GeeBee

I had the same problem with my M20R a while back. Start out at 27.5 then gradually taper down to 24.3. Bad alternator. It was a Plane Power unit only a year old. I went back to the old Continental unit. The guys on Beechtalk say it is caused by out of round commutator rings which start the brushes bouncing which seems to be a recurring problem on the Plane Power units.

Jim Garrison at Gmax. Good guy with good advice who can lead you to a good purchase. https://www.gmaxamericanaircraft.com

Congress has 535 members. There are doctors, lawyers, pilots, farmers, homemakers, nurses and so on. The Congress has led through two of the worst wars the world has ever seen, dealt with nuclear enemies, 3 depressions, etc. Was it perfect? No. Did it turn out good? Yes. To quote William F. Buckley, "I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty,” Right now, we are being governed by the faculty. Let's look at some of the bureaucrats governing us. Don't know about you, but I'll take my chances with Congress because I can at least have a say if they are playing with a full deck. Health and Human Services Department of Energy White House

No if you have been watching this court, they have been "getting out of the legislative business". That was the whole idea behind Dobbs, the bump stock decision and numerous others. What this Court has been saying is "we are not legislators" and "Congress do your job". Where legislation or regulation has failed or been non-existent the court has said, "No controlling authority and if you are looking to us to be the controlling authority, we're not it."

Congress needs to do its job and thus be accountable for its actions rather than creating broad mandates with little definition. In doing so, influence pedaling will actually decrease because you won't have this interest or that interest trying to get help with government agencies who have over reached.

I used to be a heavy equipment operator so my view of the airlines may be a little jaded. However it has been over 5 years since I operated a heavy and I rarely use my pass privileges, I usually buy tickets like anyone else. The thing about the airlines is it is a lot like Disneyworld. Sure you can rent a car, stay in Kissimmee for less, pay for parking, ride the tram in, be last in line for fast passes etc. I call that, "Fighting the Mouse". When you fight the mouse, the mouse likes it. The Mouse will roll around in the dirt happily with you just to watch you save a few bucks that he reclaims at a later date anyway. So it is with airlines. I am a member of Skymiles, Rapid Rewards etc and yes I have their credit cards so I get my first bag free except for SWA where it is free anyway. I get the perks and when the flight turns to crap, I am higher up on the re-book. The other day I was at Dallas Love and SWA throws me a "move up to A boarding for 20 bucks. Hey, 20 bucks is what it costs to watch monkeys do the nasty, so yeah, got A2. To heck with the bag check, I"m A2. Ditto Skymiles. I got AMEX Skymiles Platinum if the the flight cancels, go the lounge. Don't fight the mouse, do grab it by the tail and strangle it whenever you get the chance.

That is correct. The lock pin often shears, it is a point of inspection not to be overlooked. It is a hardened pin that once it is scored shears quite readily. The C-46 is famous for it shearing because of the enormous loads upon it. What is interesting is Gryder complains the NTSB did a very cursory inspection of the cockpit. Either they saw the video or inspection of the cockpit inspection quickly showed the tailwheel lock handle position.

Actually a 2940' runway does not leave much margin after brake work. You can take a lot of energy off a taildragger without brakes. I've landed Beech 18's without brakes, but you need some pavement and 2940' is not enough.

Left brake will always win over rudder in a tail dragger.

I have to say, I know Dan personally. He has some very sharp edges and it is very sad, because he had so much to work with, so much aviation talent and yet he applies it all in such a perverse way as to make himself an anathema to any well mannered and thoughtful person. I think he has some personality problems that really need professional attention because no normal person acts as irrationally as he does, even for money.

When you replaced the alternator did you check the drive coupling with a torque test and/or did you replace the coupling?

I've seen many aviation operations, in particular airlines chew up managers who failed to grasp the necessity for implicit trust which is gained only by ethical conduct. They think managing is an art transferable to any industry. Which brings me to the famous Captain Robert Buck answer from a reporter who asked, "Captain Buck what is the greatest threat to aviation safety". Captain Buck replied, "The Harvard MBA".

I remember that video. He hooked up a spreader rig and lifted the airplane at the firewall and the aft wing root, slightly nose down, controls locked. He had lines from the wing tips to keep it from spinning. Worked brilliantly. Meanwhile:

Eh, we used one of these if you can get it through the filler hole.

