Month: June 2018

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Today’s episode is about those times when you notice something on an airplane that doesn’t seem quite right, but you’re not sure what’s going on, and it might take some real digging to get to the bottom of the issue.

But before we dig into those stories, I want to acknowledge that I’m super grateful for my high school English teacher, Miss Vivian Beachy.  Her classes were not easy, but she really cared about her students, and we learned a lot of valuable skills.  She’s the one that sticks out in my mind as one of the best influencers on my current writing ability, and I use that ability often, to write discrepancy reports, and maintenance record entries.  So, thank you Miss Beachy!

Now for the stories in today’s episode:

Story #1 – A strange situation in the steering, rudder, and rudder trim system in a Piper Saratoga.  (I had never seen this happen in all my previous years of airplane maintenance.)

Story #2 – A strange clicking noise in a Beech Baron elevator control system.  There were two distinct clicks as the elevator was raised, and no clicks as it was lowered.  (Once again, I had never seen this exact issue before.)

Here is the area in the tail of the Baron where the issue was happening:

Watch this video and see if you can spot the problem:

And here’s a closer view:

Story #3 – A Beech Debonair with a gear door problem.  The right, outboard gear door was in a serious bind where it attaches to the gear leg.  It turns out there was a very good reason for this, even though it was very difficult to discover.

Listen to today’s episode to find the detailed descriptions and the solutions to all these issues.

Bottom line:  If it don’t seem right, it probably ain’t!  And, it’s worth the effort to figure out what’s going on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I’m back!  I know it’s been a while since I’ve produces a new episode for the podcast, and it’s good to be back.

Today, we are talking about an engine failure in a Piper Arrow, that caused an off-airport crash landing in a farm field.  Thankfully, in this case, no one was injured.

The reason for the power loss was really quite simple, and really important.  The throttle control rod end became disconnected from the throttle arm on the engine, leaving the pilot with no power control and the engine at or near idle power.  An emergency landing was inevitable.

Here’s a picture of the throttle control rod end:

After the crash landing in the field, the rod end was reattached and the engine ran just fine.

The sad part is, the airplane will possibly be totaled.  Here’s the recovered fuselage:

Thanks for listening today!

Please, go take a look at your engine controls whenever you have the cowling off, and see if any need attention.

Also, if you have not checked out the video course, “Safety Wire Like A Pro!” then I invite you to click the graphic that says “Learn to Safety Wire with Dean.”  You can learn all kinds of valuable information in this course.  And whenever you see something like this oil drain that is safety wired backwards, you’ll be able to fix it with confidence.

If you have any questions on this episode, please contact me.  And, if you leave me a voice message, I’ll be happy to include it in a future episode.

Thanks!