SavvyMX

Concierge aircraft maintenance management –our flagship service!

Z

Get full access to every service Savvy provides

Z

Add a dedicated A&P/IA account manager to your maintenance team

Z

Say goodbye to unnecessary work, expense, and stress

Aircraft maintenance can be too much for you to manage alone.

Whether you’re an experienced aircraft owner or new to ownership, maintenance can be overwhelming – From interpreting diagnostic information to troubleshooting elusive problems to finding the best aircraft maintenance service providers to keeping your airplane safe, reliable, and legal without breaking the bank.

You deserve a dedicated A&P/IA to advocate for you on all fronts

Eliminate the stress and hassle of managing your plane’s maintenance with our flagship plan SavvyMx.

Z

Enjoy concierge service with a dedicated A&P/IA account manager in your corner.

Z

Get recommendations on the best service providers and the shops to avoid. 

Z

We provide advice so you can confidently say “yes” to necessary maintenance tasks and “no” to unnecessary or excessive maintenance.

Z

We’ll communicate your wishes directly with shops so you don’t have to.

Z

Safeguard your wallet with our 3-Step Protocol (Estimate-Approve-Repair). We require your shop to provide detailed written estimates for each proposed maintenance task, make sure they’re fair and reasonable, and then authorize or decline the work according to your wishes. No more unpleasant surprises at invoice time!

Z

Eliminate miscommunication by requiring all significant communications between you, your shop, and Savvy to be in writing through our online ticket system.

Z

Preserve your plane’s resale value. We examine your maintenance logbook entries for completeness and accuracy and send them back to the shop for a do-over if we don’t like what we see.

Z

Get full access to the benefits of SavvyAnalysis – our software diagnostics and expert human analysis of your piston’s engine monitor data and borescope images for an unparalleled understanding of your plane’s health.

Z

Have peace of mind with 24/7 breakdown assistance when maintenance issues occur away from home.

In the market for a new (to you) plane?

Savvy Aviation provides two services for prospective airplane buyers who want to make sure they are getting a peach, not a lemon (a solid plane for a fair price): free buyer assistance and Savvy-managed prebuys.

How SavvyMx Works

Sign up for SavvyMx in three easy steps:

Enroll

Sign up for your account and provide your aircraft, payment, and additional information.

Pay a Fixed Annual Fee

Pay online and gain immediate support:

$899/year for Piston Singles,
$1199/year for Piston Twins.

Reap the benefits of our flagship concierge plan

Add one of our dedicated A&P/IA professionals with deep expertise in your aircraft make and model to your team.

FAQS

About SavvyMx

DO NOT EDIT
Why enroll in SavvyMx when I already have an excellent mechanic?

Simple – we improve the quality of your maintenance, while removing the hassle of managing it on your own, and very likely save you thousands each year.

We work seamlessly with top mechanics and shops, enhancing your aircraft’s care, and most of the love working with us. No single shop or one mechanic, no matter how skilled, can match the experience and expertise of Savvy’s technical team. 

Some mechanics might have initial doubts, which is understandable. Yet, after experiencing Savvy’s professional maintenance management, most become enthusiastic supporters. We collaborate with leading GA shops and technicians, and they appreciate our caliber in troubleshooting and decision-making assistance. It’s like seeking a second opinion from a trusted expert when your doctor recommends surgery – good professionals encourage it.

Picture this: You’re faced with an aircraft issue far from home. Instead of dealing with unfamiliar shops, you call your Savvy account manager, and we handle it all. Proper diagnosis, cost-efficient repairs, and fair charges – we’ve got it covered, giving you priceless peace of mind.

Should I wait until my next annual inspection to sign up?

Signing up with Savvy well in advance of your annual inspection ensures we can provide you with the best service possible. We need several months to properly prepare, review logbooks, select service centers, and conduct the necessary due diligence for your inspection.

Furthermore, joining now offers you more than just annual inspection benefits. With SavvyMx, you gain access to our 24/7 breakdown assistance, engine data analysis, and dedicated account manager ready to assist with it all. Our clients find this support as invaluable – it’s not just about saving money during inspections; it’s about the reliable help we offer when you need it most.

