Mike Garcia has become a good friend over the past year or so.

Recently we completed his annual inspection together, and he really enjoyed working on his airplane while learning more about what’s under the surface!

Mike was my guest on the podcast this week, so be sure to listen to the audio for that conversation.

Mike’s wife is also learning to fly, and one of their favorite ways to use the airplane is flying from Virginia to New Mexico to see family!

And of course they take their favorite companion, Rama along on these trips as well!

Now for all you maintenance geeks out there, you might like a couple photos I took from the old parts we removed from Mike’s Bonanza.

First, the crankshaft seal that came out in pieces, along with the lock nuts we replaced when we reinstalled the prop:

And here’s the pile of rusty hardware we replaced when we installed the new tail pipes:

(I sometimes hang on to old airplane parts and pieces, to the point of driving my wife crazy… but if I can do something useful with them like including photos for a podcast episode, I feel better about throwing them in the trash!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Flight-Insight.com (This is the resource Mike Garcia mentioned that he found helpful.)

MauiPineappleStore.com (You can help these people recuperate from the terrible fire that destroyed their store in Lahaina, by buying pineapples… I ordered a case of them, and they are the best tasting pineapples ever!) My grandson helped me open the box when they arrived!

Have a great weekend!

The post “233 – Mike’s Owner Assisted Annual on His F33A Bonanza” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

Be sure to scroll down to see how my Maui Gold Pineapple plant turned out! (It’s been growing in a pot here at our house for a very long time

Now for this week’s podcast:

I had the opportunity to do an annual inspection on Ben’s Piper Comanche, and he sent me this photo after he flew home when the work was completed… thanks Ben!

Ben and his wife, along with their A&P, had recently put a ton of work into the engine change. Just looking at the engine, you can see the great attention to details that makes it look amazing:

In this episode, I talked about some highlights from the inspection, and also included a voice message from another listener who also has a Piper Comanche. Be sure to listen to the audio for the details.

One issue Ben had was that a couple times, his starter would not turn at all… like there was an issue with the electrical system.

I found 2 things:

One, the battery ground cable connection to the airframe was suspect, so I installed a bigger ring terminal on the ground cable and moved it to a better airframe ground location.

Secondly, the battery positive cable connection to the battery contactor was not tight enough, and I could wiggle the cable back and forth… I noticed this because the split lock washer was not pressed flat and it was obvious it was not tight enough. Check it out:

Ben’s airplane was already very nice, and after we fixed a few more things during the annual inspection, I’m confident it’s even nicer!

Next up is my Maui Gold Pineapple…

Note: Thank you John and Leslie Caubble, for making this whole story possible!

Listen to the audio for the full story, but here’s a little about it:

I’ve been growing this little pineapple for a long time here at our house, and it finally grew a pineapple.

This little plant survived a few winter seasons here, being moved in and out of the house… it was a great day when it began to bloom, and that’s a whole story in itself:

Over time, the little pineapple grew.

… and grew.

Then one day, a thunderstorm hit our area and broke the stalk:

Thankfully, it was nearly ripe and I put it on the kitchen counter among other things Maria had there:

When the day came to cut open the pineapple, I was very pleasantly surprised… it was the sweetest and best tasting pineapple we’d ever eaten!

Now here’s an opportunity:

You can taste the awesomeness of Maui Gold Pineapples, and help the people of Maui at the same time:

This pineapple plantation lost a store front in the terrible fire, and one way to help during this very difficult time is to order pineapples… I ordered a case of them yesterday, and I’m inviting you to join me. Here’s the link:

https://mauipineapplestore.com/

Thanks for helping… they will appreciate it!

And lastly for today… the motorcycle… listen to the audio to find out what happened to my truck, and why I quickly got my motorcycle re-registered so I could ride it while my truck is being repaired. (I’ve been trying to sell the motorcycle, and now I’m glad I still have it for now!)

Have a great day everyone!

The post: “232 – A Piper, A Pineapple, and a Motorcycle” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

In this week’s podcast episode, you’ll hear about:

• King Air flying.
• Listener feedback from the last episode on “Phantom Cylinder Cracks.”
• The latest annual inspection I’m involved in.
• … and a few other things!

I’m in the midst of an annual inspection on a Piper Comanche. I might talk more about this one in a future episode, but for now, I mentioned two strange things about this airplane in this week’s podcast:

The first strange thing was the oil quick drain kept seeping after I drained the oil and closed the drain valve.

