A64Pilot

what you would want is an O2 sensor, that will tell you mixture ratio accurately based on remaining oxygen, of course it’s how computer controlled automobiles precisely trim fuel. I know someone with a Maule that has one, put it in as a field approval, it is a monitor only of course, it does not control anything But here’s the thing, leaded fuel is supposed to kill a lambda sensor in a hurry, but last I heard it hasn’t yet. When it does they are relatively cheap and as easy to change as a spark plug There is a whole lot of misinformation “sold” about LOP, like “excess” air cools your cylinder heads etc. So tell me how does exhaust thats 25 degrees cooler than peak cool anything? Cylinder head temp is function of power, it’s the lower power that makes the heads cooler. Flame suit on. On edit, airflow sensors are easy the more modern ones are just a heated wire, air mass is measured by how which the wire is cooled, the older ones were a door, but it’s air mass you really are measuring, and that’s of course what you want to measure, by measuring mass, it autocorrects for density altitude.

Yeah, but it’s still not fixed, it did it again the other day. I’m now going to limit switches, I have a can of de-oxit and bought an engine hoist yesterday. I plan on borrowing a neighbors wing jacks if they will fit. ‘I figure it’s the down limit switch as if I understand the system it’s the switch that needs to be closed for the gear to come down, but it appears to be a sealed switch, the up limit switch is a standard looking micro switch.

Some woud have just jacked your price to what the Cirrus guys are paying, way I see it he did you a favor by telling you he couldn’t take your work anymore.

Long time ago I attended a Cockpit coordination class the Army bought from an airline. The one thing I took away from the class was the acronym SLOJ. ‘The FAA apparently long ago was trying to determine why it was that a very experienced, very professional pilots just did something stupid, something way out of character for him, this was back when there were essentially no Her’s. ‘Anyway a whole lot of money was spent on grants to Colleges etc to study why, and all they eventually came up with was the acronym SLOJ. SLOJ is sudden loss of judgement, it seems that any or all of us are not immune to just very rarely doing something stupid, we are well rested. not stressed, every thing is just fine, you have been driving the same route to work for 20 years, and today you run the stop sign that you have stopped at for 20 years, or the super experienced 747 driver lands long and runs off the runway in beautiful weather. ‘The Commercial guys have a second in command and they and the pilot have been briefed over and over that the SIC has a vote too etc., It’s very unlikely that both will get SLOJ simultaneously Single pilot aircraft about the best defense is rote memorization and strict adherence to checklists, and even then that’s not infallible, it seems the call out and answer checklists, just answering takes the place of doing mentally, so answering gear down can reconcile in your mind they are down, when you never touched the switch. Several automatic systems have been installed. I believe it’s Piper that if you fall below a certain airspeed, the gear come down automatically, seemed like a good idea, but it’s caused problems too, so most are disabled now I believe. ‘I’ve got a pretty good bit of C-210 time, I’m so paranoid about gear that I don’t think I will forget. The thing I do forget is the stupid boost pump for some reason.

Also take a chair and put it so it’s just touching a blade and double check mags off and rotate the prop. all blades should just touch the chair. It’s a shade tree way of checking blade tracking. ‘Anytime there is an airspeed change in the aircraft, there will be a pitch change in the prop, assuming it’s not against any stops, which it shouldn’t be in normal flight. ‘If you don’t find anything you may want to get an A&P or a prop shop to use a prop protractor and check prop pitch of all three blades, but if one is slightly off it usually gives a constant vibe. That yellow line on the back side of the blades purpose is to give a identical point of all blades to check pitch as the blades of course have a twist.

Single stage is easier to repair in my opinion, and longer lasting and more durable, but maybe not as pretty and you can’t have metallic etc paints My swag is that new aircraft are still usually single stage, be interesting to know. We did some custom base coat / clear coat and it looks pretty When I first took over a manufacturing line, we were having all kinds of paint issues on new aircraft, turns out we were using automotive paint, and cheap automotive paint at that. ‘So I started researching aircraft paint, I found out that Air Force one, the Blue Angles and Thunderbirds all used the same brand and type of paint, that was Sherwin Williams Jet-Glo and our paint problems ceased when I switched us to Jet-Glo, and also even though the paint was much more expensive, the re-work went almost to zero so it in fact saved money buying the high dollar paint, Later the new owner switched to PPG to save money and some of our old problems resurfaced. A very high quality paint is easier to apply and doesn’t require as much skill to get a quality job. ‘Now PPG is I’m sure a fine paint but I believe it takes more skill to get good results and we didn’t have the required skill level apparently, because I have seen some gorgeous PPG paint jobs. Maule uses I believe U-Tec automotive single stage paint with the additive for rubber bumpers to make the paint flexible so it doesn’t crack on the fabric parts of the airplane. This is a neighbors RV-8 and it’s automotive paint, I doubt he could do that in aircraft paint. ‘Automotive paint most of it anyway has become extremely conscious of VOC’s and I don’t believe aircraft paint has yet, and losing the VOC’s and keeping the quality is tough.

Often as has been said tapping frees up the brushes in their holders. but it could also be a bad spot on the armature. ‘If you can have it overhauled it’s likely that it will go for several more decades trouble free, but if the brushes are worn eventually that’s going to arc the armature and you may end up buying a new starter. There is nothing wrong with the old starters or generators for that matter, they have been working reliably for thousands of hours and decades to still be going in 2021

First year for Sherwin Willams base coat - clear coat was 2008, took a few years to catch on as us old school guys didn’t trust it, I still don’t So I’d assume someone tried to spray automotive clear coat on old aircraft paint to give it a shine? If so I’m afraid any polishing you do is sort of like the lipstick on a pig thing, meaning it may not be much of an improvement, but why not try.

