That one Tuesday in June nearly made me quit the A&P world

I was doing a 100 hour on a 172 at a little FBO outside Tulsa and found a crack in the engine mount that was just about invisible, hidden under some grease and dirt. After I flagged it, the owner threw a fit and accused me of making it up to pad the bill, even though I showed him the dye check results. Has anyone else had a customer fight you over finding a real safety issue that could have killed them?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota41511d ago

The serial number on that Cessna 172 started with 172-6, which put it in a batch where I've seen three other cracked mounts over the years from that same era. What nobody's talking about is how those old factory welds on the 172 engine mounts from the late 1970s have a known issue with heat stress cracking near the lower left attach point, and the FAA even put out a service bulletin on it in 2012 that most private owners never hear about. When I showed the owner the dye check results, I also pulled up that bulletin on my phone and pointed to the exact diagram showing the crack location matched the bulletin's warning pattern. That shut him up pretty quick, because he couldn't argue with a government document targeting his specific plane's problem. Your boss at the FBO might want to keep a binder of those bulletins handy for exactly this kind of situation, because some owners won't believe a mechanic but they'll believe the FAA.

dakota41510d ago

Oh man, I feel that pain. I had a similar fight once where the owner was convinced I was trying to nickel and dime him until I pointed to the same FAA bulletin on my phone. Having that document ready is what finally made him stop arguing and actually look at the crack.

rubyk2611d ago

Did the owner actually look at the dye check results you showed him, or did he just stomp off without really seeing it? I've run into similar where people get defensive because they don't want to believe something bad is happening with their plane... it's easier to blame the mechanic than face reality. But a cracked engine mount is no joke, that's a crash waiting to happen if it lets go. What did your boss at the FBO end up saying about the whole thing?