I was perplexed when oil was collecting on the bottom cowling and seeping down over the nose tire.

Finally, I had to cut the safety wire and remove the Saf-Air P5000 drain valve to take a look.

Here’s what I found:

I removed the drain valve and put a temporary plug in the oil sump to prevent any further seepage. If you look closely, you can see a portion of the black o-ring holding the valve slightly open.

Here’s a closer view:

After opening the valve, I noticed the top o-ring had been pushed up off the valve, and it was the second o-ring that was holding the valve open. (Don’t worry, the other o-ring fell out of the hole when I removed the valve, so it’s not stuck somewhere in the oil sump.)

We will install new O-rings on the valve before reinstalling it in the oil sump. It actually has 3 total o-rings… the top 2 keep the oil from draining out of the sump, and the lower o-ring (that you can’t see in the photo) is slightly larger and it keeps oil from seeping out around the drain nipple during the oil draining process. McFarlane sells a kit that includes the three new o-rings and a new snap ring.

You can listen to the audio to hear more about this story.

… and hopefully, in a future episode, I’ll be able to update you on the weird electrical problem on this same airplane.

The post “231 – Piper Comanche Weird Electrical Problem and Seeping Oil Drain Valve” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

Do you think these really are cracks between the spark plug bosses and the fuel injector bosses? (Cirrus SR22 Continental engine.)

The owner of a Cirrus SR22 was told by a service center he had 4 cracked cylinders on his engine.

However, after taking a closer look and bringing their most experienced technicians together to thoroughly clean and examine the cylinders, it was discovered they were not cracked after all.

The service center was very professional with their communications and the process they used to evaluate the cylinders.

This whole scenario was such a great example of healthy collaboration between an aircraft maintenance service center and an airplane owner.

Listen to the audio of this week’s podcast to hear the full story, and some email communications I had with the airplane owner.

After thinking about the situation, here are some thoughts:

• If an airplane engine cylinder is truly cracked, it needs immediate attention.
• Sometimes, what appears to be a crack, is not a crack after all.
• Thorough cleaning and precise evaluation are required.
• Sometimes a second and third expert opinion are helpful.
• Excellent communication between airplane owners and service centers is key.

Have a great week everyone!

The post, 230 “Phantom Cracks” in Airplane Engine Cylinders appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

The charging system was not working, but why?

There was normal voltage at the alternator field terminal.

The field circuit resistance seemed normal as well.

But the alternator was not producing the normal 28 volts during operation.

Occasionally, it would produce a small amount of output voltage, like 25 or 26 volts, and then drop back down to battery voltage.

Clearly there was a problem.

After troubleshooting and seeking advice from a Cessna service center, we replaced the battery contactor and the alternator contactor in the MCU (master control unit) on the firewall. (The MCU is the electrical control box for the airplane. It’s located on the forward left side of the firewall.)

Replacing the contactors did not fix the problem.

After more troubleshooting and some calls to Hartzell Engine Technologies to speak with two different people, and after talking things over with the owner, we decided to order an overhauled alternator and a new ACU (alternator control unit.)

They arrived the next day, I installed them, and the system worked perfectly.

The alternator was back to producing its normal 28 volts. (I just wish I had taken the old alternator apart to see if I could determine the problem… I’m guessing one or both of the brushes were severely worn.)

The following photo shows what’s inside the MCU. The alternator contactor is the one in the top of the photo, slightly left of center. And the alternator control unit the the device to the left of the contactor that says “Lamar” on the side.

When replacing anything in this box, it’s very helpful to take photos first in order to put everything back in its place during reassembly!

Listen to the audio podcast for this episode to get the full story.

This episode also includes some of the email responses I received after asking if listeners wanted to continue receiving stories about exhaust valves.

Thank you to all who responded!

In a nutshell, everyone wanted to continue hearing about exhaust valves and the stories about lapping them and saving them, especially the stories that are instructive and educational.

Have a great week everyone!

The post, “229 – Cessna 206 Alternator Not Working” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

Dan and Jeanne are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, so it’s always a privilege to work on their airplane.

It was annual inspection time, and the compression test on cylinder #1 was 25/80. The borescope showed a corresponding reason for the low compression… the exhaust valve had an uneven appearance, indicating it was not sealing well against the valve seat, and there was air leakage around the edge, causing that edge to get extra hot and burn… this is the reason for the uneven color pattern at 10 to 11 o’clock in the photo:

I discussed the situation with Dan, and we decided it was worth a try to lap the valve in place without removing the cylinder, in hopes we could save the cylinder from premature removal.

