Customers of Top Gun Aviation (KSCK)

Fellow Bay area owners,

I visited Top Gun Aviation today, my closest Service Center. They offer a nice service to their Mooney owners where after the owner flys their plane in to SCK, Top Gun’s pilot returns with the owner to home base, and then flys the plane back to SCK for servicing.

Unfortunately they don’t offer that service to Cirrus owners yet because their pilot hasn’t been trained. Any thoughts on a bunch of us pooling to hire WA to provide a factory approved course to their pilot so we can improve the logistics?

-Curt

Fellow Bay area owners,

I visited Top Gun Aviation today, my closest Service Center. They offer a nice service to their Mooney owners where after the owner flys their plane in to SCK, Top Gun’s pilot returns with the owner to home base, and then flys the plane back to SCK for servicing.

Unfortunately they don’t offer that service to Cirrus owners yet because their pilot hasn’t been trained. Any thoughts on a bunch of us pooling to hire WA to provide a factory approved course to their pilot so we can improve the logistics?

-Curt

How about we pitch in and put presure on Cirrus to open a bay area service center!

How about we pitch in and put presure on Cirrus to open a bay area service center!
Actually, it’s just a matter of approaching a shop you like and suggesting to them that they should become a Cirrus service center (and telling them that you’ll use their service if they do).
It’s actually a decent deal for the shop (known in Duluth and elsewhere in Minnesota as “a pretty good deal”). Unlike other manufacturers (e. g. Cessna), Cirrus does not require their authorized service centers to purchase a minimum set of parts to be kept on hand, so there’s not a big cash outlay for the shop.

Cheers,

Roger

I have yet to find a shop in the bay area that is good enough to become a Cirrus center. Mike Busch and I have been talking about this for 6 months, and I’ve been doing some legwork interviewing shop owners and speaking to some of their customers.

I would love to get a Cirrus center at PAO, but Victor is overworked and therefore slow, Rossi is the same, and people have had issues with them, so I’m stuck flying 50 miles to SCK or MRY until we find someone we like.

If anyone has suggestions for a good penninsula area shop for me to interview, please let me know.

I have yet to find a shop in the bay area that is good enough to become a Cirrus center. Mike Busch and I have been talking about this for 6 months, and I’ve been doing some legwork interviewing shop owners and speaking to some of their customers.

I would love to get a Cirrus center at PAO, but Victor is overworked and therefore slow, Rossi is the same, and people have had issues with them, so I’m stuck flying 50 miles to SCK or MRY until we find someone we like.

If anyone has suggestions for a good penninsula area shop for me to interview, please let me know.

The hard part is to beat the service at top gun. You show up for a oil change, then go to lunch and when you get back it is done…Ed

Agree that Top Gun is great on service – and also that its location, in Stockton, is a PITA for most current (and future) Cirrus owners in the Bay Area, since they’re likely to be concentrated in SF, the Valley, Berkeley, Marin, etc.

The plan to train/certify a Top Gun pilot in Cirrus flying sounds therefore like a great solution – the flight to SCK is short and convenient, it’s driving back that’s a big headache. If I weren’t just now moving to DC, hey I’d pitch in!

I have yet to find a shop in the bay area that is good enough to become a Cirrus center. Mike Busch and I have been talking about this for 6 months, and I’ve been doing some legwork interviewing shop owners and speaking to some of their customers.

I would love to get a Cirrus center at PAO, but Victor is overworked and therefore slow, Rossi is the same, and people have had issues with them, so I’m stuck flying 50 miles to SCK or MRY until we find someone we like.

If anyone has suggestions for a good penninsula area shop for me to interview, please let me know.

As an alternative or in addition, we could give each other rides back and forth. Paul and I have done this already. Over time I’m sure everyone would both give and receive more or less equally.

If anyone has suggestions for a good penninsula area shop for me to interview, please let me know.

Tradewinds Aviation at RHV is planning to be a Cirrus Service center at the beginning of next year. They are in the process of buying SR20 & SR22 for their fractional ownership program in Feb '02. There are also going to offer training for Cirrus aircraft since they will need to train the 1/8 and 1/4 share owners of the two aircrafts.

check www.tradewindsaviation.com for more info.

-Marc

The hard part is to beat the service at top gun. You show up for a oil change, then go to lunch and when you get back it is done…Ed

Yah, it seemed from my visit there that not only are they good mechanics, but they have gone up a huge learning curve already on the SR’s (mostly on Robert’s plane, to hear them tell it!). Their large volume of Mooney business has them well oriented to owners of performance aircraft, and they were smart enough to see Mooney’s coming troubles and get into Cirrus for their future.

They had the usual complaints about getting mindshare at Cirrus. Cirrus reminds me alot of the high-tech startups I’ve been in, so I gave them advice on how to get attention from Cirrus. They shouldn’t say “We have this problem, how are you going to fix it” but “We have this idea about how you can let us solve these problems for you”. I suggested they get Cirrus to appoint them a “Platinum Service Center” and let them handle support of a network of regional service centers, taking the burden off of Cirrus.

But, in the meantime they seem like the best show in town, and getting there in the SR-22 doesn’t take any longer than getting from SQL to PAO by car. So, if we can figure out air taxi arrangements, I’ll be happy. Once the maintenance is off-field, it doesn’t matter where within 100 miles.

-Curt

Let me also put in a plug for Chuck & Larry at Del Monte down in MRY. They are good guys too.

Let me also put in a plug for Chuck & Larry at Del Monte down in MRY. They are good guys too.

Ditto…Ed

I’m sure they are very good also, but without an instrument rating, Monterey is off limits too much of the year under the stratus.

-Curt

As an alternative or in addition, we could give each other rides back and forth. Paul and I have done this already. Over time I’m sure everyone would both give and receive more or less equally.

Thanks for mentioning that. Yes, a number of folks have been very generous in ferrying me back and forth from Top Gun & Del Monte. I’m happy to return the favor to them and to anyone else who needs a lift when their plane goes into the shop.

Aircraft Ferry Karma is a good thing. :slight_smile: