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Maintenance Training

Aircraft Breakdown Assistance: Help Away From Home

If youre a member of Sportys new Breakdown Assistance Program (BAP), no matter what time of the day or night it is, you pull your membership card out of the glove box, call the phone number on it and provide your membership information. Within 15 minutes-current average wait time is five minutes-you'll get a call from a person who is an A&P and IA, is looking at the file on your airplane and will start the process of troubleshooting the problem and getting you on your way. From our perspective, its a 24/7 AAA service for general aviation.

Rick Durden
Verified

It’s the nightmare that too often becomes reality: You’ve stopped for inexpensive, self-serve fuel at Resume Speed, Indiana. You strap in for the remaining two-hour leg of the flight to your destination, twist the key to start, there’s a strange noise, the prop makes half a turn and everything goes silent. You try again—nothing. You’ve already noticed that the airport is deserted.

Now what?

Rick Durden

Senior Editor Rick Durden has written for Aviation Consumer since 1994 and specializes in aviation law. Rick is an active CFII and holds an ATP with type ratings in the Douglas DC-3 and Cessna Citation. He is the author of The Thinking Pilot’s Flight Manual or, How to Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vols. 1 & 2.