I lapped the valve and installed a new rotocoil to help ensure the valve was rotating properly during operation.

After reassembling everything and running the engine, we got a fantastic result… the compression was now 75/80!

When the annual inspection was completed, I sent the airplane out the door with great confidence the engine would perform well… and it did.

Not long after that, Dan and Jeanne flew the Bonanza to Montana to visit family and then later made the journey back home.

At the time of the annul inspection, Dan had agreed it would be a good idea to inspect the #1 exhaust valve at the next oil change to make sure all was well.

After having flown about 37 hours since the annual and since lapping the #1 exhaust valve, Dan returned to have things checked out.

The oil and filter change were completely normal; the compression in cylinder #1 was 77/80; and the borescope revealed the #1 exhaust valve had returned to normal!

Check it out: the circular patterns on the valve are now nice and concentric.

I’m hopeful Dan will get many more hours of reliable service out of this cylinder since we stopped the harmful trajectory of a burning exhaust valve.

On another note, I discussed a couple things in this episode that I noticed this past week while flying.

• One was related to NOTAMs and the importance of being aware of them (along with something I discovered about NOTAMS, approach plates, and ForeFlight.)
• The other one was a tip about starting PT-6 engines when they are still hot after a quick stop to drop off passengers and refuel.

In my research, I discovered an online course about NOTAMs, and I wanted to pass this link along for anyone who might be interested:

notamsmadeeasy.com

This is a course by Sarah Fritts. I do not know Sarah, and I do not receive any compensation from this course, but it seems like a good training resource, and I like to help promote those when I see them.

You can also learn more about Sarah over at her website:

ThinkAviation.net

The post “228 – Saving a Cylinder on Dan & Jeanne’s Bonanza” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

This Bonanza had a problem in the landing light wiring circuit. All kinds of weird things were happening when the light was turned on in flight. You can listen to the podcast audio for more details on this squawk.

I removed the induction filter cover and the landing light assembly and inspected the wiring.

It turned out the landing light power and ground wires were chafing against each other… probably over a very long period of time. Take a look at the area of concern in the red circle on the following photo:

At first glance, it wasn’t visually obvious there was a problem.

But after separating the power and ground wires, it became very clear what was happening. As the internal strands of the power and ground wires began to just barely make contact with each other, the short-to-ground situation started wreaking havoc in the electrical system. The following photo shows the areas where the insulation was worn all the way through to the internal wire:

Sometimes there was static over the comm radio, sometimes the TCAS and intercom would cycle power off and back on, and sometimes the landing light circuit breaker switch would flip off.

I repaired the wiring and secured it really well with ty-wraps and silicone to prevent further chafing. Now Brad will be able to use his landing light any time he wants and be confident it will perform normally.

Vibration from piston engines can create some bad situations! It’s always a good idea to take an extra minute or two to look around the engine compartment whenever you’re in there, like at the oil change, or some other maintenance event, like cleaning spark plugs.

Another interesting squawk on this same Bonanza was a burning exhaust valve and corresponding low compression. The borescope revealed the classic appearance when the valve is not sealing well against the valve seat. Take a look:

I had lapped this valve at the last annual inspection and installed a new rotocoil to help ensure it would rotate properly, so when it still showed an appearance of a burning valve a year later, I figured we would likely need to remove the cylinder and send it for repair.

However, the Bonanza owner uses Savvy Aviation to manage his maintenance on the airplane, and the borescoping experts at Savvy thought it would be worth lapping the valve again to see if it could be saved.

I was happy to give it a second try. I lapped the valve heavily this time and finally, I was satisfied. I installed a new rotocoil again, and after running the engine, I rechecked the compression, and was super happy to see that it was 74/80!

I feel 90% confident that when the next annual inspection rolls around, this valve will have returned to a normal appearance. I’ll be curious to see how it turns out.

All in all, it was a good annual inspection, and Brad should be good to go for another year of flying!

The post “227 – Electrical Chaos When the Landing Light was Turned On” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning at KSHD, and we had the maintenance hangar door open with a good view of the runway. A nice, red and white Piper Lance made a perfect landing on runway 5. As the airplane taxied up to the ramp, I thought, “It would be nice to meet that guy, whoever he is.”

