Columbia is a factory service center to Piper and Daher.





I bought a new piper at year end in 2013, and have had an exceptional experience with service. However I don't get my plane serviced at Piper, I get it serviced at Columbia and they do all the hand holding, shuttling, notifying, updates, suggestions, explaining etc... So I chock my great experience up to the service center as I have had no direct experience with Piper since purchasing.

Chip-

I cant speak to new airplane service but in my dealings with the Beech parts department they give excellent, prompt service and technical support. TCM tech support is excellent. Shadin and Hartzel service (Hartzell rep hung up on me instead of answering my tough question) suck.

My Mercedes dealer is under the impression that I am fortunate to own (owned is more accurate) their cars and therefore they owe me little to no service at all. I will never buy another Benz for this reason.

My first out-of-warranty fix on my BMW was $2500. There were a couple things wrong, but the biggie was a blown fuel injector. $1200 for R&R + part, and it was a "known issue".

GAMI, on the other hand, happily swapped fuel injectors, and it was a :30 minute swap.

Longish warranties and rapid turnover mask how expensive it is to get modern cars fixed. My airport car, an ancient Subaru, developed a couple of rust spots under some trim. Naturally, when I removed the trim, the rust was more extensive. Maybe a couple quarter's worth.

Local body shop wanted $1200 to fix it. The whole car wasn't worth $1200. No dickering. No interest in down gauging to a "hey, it's an old car" paint job or "do it when you have spare time" opening. All or nothing.

1 dremel tool + brass wheel, 1 hand sander, 1 set of "finishing sandpaper", 1 tube of JB Weld, 1 can of bondo, 1 rattle can of kinda-sorta-matching-but-not-really spray paint, and trip through the fastener section of Lowe's later, and it was fixed. Since I already owned some of that stuff, the total bill came to about $60 and an afternoon's time.

Best,
Rich

i hope you're not comparing an automotive high pressure electronic fuel pump injector assembly to an airplane fixed orifice injector, you lost me on that one

My point was cars can be wickedly expensive to fix once out of warranty. To fix one injector on my 335, they had to practically disassemble the whole engine.

This, by the way, on a car that is on it's 3rd high pressure fuel pump.

Best,
Rich

BMWs are terrible I don;t think I will ever own another one. Porsches are rock solid!

Michael,

I have a 740LD which is a great car. I have another company car that's a Series 5. Both have been stellar.

I've owned a number of 911's which were great cars but I talked my wife into a Cayenne and it was a maintenance nightmare. Now when my boys and I kid her about her Lexus she just says "at least it's not a Porsche".

I just bought a building next door to the MB dealer and their wash rack is across the alley from our back door so I think it may be time for a brand change...

Hopefully won't offend anyone, but I just can't get over that wierd looking panel. Would feel like I'm flying a Prius. How does a copilot fly?

This Cirrus service response is consistent with the fact that they are selling the "experience" and that focus is clear in all phases of their business. Impressive.

if you started flying in a 1960's 172 then the cirrus panel looks strange. If you came to flying later in life after owning several late model new cars then the cirrus looks normal

You can press a button and instantly duplicate the PFD on the copilot side.

Only works for the business use percentage.

Only works if there are substantial profits to set the depreciation against.

Mike C.

Most of the Cirrus owners I meet don't use their plane in business, or at least, not to 50% usage level which triggers making it a depreciable business asset that qualifies for bonus depreciation.

So, yes, I don't believe most Cirrus owners can take advantage of bonus depreciation.

Mike C.

I get the "placebo" effect of having a parachute, but considering most fatal accidents occur from CFIT or low altitude spins, it seems that Cirrus has received more ROI for perceived safety... than safety.

We just had the Fire Department show up for an incident where a King Air ran into a Citation while taxiing, one prop tried to saw off the wing while the other chewed off the horizontal stabilizer. The Fire Department showed up to monitor de-fueling, they were prepared for a fire. I wondered if they'd all be standing around a Cirrus in the same situation if they knew it had explosives on board!

The 100LL or the rocket? Just looking for clarity..