Did you know that the first airplane was invented in 1903? Ever since then, airplanes have become a very important part of our everyday lives. It’s hard to imagine a world without airplanes to carry cargo, transport people, and so on.
If you have an aircraft of your own, you might be wondering how you should choose aircraft maintenance services to keep your airplane in good shape. While this can be a tricky thing to decide, it becomes easier once you know what to look for. But where should you start?
Keep reading and learn more about it below.
Do Plenty of Research
The last thing you want to do is choose options for maintenance services at random. If you do that, you likely won’t be able to get the service you need for your airplane and you’ll just end up wasting a lot of money. This, of course, is not what anyone wants.
So, how can you make sure that you make the right choice? The first and most basic step is to make sure you do your research before choosing a certified aircraft maintenance service. Reading online reviews is a great way to do that.
Just about every company that has a website has at least a few reviews from customers who previously did business with that company. You can learn a lot from those reviews because they can tell you all about the pros and cons that the company has to offer.
For example, if you find an aircraft maintenance service that has a lot of reviews but most of them are negative, this is a sign that you should not choose that service.
This is because a service with many negative reviews clearly doesn’t care about the quality of work that it puts out or about satisfying its customers. Instead, such a service only cares about making money. On the other hand, if you find an aircraft maintenance service that boasts several positive reviews, then you might be on the right track.
The Details
When a service goes out of its way to go above and beyond for its customers and aircraft, this is a sign of a good service that wants to make sure its customers are satisfied. It is important to read some of the individual reviews as well so you can see exactly what the previous customers might be enthusing or complaining about.
For example, if the reviews complain that the service failed to maintain or repair their aircraft properly or that the service was far too overpriced, this is a bad sign. On the other hand, if you see reviews that love the quality of work that the service puts in as well as its efficiency, this, of course, is a very good sign.
These reviews can often tell you a lot of important information that you won’t even find on an aircraft maintenance service’s website. So, before you make any choices, make sure that you check out the customer review and what they have to say.
Make Sure the Service Covers Your Engine
There is nothing worse than going through all the trouble to find the right aircraft maintenance service, only to realize that the service can’t even work on your aircraft because the workers aren’t familiar with that type of engine.
This might seem like an uncommon problem, but it happens more often than you might expect. After all, there are so main aircraft engines out there and some are more common than others.
Whatever the case, it is important to note that just about every aircraft has a completely different engine inside it. This might not seem like too big of a deal, but if maintenance workers aren’t familiar with your aircraft’s type of engine, they won’t be able to help you.
For example, consider all the different engines that are out there.
Radical engines, turboprop engines, turbojet engines, and turboshaft engines are all different and unique. If you don’t know what kind of engine your plane has, it is important to find out right away. That way, you could start narrowing down your options as to what kind of aircraft maintenance service you could choose.
Often, such a service will list on its website what kind of airplane engines it is able to work with. If you don’t see your plane’s engine available, it is best to contact the company and ask if they are familiar with your type of engine. If so, you should also ask what kind of experience the workers have with your kind of engine.
What You Need to Know
If the workers have only worked on your kind of engine just once before rather than having years of experience, this is a sign that you should look elsewhere.
Of course, this can be a hard decision to make if you have a very unique or old-fashioned type of engine as there may not be many people out there that are familiar with it. But even so, it is still important to choose a service that has at least some experience working on your engine.
That way, the workers shouldn’t encounter any problems when maintaining or fixing the engine and you won’t have to worry about the quality of work. Besides that, previous experience and the ability to work on your engine is important in case your engine happens to need new replacement parts.
You might not need to replace engine parts very often, but once it is necessary, it usually is a life-or-death situation for your engine. If the service workers aren’t able to understand your engine or get it the parts it needs, this obviously isn’t going to work out well for your engine.
Again, to make sure that the service in question can handle your engine, it is best to call or email the service to ask some questions.
That way, you can know for sure without having to guess.
Check the Age and Experience of the Service
Before you choose any kind of service, it is first important to consider aircraft maintenance experience. There are many maintenance services out there and some have only been around for a year or two, while others have been around for several decades.
You might not think that the age of the service is important, but it certainly is, especially if you want to make sure that the service you get is high-quality, professional, and fast.
The age of the service often correlates with the experience of the service. If you find an aircraft maintenance service that has only been around for a year or two, then you can be sure that the service doesn’t yet have all that much hands-on experience. Without enough experience, there is no way that a service could maintain your aircraft as well as necessary.
This is not to mention that services that don’t have a lot of experience may encounter problems when trying to fix certain issues with the engine or the rest of the plane. Of course, no one wants to deal with an incompetent maintenance service. For that reason, you should avoid services and instead opt for services that have at least a few years of experience behind them.
A service with more than two or three years of experience is fine, but the more years the service has behind it, the better. There are some services that have several decades of experience. These services have so much real-world experience that they can tackle just about any aircraft problem you can think of.
What to Know
This is not to mention that a more experienced service will be faster and more efficient compared to a newer option that is still just learning the ropes. But how can you find out how many years an aircraft maintenance service has been around?
Usually, you can find this information right on the front page of the service’s website. Often, it will say it has been in business since a particular year. However, sometimes this is not the case.
In that case, you’ll have to do a bit more research on the service’s website. Most likely, the year in which the service got started will be available somewhere on the website. At the same time, it is important to make sure that the service in question, if it is older, is able to work on both older and modern aircraft.
Sometimes, some services that have been around for several decades may be somewhat stuck in the past and may not be too familiar with more modern engines and aircraft models. So, it is important to make sure that such a service is familiar with all sorts of aircraft no matter how old the aircraft might be.
Once you figure out how many years of experience the service has, it will be much easier to narrow down your choices and come to the choice that you think is best for you and your aircraft.
Don’t Forget About the Cost
The cost of the service, of course, is a very important factor to consider. Some people get so caught up in the details of the other factors that have been previously discussed that they end up forgetting all about the cost of the maintenance service. However, forgetting about the cost is a very bad idea.
If you end up going beyond your budget and spending more than you wanted, you may regret hiring an aircraft maintenance service in the first place. But how can you make sure that you hire an aircraft maintenance service that keeps you within your budget? In some cases, the service’s website will have a rough estimate for some of its services, although this isn’t very common.
More often than not, you will have to contact the service and ask about the pricing. In some cases, the service’s website may have an option for you to get a quote or an estimate for whatever service you need to have done. If this is not an option, you can always call or email the service to ask about the price.
What Else Should You Know?
It is important that you at least have an idea of how much the service will cost. The last thing you want to do is guess how much a particular service will cost you. It is important to find a service that can match your budget because otherwise, that service won’t be a sustainable option for you.
Keep in mind that the cost of the service often correlates with its quality. If the service seems unusually cheap, it might not be as high-quality as you think it is and it might instead just be trying to make a quick buck. On the other hand, more expensive options tend to have more advanced and detailed services.
However, you will find that most options with average prices should be able to do everything you need and in a high-quality fashion. Whatever the case, make sure you know all about the prices before you finally choose an aircraft maintenance service.
How to Choose Aircraft Maintenance Services
Learning how to choose aircraft maintenance services doesn’t have to be hard, but there are a few factors that you will need to keep in mind. For example, the cost, the years of experience, the quality of work, and the customer reviews are all very important.
To learn more about aircraft services, contact us here.