Should I wait until my airplane warranty expires to sign up for SavvyMx?

We suggest you don’t wait, for three reasons:

  1. The vast majority of your maintenance expenses are not covered by warranty. Warranty doesn’t cover the annual inspection (or other inspections), nor does it cover maintenance of wear-and-tear items like tires, wheels and brakes. We have many clients with aircraft under warranty, and we routinely save them thousands of dollars annually on their maintenance costs.
  2. When we manage the maintenance of an aircraft under warranty, one of our priorities is to make sure that everything that can possibly be covered under warranty will be covered under warranty. We pursue warranty claims aggressively, and our success rate in obtaining warranty consideration even in difficult cases has been sensational.
  3. Whether under warranty or not, an aircraft owner’s biggest maintenance nightmare is when you find yourself stuck (AOG) away from home with a mechanical problem. That’s when being a Savvy client can be priceless.

Most of these reasons also apply to aircraft that are under a factory pre-paid maintenance program (like Cirrus CMX).

Does SavvyMx manage prebuys?

Absolutely! Savvy-managed prebuy examinations are one of the many services included in SavvyMx.

Does SavvyMx manage aircraft upgrades or aircraft restorations (e.g. avionics, paint, interior…)?

Savvy Aviation manages upgrade projects and restoration of gear-up landing damage, prop strikes, and other accidental damage covered by insurance; however, major upgrades and significant repairs or alterations fall outside the scope of your fixed annual SavvyMx fee. For overseeing these projects, we apply a reasonable supplemental flat-rate fee that varies with the scope of work, but it is typically around 50% of the basic annual subscription fee. For most upgrade projects, our management fee is lower than the sales tax associated with the project. Additionally, our goal is to save you significantly more money through reduced parts and labor costs than what we charge for project management. Specifically for avionics upgrades, our services include evaluating and recommending avionics shops, obtaining and assessing competitive bids, aiding in panel layout design, and overseeing all phases of the upgrade process. Our team includes experts in avionics and autopilot systems, ensuring comprehensive support in these areas.

Does SavvyMx manage maintenance of Part 135 aircraft, multi-engine turbine planes, or aircraft over 12,500 pounds MGTOW?

No, we don’t. The maintenance of aircraft in these three categories fall under a different set of FAA regulations that severely limit Savvy’s ability to depart from the manufacturer’s maintenance program. It is difficult for us to “earn our fee” for such aircraft, so we stay away from them.However, such aircraft ARE eligible for SavvyQA.

Does SavvyMx manage maintenance of airplanes that require 100-hour inspections because they are used to carry passengers for hire to to give flight instruction for hire?
Yes, but at a higher fee. Savvy’s flat-rate annual management fee structure is calibrated for owner-flown aircraft that undergo only one annual inspection per year. Aircraft used in commercial operations that require 100-hour inspections under FAR 91.409 typically require multiple inspections per year, which requires us to impose a surcharge based on how much the aircraft flies and how many additional inspections are required. If you would like to discuss your aircraft’s particular situation to determine how much the program would cost, please contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
Does SavvyMx work with aircraft based outside of the US?
Absolutely. We have managed the maintenance of aircraft located in United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Canada. Some of these aircraft are N-registered, others are registered with the local Civil Aviation Authority. Some are under full-service SavvyMx management, but most owners opt for SavvyQA consulting where the owner handles the interface with the maintenance providers.

We have much more regulatory latitude—and much more influence on your maintenance outcomes—if the aircraft is N-registered and its maintenance falls under the U.S. FARs. Most other national CAAs are much more restrictive in their maintenance regulations in ways that significantly restrict our radius of action. In our experience, it is highly beneficial for owners to maintain their aircraft in N-registry (typically by maintaining ownership of the aircraft in a U.S. entity) where that can be done legally. We have assisted some of our clients to establish U.S. entities for this purpose so that their overseas-based aircraft could be maintained in N-registry and maintained under FAA regulations.

To provide full-service management, we require that the aircraft be maintained in shops staffed by mechanics who can communicate with us fluently in English via our online ticket system. In situations where this is not practical, we typically recommend our SavvyQA consulting and have the owner interface with the shop.

