Avionics News November 2012 - 30

HOUSE & HANGAR CALLS
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pitot/static, altimeter and transponder certifications, including Mode S and reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM). Yet, nowhere in the room are the ubiquitous yellow cases protecting the equipment necessary to perform these tests and calibrations. They are outside, packed neatly into a 2010 Scion xD, a compact five-door wagon, still a shiny Barcelona Red after more than 200,000 miles. Kostlevy started Plane Sense in 2006, with the idea of serving his customers by appointment at their home airports.

Almost elbow deep in the panel, Kostlevy disconnects the old encoder.

“That way the owner doesn’t need to take a day off work to fly somewhere to get these required certifications done, ya know, he can just leave his hangar open or whatever, and I can do them without interrupting what he’s doing.” Still, “a lot of them enjoy learning how the check is done and how their airplane works.” System checks are the majority of his work, and usually they are a day-long job, including travel time. In the Scion’s back seat are big yellow boxes of test equipment. There’s an Aeroflex ATC 600A with a Mode S unit for transponder/DME ramp tests, a Michael 2200 nav/comm test rig and a Laversab 6300 pitot/static test unit. He also
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averages at least one RVSM test a month. In the very back is a wheeled work cart with legs Kostlevy modified to fold so it will fit in the wagon. What space remains is filled with tools for everything from sheet metal to soldering, wire, connectors, pins, switches and loaner equipment. Most of it is legacy boxes, a KX-155 and a KX-170 and a selection of transponders. “Right now, I also have a Collins comm, and I usually have an altimeter and new encoder, so I can trade them out if I need to and keep my customers flying,” he said. Kostlevy sends the bad boxes to a trusted bench repairman in Michigan. Most of his customers fly piston singles, but a few have light twins, and one customer in Eau Claire, 145 miles to the west, has three Cessna Citations. Many of his customers are fixed base operators that do annual inspections and maintenance but not avionics. He covers the state, and “the farthest I’ve gone to do something was Rochester, Minn.,” home of the Mayo Clinic, roughly 240 miles to the west. Each year, Kostlevy adds 50,000 miles or more to the Scion, which gets 38 miles per gallon. Born and raised in Loyal, Wis., a town of 1,300 founded in 1870, and named for the patriotic pioneers who fought in the Civil War, Kostlevy worked as a welder and electrician for a year or two after high school. But, he figured aviation would be more interesting, so he moved to Janesville, 200 miles south, where he attended Blackhawk Technical College. He graduated from its A&P and avionics program in 1977. After working as a mechanic at Central Wisconsin Aviation in Mosinee for several years, he moved to Caroline and worked for nearly 30 years at Airtronics, an avionics shop at the Clintonville Municipal Airport, 11 miles south of his home, before taking a job with Jet Air in Green Bay in 2004. Starting his own avionics business was something he had always thought about, according to Kostlevy, and in 2006, “things at Jet Air were pretty slow at the time, so I thought, we’ll see how it goes, ya know.” When it comes to marketing his business, “I never got that far,” Kostlevy said. He does have a website at www. PlaneSenseAvionics.com, created and maintained by his son, Richard, but “I don’t advertise at all, and I didn’t know how it would go when I started doing this.” Most of his business comes through repeat customers and by word of mouth. “Yesterday, I had four people call who wanted static checks in various parts of the state.” In most cases, Kostlevy schedules out-and-back day trips because the appointments, like the stars, rarely align. When necessary, he

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Avionics News November 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News November 2012