Aviation Law Essay Example

📌Category: Aviation, Law
📌Words: 1079
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 20 January 2022

Abstract

In the early days of aviation, maintenance was primarily performed by the owner of the airplane or by a roaming mechanic. Since no training was required, this led to many airplanes having technical problems during flight resulting in crashes. It took until the late 1940’s before there was an accepted licencing for aviation mechanics. Aviation maintenance is arguably the most important factor in owning an airplane and the international Civil Aviation Organization can be credited for the advances in maintenance requirements. Some of the required maintenance for modern aviation include annual inspections, 100 hour inspections as well as any required maintenance due to normal wear and tear or damage (Legal Information Institute). Most of these inspections and or maintenance require a certified A&P mechanic that knows how to properly fix the problem at hand. Maintenance for aircraft is not cheap, and for some, it can be more than what they had intended on spending. The question is, if the owner of the airplane does not pay his bill, can the maintenance shop keep the airplane until the bill is paid?

Aviation Law

In the scenario provided, you were the general manager of an FBO (Fixed Base Operator) that does aircraft maintenance. Since every aircraft requires an annual, one of the primary inspections that your FBO conducts is annual. In the scenario, a customer sent in his aircraft for an annual, and when you finished, you let him have the aircraft back with the intention of billing him later. When the customer saw the bill, he was surprised at how much the inspection cost and refused to pay the FBO for their services. Instead of flying the aircraft away from the airport, the owner left his airplane on the ramp, and you, being the general manager of the FBO, considered keeping his airplane locked up until the customer paid the bill. 

If you had decided to follow through with this, it would have ended up very poorly for the FBO. The legal term for this type of instance is an intentional tort called conversion, and it can lead to some interesting outcomes (Hamilton). If you perform debt collection the wrong way, in this instance, by locking up the customer's airplane, then the owner of the aircraft can either sue for money damages or a court order for payment of the fair market value of the aircraft. Under the money damages instance, the customer could state that he is losing a certain amount of money every day that he does not have possession of the aircraft resulting in the FBO paying for the potentially lost money. If the customer were to go down the court order for payment of the aircraft road, then the FBO would be forced to buy the aircraft for fair market value, which usually gives the person suing more money than the aircraft would be worth (Hamilton). Both instances leave the FBO at a loss.

On the other hand, the customer should have asked for an estimate of how much the service would cost. This would allow him to plan accordingly and not freak out when he is handed the bill. Even though the customer refused to pay the bill, the customer is not committing an intentional tort. The only actions that this opens the customer to are debt collection efforts. Many times this involves almost spam-like calls from the business that is requesting payment. In an effort to prevent spam calls, The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was put into place. This act makes it so that debt collectors can only call from the hours of 8:00 am to 9:00 pm. The FDCPA also makes it so that debt collectors cannot continuously call as well as restricts vulgar language and does not allow threats (What Happens). Although what the customer did is not good business practice, technically, what he did is not illegal. Eventually, he will have to pay the bill, and the FBO will be fully compensated. 

Instead of locking up the customer's aircraft, the FBO should have given the customer an estimate. Since the annual is a common inspection, aviation repair shops should have a pretty good idea as to how much the inspection would cost. If the person still went through with the inspection and went on to refuse to pay the bill, the FBO could place a lien on the person's aircraft if they were still in possession of the aircraft. Liens are allowed in most states and allow for the business to place a claim on a customer's property. Liens are used in many businesses and can be placed on cars, boats, airplanes, as well as houses. By placing a lien on the aircraft, it would give the FBO peace of mind that they would eventually get their money. Since the FBO let the customer have the aircraft, they gave up the right to place a lien on the aircraft.

If the FBO had decided not to sign off on the logbooks until the bill was paid, this would have also prevented the whole scenario from happening. According to FAR 91.407 says "no person may operate an aircraft after maintenance until it is approved for return to service by an authorized person and the maintenance record entry has been made . . . " (Getting Paid). Many shops around the U.S. utilize this strategy to ensure payment. 

In conclusion, locking up the aircraft after you have already given the aircraft away is not a great idea not only for the FBO in legal terms but in terms of reputation as well. In legal terms, items such as conversion or court order could occur, resulting in expensive lawyer fees and an unfavorable end to the situation. If a customer chooses not to pay for a service, it is best to start the debt collection process by calling them regularly as well as sending reminders. Eventually, if legal steps are required, it is best to consult a lawyer and possibly take the client to small claims court or sue in civil court. In the future, it would be wise of the FBO to sign off the logs after the bill was paid to prevent the customer from taking the aircraft. The other way to prevent a customer from not paying the bill would be to place a lien on the airplane. Both of the ways mentioned would be effective and would lead to the bill being paid eventually. Not acting on impulse is important, and researching if something is legal before doing it is important, especially when it comes to taking another person's property. 

References

Getting Paid: The protection of liens vs. unpaid bills. StackPath. (n.d.). https://www.aviationpros.com/home/article/10387582/getting-paid-the- protection-of-liens-vs-unpaid-bills. 

Hamilton, J. S., & Nilsson, S. (2020). Practical aviation & aerospace law. Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. 

Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). 14 CFR § 91.409 - Inspections. Legal Information Institute. Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.409. 

What happens when you don't pay a bill? Law Office of Paul Mankin, APC. (n.d.). Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://www.paulmankin.com/what- happens-when-you-don-t-pay-a-bill.

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