gitmo234

I'm completely outside the medical field. As a civilian I'm in in the government sector, and senior enough that I'm all but locked into Washington DC. The PhD is a "strong suggestion" by my employer and they are offering to possibly pay for it in lieu of GI Bill. I may have the opportunity to move to Colorado Springs or out to California but that chance is remote.

in a combat zone

First actually serious time for me wasn't that long ago. Moving some boxes in a dumpster (so I could put another box in) behind a dining facility and finding a grenade rigged up so the next time someone moved some boxes they would catch a face full of metal. If it hadn't been rigged like shit I would've instantly lost about 20 lbs in the form of my head.

yeah i'm gonna get some popcorn for the reactions to that one

I've had my share of clean up and sobering experiences.

This makes me want to start a thread for sharing stories of the times we've had to clean our pants when we landed.

So, reading into this more....its 200 miles??? I took my wife 1000 miles in a Cessna at around 80 hours. The weather was perfect. I was a nervous pilot and still am sometimes. The in-laws concerns are valid, but honestly, a 200 mile trip in perfect weather is about as simple as they get. I would've considered going there solo first just to be familiar with the airport. I did that a lot early on. If you cant be counted on to fly 200 miles with one passenger on a perfect day, including all terrain and weather analysis, then what's the point of getting a PPL. I say that as someone who recently got the stupid pilot card stamped. I cant remember private requirements but wasn't our X-country solo longer than that in total? Hours do usually correlate with with wisdom but I'd venture that one of the biggest causes if not the biggest cause of accidents in GA is flying into weather. Leaving the family dynamics and parental concerns aside (and any concern on how you should or should not handle your family), that flight was about as textbook as it gets.

I’m considering it, but would prefer part 141 since it would be $0 out of pocket for me. I’m not opposed to paying though (there are like 8 other things I want to spend my gi bill on.... PhD this spring, Oenology classes at the local school, the list goes on and on).

I never understand what is wrong with FBOs or flight schools. Caveat to this posting: it’s just my experience, it doesn’t mean it’s all like that. i walked into an FBO today... making that effort to participate and talk aviation. Trying to go against my grain and engage (the habit of not stems from my previous experiences that were similar to this post). the chief instructor for the flight school is there. I ask if they’re part 141 or 61 and mention that based on my last trip, I think it’s time I start working on my IFR. He says “yeah IFR is good” and without saying another word he turns around and walks away. Disappears. Not in his office, nothing. My next question was going to be “how do I get started with you”, but he was gone. this has been my experience constantly. In 2011 when I started flight training the biggest problem was getting someone to work with me. The first FBO I walked into pretty much said “you’ll probably never finish so why start” (that’s paraphrased, not verbatim). They explained nothing and then chastised me for asking questions, etc. later I wanted to buy a Cessna and was literally told that I never would and it was stupid to buy a plane. Long story short, it seems like these are some of the problems across the community. If so, why? I’m post 9/11 gi bill so it’s free for me and easy money for them

An A&P suggested the same to me, in the "I cant condone it, but if you walk out with this part, that's up to you" sorta way. I paid like $400 for my overhauled generator

I didnt get to see the borescope. My memory is starting to blur a bit on it so I may be off, but he said there was oil puddled in two cylinders, but they looked okay and he suspected tapered cylinders, or maybe an intake leak. He said it could be as simple as some gaskets but there were other small clues that said it could be something bigger. There's a small plate and rod that attach between two cylinders and one of those had come off, which he said was extremely odd because normally you cant get them off when you want them off. The rubbery piece in between the individual rows on the cylinders had broken a bit, which he said was extremely odd too, and he pointed out some areas where it looked like someone had chased an oil leak and tried to seal it, and not make it obvious. There was some oil puddled on the top of the engine as well. Toward the back.

Also... I reviewed blackstone history on the oil, there were elevated metals but not to the point of concern. In fact it says something along the lines of "these are probably due to cylinders having <100 hours" and something along the lines of "keep running it"... Actually, I found it and its attached. This is turning more and more into an episode of NCIS EDIT to reference my previous comment. More and more dots that by themselves are sort of meaningless.

You're better than me. My first reaction would start with "who do you think you....." and only get worse. Of course this would only be said in the presence of my wife, while I vent and then she tells me she agrees but asks me to meet in the middle. Good on you though.

and... that made me spit up my drink

Semi-off/on topic here. This is just a dynamic in the family I cant understand. Not saying its bad, just foreign to me (and my family). A conference call, emailed concerns, etc. I think if my family (or my wifes family) were worried all we'd get is a "oh crap, better be careful".

