So we go from the topic being bankstown airport-desperately sad, to this?
I think some professionalism on all sides would be good.
All of this is counter productive and does nothing more than to build
Contempt and disdain.
Cleared, then go somewhere where they can give you better service,
Don't put up with it if this is truly your experience.
The general consensus is that part of the problem with increasing costs in GA is tied in to the sell off of all the secondary airports.
I know that a lot of maintenance bases struggle to come up with the monthly lease Fee that has been imposed onto them, as the new owners of the airports sell off what land they can, and open up the rest to commercial operators whom are able to cover their lease costs far easier.
The hourly rate has lagged and has not increased at the same rate as most other industries over the last 20 years.
Rarely do I see the actual hours recorded and billed to most jobs either, hours are always cut off the bill, although this is probably happening less as the remaining maintenance bases tighten up due to their overheads increasing at sometimes 10% a year.
The recognition that general aviation is a unique and valuable industry probably resonates little with government departments.
Maybe the answer from here on in is the creation of more private-aero club style aerodromes for the smaller end of GA.
The fact is that as the hourly rate for engineers has increased to become well over 50% of the charge out rate, then the overheads to soak up the remaining, there is little to attract people to enter the world of owning-running an aircraft maintenance business.
After all, by the time you have spent the average 10 years or so to gain your licenses and grow your experience base, are privileged enough to gain a CofA,
find a facility, tool up, manuals, insurance etc etc, you would fairly expect to be able to expect modest return commensurate with the qualifications, and risk.
But that does not happen.
For an industry that apparently is full of thieves and open cheque books, I fail to see engineers living the high life! Far far from it.
Your best bet to lower the cost of maintenance, is, for example, just a thought,
Find someone who has the land, the Will to open an air park not too far from the action. Create an aero club or syndicate, everyone chip in to build a hangar-maybe issue shares. Them employ an engineer or two.
That way all you pay is wage rate plus a few percent to cover other associated costs.
Air parks are nothing new. Just a thought. That might work for private owners,
Would that work for a training institute?