The new regional airport in Boise had a line of planes waiting for avionics checks that stretched past the fuel pumps.

I was there for a quick turnaround on a King Air's autopilot and the whole hangar was backed up because their main test set was down. The lead tech told me they've been waiting on a replacement part for three weeks. Are shops in other smaller cities seeing this kind of wait for basic test gear too?

3 comments

3 Comments

james_bell1mo ago

Yeah, the part about waiting two months for a simple card... a buddy at a shop in Bend had their main box for transponder checks go down. They found the bad module, but the maker said it was a 90 day lead time, minimum. They ended up buying a whole used tester from a closed shop just to pull the part, which cost them way more than the repair should have. It's not just the wait, it's the crazy workarounds you have to find.

christopherw341mo ago

Actually, that's the Boise Air Terminal (or Gowen Field if you're talking ANG). The new commercial airport has been there since the 80s. But your main point is dead on. The wait for test gear parts is everywhere now. Our shop in a similar sized market waited two months for a simple card for our nav tester. The supply chain for this specialized stuff is still a mess, and the manufacturers don't seem to be in any hurry.

caseythompson1mo ago

Got it, thanks for the correction on the airport name. Yeah, the wait times are just wild now. Two months for a card is crazy.