Author: Dean Showalter (Page 15 of 25)

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New spark plugs every year?

Yep… that’s what happened for five annual inspections in a row, with the A36 Bonanza I’ve been inspecting and working on.  From 2013 to 2017, the spark plugs were replaced every year.  Four of those times, the spark plugs being replaced, had less than 150 hours on them.  That is not a very long life for a spark plug, and I can’t imagine why they were replaced so soon.

Aviation massive spark plugs should easily last from 300-500 hours, and fine wire plugs should last at least 1000 hours, and perhaps more.

In today’s episode, we talk about several ways to maximize the life of your spark plugs:

1. Regular servicing, at least every 100 hours.
2. Rotate the spark plugs properly.  (Use a tray for this purpose.)
3. Avoid large bead blasters.  (Use a small one designed for spark plugs.)
4. Use proper torque when installing spark plugs.

These tips should help you maximize the life of your spark plugs, save you some money, and keep your engine running reliably and efficiently.

If you need more detail about spark plug servicing, check out episode 031 – Spark Plug Servicing For Airplane Owners.

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Happy New Year Friends!

This week on the podcast, we’re talking about simple fixes with just a little lubrication.  Sometimes on airplanes, there are parts that might need some lube, that can easily be overlooked.  We have several of these examples in today’s episode.  Here they are:

1. A Beechcraft Debonair with a starter problem.
2. A Mooney M20J with a speedbrake issue.
3. An A36 Bonanza with a “GND COMM” switch that would not turn off.
4. An Aerostar with a nose gear steering problem.

In the end, all of these situations were solved with some simple lubrication… spray silicone, LPS-1, and a grease gun with a special adapter, were what solved the problems.  Listen to the audio to get the details, and consider any areas on your airplane that might need a little lube.

AND… be looking for some pictures on Instagram in the near future… I’m planning to open an Instagram account for Airplane Owner Maintenance real soon.

Have  a great weekend!

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Sometimes, airplanes have some out-of-the-ordinary maintenance and servicing requirements.  I discovered one of those items yesterday while talking with Kyle Jones, owner of a really nice, fixed gear Cessna Cardinal.  We talk about that in today’s episode.  It’s a very specific procedure for servicing the shimmy dampener on that airplane.  These are items you might want to discuss with your A&P… he or she should find the information in the maintenance manual whenever necessary, but for things like the shimmy dampener on this Cardinal, it might be worth double checking on before having it serviced.Today’s episode also covers some information about a Piper Apache, and an issue I faced with the hydraulic system.

And finally, I have a request for you listeners.  I’d like to put together an episode of stories… stories of anything you consider interesting, maybe a terrifying experience while flying, or maybe the most fulfilling and inspiring thing you’ve done in aviation.  So, if you have a story to share, just click the red “Send Voicemail” button over there to the right and leave me a brief message… it can be up to 90 seconds.  If I get enough response, I’m planning to do an episode of stories.  Thanks!

Have a happy new year!

Dean

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Yes, it is an art, and it takes careful and precise thinking, in order to prevent damage to an airplane.

I’m not going to post any pictures with this episode, so here’s what’s included in the audio for this podcast:

• An update on my family’s Thanksgiving trip to Colorado… what an awesome state with so much to see!
• Some updated information about using “torque plates when changing engine cylinders,” which was prompted by an email I received recently… thank you Jason Burton!  And here’s a link for an excellent article on CSO Beech about torque plates:  http://www.csobeech.com/torque-plates.html
• And the feature for today… 5 tips for those times when you need to crawl around in inconvenient areas of an airplane.  I’m sure I only scratched the surface of this topic, so if you have any ideas to add, please contact me, and I’ll be happy to add  your tips to the discussion.

Have a wonderful week friends!

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I received a voice message the other day from John, a Mooney owner.  He was asking for some discussion on the podcast about using “torque plates” when removing cylinders from airplane engines.  He mentioned that Mike Busch was a proponent of this practice.  John also mentioned the concept of using torque plates had come up in an IA meeting recently.

So at lunch time that day, I did a google search and typed in “torque plates mike busch.”  And I found an article that appeared in the Mar/Apr 2009 issue of the Cirrus Pilot magazine.  It was a very interesting article… the problem was very serious, but thankfully, it turned out well.  The B36TC Bonanza that was featured in the article, had a severe engine problem causing it to come apart soon after takeoff.  TCM’s analytical report said it was an engine failure for unknown reasons.  However, Mike Busch traced it back to improper maintenance during the removal and reinstallation of cylinders 2, 4, and 6 just 9.1 hours prior to the engine failure.  Here’s a link where you can download and read the full article.  It’s well worth your time.

https://www.cirruspilots.org/copa/tech/m/magazine_articles/563618/download.aspx

And here’s another one of Mike’s articles from the June 2014 edition of the Sport Aviation magazine.  This one’s titled “Cylinder Work – Be Afraid.”

https://www.savvyaviation.com/wp…/EAA_2014-06_cylinder-work-be-afraid.pdf

I suppose the procedure of removing and reinstalling a piston engine cylinder on an airplane deserved at least a healthy dose of fear to remind us all of using all the best practices to ensure the safest possible outcome when the task is completed.

