[CO_Skymaster]

I would like to extend a few comments and words of appreciation.

I am a new member to this board and I am a Skymaster owner. I bought my aircraft in March 07.

This site helped me track down electrical problems in my aircraft. My aircraft’s electrical system would trip offline some times; twice my battery drained completely causing my electrical system to shut down. It was taking a lot of time to track down the problem and I was ready to replace every electrical component I could find. After reading a post years ago about another Skymaster owner who had similar problems, I found the battery was very weak, it would start the airplane, but was not easy to charge once drained. I also opened the cowling, replace the voltage regulators, and cleaned all the connections. The electrical system is much more stable now, but after a lot of testing I determined that my rear alternator was broken.

Even though I have made progress on my Skymaster I have been frustrated because although the airframe and engines are in good shape, many small issue keep showing up. I knew I would have to have extra money for repairs that I couldn't find when I bought the aircraft. The first annual took care of all the repairs I could see. I flew from Colorado to California last Christmas, where a few more problem were shaken out.

The price of maintenance, cost of parts, and tracking down issues has been a problem, but my major frustration comes from the time it takes to get any repairs completed. I had to wait a month to get into the shop and now my annual is going into its seventh week. It had three fuel line that were starting to crack and the company they order from only ships once per month (waiting). They bought the new rear alternator, which worked fine on the bench and installed it in my aircraft, but when they took it out to start the engines and test it, it had a short that would not allow it to work on my engine. They had to get my old alternator core back to see if they could send that one out to be overhaul (more waiting). So in the shop it still sits and I am beyond anger and frustration because all the problems I had since I bought it where nothing catastrophic, but it has keep the aircraft grounded most of the time. It seem that quick service and good customer service just doesn’t exist when dealing with aircraft.

So I am at the point now where I am ready to cover it up, just forget it exists for awhile and go back to renting aircraft. At least if they have an issue, I can bring it back and forget about it.

All I can say it Argggghhhh!!!!

I think most of my bugs have been worked out, I just didn’t expect it to take so long.

Karl