Looks like we have a lot of Robin fans here....!
Two of my personal friends are airplane Mechanics, one's has as AI rating, the other, who incidently looks after my Bonanza, a senior guy with 'The Worlds Favourite Airline'. Both have advised me of serious corrosion problems with Socata models (TB20 etc)
They also tell me of the problems they regularly have with Robins.
ManY parts on Robins are fiercely over complicated (read, very expensive) like brake discs for instance. You would expect to able to use standard cleveland or similar, but NO, you have to use a specific Robin part which is 5 times the price. However, that pails into insignificance if the company goes into liquidation, which they temporarily did a few months ago. I know of one individual whos Robin was in for its annual for more than three months because they just couldnt get any spares.
Further more, any aircraft that has to be hangered is a no-no for me. Have you tried getting hangar space in Surrey or Hampshire, and then theres the hangar rash etc.
Sorry you Robin fans out there, but the only thing your Robin does better than my F33A is that it burns less fuel. But if I power back to 45% I can still do 130 kts at 9 USG/Hr.
GG
