Schiff Aviation Services

I own a 1978 Piper Warrior, which I keep at KWHP. Kevin has always come through for me. He's a competent, detailed and fair A&P.

With almost every repair, Kevin texted me pictures of the repair and parts he fabricated or replaced. If you're in the valley and own a piston aircraft, you can't go wrong with him.

Before my IFR checkride he helped to make sure all the ADs had been complied with, placards were in place, and that the aircraft was in tip-top shape. I'm also one of those last minute ADS-B installs, and I'm sure I was more of a pain in his ass than anything, but when I called him a week before 2020 I felt like he wanted to make sure I was ADS-B compliant more than me! He ended up fitting me in on the 30th, and I'm good to fly Jan 2020.

Keep in mind that as a PIC and aircraft owner, it's YOUR responsibility to make sure the aircraft is safe and airworthy, no one elses. But if you're in the market for a good mechanic, he'll make sure the wings stay on and the engine runs.

I am not sure why the previous reviewer had a negative experience. There are always two sides to every story so without knowing what happened it would not be fair to comment on his post. My experience was just the opposite. I took my plane to Kevin Schiff for an annual inspection and had an excellent experience. Kevin kept in constant contact with me for the scheduling and performed the work ahead of time. He is very thorough and takes the time to explain what is needed and why. I had to have a cylinder rebuilt and exchanged. The vendor he uses for this type of work had the cylinder rebuilt and back in one day. My plane was only down for three days even with this extensive type work. Kevin is fair in his prices and always available to answer questions. You can stop by his hangar anytime and he is more than happy to speak with you unless of course he is teaching a lesson (he is also a CFI) or doing a flight review. I highly recommend Schiff Aviation. He is a small one person operation so it stands to reason you must be patient and schedule routine maintenance or major work. I have seen that he will make every attempt to fit you into the schedule if it is an emergency repair or unanticipated repair such as a blown tire, faulty gear switch, etc. My experience has been Five Stars.

I needed an annual done on my plane, I contacted Schiff Aviation and Kevin said he could do it so I flew the plane to his service center before my annual expired. A couple of weeks later, he left a message saying that he was not going to work on the plane. He did not leave a reason and would not return my messages. By now my annual was expired. I called many times to no avail. I explored getting an FAA ferry permit to fly the plane to another mechanic, and left Kevin a message asking him to at least sign off on the permit since my annual had expired. He never answered his phone and never returned my calls. A few weeks later I got a call form the airport saying that Kevin had taken my plane and left it in transient parking, exposed to the elements and racking up daily parking fees. I called Kevin again, and received no response. He left me stranded knowing that my previous annual had expired and that I couldn't fly it anywhere else. After a very long delay, with my plane exposed to the elements, and without ever receiving another call, I took my plane to another mechanic. Kevin was not pleasant to work with and not communicative at all.