Thanks! Some of those have been answered. A borescope by the A&P revealed that the cylinders looked fine and a compression test read good as well, but there were other signs of things not being very good (a data point for the argument about validity for cylinder compressions). Two cylinders have < 100 hours, 1 is a bit older, and 1 has all ~1100 hours on it. the POH is a bit generic being as old as it is. It says " Red line: minimum idling 25PSI" and "yellow arc idling range 25-60 PSI" and "operating range 60-90 PSI". So yes, bad. Oddly enough, I learned the answer to a previous question though, the electric fuel pump is not on the list of required operational equipment. Thats just something I noticed irrelevant to this conversation. I never caught (and neither did two A&Ps I had review the logs independent of any inspections and seller) the low entries on previous oil changes. So I suspect this has been a building problem that has finally just caught up to me.

When this happened I had to get an overhauled generator as well. Something about the VR being reset by an A&P and then popping again, it didnt like. The first sign was the radio sounding like crap. I landed and an A&P found the voltage regulator was stuck. He fixed it and it worked fine. Flew some more and it started happening again.

Similar happened in my Cessna back in the day. Ended up flying no radio from South Carolina to PA. zeftronics solid state VR worked magic.

To settle the debate, here’s a pic from the flight, about 2 hours after stopping to add oil.

It’s my turn to ride for a few hours. My oil pressure was at 25 which is the yellow arc. As far what an A&P said, I had one tell me that a quart an hour burn, give or take, is fine. So it’s a matter of who you ask as to how accurate the answer is, also, this engine has been looked at several times. The day of departure it was run up by an A&P and checked over because the electronic fuel pump was replaced, amongst other things. Not that I’m in the business of explaining my actions to the superior, but that was part of the reason for the rushed oil check. He had just put the cowlings back on. landing with low oil, i defaulted to “shit I didn’t check good enough, crap.” Which still may or may not be true. I added oil and ran it up, stopped and looked for leaks and saw none. Took off and kept an eye on oil pressure and it was fine. Oil level was fine at the next stop as well. Final stop was at night so I put it away and called an A&P the next day. He found things that wouldn’t have been found otherwise, and had to show me a couple things with a dental mirror. So so to the other points: flight following. The same stuff happened on this flight, handed off wrong and no response from STL approach. The difference now it was easier to handle. As a freshly minted PPL being handed off wrong or forgotten about was a big deal. A “oh shit WTF do I do now” panic moment almost. When it happened this time it was no big deal, I just switched back or looked up possible frequencies. I’m gonna stick with it more often. engine: I’m thinking overhaul for a few reasons. First, the last overhaul was in 1995. Since then all but cylinder 4 has been replaced at different times. Currently the A&P said there is oil in 2 cylinder and a plug was really black in a third. He also said it’s developed a bit of a skip/misfire and seems to run “shitty” below 1200 rpm. Seemed fine to me and never had those issues before. Most importantly though is personal baselining. I’ll know the engine and I’ll know when something changes. So it’s actually in Missouri now, so I may shop it off to jewel. Depending on quote and diagnosis. The A&P showed me a few things others have missed that indicated it might be time and other have chased oil leaks in the past.

Heading home today. 1000 miles by road. Should be home around 9pm EST. My dad let me take his mustang vs renting, while I await how bad the news is (but we’re thinking of saying screw it and just opting for an overhaul since the odds of it being small are also small). It’s parked at a field that does overhauls and my impression of the mechanic based on his level of detail and attitude is that he’s probably awesome. heres my ride for the next 12+

I’m from the area, but at a different airport. Price-wise remember it’s missouri. At the airport in my dads hometown has hangars for <$100 a month. Good ones too.

Re-reading this, I had missed the part about the previous thread, and I had completely forgotten I had made that post. A lot of “dots” that individually don’t seem like much, but together point to a problem slowly building. With as much as I have going on I forgot a lot of things (quite literally almost need a second secretary just to track my meetings and schedules only). Since I’m looking at major maintenance, I think I may start keeping more than a log, but a bit of a journal of “things". Notes about flights, ranging from oil level to anything noticed in flight.

Well you’re in luck! Thanks for the kind words by the way. something happened and it’s not good. Monday he’s going to wash it up and run it. Something connecting the baffles came off, which may have caused a cylinder to get hot. Two cylinders are very, very oily inside and one plug was basically black. he said it was a miracle there wasn’t oil all over the outside because it managed to get everywhere inside. I saw the puddles. he said it looks like it leaks everywhere but he can’t tell until he washes it and runs it. He said compressions were “fine” but it looks like a cylinder or two may be tapered and I’m getting blow by. Right now he put the scale of repairs somewhere between replace a cylinder or two up to consider an IRAN or overhaul. He also wants to run a crankcase pressure check. also he started it up and it ran really shitty below 1500 rpm and had a distinct “miss” in cylinder. Warming up the checkbook now. ill have a full diagnosis Monday or Tuesday and whatever we decide he can’t even begin work until the week after

Saw this on another post. Ironic and accurate. I’m just over 170 hours.