TALKING SHOP
During a recent conversation with Electroair’s Mike Kobylik, I was curious to hear his view of the typical maintenance shop, and how buyers might choose the right one to install an Electroair ignition. Electroair’s retrofit has become a popular and favorable upgrade across a wide market of piston singles and twins, and it has FAA engine and airframe blanket STC approval for replacing both traditional magnetos and associated accessories. Mike used a term that I hadn’t heard in a long time: tradecraft—and it partly has to do with the pride that techs have in their work. I’m a guy who started at the shop more than 30 years ago and quickly learned that finding a shop or mechanic that’s proud of the finished product is worth the hunt. Plus, good shops that are around forever are also the ones who simply care about the work they pump out. The right tradecraft isn’t limited to maintenance and avionics shops. It applies to overhaulers and OEMs.
No, you won’t find pride in workmanship at every shop and you’ve probably dealt with a shop or mechanic that fell short, but could have done better if he really stopped to think about how his work will be viewed by the aircraft’s owner—and by the next tech who works on the aircraft. Kobylik had some worthwhile words of advice on how you might choose and is pretty particular about who should or shouldn’t install his electronic ignition. Kobylik says the best way for any customer to choose a shop is to look at its completed work, while considering how the shop’s technicians might view their job. This is almost always obvious in the finished product—including critical tasks many aircraft owners never consider.