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

Tag: flying

245 – A Crazy and Amazing Week!

The week I’m talking about here was almost too full!

But I wouldn’t change a thing.

A real highlight was taking my Pennsylvania cousin for a short flight in a Piper Cherokee:

From Sunday to Friday, I had the following opportunities:

  • Flew every day except Tuesday… this was unusual!
  • Did an owner-assisted annual inspection on a Bonanza.
  • Spent an afternoon with my grandson… I love him so much!
  • My cousin Dan stayed overnight with us and I took him flying… Maria made us a tasty supper, and we enjoyed some great conversation with Dan. A fun side note – Dan and I were born about a week apart years ago!
  • … and probably more that I can’t remember right now 🙂

Also, during the Bonanza inspection with my friend Mike, we adjusted the fuel quantity circuit board adjustments a bit to make them indicate accurately when the tanks are full… the maintenance manual had excellent instructions which also agreed with the very clear information on the circuit boards themselves located just under the top center part of the instrument panel glare shield… here’s a photo:

It was an awesome week, and I recorded some thoughts about it for at least a couple reasons:

One, I hope you might find some inspiration and encouragement in it.

And two, I wanted to document the week a bit to help me remember it in the future.

So… if you’d like to hear more about the adventures of this particular week, listen to the audio for this week’s podcast.

Thanks, and have a great day!


The post, “245 – A Crazy and Amazing Week!” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

219 – I Installed New Brake Linings and the Wheel Would Not Turn!

It took some significant detective work and deciphering to solve this mystery.

The brake caliper at the top of the photo was the wrong part number for the A36 Bonanza I was working on.

The one at the bottom of the photo is a serviceable one we found on eBay. It was the correct one, and the 1/8 inch extra depth at the edges of the caliper made all the difference.

This problem apparently went unnoticed for an undetermined amount of time.

The only reason I discovered the problem was because I installed new brake linings and after reassembling the brake caliper, the wheel would not turn at all. Everything seemed to be working fine with the worn linings.

But new linings made it too tight for the wheel to turn.

After installing the correct brake caliper, everything was back to normal.

What an ordeal! I’m glad it’s fixed.


In this week’s podcast episode, I talked about the brake situation above, and about some flying from this week.

Here’s a sampling of the places I had the opportunity to fly to this past week:

  • Near Myrtle Beach SC.
  • Pennsylvania
  • New York
  • Montpelier VT
  • Chattanooga TN
  • Dalton GA

And just for fun, here’s a photo of the King Air on the ramp in Vermont… we put the engine and pitot covers on for the night while we were there.


Thanks for checking out the podcast! The next episode might just come from Maui! We’ll see.


The post “219 – I Installed New Brake Lingings and the Wheel Would Not Turn!” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.

203 – Dean’s Midlife Aviation Transition!

Listen to the audio for this episode to hear what Dean’s been up to recently, and why there have not been many podcast episodes in recent weeks.

I’m transitioning out of the maintenance shop and into a flying job, and I’m very excited about the new season in front of me.

Feel free to leave me a voice message by clicking the tab at the right side of the page, or you can email me: dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com

I want to say a huge “thank you” to everyone who has helped me in this journey… it’s a long list, and I’m super grateful for every one of you!