Airplane Owner Maintenance

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

Year: 2026

259 – Bonanza Clunking Wheel Noise Solved!

April 15, 2026 /

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(Scroll down for video and photos.)

When Dan, the owner of a nice A36 Bonanza called me and reported a “clunking noise” at the right main landing gear while moving the airplane by hand, I was stumped.

So I did what I like to do when I have an airplane puzzler… I sent an email to my aviation friends, and I asked for ideas about what might be causing this clunking noise.

I received great feedback and guesses about what might be causing the mystery noise.

Wheel bearings? Brake caliper / linings? Landing gear bushings? Etc…

But when Dan arrived at SHD to drop his airplane off for the annual inspection, it was no longer making the clunking noise.

We agreed I’d check it out during the inspection.

When the time came to put the airplane on jacks and remove the right brake caliper and wheel, I did not notice anything obvious.

And then I noticed something.

There was a tiny spot on the brake disc that I could catch a fingernail on. Check it out:

(And by the way, if you are seeing these show notes in a podcast player like Pocket Casts, the following 11 second video may not appear; if this happens, scroll to the bottom and click the link for my website and you should be able to watch the video there.)

I also made a more detailed video of this story and it’s on YouTube here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/XuTnm-qQne0

Then I also noticed there was a groove on the brake linings that seemed to match the spot on the disc. Take a look:

It appears there was some metal transfer between the brake disc and linings that created a raised “bump” and I wonder if this is what caused the clunking noise as the wheel was rotating during ground tugging. It’s the best explanation I can come up with.

Both the left and right brake discs were worn below minimums, so I installed new ones along with all new linings.

I installed APS “Blacksteel” discs and APS linings. In my opinion, the APS discs are of exceptional quality, and the APS brake linings are far superior to the Rapco linings I removed.

If you’re interested in more info about APS brake parts, here’s the website:

https://www.apsbrakes.com

Listen to the audio for more details.

Now, one more thing I forgot to mention when I was recording the podcast episode… when I removed the right brake linings, there were some strange, seemingly magnetized little pieces that were attached to the brake lining and backplate. Here’s what it looked like:

Perhaps this tells a part of the story as well, but I’m not sure what it means. If you have a thought on this, send me an email to dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com

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258 – C’mon Does Valve Lapping Really Work?!

April 3, 2026 /

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This exhaust valve in a turbo-normalized A36 Bonanza looks quite good. The appearance is mostly concentric and uniform. There’s just that one area at about the 10 to 11 o’clock position that looks slightly uneven.

If the compression test had been good, I likely would not have lapped the valve.

But since it was 44/80 when the required minimum was 46/80 according to the master orifice reading, I lapped the valve in place, installed a new rotocoil and new valve springs, and put it back together.

Amazingly, after doing this work, I got a good solid cold compression of 65/80!

I’ve found that lapping the exhaust valve and restoring a good seal between the edge of the valve and the seat is the most effective way to improve a low compression number, as long as everything else looks good in the cylinder.

Here are some additional photos of the seat area before lapping:

You can listen to the full story in the audio for this episode.

I’ve also included some email feedback from the last episode, including a story about an airplane that made a precautionary landing in a field!

Here’s a totally separate photo of that same airplane from one of its scenic flights:

Thanks Justin, for agreeing to let me share your amazing story of landing this airplane in a field!

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257 – Rough Engine: Go Back Home!

March 24, 2026 /

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It was a gorgeous VFR day, and we were flying in an Aerostar 601. The destination was an airport in Alabama and I was really looking forward to this trip.

But soon after we leveled off at ten thousand feet and got the engines set and properly leaned, a strange but definite engine roughness occurred.

After some troubleshooting (as much as you can do in flight) we decided to turn back and fly home (not good to be a few states away from home with a maintenance problem if you can help it.

Here’s a photo of the instrument panel after we had reduced power on the right engine:

Listen to the audio for today’s podcast episode to hear the details.

Note the high fuel flow indication on the right engine, even though the power has been reduced. Also, the EGT and CHT are indicating low for the right engine as well.