I’d bet money it doesn’t have a clear coat, clear coat is a recent thing for aircraft and that paint doesn’t look recent. You can tell by taking a rag with a little lacquer thinner on it and rub the paint, if it gets color on the rag, it’s not clear coated. Yes it can be fixed sort of, at least you can restore some of the shine, it will last as long as the wax lasts, if kept hangered quite a while. To buff a airplane I use a Makita buffer, not a random orbit polisher, that will take forever. Don’t use compound unless you know what your doing, use a fine polish, yes it will take longer but your far less likely to cause damage, with compound you can damage paint very quickly. ‘This buffer has a newer model is all, pretty much the same, you can see I bought the machine glaze to polish my Mooney after I bought it Best idea is find an old car even a junkyard car or an old boat to practice on, then do the airplane once your comfortable Get the foam pads too, the wool cuts faster than foam does. After it’s polished I like Collinite fleet wax, it’s old school airplane and boat carnauba wax Oh, beware of miracle paint restorers / rejuvenators, it’s going to take work, but the polishing machine will make it a whole lot easier

Not meant to pick but most aircraft are Semi-Monocoque meaning that there is structure other than the skin, formers, stringers, ribs etc. Monocoque is when there is just the skin. One extreme is a fabric covered airplane where the skin is no structure, and Monocoque is the other extreme where the skin is 100% of the structure. In Monocoque construction a dent can be a serious issue, it can cause the whole thing to fail.

Rechargeable batteries don’t seem to leak, but I think in AA size only NIMH are available, if you can find Li-Po they should outlast Alkaline. ‘One of my head sets uses a 9V, and 9v’s are stupid expensive so I’m using rechargeable li-Po 9V’s that you plug a mini usb into to recharge

No one has run auto fuel have they?

Didn’t we train for partial panel?

The alternator should be locked to the engine, it should not spin freely. ‘I woud start there.

Back years ago in the Army since we reported aircraft readiness by the hour and if you broke it at 9PM but it wasn’t worked on until 8 AM you lost 11 hours on each breakage, so we stared flying very early in the morning and returning after sunrise, that way if it broke the mechanic could immediately start work, readiness rates improved. ‘But we found out the incidence of Inadvertent IMC was much higher, ground fog and apparently low ceilings are more likely around or just before dawn especially in Winter, so while it’s always best to be prepared for IMC if flying at night, it seems more likely in the early morning hours.

If it’s still available you can go to an Airwolf / Pesco wet pump and be done with it. ‘So far as rebuilding them, it’s really doesn’t work well, the vacuum pump body if you look at it, is coated with teflon or some other similar costing, once or if that costing wears off, then the wear on the pump itself is fast. I believe you can usually rebuild them once , but I don’t.

I’m going to look myself, because I’d rather not have any significant current flow through my prop governor, i know it shouldn’t, but I think it could. Too many other good places to ground an engine

A friend in High School had a Deuce Coupe with a Pontiac 389 tri-power in it, Any time you goosed it the vacuum windshield wipers would completely stop. but let off the throttle and they went to light speed

If your paying for all new avionics, get a yaw dampener, and consider a 550 conversion if budget allows

While you may think of a 300+ Mooney as a hot rod, short field it’s not. From a short field perspective my Maule was, AOPA says TO roll of 50’, landing 100’, yet it could be drug in well less than 50 ‘ if it was light, so even the Maule can be taken into places it can’t get out of, especially if there is an obstacle. ‘Just beware of one way box canyons etc, you can land with a head wind, but have to leave with a tailwind, there are a lot of one way strips https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/aircraft-and-ownership/aircraft-fact-sheets/maule-6

Most of transport aircrafts strength is in the floor so that it can handle cargo and people, that floor as well as carrying the weight has to also restrain those people and cargo so it’s pretty tough, the rest of the fuselage’s primary job is be a pressure vessel and aerodynamics, but I imagine an aircraft with overhead baggage compartments has to be a whole lot stronger, case that’s a lot of weight, and the design loads are quite high. I assume the Metro liner has no overhead baggage?

I don’t believe the cost of the inspection varies on engine time, so the insurence company should pay the same for a new engine as for one past TBO. I agree they will total it, it’s just simplier for them that way.

What about the field connections on the back of the Master switch? They are real easy to clean / diagnose, just wiggle the wires when it’s acting up and see if it stops

I guess your saying any kind of type of jet type rating, cause your not getting an F-104 type rating for instance. Exhibition is pretty restrictive, you can’t just go get a hamburger, without notifying the FAA when, where, route etc. if memory serves, so I’m sure they could but I believe that’s the end of the rides. ‘I don’t know how rides are given, no idea really, but I know the FAA is wanting to shut that down too, especially if money changes hands, that puts you into a whole different light, and is why I’m sure they were calling it training. Now that I think about it, I’d bet lunch they were told likely several times to cease “training”

When I raced it was in Clubman with a mostly stock GS500E, and a lawnmower trailer But it was a lot of fun, very competitive and being mostly stock I got a lot of track time where the guys with big bucks were constantly tuning and not on the track