you and costs $$$.

There was non of that....It went really smoothly and I feel like its in much better shape now having been thoroughly gone over.

Exactly ! Very simple. I kept blowing out iPhone chargers and decided to measure that port...found it was reversed...and its a big job getting to it (its inside the center console, so the chairs and the console have to come out).