Avionics News October 2015 - 33

Joe Braddock (center) receives the
2015 AEA Member of the Year award
from Paula Derks, AEA president, and
David Loso, AEA chairman.

Qualify your vendors. If you do not already have an ISO,
FAA- or EASA-approved procedure to qualify who your
vendors are, you should. Sure, filling out vendor questionnaires all day is nothing anyone wants to do. However,
anyone who cannot or does not want to fill out a vendor
questionnaire should be seen as a questionable source. Do
they have something to hide or are they just lazy? If that's
the case, then they might not be trustworthy either.
Ask for copies of paperwork before you make a purchase. Have you heard of the shop's name on the Form
8130? There are companies trying to make extraneous
certificates of conformance look like 8130 forms. Why
would someone do that unless they are trying to fool you
into thinking you are receiving something you are not?
Ask if they are an authorized dealer. Furthermore,
in reference to the shop question in No. 2, is the shop
that performed the inspection, repair or overhaul on the
unit even an authorized dealer for the OEM of the part?
Where did they get the technical data they used to test
the unit? Some guy selling a photocopy on eBay? Where
are they getting service parts to repair the unit if they
cannot get them directly from the OEM? The electronics
dealer at the local flea market? If you think eBay and the
flea market are a stretch, then think again. We have seen
it firsthand.
Look for and verify. Does the vendor have any references or any way to get a little more information about them?
It is difficult to believe these days that anyone would not
have some sort of Internet or social media presence. Furthermore, how can a company be savvy and up-to-date
in the industry if it does not even belong to any trade associations like the Aircraft Electronics Association, the
National Business Aviation Association or the Helicopter
Association International?

Ask about warranty and support. What if an issue arises
with your purchase? Do you have any sort of confidence
that the bottom-dollar vendor is going to handle anything
for you once they have your money? Most will not. If the
vendor is not also a certified repair station, in most cases,
they will wash their hands of any warranty issues and tell
you to contact the shop whose 8130 is on the unit. Some
vendors could care less if something works or not as long
as it has a piece of paper with it. Uncertified, unassociated
and unapproved vendors know ultimately that the burden
of true airworthiness and applicability of parts falls on the
last certifying agency, which, in most cases, is an FAA
CRS. Vendors with no affiliation with air agencies or recognized associations use this fact to their advantage. It's
simple; less liability for them means less cost to them, as
well. Bottom line: It's your problem once you've bought it.

Old clichés such as "you get what you pay for" never seem
to go away. We learn lessons in our daily lives when we go for
the lowest price option only to regret that decision. However,
as mentioned, in aviation, it goes further than that when we roll
safety into the equation.
Do you trust that cheap part bargain for the safety of others?
Do you really want to find out what might happen as a result?
Your best bet is to find vendors who have proven track records of trustworthiness, reliability and integrity. Plus, it's fairly simple to verify if someone is ripping you off, because you
can find just about anything on the Internet these days. Just do
a search for a part number, and you are bound to find websites
with prices.
There's no doubt that price sells and everyone likes to get a
good deal; everyone wants to save as much money as possible.
But at what price are you willing to pay less to not only get less
but increase your risk factors, as well? q
avionics news

october

2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News October 2015