Sami,
Your best bet is to hang out at the airport and find out who others are
taking there aircraft to for repair and inspection.
Ask them who they take their aircraft to, what they had done, were they
satisfied? Pretty soon you will see a pattern emerge.
Don't despair if your first bill from a good mechanic is large. They
just found everything everybody else missed or overlooked. The bills
will get smaller and less frequent with time.

Michelle

O. Sami Saydjari wrote:

Michelle,

I would love to, but I have a career that takes 110% of my time.

I have a couple of good word of mouths referrals that I can try now.
I will gives those a shot.

What I would like to do is to hand them a test before they touch my
engine. If they pass it with flying colors, then they can touch my
engine. In medicine, there is something called the American Board of
Surgery that certifies doctors and gives them such a test. That is
why I always seek a "Board Certified" surgeon. It would be nice if it
were that easy for A&Ps. Alas, the world is messier.

By the way, what does it mean when an A&P shop calls themselves a
"Piper Service Center." Do they have to actually do anything or know
anything special, or can anyone pay some fee somewhere and get called
a "Piper Service Center"?

-Sami

Michelle P wrote:

Sami,
I found mine by becoming one.
The best way is word of mouth. Once you have found one, it is like
your hair dresser, doctor, etc. You hold on to them until one of you
is six feet under ;-)
Michelle

O. Sami Saydjari wrote:

OK, I have a controversial question. How does one find a good A&P
mechanic. I just bought a Piper Turbo Arrow III recently and I want
to find a mechanic in my area (Central Wisconsin) that I can trust
and is competent. I am interested in hearing about how folks find
the good A&Ps out there, other than by pure luck.

I have had a couple of disappointing experiences with A&Ps where
they missed some pretty significant problems. I found one through
word of mouth. The other, well, I found the closest Piper Service
Center near me (figuring that they had special knowledge and
expertise with Pipers -- turned out to not be so).

-Sami




--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity