How long should the battery last in a small, piston-powered airplane?
That’s a great question, and we are talking about it in this week’s podcast episode.
Tune in to hear the story behind this 24 volt battery in the photo, as well as the story of another battery, a 12 volt one in a Citabria owned by our good friends, Leon and Wynne Johenning. (Find out what prompted him to replace the battery.)
I had an opportunity to fly in an Aerostar the other day… it was going to be a fairly long trip to the destination, with one fuel stop along the way.
As we climbed out of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia toward the mountains to the West, we discovered the combustion heater for keeping the cabin warm was not working. After a brief conversation about what to do, we decided to keep going. Our two passengers seemed willing to tolerate the cold if they could still get to their destination. Thankfully, it was not as cold as it could have been for a January day.
We arrived at the destination on schedule and although we were at a small town airport, there was a small general aviation maintenance shop there, and one of the guys agreed to take a look at our heater.
As he removed the spark plug from the heater, the ignition lead came apart and a piece of it stayed down in the spark plug. Amazingly, he had the necessary part to fix the ignition lead, and the heater lit right up, no problem.
The trip home was wonderfully smooth and uneventful… and the heater worked!
Although we don’t hope to repeat that experience any time soon, we certainly made a memory that day.
I wish I had the freedom to tell you about the town we were at… it’s a cool name, and the AvGas price was great ($5.00 per gallon!)
Also in this episode, I talked about our recent trip to Greensboro NC for a service center update to our avionics system. Since the weather cleared up quicker than I expected, I managed to snag a few photos of the King Air the morning we dropped it off.
Here are the highlights you’ll find in this podcast episode:
My latest assignment at Classic Aviation – Installing the freshly overhauled engine in a Cessna 172 that is almost complete after an extensive rebuild process.
Some emails I’ve received from listeners with fun feedback of multiple types.
Some listener thoughts about home simulator systems.
Some resources I’ve found helpful in sharpening up ATC communication skills.
Here are some of those fantastic resources:
Live ATC: Choose an ATC facility somewhere in the country, and listen in! LiveATC.net
Opposing Bases Podcast – 2 guys who are both air traffic controllers AND pilots, and they laugh a lot! This is a great resource to hear about real world situations between ATC and pilots, and how to deal with weird or out of the ordinary situations. OpposingBases.com
A big thank you to all the listeners who have sent information and thoughts about home simulators! This is a great way to practice instrument approaches without burning any gas
But first… My friend and podcast listener, Chris Wieczorek, flew into SHD recently and we ate burgers for lunch. It was a win-win. I provided the ground transportation, and he bought lunch!
The conversation was very inspiring to me, and Chris was kind enough to send more feedback later in an email, with some thoughts about the future of this podcast among other things.
Go ahead and listen to the audio for more of Chris’ thoughts.
Thank you Chris!
Oh, and he decided to go with the burger that is my wife’s favorite… the “Bacon ‘N Blue.” I stuck with my ‘ol favorite, the “Philly Cheeseburger.”
This episode also includes some concluding thoughts about this Bonanza:
Since I’m still working part time at Classic Aviation LLC, I’m able to continue with some selected maintenance like the annual inspection on this Bonanza.
I rolled it out of the shop the other day and did the post-annual engine runup. Here are some specific things I needed to check and why:
Check propeller for proper operation and no leaks (it was overhauled.)
Check prop heat for proper operation (new deice brushes and new heating elements on prop blades.)
Check alternator for proper operation (new alternator and drive coupling.)
Check analog RPM gauge (repaired broken ground wire connection.)
Check for no leaks at crankshaft seal (new seal was installed.)
Check the #2 EGT (a new probe was installed.)
Everything worked well, and the airplane is finished including the paperwork. Listen to the audio for more details.
In the second part of this episode, I shared the responses I received after sending out an email about the approach we flew into JFK recently. There were some really fun ones in there, including some airline pilots who have flown that very approach, the RNAV Z 13L approach into JFK. Thanks to everyone who sent feedback on that one!
Among the responses, Troy sent me a link for a great video to see what the “lead-in lights look like at night for that approach. Check it out:
Recently, Seth and I spent part of a weekend at a remote mountain cabin location, and we decided it would be a great time to record a conversation about the career changes both of us have made.
I love this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as well.
I’m so proud of my son and the things he’s doing at 23 years old.
How about you?
Is it time for a change in your career or in your life?
Many of us eventually arrive at a place in life where we are longing for something different, especially in our careers.
If you’re feeling burned out, grumpy, and restless, perhaps it’s time for a career change… I encourage you to go for it, and see what new thing might be out there for you!
I’ve been deer hunting with my daughter McKenzie this week, and so far, she got a button buck, and I got a doe… she’s trying to get a good supply of venison in her freezer for the winter.
Last evening was one of the rare times we didn’t see any deer, but the sunset view sure was beautiful… check it out:
I’ve been thinking about how deer hunting is similar to small airplane maintenance… it takes practice, persistence, and patience to get really good at it.
Before McKenzie became interested in deer hunting, I had done very little of it. Her interest has pushed me to learn much more about the whole process, and now, I’m really enjoying the whole thing with her… this year has been really fun!
When it comes to working on your own airplane, like deer hunting, it’s a learning process. Good training and lots of practice are essential.
A few years ago, McKenzie had her grandpa (Pappaw) giving her instructions through FaceTime on how to field dress her deer… it was fantastic. Even though he wasn’t there physically, he could still help her with the process because of the wonder of technology.
I don’t know nearly as much as my father-in-law did about field dressing a deer, but I CAN help with showing you how to perform excellent safety wiring on your airplane, and I can also help with showing you how to service a landing gear shock strut with hydraulic fluid and nitrogen.
And that’s where my two video training courses come in… even though I can’t be there with you beside your airplane in person, I can be there with you in the step-by-step videos, where you can pause it any time you need to as you work through the process.
So, if you change the oil on your airplane, or you change a tire and need to re-safety wire the brake caliper, or anything else that requires safety wiring, I’d encourage you to check out my video training course, “Safety Wire Like A Pro!”
Also, if you have a landing gear strut that needs to be serviced with fluid or nitrogen or both, I have a training course for that as well… it’s called “Landing Gear Shock Strut Servicing.”
This course walks you through the process of safely servicing a shock strut. And even if you choose not to do the work yourself, but have your A&P do the work, it will help you understand the process and equip you to troubleshoot problems before you send your airplane to the shop.
A week and a half ago, I flew a Cessna 150 from KSHD to Hannah Field near Monterey, Virginia in Highland County. It was a Saturday morning coffee-and-donuts fly-in hosted by the owners of the private airstrip, along with our local EAA group. The Shenandoah Valley is full of all kinds of aviation enthusiasts! Thanks to Oren Heatwole and all the great people from our local EAA group, for such a great event! (The Cessna 150 is over to the side, out of view… by the time I left, there was quite a line-up of airplanes there.)
Other items in this podcast episode:
The deice valve I changed on an aerostar.
Capacity test on the King Air 350 main battery.
Lapping 2 exhaust valves on a Lancair engine.
Josiah’s Piper Arrow from Arizona! (He’s on an inspiring aviation journey, and is currently almost finished with training to become a flight attendant, with future plans to become an airline pilot as soon as possible after that.)
The post, “205 – My First Landing at Hannah Field in a Cessna 150” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com
In this podcast episode, I’m sharing my experience of going through the training course for a Type Rating in the King Air 350. FlyRight in Concord, North Carolina was definitely the best choice for this training!
FlyRight is a very professional training center with a family-type feel about it. They specialize in King Air, Caravan, and Dash 8 training. I was so impressed with the whole program, and especially the people. They are friendly, they have extensive experience, and they are absolutely committed to your success.
I’m now working for a local company, and Tuesday was my first trip with them in the King Air. I really love this airplane!
I’m returning to Classic Aviation on Monday for 2 maintenance projects as a part-timer there:
The first one is a capacity test on our King Air 350 battery… it’s time to verify it’s still in good reliable condition, as we certainly don’t want to get stuck far away from home with a weak battery.
The second one is changing the surface deice valve on an Aerostar. The valve has been intermittently not pulling the wing boots down flush after inflation. It’ll be a good time to get that taken care of as we are getting into the Winter flying season.
See you in the next episode!
The post “204 – FlyRight King Air 350 Simulator Training was Awesome!” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com
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