Momentarily, he was standing in our shop, asking if we could help with an electrical issue. It turned out Merle was a super nice gentleman, and he had flown in with his brother, Dave, and their colleague Ron. They were on their way to Pennsylvania that morning, but made a precautionary landing at Shenandoah Valley because of the electrical failure.

I was eager to help. I grabbed my multimeter and hopped in the airplane. When I tried to start the engine, all I got was a small and very feeble attempt to turn the engine and prop. The battery was too weak to run the engine.

I remove the cowling and got access to the alternator. After removing the field wire from the field terminal on the alternator, I turned the master and alternator switches on and verified there was battery voltage at the field wire. I was then satisfied the voltage regulator was working fine, and the problem was likely in the alternator or the wiring circuit.

I then measured the resistance between the alternator field terminal and ground, and at first I got a resistance reading, but when I moved the prop a bit, I had no continuity. There should be a resistance reading, maybe around 6 ohms, give or take a little, for a 12 volt alternator. At this point, I was 90% sure the alternator was bad.

We started searching, and found a local parts supplier had an overhauled alternator, and also one that was “as removed.” Merle opted for the overhauled one, and one of our guys made the short drive to pick it up.

Unfortunately, that alternator had a crack in the bolt hole for attaching the alternator belt tension arm.

We ended up overnighting another overhauled alternator in, and got them going the next day.

It was great meeting these guys! Merle, Ron, and Dave… if you’re ever passing through again, stop in and say hi, and maybe we can go grab a burger at the Old School Burger bus down at the Valley Pike Farm Market.

On a totally different subject, I also talked in this podcast episode about an Aerostar trip we made to Wisconsin this week… not much of an FBO at this little airport near Lake Geneva, WI.

Be sure to listen to the episode to find out about an interesting phenomenon I learned about on the return trip… a momentary harmonic vibration in the clouds.

That’s all for this episode!

The post “226 – Piper Lance Lands at SHD After In-Flight Electrical Failure” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

And the winner is… Ben Moroze!

Recently, in podcast episode #223, I asked for help in identifying an ATC intersection we flew over on our way into Dulles Airport, (KIAD) awhile back.

I remembered it sounded something like “you-dee-ah” or something similar. Maybe something like “UDIYA” except that’s not it.

Well, Ben emailed me after listening to episode 223, and he correctly identified the intersection as “UDIYU” and told me it’s on the DOCCS THREE arrival and also on the GIBBZ FOUR arrival.

Thank you Ben! You’re the first one to respond after listening to episode 223.

Then, I sent an email out yesterday morning and received a good handful more responses about the intersection, UDIYU.

A big thank you to all of you who responded to this email!

You can listen to the audio podcast for this episode to hear about all those responses.

I also received a couple photos from my good friend Clark, showing the position of the UDIYU intersection… here’s one of those:

Thanks Clark, for the photos!

And here are a couple of my screen shots to get more context for the arrivals with the UDIYU intersection:

And thank you to ALL OF YOU GUYS who responded to my question… it’s really fun to learn about these obscure situations with you.

Now… I’m off to the shop to work on a Bonanza… and be sure to tune in again in a future episode to hear what I found in this Bonanza’s landing light wiring circuit that was causing all kinds of strange and weird effects in other systems as well.

Have a fantastic weekend!

The post “225 – Obscure ATC Intersection Mystery Solved (It’s UDIYU!)” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

Recently, I received an email from Jim Janaitus, owner of a Cessna 182. He told me the story of lapping an exhaust valve on his engine because the valve showed signs of burning even though the compression was still in the high 60’s. Take a look at the appearance of the valve before lapping:

The area from about 12:00 to about 3:00 is the bad area, indicating the valve is not seating well in that area.

Jim lapped the valve and installed a new rotator. I was super happy when he said, “It went better than I imagined.”

Here’s a follow up photo of the same valve about 12 flight hours later:

Isn’t the improvement remarkable?!

It’s not perfect, but it’s MUCH BETTER than before, and Jim has an excellent plan to monitor the condition of this valve every 20 hours or so.

Well done Jim!

Be sure to listen to the audio for this week’s podcast to hear this story, along with some other weird electrical issues I’ve been sorting out on a Bonanza and on a Cessna 210.

Have a great week!

The post “224 – Jim’s Exhaust Valve Rescue on his Cessna 182 Engine” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com