I was having enough difficulty paying for my flight lessons. Finding and buying an airplane was just crazy. Or so I thought.
Opinion
If the glove fits…
Did you know you should wear rubber or latex gloves when changing your airplane’s oil? It’s important to protect yourself from the used oil and the harmful things that can accumulate in the oil from the combustion process.
It’s the gear that gets us
The truth is pilots can adopt procedures that, if followed, would prevent most gear-up events. We should, too. Fewer insurance claims result in lower insurance costs. Fewer gear-ups also means fewer runway closures. Everybody wins.
Max Biegert: Runways and railroads
While chatting with the folks working on B-17 firebombers at the Mesa, Arizona, airport on a brisk winter day in 1980, someone said I needed to meet Max Biegert, the man responsible for getting the B-17F registered N17W out of a city park in Arkansas and returning it to flight as a large sprayer and air tanker. That B-17 now holds a place of honor in the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
Missing the point
We don’t know what we don’t know, until someone helps us learn it. Should we somehow get past the educational requirements of flight training without ever grasping the basics, we’re as lost as we might be on an Algebra II test, if we chose to skip Algebra I and go straight to the big time. Stalls are a good example of the phenomenon of misunderstanding.
I’ve replaced the problem cylinders, should I replace the others?
Given the engine times and now having #2 and #4 pistons and rings replaced and valves rebuilt, I’m leaning heavily toward performing the same maintenance on #1 and #3, with new pistons and rings, even though they aren’t suspected of any issue, but wanted to seek your wisdom on this first.
Human Factors: Sometimes it’s the little things
Post-maintenance is the time to preflight like your life depends on it — because it does as shown in this accident where a veteran pilot is killed in a crash when the trim tabs on his Piper PA-31 are installed incorrectly after the plane’s annual.
Reflections from a read
I’m not typically a fan of poetry, but this chapter – to me – is poetry.
Buying with cash for the win/win
Buying an aircraft is closer to buying a house than buying a car. Everything is negotiable, including the purchase price. A lower selling price and a quicker sale can be perfectly acceptable to the seller — a result that becomes attractive to both sides of the equation when offering cash.