Year: 2019 (Page 2 of 3)

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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

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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.

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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!

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It’s annual inspection time, and your airplane is going in the shop.

Are you confident?  Are you prepared?  Will you be involved, and maybe even get your hands dirty?

For an airplane owner, annual inspection time can be frustrating and nerve-wracking, or it can be educational, positive, and hopefully, an efficient experience.  A significant part of the outcome depends on you, the airplane owner.

The owner-assisted annual.  It’s a concept that’s been around for a long time, and there are strong opinions about it.  Some owners love to help and be involved.  Others just want to drop the airplane off at the shop and have them call when it’s finished.

But if you’re looking for an opportunity to learn and save some money at the same time, the owner-assisted annual inspection can be a valuable experience.

Jerry is one of those owner-assisted annual types.  He’s been helping with his annual inspection on his Mooney M20J for many years.  Jerry takes pride in keeping his airplane clean, and in excellent condition.  Here are some ways Jerry saves money on his annual inspection.

1. Opening and closing inspection covers.  This is a task that almost any owner can help with.
2. Being willing to do “menial” tasks, like removing old Prop Guard tape from the propeller leading edges.  I can certainly do tasks like this, but it’s also a good opportunity for an interested owner to save on labor costs.
3. Asking good questions… “What does the POH say about that?”

I noticed there’s a “Ram Air” annunciator light in the instrument panel that illuminates when the control is pulled to the “Open” position.  However, when I checked the system in the shop, I noticed the light did not illuminate.  I could hear the microswitch clicking as I moved the control, but the light was not working.  I was about ready to remove a small cover plate on the instrument panel to take a look at the microswitch and wiring, but Jerry asked me a really good question… “What does the POH say about that?”  He pulled the POH out and sure enough, there was a revealing note in there.  Here’s the page from the manual:All of a sudden the light came on for me.  I realized that when I had checked the Ram Air system, I had the airplane on jacks and the landing gear retracted.  In this condition, the light does not illuminate.  And as I thought about it more, I realized this makes perfect sense.  The light illuminates when the Ram Air door is open  and the landing gear is extended, to remind the pilot of the potential of sucking ground-associated dirt and debris into the induction system.  In the air while flying, this is not such an issue, and the indicator light is not needed.  Once again, I learned some valuable lessons like “Don’t make assumptions,” and “Know the airplane systems,” and “The POH has a ton of good information in it… use it!”   Bottom line, I was glad Jerry asked me that good question the other day before I started taking things apart unnecessarily.

Here’s another interesting thing that happened during Jerry’s inspection.  During the compression test, we found that cylinder #3 was 47/80.  This seemed unusually low for a Lycoming engine.  After working with it for awhile, we managed to get 59/80, still not very stellar, especially for a Lycoming.  There was obviously some leakage past the exhaust valve, and we decided to take a look with the borescope.

Once again, I was reminded of the value of borescoping airplane piston engine cylinders.  I was surprised to find the exhaust valve and seat area looked quite good… a different situation than I usually see when borescoping exhaust valves in cylinders with low compressions.  So we made the decision to complete the annual, run the engine again, and recheck that cylinder.  Amazingly, we got 70 something during the recheck.  Another reminder of two things for me:  First, ALWAYS borescope the cylinders during annual inspection, both for Continental AND Lycoming engines.  And second, never rely on a compression test alone, to determine the health of a cylinder… it’s just not enough information.

So back to Jerry… because he helps with his annual, we are able to charge fewer labor hours.  (And at Classic Aviation, LLC, our labor rate is $85 per hour.)  Don’t expect to save much the first time you help with your annual inspection, because the time required for training and familiarization will likely cancel out the time saved by you helping.  But in future years, it is certainly possible to save on labor hours, especially if you talk about it with your mechanic or shop in advance.

P.S.  Listen to the audio for this episode to hear about how Dean was humbled this past week when he flooded an airplane engine, and it just would not start.  THIS was a great learning experience!

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A little pesky fuel leak can be aggravating.

Especially when you’ve already had it “fixed” in the past, but it’s still leaking.  That was the case recently on an airplane that arrived at Classic Aviation for a fuel leak repair.

It turns out the inboard fuel quantity probe in this aircraft is about six feet long, and the wing must be removed from the aircraft in order to remove the probe.  The probe threads are sealed with a special sealant, and in this case, fuel was leaking past the threads.

So… we had to bite the bullet and remove the wing.

With the wing removed, it was simple to access the fuel tank at the inboard end.  This nylon rope worked well to dislodge the fuel tank assembly from its position in the wing, so it could be slid out of the wing cavity.  The leak was at the bottom left hole in the inboard end of this fuel tank, where the fuel quantity probe screws into the tank.  The tank assembly had to be removed from the wing because when the probe is reinstalled, it must be inserted into a teflon bushing, and this is nearly impossible unless you can reach inside the tank at the outboard end… and the only way to do this is to remove the whole assembly from the wing.

Since it was a rare opportunity, I had to take a picture of the inside of the DA-40 wing, where the fuel tank lives.

You can hear all about the process of fixing this fuel leak, and some lessons I learned, in today’s episode of the Airplane Owner Maintenance Podcast.

And… if you have a Diamond Aircraft (or any other general aviation aircraft, and you need some reliable maintenance, give us a call at Classic Aviation, LLC.

Yev Bondarev, Manager  540-234-0226

classicaviationshd@gmail.com