L39pilot

To be totally up front, in those days I owned an industrial/automotive parts business-fairly high volume. I was a distributor for Marvel Mystery Oil in Pints, Quarts, gallons. 5 gallons & 55 gallon drums. But I didn’t sell stuff that I didn’t believe it! One of our favorite marketing schemes was to take an old flat head ford to the dragstrips drain all of the oil out, refill it with Marvel Mystery Oil , run for 5 minutes, drain the Marvel Mystery oil, put the drain plug in a container on the hood & leave the engine idling until the event was over, replace the plug, refill the engine with oil & drive the old car back to the warehouse until the next demonstration. We always sold out of all Marvel Mystery Oil in the bobtail truck & got referral business for the engine rebuild shop!

But running my IO520 60-70 degrees lop, at 50 hours it has no carbon & looks like fresh motor oil when I change it! I don’t use camguard, I use Marvel Mystery oil based on years of building engines for Dragstrips & fabricating hydraulic hose.

Play hard ball with the shop! My IO550 went to 40s compression on all 6 cylinders at once at 600hrs. On borescope the exhaust valves were standing proud & could not be staked. Pulling 1 cylinder only, my mechanic found hardened valve guides used on turbocharged engines. Metal was pushed up not allowing the exhaust valves to seat. Contacting Continental, we were told the engine was out of warranty & therefore, it was my problem! Solution, we told Continental that since the engine was airworthy when they shipped it with the wrong valve guides; we would smooth off the galled metal ridge & reassemble the engine, using only new gaskets. We would videotape the entire procedure & my estate would own Continental when the engine failed! We received 6 new cylinders & 1/2 of the labor charge with the requirement that we return the old complete cylinder assemblies. But we “lost” one exhaust valve that set on my desk for years until Katrina. I am not a fan of factory reman, this is my second disaster The first was loss of mineral oil on the same engine at 5 hours on the way home from the west coast because they “forgot” to put tape on one of the 4 studs that connect the oil pump to the tachometer drive. The law does not excuse negligence! Boots

This one was much quicker but only taxpayers could afford purchase, fuel & maintenance:

The quest for speed gets addictive! I left a V35B for an L39C & now 320 kts is slow. My best was 590mph @ FL24 (great tailwind). But we won’t talk about efficiency, fuel burn etc. maybe we can talk about sexy on the ramp (It attracts the FAA as quickly as the ladies)! But they are pressurized, air conditioned & incredible deice. Have enjoyed the discussion on 305 vs 252. Thanks guys! Boots 4C5B88A7-D28C-487B-B63A-AA73297AD89A.MP4

The quest for speed gets addictive! I left a V35B for an L39C & now 320 kts is slow. My best was 590mph @ FL24 (great tailwind). But we won’t talk about efficiency, fuel burn etc. maybe we can talk about sexy on the ramp (It attracts the FAA as quickly as the ladies)! But they are pressurized, air conditioned & incredible deice. Have enjoyed the discussion on 305 vs 252. Thanks guys! Boots 111839B0-EBE6-4283-8270-10B17971105C.MP4

I agree with first a PPL, instrument rating, insurance will require 200-400 hours of complex time. i commuted every weekend Thursday night until Sunday am from coastal Ms to east Tn. First in a V35B Bonanza, 2hr 17 minute average; then in an L39, 41 minutes average. But 4000 civilian hours, 200/1/4 no problem, ice no problem. In other words, your skill level and equipment have to meet the mission; otherwise, it is only a matter of time before the odds catch up with you! I would encourage you to be more than a passenger! L39pilot