Keeping older general aviation aircraft flying is becoming an increasingly difficult and expensive job as many professionals expect aircraft parts availability to get worse.
A new survey from TBX found that 66% of maintenance professionals expect the general aviation parts supply situation to deteriorate in the near future. The 2026 General Aviation Parts Survey collected responses from mechanics, shop owners, directors of maintenance and other aviation maintenance professionals.
The challenge is closely tied to the age of the GA fleet. The average certified piston aircraft is now 53 years old, meaning many shops are maintaining airplanes designed decades before today’s parts and supply-chain systems existed. As manufacturers discontinue products and suppliers consolidate or leave the market, finding replacement aircraft parts and the documentation needed to install them can become increasingly difficult.
Cost and availability were among the biggest concerns identified in the survey. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with aircraft parts pricing, while 59% were dissatisfied with lead times.
The problem also extends beyond simply waiting for parts to arrive. Maintenance professionals said they spend significant time tracking down part numbers, searching inventories, identifying alternatives and working through those options with aircraft owners.
Better access to technical information could help reduce some of that workload. Respondents identified easier access to illustrated parts catalogs, part numbers and other technical data as the change most likely to improve maintenance operations.
The parts mix also varies depending on the type of maintenance operation. Smaller shops reported relying on a wider range of sources, including OEM, PMA, salvage and owner-produced aircraft parts. Larger and turbine-focused operations tend to rely more heavily on OEM parts.
“This isn’t a problem any one part of the industry can solve alone,” said Airworthy.com CEO John McLaughlin. “But the people maintaining these aircraft every day are telling us very clearly where the friction is. Our goal with this survey was to put data behind those experiences and give manufacturers, suppliers and the broader GA community something concrete to work from.”
I feel very fortunate to own an Experimental class plane - which (so far) hasn’t faced the same challenges and expenses as many Certified planes.
Same here, flying a Pietenpol I built in my garage with a Corvair engine. The only aircraft parts in it are AN nuts and bolts and turnbuckles. The situation is a big plus for companies like Spirit Engineering with their very affordable SE-1.
The overwhelming cause of this problem is the FAA. If they were applied to the auto industry we would all be walking. It is not statistically possible to provide affordable FAA/PMA parts due to the enormous expense the FAA imposes. To make matters worse, they are a constant feature in every aircraft and part manufacturer and are unqualified as such and uncontrolled. They have no requirement to be an aeronautics, manufacturing, process, product etc; engineer with advanced degrees of any kind. They don’t know squat about materials, structural analysis or chemical properties of advanced coatings. An FAA agent can accept a manufacturers product, process and procedure for decades but when he retires, his replacement shuts down the company by disapproving an item, process or procedure previously deemed accepted. It is only logical therefore to conclude the FAA operates and is designed to eliminate the general aviation industry and by association, all its participants. This is the trend.
I would think that with the advancement of 3d printing machines, that this might be the ticket to keep the fleet up and running. As long as the parts are tested and or certified, i personally wouldn’t have an issue.
Amelia & Matt
Your article has to be some of the most amateurish garbage that I’ve seen in a long time. What does the age of the fleet have to do with it? Parts are simple and cheap and easy to produce. Let’s get to the real reason that they are ridiculously expensive, and it’s not primarily the FAA. Its the entry of venture capital and vulture bean counters into the industry; the conglomerates that are buying up the industry, eliminating competition and small operators, and pushing up prices by 30 or 40% at a time. You want to earn your keep for a change? Write an expose on TexTran, AVIC, Arcline, and the King of them all, TransDigm (now working hard to trash McFarlane and Tempest) plus at least 10 others. Take it down a notch in the feed chain, you just watched Aircraft Spruce buy out WagAero just to eliminate them, and in the process throw all their valuable PMAs and STCs in the trash, without you guys saying a word about it. Tell us all exactly what they are all doing and the horrible impact it has on our industry. Wait, you can’t do that can you? 1) Their advertising pays your salary 2) Your overlords that sign your checks (Firecrown Media) are in it too! They’re buying up all the aviation publications to make sure that no one actually publishes the truth that you so badly need to get out there. Ethics are a tough thing. We need journalists that have some. Go ahead and ban me now. I’m done with your BS.