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Four things for this episode:

  1. An announcement about Oshkosh.
  2. An Aeronca Champ that landed at SHD recently.
  3. My new friend, Brad Flickinger. Brad is a podcast listener from Pennsylvania who stopped in to see me at SHD recently.
  4. A flap problem on a Cirrus SR22.

1.Oshkosh Announcement:

I’ve never been to the EAA Airventure Oshkosh Airshow. But this is the year to change that, and I’m planning to go this year! I can’t wait.

I have been scheduled to give a workshop presentation at Oshkosh this year. The name of my workshop is “Exhaust Valve Borescoping and Lapping,” and you can click this link to get the details:

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/event/Exhaust_Valve_Borescoping__Lapping?id=B60EDF7E3005415C9DE8F72AB063B6F9

It will be in Workshop Classroom A, on Saturday, July 27, at 8:30 am.

If you will be at Airventure / Oshkosh this year, please stop by for this presentation… I would love to meet you there.

2. The Aeronca Champ that landed at SHD:

Such a classic little airplane!

And it even had a backwards tachometer, like the one I flew years ago.

… and with a wooden prop and no electrical system, it’s a really simple airplane.

3. My new friend, Brad Flickinger.

Brad stopped in to see me at Classic Aviation at SHD recently. I found out he’s been listening to the podcast while driving a truck.

Brad owns and flies a Mooney, and we are currently making plans for me to go spend some time with him and some of his airplane friends in PA.

Thanks Brad, for taking the time to stop in for a visit. I always love to meet podcast listeners in person!

4. Cirrus SR22 Flap Problem

I’ve been doing an annual inspection on an SR22, and one of the squawks was that the flaps would not extend all the way.

A call to Cirrus Tech Support turned out to be a fantastic experience!

Ben gave me some ideas about what to check, and one thing he suggested checking was the flap system relays under the floor panel behind the copilot seat.


The relays are inside this panel.
I numbered the relays so I would not get them mixed up for troubleshooting.

After following Ben’s instructions, I put the forward two relays in the aft two positions, and the flaps worked flawlessly!

I was very grateful for the excellent tech support from Ben at Cirrus Aircraft!

He helped me isolate the problem, and the solution turned out to be two $13 relays, instead of a high dollar flap drive unit. Thanks Ben!


After we get the new relays installed, the flap system will be back in business, ready for reliable operation once again.