Does SavvyMx manage maintenance for homebuilts, kitplanes, warbirds, or other aircraft in the experimental category?

Yes, we do, particularly those that use certificated engines (or clones thereof) like Van’s RV-series aircraft. However, for most owners of experimentals, our SavvyQA consulting program is a better fit, so that’s what we generally recommend.

If you would like to discuss the possibility of placing your experimental amateur-built aircraft under the SavvyMx program, please contact us and we’ll be glad to consider your aircraft on a case-by-case basis.

Does SavvyMx manage the maintenance of antique, classic or contemporary aircraft?

It depends on the make and model involved. We evaluate older aircraft on a case-by-case basis, to determine whether or not we feel the aircraft still has reasonable factory support and parts availability. For example, we will accept 50s- and 60s-vintage Bonanzas or Cessnas or Pipers because those aircraft are still well-supported by the manufacturer and most parts are still readily available. When in doubt, please contact us for a determination before you sign up.

Aircraft that don’t qualify for SavvyMx are still eligible for SavvyQA.

Why are SavvyMx clients required to add Savvy Aviation as an additional insured to their aircraft liability insurance policy?
Given the extremely litigious nature of today’s aviation maintenance environment, Savvy has to be very careful with respect to protection from liability. Savvy carries its own $5 million comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance. Savvy’s service agreement with its clients also includes a mutual hold-harmless clause.

In addition, Savvy also requires that every client add Savvy as an “additional insured” (AI) to their aircraft liability policy each aircraft under management. We require this for two reasons:

In the event that the client is sued and Savvy is named as a co-defendant, we want to be sure that the client’s insurer provides a common defense for both the client and Savvy. The defense can be common since the client and Savvy have signed a bilateral hold-harmless and consequently have coincident interests. Therefore, the incremental cost to the insurance company is negligible.

In the event that the client’s aircraft is damaged and the client makes an insurance claim to cover the cost of repairs, we want to minimize the likelihood that the client’s insurer will bring a subrogation action against Savvy to recover those costs.
Having Savvy added to the client’s aircraft liability policy as an AI accomplishes these objectives. In our experience, virtually every insurance company that insures GA aircraft is willing to do this. Most major GA underwriters do this at no additional premium, since underwriters realize that Savvy’s professional maintenance management actually lowers their risk of having a claim. (A few underwriters charge a small additional “nuisance fee.”)

Note that Savvy carries its own $5 million CGL policy which provides Savvy primary coverage in the event of a liability judgment, so the likelihood of any dilution of your liability coverage limits is extremely small. In fact, since Savvy’s founding in 2008, the company has never been sued and has never made an insurance claim.

Savvy’s requirement to be added to your aircraft insurance as an AI is really no different than when an aircraft owner takes flight training from BPPP or CPPP or FlightSafety or SimCom, and the training organization requires that it be added to the owner’s policy as an AI.

NOTE: The requirement that Savvy be added to the aircraft’s insurance as an AI applies only to aircraft enrolled in our full-service SavvyMx managed maintenance program. It does not apply to aircraft enrolled in our other plans.

How do I add Savvy Aviation to my insurance policy?
Call or email your insurance broker or agent and ask that Savvy be added to your aircraft liability policy as an “additional insured” (AI). Ask your broker or agent to obtain a “certificate of insurance” (COI) for:

Savvy Aviation, Inc.
30 N. Gould St., Ste 7491
Sheridan, WY 82801

Ask that the certificate either be emailed to operations@savvyaviation.com or snail-mailed to the Wyoming address above; we much prefer that it be emailed. We will need to have that COI in hand before we can start managing the maintenance of your aircraft.

NOTE: At present, every major GA underwriter is happy to add Savvy as an additional insured. Four notable exceptions are Aerospace Insurance Managers (AIM), its spinoff Acceleration Aviation Underwriters, W. Brown & Assoc., and Hallmark Financial Services. These four firms charge a ridiculous $250-$500 annual “nuisance fee” to add Savvy as an additional insured. So if you want to put your aircraft under SavvyMx management, you probably should avoid insuring with AIM, Acceleration, W. Brown and Hallmark (unless and until they eliminate this punitive fee).