John’s message came a really good time for me, since I had just removed cylinder #5 on an A36 Bonanza.  I’m planning to talk about WHY that cylinder was removed, at some point in the future.  It was the most out of the ordinary thing I’ve ever seen during a routine borescope inspection during the annual.  The moral of this story is, “Don’t rely on compression testing only.  A borescope inspection should be done along with every compression test.  Otherwise the results are not complete and not very reliable.  But compression testing and borescoping together, can be a powerful combination for evaluating the health of a cylinder.

This whole idea of using torque plates, or stacks of washers, and torquing the nuts on the through studs when a cylinder is removed, is something that deserves far more attention than it has had in years past.  Let’s all do our part to make people aware of the importance of not allowing the crankshaft bearings to shift during cylinder maintenance.

As an airplane owner, you would do well to talk with your A&P about using torque plates, if you ever need to have one or more cylinders removed from your engine for repair, and then reinstalled.

Have a wonderful week, and by all means, if you have to change a cylinder, use torque plates!

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This week, I inspected a Cessna 172.  From a distance it appeared to be a really nice airplane, and it is.  But at closer examination, as is often the case, there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed.  In today’s episode, we’ll cover those issues and talk about what was discovered.

When I ran the engine on this airplane, I discovered the fuel primer nozzle was very stiff to move.  The following picture is a similar primer nozzle I recently resealed on a Cessna 182.  Notice how brittle one of the o-rings was… it broke in two!  These primer nozzles are easily resealed with two new o-rings (MS 29513-012) and a very light coating of Krytox grease.  After this, they work like new.

Here’s a one minute video of how stiff the primer was in that Cessna 172 when I was preparing to run the engine:

Here’s one of the two items I found on this airplane that were safety wired backwards.  This oil drain plug safety wiring was quite nice-looking, but it was in the wrong direction.  I corrected this after draining the oil.

If you need to learn how to perform safety wiring on your own airplane, check out my video tutorial course, Safety Wire Like A Pro!  This course will teach you everything you need to know about quality aircraft safety wiring.

This Cessna 172 fuel strainer (gascolator) also needed a good cleaning.

And, when Dave, another A&P, removed the fuel strainer, he noticed the fuel would not shut off, so we’ll also need to reseal the fuel selector valve to make sure it will shut off the fuel when it’s in the “OFF” position.

The fuel tank drain valves also need attention, since the left one was leaking, and the right one would not even operate properly (it would not press to drain.)

Listen to the audio of today’s episode to get more details on these issues, and many more.

How about you?  Has your airplane had a thorough inspection recently.  I find there’s a wide range in the quality of inspections that are done on airplanes, depending on the inspector or the shop.  Some are very detailed.  Others are not nearly detailed enough.  Yet another good reason to get your airplane inspected by a different set of eyes every few years!

Until next time, fly safely!

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Retractable landing gear is an incredible feature when everything works properly.  On Bonanzas and Barons, the gear motor is like the heart of the system.  And sometimes, a heart repair, or even a “transplant” is necessary.  Sometimes, the heart, (or the gear motor,) shows signs and symptoms of poor health, and sometimes, problems become apparent during “routine checkups,” or annual inspections.

I’ve seen issues with landing gear motors, both during the annual inspection, and at other times.  In today’s episode, we talk about 6 separate stories of issues with landing gear motors on Bonanzas and Barons.  When we put them all together, they’re useful to learn some important things about keeping the landing gear system performing at its best.

Here are the stories we cover today:

A Beech 58 Baron:  An issue with the gear motor and the landing gear relay.

A Beech A36 Bonanza with a gear motor problem.

A Beech 55 Baron with some “broken teeth.”  (They just barely got the gear extended with the hand crank.)

A Beech A36 Bonanza with inconsistent gearbox clearance, and the solution for the problem.

A Beech V35 Bonanza with inconsistent gearbox clearance, and the solution.  (It was different than the solution for the A36 Bonanza.)

Another Beech A36 Bonanza (the one I’m working on now at Classic Aviation, LLC.) with a very strange issue… occasionally, the gear motor would run about half speed for the gear extension cycle.

For this last story, we sent the gear motor to Aircraft Systems, Inc. in Rockford, Illinois.  Jeff has been fantastic to deal with.  I highly recommend this shop.  http://www.acs-rfd.com/  Or if you’d like to call them, the number is  815-399-0225.

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Today, I’m sharing with you a story about busting my knuckles trying to remove a locknut from an engine mount bolt.  The nut was bottomed out on the shank of the bolt, making it very hard to hold the bolt still while loosening the locknut.