After returning safely to SHD, I uncowled the right engine and ended up meticulously cleaning out the fuel injectors on the right engine, as well as the air lines and hose connectors that provide turbo air pressure to the fuel injector nozzles.

In that process, I discovered some small black particles that may have been a contributor to one or more clogged / partially clogged. fuel injectors. Take a look:

Also notice in the following photo the “GAUGE” fitting that is in the side of the engine fuel flow divider or “manifold valve.”

This line goes to the fuel flow gauge in the instrument panel, and would explain why the fuel flow showed higher than normal on the right engine. If a fuel injector is partially or fully clogged, it raises the pressure at this fitting on the flow divider, thereby causing an erroneously high fuel flow indication on the gauge in the instrument panel.

Here’s another photo for more context of where the flow divider is located on top of the engine:

Unfortunately, this airplane does not have a graphic engine monitor. It would have been very helpful to see all 6 EGT’s and all 6 CHT’s on that flight. Instead, there is only one EGT probe and one CHT probe, and they are both located near cylinder #5 on the right aft side of the engine. (This is likely one of the cylinders that had a clogged / partially clogged fuel injector, since the EGT and CHT gauges were indicating significantly lower than normal.

Let me know if you have any additional thoughts about this situation, and I’ll see you in the next episode!

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256 – Not Quite Full Flaps

February 26, 2026 /

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In the last podcast episode, we talked about an issue with my friend’s Cirrus SR22, and how the flaps occasionally would not retract.

That problem got mostly resolved at the recent annual inspection when they made some adjustments due to the flap 50% and 100% travels being out of spec.

However, there is now a new issue.

Now, the flaps always retract when selected, so that problem has been fixed.

But now, while in flight, the flaps always go to 50% when selected. But when 100% is selected, the flaps move to almost 100%, but not quite, and the 100% light does not turn on.

Then, after maybe 45 seconds or so, the flaps extend just a slight bit more. You can feel the aerodynamic different of this last bit of travel, and then the 100% light turns on.

This issue only seems to happen in flight. On the ground, they work perfectly.

Perhaps it’s something to do with the aerodynamic load on the flaps.

We will likely need to send the airplane back to the shop who did the annual inspection and see if it needs another adjustment to make it work perfectly, not only on the ground, but in flight as well.

If you have a thought on this, feel free to send me an email to dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com

Thanks for reading, and for listening to the podcast!

Hopefully we’ll get this issue resolved soon.

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255 – Cirrus SR22 Flaps Sometimes Won’t Retract

January 16, 2026 /

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Don’t you just love intermittent problems?!

This one has been just that… intermittent.

In the 2005 Cirrus SR22, the flaps have 3 positions: up, 50%, and 100%.

Our intermittent problem has been that occasionally, when selecting 50% or 100%, the flaps will begin to move down, but the “up” light will stay on. The flaps always stop at the selected position of 50% or 100%, but then when trying to retract the flaps (with the “up” light still on,) they don’t move. After a short time (seconds) the “up” light then extinguishes and the flaps travel up normally.

Listen to today’s episode to hear some thoughts about this issue and what we might do to fix it.

Months ago, I dug into the issue trying to see if there was something I could do to fix the problem.

I removed the rear seat and accessed the openings to the flap drive and the flap circuit board assembly.

Here’s the flap drive with the 3 black proximity switches, presumably one for “up,” one for “50%,” and one for “100%” :

These switches are magnetically operated.

The following photo shows the circuit board for the flaps:

I removed the plug on the left and the relays to the right and applied corrosion-X to the connections to ensure positive electrical contact.

After putting everything back together, I was hoping I had fixed the issue.

Nope… the issue was intermittently still there.

After all this my primary thought has been that the “up” proximity switch might be sticking in the closed position when extending the flaps.

Then, when selecting up, the flaps don’t move because the system things they are already up, and there’s no need to move.

Let me know if you have any other thoughts about this.

You can email me at dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com or leave a voice message at the side of the page.

Thanks!

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