IMPORTANT: If your broker is unfamiliar with Savvy, make sure to explain that Savvy is not a maintenance provider, and is in fact forbidden from performing maintenance on your aircraft by the terms of the Savvy service agreement. If your broker has any difficulty with this, please ask him or her to contact us and we’ll help get things straightened out.

I am a SavvyMx client, do I need to enroll in SavvyAnalysis?
SavvyAnalysis is included in your SavvyMx subscription at no additional cost. Your aircraft is automatically enrolled in SavvyAnalysis when you sign up for one of the other plans.

SavvyMx vs. SavvyQA

Which is right for you?

SavvyMx is full-service maintenance management. It provides you with a dedicated A&P/IA account manager who works directly with your shop and mechanics. Enjoy managing your aircraft’s maintenance on your own? Prefer to work directly with your shops and mechanics? If so, you might be a good fit for SavvyQA, our best-value plan for aircraft owners who want to tap impartial, expert advice — only when they need it.

As a SavvyQA client, you can upgrade to SavvyMx at any time, and will automatically receive pro-rata credit for any unused portion of your SavvyQA subscription fee.

Savvy Offers Four Annual Plans

Choose the Plan that’s Right for You

BEST VALUE

Monitor Your
Engine's Health

SavvyBasics

$99/yr

Access to engine data graphing platform

Unlimited uploads of engine monitor data
and borescope images

Breakdown assistance away from home 24/7/365

Access to engine data graphing platform

FEVA (failing exhaust value analytics) reports

Report Cards + Trend Reports

BEST VALUE

Experienced Analyst's
Interpretation of Your Plane's Data

SavvyAnalysis

$189/yr

Access to engine data graphing platform

Unlimited uploads of engine monitor data
and borescope images

Breakdown assistance away from home 24/7/365

Access to engine data graphing platform

FEVA (failing exhaust value analytics) reports

Report Cards + Trend Reports

Expert analysis of your engine data and borescope images

BEST VALUE

Expert A&P/IA Advice
When You Need It

SavvyQA

$449/yr

Access to engine data graphing platform

Unlimited uploads of engine monitor data
and borescope images

Breakdown assistance away from home 24/7/365

Access to engine data graphing platform

FEVA (failing exhaust value analytics) reports

Report Cards + Trend Reports

Expert analysis of your engine data and borescope images

Expert maintenance consulting with our A&P/IAs

Expert second opinions

Shop and supplier recommendations

Parts research and sourcing

Review of work orders and invoices

BEST VALUE

Full-Service
Maintenance Management

SavvyMx

$899/yr

Access to engine data graphing platform

Unlimited uploads of engine monitor data
and borescope images

Breakdown assistance away from home 24/7/365

Access to engine data graphing platform

FEVA (failing exhaust value analytics) reports

Report Cards + Trend Reports

Expert analysis of your engine data and borescope images

Expert maintenance consulting with our A&P/IAs

Expert second opinions

Shop and supplier recommendations

Parts research and sourcing

Review of work orders and invoices

Comprehensive maintenance management

Prebuy management nationwide (for buyers)

Dedicated A&P/IA account manager

We work directly with your shop and mechanics

The Savvy Platform

Visualize your Data Graphically.

The Savvy Platform transforms your data into easy-to-understand infographics. Upload, store, and view engine monitor data in graphical form to aid your analysis.

Organize and Annotate Your Borescope Images

Drag and drop your borescope images in The Savvy Platform, tag them by cylinder view, annotate them to indicate condition, then generate PDF reports that combine your images and annotations in an elegant report format.

Archive Flights with UNLIMITED Storage.

Never worry about losing essential flight metrics with unlimited uploads of engine monitor data. Every flight you upload has its data automatically scanned by our proprietary algorithm.

Access Anywhere

The user interface for The Savvy Platform is web-based, so it works with PCs, Macs, tablets, and mobile devices. You can access SavvyAnalysis from almost any device with Internet connectivity and a standard browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, etc.)

Free Guide

The Six Most Common Blunders Aircraft Owners Make Managing Their Aircraft Maintenance