Most carb'd Lycomings will give a cough if you ram the throttle for a go-around. As near as I can tell, it is the lag in the accelerator pump. Had a lot of them stop my heart for a beat, but never had one spit out the bit. As to paying again for installation. Welcome to aviation. While it seems perverse, having worked in auto parts I can tell you the auto shop may cover the labor to replace a defective part they installed, I can also tell you they make between 25 and 50% on the part they sold you. The price you see at say O'Reilly's is retail-retail which is what the auto shop charges you, trade prices are not shown. There are no such margins in aviation. Aircraft Spruce usually gives 10% to the trade for some but not all items. I recently paid for the installation and removal and are-installation of an alternator after only 100 hours of service. Hartzell/Plane Power sent me a replacement, which I promptly sold but all the labor was on me.

There are some questions here if the top wing wing tension bolt let go before maximum design loading. If so, look for a lot of moaning from the Bonanza community as they got the same issues as the Beech 18 and the earlier King Airs. Can anyone say, "spar strap"?

Business Ethics is a standard course offered and required both at the undergraduate and in MBA programs. If you want to see what happens when a business loses its way ethically look at Boeing. It largely started during the USAF tanker competition when their CFO was bribing AF officials for information on Northrop’s data, extended with the 737 Max debacle and has culminated with the door blow out. All of it can be traced back to management’s lack of ethics in pursuit of profit. Ultimately their lack of ethics have failed the people thy were supposed to protect. Their shareholders, their customers (ask Southwest why they can’t fly their planned schedule) and the innocent souls who boarded their airplanes. Trust is only earned by the ethical. Right now no one trusts Boeing.

Likely springs. Did you Tri Flow them?

When ever I see a dog eat its own vomit, I think of the air/oil separator.

Agree but that sensitivity has an upside. Fuel contamination shows up quickly. I was saved by it once in a 737 when a sweater of a worker who worked inside the tank truck was left in the tank before it was filled. That all said, I also have a capacitance sender in my boat and the difference in fuel level between straight unleaded gas and unleaded gas with ethanol is unreadable on the gauge.

I was in KUCY over the weekend and met Justin Wright owner of Red Avionics that manufactures a capacitance fuel probe and gauges. Right now he is making them for the experimental market but said he is moving toward certified. Interestingly his first project is a Mooney M22 that he plans on getting field approval. From there he plans to move on. He says his FSDO is being very cooperative towards this end. He makes everything there at KUCY, even the circuit boards. He says his units are compatible with most major avionics including JPI and Garmin. It looks to be very exciting as they are highly accurate and have zero moving parts, no float, no float arm. We will see, but it looks really interesting and exciting. https://www.redavionics.com/s/shop https://www.redavionics.com/buyers-guide

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I have AGMs in my boat (3 of them) and my airplane. Trickle charge is the key to long AGM life.

I have never understood why FBOs tow aircraft with abandon with tow bars. If you are using a tow bar, better do like the airlines and have someone riding the brakes. The only way a large aircraft should be towed without a brake rider is with a cradle tug agin, like the airlines. I've had two runaway jets. One I was pushing back from Dulles and the tow bar disconnected and I hear "Captain!......" from the tug driver (as the headset is ripped off his head), I then saw the tug and tower distance themselves in front of me. I gently squeezed the brakes so as not to put it on it's tail and we re-attached. Other time in Dublin Ireland in an A330 the signalman gave me the "chocks in" signal which means release the brakes. As passengers were disembarking I heard a loud banging noise. I did'nt like what I heard so I sat down in my seat just in time for the airplane to jump the nose wheel chock, the ground crew failed to chock the mains (a requirement for "chocks in"). The aircraft started to roll back. Good thing I was there. There was two 767s parked right behind us, the Airbus would have totaled them both. Turns out the ground crewman was a new guy and the station manager wanted to fire him. I asked her not to and said, "He learned a hard but very valuable lesson and I don't want to have to re-teach it to another FNG."

https://www.gatechecked.com/delta-air-lines-hangar-foamed-out-after-fire-suppression-system-fault-2879 Delta also had several airplanes damaged in 2015 in ATL from an errant fire suppression system foam the airplanes.