Airplane Owner Maintenance

A Maintenance Oriented Podcast For Airplane Owners, Pilots, and Mechanics

Month: July 2019

119 – Sneak Peek of Dean’s Oshkosh Presentation

July 20, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Scroll down to check out Dean’s favorite borescope.

I have three kids, and those are my two oldest… from many years ago 🙂

Morgan, my oldest, is on the left, and Seth is on the right. I’m guessing they were around 9 and 7 years old at that time, and they’re now 22 and 20!

So why am I showing you this picture? Good question. I’m using this picture because it’s deeply meaningful to me, AND this Cessna 182 has turned into my favorite exhaust valve borescoping and lapping story.

I’ll be telling that story in a presentation at Oshkosh on Saturday July 27, at 8:30 am. Hope to see you there!

The whole idea of “lapping” the exhaust valves came out of first borescoping the valves.

A borescope is necessary to determine if an exhaust valve is a good candidate for lapping or not.

And for this purpose, I’m a firm believer that:

Sometimes a borescope is better than a compression tester.

When it comes to viewing the condition of piston engine exhaust valves, a borescope is better than a compression tester. I have three specific story examples of actual airplanes that had an exhaust valve in serious trouble, but all three of those cylinders still had a compression test result of at least 60/80. After seeing these examples, it is EASY to see that “Sometimes, a borescope is better than a compression tester!”

So… I’ll also be talking A LOT about borescoping in my Oshkosh presentation. I’ve actually tracked down the company that produces my favorite borescope and I’m looking forward to meeting these people at Oshkosh. Oasis Scientific will have a booth there.

They’ve been great to work with and have set up a code for me to offer you 10% off the purchase price. Just use my code “Dean” at checkout to receive the 10 % discount. Oasis Scientific has many borescoping products, and here are my two favorites to recommend to you: (The first is the borescope alone, and the second is a bundle that includes an adapter to allow you to view and save pictures on your iPhone or iPad.) I bought the bundle and am very happy with it.

If you will be at Oshkosh 2019, you can go to Oasis Scientific’s booth and get their discounted show price PLUS another 10% discount by using my code “Dean”.

For the VA-400 borescope:

https://www.oasisscientific.com/vividia-va-400-rigid-usb-articulating-borescope-videoscope-inspection-camera.html

The borescope above will connect directly to an Android device or tablet.

Or if you’re like me and want to use your iPhone or iPad, you’ll want to buy the bundle which includes the VA-400 above along with a WiFi adapter to allow viewing on your iPhone or iPad. Here’s the bundle: (This is the one I bought.)

https://www.oasisscientific.com/store/p374/VA-400-WiFi_Bundle%3A_Vividia_Ablescope_VA-400_USB_Rigid_Articulating_Borescope_plus_VA-B2_WiFi_AirBox_for_iPad_iPhone_and_Android_Phone_and_Tablet.html

It’s an incredible tool that comes in a really nice metal box.


I’m really happy with this borescope. If you’re looking for a borescope, this one may be a good option for you as well.

Don’t forget to use the code “Dean” at checkout to recieve a 10% discount off the purchase price.

If you have not downloaded my free UPDATED Exhaust Valve Inspection Guide with pictures and descriptions of what to look for, be sure to grab a copy of that as well… it will be super helpful in using your new borescope. You can get access to that free guide here: airplaneownermaintenance.com/exhaustvalves

In the next podcast episode, I’ll give a report on my first time to Oshkosh!

Have a great week, and I hope to see some of you at the big airshow!

118 – Airplane Maintenance: Too Much or Too Little?

July 4, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sometimes small, general aviation airplanes get too much maintenance, and sometimes they get too little. We talk about that in today’s episode along with some real life examples.

But first, I want to give a shout out to two people I have absolutely loved learning from recently because they are both excellent teachers.

Chris Palmer: Aviator and flight instructor living in Homer, Alaska. I’ve been going through Chris’ online instrument ground school course, and it is absolutely amazing. Stunningly excellent graphics, interesting and engaging teaching, and the best review of the FAA test questions I’ve ever seen. Check out his courses and training here:

http://AviatorTraining.com

——————————————————————————————————————–

Carl Valeri: Airline pilot, podcaster, and aviation careers coach. Carl is the host of the Aviation Careers Podcast, and he shares a TON of great useful information about flying and aviation careers in a really fun and inspiring way. If you want to make progress in your flying career, you MUST check out Carl’s podcast and resources. You can find his podcast in iTunes or other podcast apps, and his website is here:

AviationCareersPodcast.com

Listen to today’s episode to hear about some things that got my attention last week at Classic Aviation:

  1. A one time AD that keeps getting signed off year after year.
  2. A purple paperclip on a jet at Shenandoah Valley.
  3. A couple examples of too much maintenance.
  4. One example of not enough maintenance.

Here’s the purple paperclip:

Not something I would expect to see on a jet like this 🙂

And here’s my example of “not enough maintenance.”:

That induction filter had not been changed in a long time, as evidenced by it falling apart when I removed it.

Here’s the recommendation to change these filters every year… it’s right there on the package of the new filter:

You can hear more details of all these items by listening to today’s audio.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Finally, if you’re going to Oshkosh, I’d love to meet you. I’ll be presenting a talk on Saturday morning, July 27 at 8:30 am. The topic is “Exhaust Valve Borescoping and Lapping.” I’d love to meet you there.

Have a great week!

© 2024 Airplane Owner Maintenance

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