Manifesto: A Revolutionary Approach to General Aviation Maintenance

Mike Busch is a prolific author in the subject area of aviation maintenance and has been contributing to the GA community since 1970. His mission: to bring GA maintenance kicking and screaming into the 21st Century is a reflection of his passion for aviation and his empathy for fellow airplane owners who are clawing their way up the learning curve. Busch’s opinions are sometimes controversial but always thoughtful. I plan to bring my paperback copy of Manifesto with me to the next OshKosh and gleefully stand in line for his autograph in it.

very informative, along with a good philosophy regarding maintenance issues

Excellent and well written - highly recommend for pilots who care for their aircraft.

Mike Busch is the best. His Manifesto book delves into the relationship between the aircraft owner (me) and his hired mechanic. What is necessary and what is not even though the mechanic wants me to do it and pay for it. What it means to be a Part 91 operator! Do you know?I am completely OK with doing any required maintenance but if it's just not required or even necessary because of the part condition I am not willing to pay for something that is just unnecessary.Mike talks extensively about maintenance issues and what you have to do and what you should only do based on inspection if necessary. Every aircraft owner should buy this book and read it.And Mike answers his emails!

This book/series is simple clear distilled wisdom every aircraft owner needs to read. Do yourself a favor and read ASAP, They will save you thousands of dollars and possibly your life. Thank you M Busch and hope to see more in the future. Happy Savvy client.

Owning an aircraft is expensive. Do you want to know how to make every dollar count? Read this book and follow the guidance.

Mike Busch’s book Manifesto offers compelling evidence, impeccable logic, and an elegant exposition that point to the need for meaningful change in the dreary and hideously expensive way in which we manage airplane maintenance in private aviation. He shows with hard statistics that time-based maintenance is often dangerous. New and rebuilt engines fail at a greater rate than do older engines. Problems arise most frequently after maintenance, not before. The book is indeed a manifesto in the best sense of the word. He advocates Owner-in-Command aircraft maintenance in parallel with the absolute authority enjoyed by Pilots-in-Command. A large fraction of light-airplane maintenance occurs in response to manufacturer set time limits, not in response to evidence of need. Both manufacturers and airplane repair shops are slaves to the potential liabilities perceived by ambulance chasers dancing in the wake of accidents. Mike proposes an ingenious solution to the problem: Let Owners-in-Command accept the responsibility and liability for maintenance of their airplanes exactly as they accept the responsibility as Pilot-in-Command for the safety of their passengers and airplanes in flight. If you own an airplane, buy a copy for yourself and one for your mechanic. Manifesto may well provide airplane owners the motivation and resolve to become Owners-in-Command.

Mike provides a short and powerful read on how GA aircraft ownership and maintenace can be aligned with big plane monitoring and using that data to shift decisions made from an analytical approach. The clear result is a safer plane with lower maintenace costs. As a aviation professional in regional jets and turboprops I fully endorse Mike’s Manifesto. He nailed it.

Very clearly structured, this book argues that too much maintenance causes more problems than it solves drawing on the historical and practical examples to make the case for reducing scheduled maintenance for many items.The book is written by an American primarily for an American audience, and inevitably there is a lot of discussion of local legal issues that is not hugely relevant in EASA-land. Neither are the parallel issues we have to face addressed. But the author's outlook isn't parochial: he devotes quite a lot of discussion to Waddington, a researcher in the RAF during the second world war, who greatly increased aircraft availability and reliability by reducing the amount of scheduled maintenance.There's enough discussion about the basic principles underlying his thesis to hold the attention of an European reader, my only real criticism being that the jump from theory to practice isn't well addressed. As the owner of a permit aircraft, I do have the right to design my own maintenance schedule. But what should I include in it? Perhaps that's simply too much to demand of a single book, and I understand that this is intended as the first of a series. Hopefully the later books will address the specifics.My only real criticism being that this book is a very thin volume and arguably a little pricey for its size. Hopefully the later installments will be better value for money.

This book should be compulsory reading for all aviation regulatory authorities and all engineers and engineering establishments. Particularly relevant to all light aircraft owners.

As an aircraft builder and now owner I have become a Mike Busch disciple after reading many of his articles and listening to his webinars. His experience and evidence based approach with a great way of explaining subjects is very educational. If you have followed Mike then this book doesn't have much new to offer as it is a collection of his articles and some might consider it expensive for the number of pages (101). However, and it is a big however, the great thing about this book is that it makes you reassess the maintenance of your pride and joy and could easily repay itself many times over in preventing possible issues due to "over maintenance".

A bit repetative but a must read for any plane owner.

good book with lots of novel ideas