I could have avoided all that if I had put my Mechanix gloves on first 🙂

You’ll also hear an audio message from Jerry Esquenazi, the owner of an RV 8 that he built, and also partner in an F33A Bonanza.  Thanks for the message Jerry!

One last thing, could you help me?  I need some feedback about what you need as an airplane owner, when it comes to maintenance.  I put together a VERY SHORT 3 question survey, and I’d be grateful if you could take a minute and answer 3 simple questions.  Thanks!

Here’s the link for the survey (it’s very short):

Click here to answer 3 quick questions.

Thanks for your feedback!

Dean

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I had a startling situation this past week at Classic Aviation… water in the fuel strainers on a Piper Twin Comanche… scroll down for some pictures of that one.

Also in this episode of the podcast, you can hear about the following:

Update on my washing machine… Being an A&P really can prepare you to work on lots of other things 🙂

A Twin Cessna that needed some new placards to meet the POH requirements.  Here is the lineup of the ones we made with our label maker:

We also had some fuel cap placards made by Aerographics… I was very impressed with them.  They can make all kinds of interior and exterior placards for a reasonable price.  Check them out at aerographics.com    I highly recommend these people.  We had them make three placards similar to the following one:

A main tire on a Piper Archer that had a slow leak.  There was a small hole in the tube, and the hole was in an area that was creased, which caused an area of stress.  Listen to the audio for some info on how to prevent this problem.

Now for the main feature for this episode:  The water in the fuel.

Here are the instructions inside the fuel drain area in the Twin Comanche:

After disassembling the fuel strainers, I found a lot of water in the system.

It took a lot of draining and rocking the wings, to get the water out… and here is the result from both fuel strainers:

The moral of the story for me was:  Don’t get complacent about routine things like sumping the fuel… there’s a good reason for it, and it’s really important!

Now for some Beechcraft Bonanza stuff:

First of all, just for fun, I took a picture of this G36 Bonanza on the ramp recently at SHD, just because it was so beautiful… what a great airplane!

We also started an annual inspection on another Bonanza this past week, and the owner knew his starter adapter was starting to slip.  He requested we have the starter and starter adapter overhauled.  We’re going to send them to Modified Aircraft Accessories, Inc. in Brooks, Kentucky.  I really like this couple.  It’s a family business and when you call, you can expect to speak with either Jimmy or his wife Debbie… I don’t know about you, but that just makes me smile 🙂  They’ve been doing quality work of starters, starter adapters, alternators, and more, for a long time, and I highly recommend them.  You can find them at  http://modifiedaircraftaccessories.com/

Here’s the starter and starter adapter:

One more item I found on this Bonanza was the out-of-position heat shield on the right forward engine mount… I discovered there are too many threads through the locknuts on the engine mount bolts, and it appears the nuts are bottomed out on the shank of the bolts… they will need washers added and torque to specs.

And here’s the last picture for this post:  safety wiring that, well, let’s just say could stand some improvement.  It’s really loose, and the tail is not twisted enough, and there’s a sharp end sticking out.  So… if you’re looking for a good resource to learn how to do quality safety wiring, check out my course here:  https://airplane-owner-maintenance.teachable.com/p/safetywiring

Or click here.

There are step by step videos to learn all about safety wiring and how to do it well. 

Feel free to contact me with any questions.  dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com or leave me a voice message by clicking the tab over on the right side of the page.  Thanks, and have a great weekend!

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Hello aviation friends!

This week, we’re talking about an airplane’s instrument panel that was NOT telling me the truth.  In fact, one of the instruments was lying to me.  Listen to the audio to get the details.

Here’s the instrument that was lying to me during the pre-inspection runup… it’s a pretty interesting situation.

And here’s a question (not related to the lying issue):  Can you explain the numbers that are displayed on this engine monitor screen?  And what conclusion can you draw from these numbers?  In which phase of operation was this picture taken?  Make a comment if you like… or leave a voice message… or email me.    dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com.

Also, here’s the broken magneto P-lead I mentioned in today’s episode:

If you’d like to read an excellent article about spark plug cleaning and servicing, here’s an article published by the Cessna Flyer, written by Jacqueline Shipe.  The article is well done, and includes great pictures.

https://www.cessnaflyer.org/maintenance-tech/item/1009-mind-the-gap-spark-plug-preventive-maintenance.html

Jacqueline has a fascinating bio:

Jacqueline Shipe grew up in an aviation home; her dad was a flight instructor. She soloed at age 16 and went on to get her CFII and ATP certificate. Shipe also attended Kentucky Tech and obtained an airframe and powerplant license. She has worked as a mechanic for the airlines and on a variety of General Aviation planes. She’s also logged over 5,000 hours of flight instruction time. Send question or comments to editor@cessnaflyer.org.

Finally, if you listen to this episode, you’ll discover how I connected airplane maintenance with washing machine maintenance!  (Looks like I have a several hour job ahead of me next week after the repair kit arrives 🙂

Have a great week!