helitim

The guy I used to fly with in his Bell 47 would tell me to "stay low, I get nosebleeds up high". We rarely ever flew above 500' AGL and usually much lower.

G E A R D O W N

They got my vote !

This is the second attachment I was referring to http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200635362_200635362

"There are some areas around the upper skin rivets that are being a bit stubborn because I can't really get to them with the pressure washer." Have you tried anything like the gutter cleaning attachment or the gutter cleaner 130 degree bent connector shown on the link below? http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200610635_200610635

Gary, I really like the NavWorx solution except for the inability to receive 1090 In. Have they solved this problem yet? This is the only reason I haven't already installed the 600. Tim

One of our 182's had 3080 hrs before we electively overhauled it and, it was annualled correctly and legally every year. Never gave us any mechanical problems because we flew it regularly and maintain it very well. As stated before, find another IA unless you are operating as a 135 or 141 program which is unlikely since you asked the original question.

This scenario is almost exactly what I just completed w my J. The biggest reason I didn't mind doing it is because I am building hours towards an A&P license for use after my retirement. The reality is I am probably 5-10K upside down in mine now but, that things flies great! Not only did I do a FF forward but numerous other areas of the plane as well. Except for the paint and a tank reseal, I have replaced, overhauled or otherwise repaired the vast majority of systems on the plane. Because I have her in such good shape now, I am already considering the tanks and paint to just go ahead and get it all done. There is no way to really justify the labor and money except that I know this plane from the inside out and would feel comfortable flying her anywhere you would ever fly a single engine plane. This is definitely the type of project that you do because you really know what you're getting into or, as in my case, you're just too dumb to know better. Tim

If you went from 0.07 to 0.04 in two hours and it took 4-5 ground runs, I would seriously consider another shop. The guys at Specialized went from .6 to 0.02 in three runs and just over an hour. User skill is different I guess.

If they got it down to .04 and it wouldn't go any lower, you might consider remounting your prop 180 degrees and rebalance. Anything below .1 is considered acceptable though.

Not sure but, my A&P IA has an Eddy current machine at KLVK if that helps.

250 quid! That's almost $400 US. Not going to complain about our costs if that's what it takes to fly over your way.

Flight, My recent firewall forward overhaul was complete and a new vibration was present that came w the overhaul. I felt that the prop overhaul and subsequent removal of the previously placed weights were to blame. The plane was flown down to Watsonville for Specialized Helicopter to work their magic. The initial reading was 0.6 IPS. The final reading was 0.02 IPS. It's like flying a different plane now. To anyone who has not had their prop balanced or doubts the value of it, I would say you should seriously reconsider. A properly balanced prop eliminates vibrations that can cause unseen damage to the prop, spinner, bulkhead, engine as well as translate thru the entire airframe if the imbalance is bad enough. For $200 I feel this is money very well spent. Just my .02 cents, or in this case $200 worth. Tim

Found one. Problem solved. Tim

Still looking for one.

Brad, can't help you too much on the sound deadening characteristics but, if you decide to replace any of the plastic panels I can offer some assistance since I just completed this task last week. Tim

My current plane has a GX60 that is quickly becoming harder to locate. If anyone has a spare they would like to part with, I am looking for a spare. Don't really need the tray or other items but would take them if included. Tim

Just yesterday we completed the install of most of the interior plastic panels on my J. I'm here to tell you guys that whatever they charge, pay it! That is one heck of a lot or work to do. I'm sure if I did another one it would be a bit faster but this first one was a bear. Having received the wrong panels on 4 separate occasions from Plane Plastics added a whole new level of frustration that should never have happened. IF anyone here decides to do there own interior I would highly suggest you send your panels in to have them correctly duplicated and shipped the first time. I sent detailed photos after the first mix up and still received incorrect parts. My seats were in pretty good shape so they just received a very thorough cleaning and leather conditioning and were re installed as is. Carpet is in pretty good shape as well. We replaced all the plastic panels from the rear seat forward. The luggage area panels were removed, cleaned, prepped and SEM painted to match the new plastic we installed. The color match was very accurate so you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. First batch of paint I had put into rattle cans thinking the rough texture of the plastic would hide any imperfections of using the cans. WRONG! If you custom match and want to paint your panels, do yourself a favor and get a good adjustable compressor and paint gun system. Significant difference in finish quality when I finally used the correct tools. YMMV on this point if you are an experienced rattle can painter. I also learned the value of using a heat gun judiciously to soften the plastic for a cleaner, tighter fit on panel joints and obstacles underneath the plastic that were not molded into the plastic originally. The visor attach points come to mind. Once I had a few screws in place to put a good tension on the panel over the attach points, I heated the panels just enough for them to smoothly mold around the fittings and then drilled holes after they cooled to run the bolt thru. Hands down the most labor was on the overhead center panel. Cutting and aligning the multiple holes and openings was a very slow process. We then used the heat gun on several different items to make it all fit smoothly. We probably put this one piece in and put of the plane 25 times during the fitting and cutting process. Very time consuming. A cordless Dremel is my new favorite tool for this type of work. My wife had given me one some months ago and I kind of laughed when I saw it. Sat unused in my tool box until this job. Best tool I could have asked for. Thank you to my wife for that. End results are pretty good. I'm sure a professional shop could have done better but would have cost quite a bit. My panels were about $1,700 total. We worked somewhere between an estimated 75-100 hours on the interior alone. Again, being a novice makes this much slower. Tim

My mode C went out on a trip to Aurora a few months ago. Just so happened that PCA was on the field. They had a new one installed and waiting for departure the next AM and were surprisingly reasonable on the labor and parts rates. I would rate my experience with them as very good. Tim

LOL

Somewhere to dry the shop towels after a wash.

Got to say, this just messed with my head when I saw this plane. The owner just laughed when he saw the puzzled look on my face. He finally said "yes, it's a fixed gear"

http://www.lycoming.com/Portals/0/techpublications/serviceinstructions/SI%201427C%20(12-29-2010)/Lycoming%20Reciprocating%20engine%20Break-In%20and%20Oil%20Consumption.pdf This is what they recommend.

Guess all that hard work is paying off. Flew an hour today for the break in running between 65-75% power. Temps were better than they ever were. The new baffles must be working well. I am very happy with the results so far. Tim