A64Pilot

It was returning to Ft Hood from conducting a live fire demo at Ft Sill, the demo was neat because we got to see the arty guys do their thing and even a low altitude drop of a full bomb load from a B-52. The artillery guys had a neat trick, they could fire three or four rounds each at different trajectories and all land on target at the same time. The B-52 was something to see too. ‘I don’t know where it was because there was no radio call of we are fixing to take a picture or anythiing

Graveyard spiral

How would you like or have been this guy? https://www.ainonline.com/sites/default/files/podcast-files/2017-07-ain-human-factor-ntsb-aviation-incident-final-report_0.pdf CAPS I see as being most useful for the guy who runs out of gas and doesn’t want to try a forced landing or other similar thing where you have control and can plan it.

Sometimes, especially if you do your own maintenance on other things like say for example something Diesel, each side to line will have one washer on either side of the bolt holding the line on, and knowing how to anneal them can be of use. Banjo bolts I think they are called, and you run into them pretty often for fluid lines. Often they are metric and not all that easy to get the washers for depending on where you are.

I guess it’s fugly, but not any fuglier than the AH-64. We worked with an Air Force unit in the late 80’s. they were interested in how we “did” nights. One commented on how he now understood now why we flew so much at night, we were too ugly to be allowed out in the daytime. ‘Later we found out that they were the F-117 squadron, now talk about an ugly airplane. I wish I knew then what they flew.

On the boat we had a Garmin in reach that was great for that, different plans but $12 a month and whoever you want can track you, you send them a link to a website and it shows position and of course your tracks, and the tracks persist for years so you can zoom out on our “map” and see everywhere we went in the Caribbean, and the in reach can send and receive txts and send SOS messages, but I wouldn’t consider it a replacement for an ELT or PLB myself but some do.

I’ve not seen 5606 soften an O-ring, now over time it seems to, but that’s a longtime. ‘Having said that whatever rubber is used for auto brakes is not comparable with 5606, if your worried about that, get Viton O-rings, not much eats Viton and they are available. I think it’s overkill though

They way some pressure transducers work is by the caveman method of compressing carbon powder, the tighter it’s compressed the lower the resistance. That’s how old microphones work too, so it’s more sensitive than you might think. ‘I woud bet that what your seeing is very likely the varying voltage of your electrical system, and not pressure fluctuations, maybe. Try pulling your alternator field CB and see if the numbers change, if they don’t, that in my opinion eliminates voltage fluctuating as an issue. ‘I’m not familiar with your aircraft, if you have a alternator switch use it of course.

Your looking at what is sometimes called analysis paralysis, it often comes from hooking a digital device that will display tiny increments, whether accurately or not is arguable, but the faithful believe something will measure to .001 because it displays that, a issue is that the analog device can’t measure within 5 PSI even when it was new, decades ago, and it hasn’t gained in accuracy since then. ‘There is a reason why the stock gauges have only a couple of numbers on them, with big green arcs

It may be Continental’s that has the issue, but one of the manufacturers has a problem with the adapter loosening and the engine losing oil. I believe it’s the one Cessna uses or maybe it’s the one Continental uses on the engines it supplies to Cessna? I didn’t dig into it, just came across it. Either way what I was trying to point out is that adding an oil filter is of course adding more than a filter, the adapter is another failure point, and while I’m making no claims myself, sometimes well meaning modifications come with their own set of problems. ‘For instance my Mooney has some kind of Emergency Vacuum system, and while I’ve not dug into it, I believe it may be more of a problem than a cure. ‘I think I may be removing it at the next annual if I find out that it’s more of a safety issue than what it’s trying to prevent.

So your saying that even if you sign up for LADD with the FAA someone can subvert that by paying Flight Aware a fee and get your tracking data anyway? Or are you saying that for a fee you can allow some but not others to track your aircraft, even if you have signed up for LADD. Or what are you saying, sorry I’m dense I guess.

Yet, many if not most of the tracking sites will post pictures of the aircraft as well if they can get them. ‘I guess just in case the N number wasn’t enough to identify it?

I can’t help you with the balls, but O-ring wise, get an O-ring kit from Amazon and use the one that fits. ‘Every aircraft jack I’ve ever seen uses 5606, which is basically just hydraulic oil, often “jack oil” is automatic transmission fluid, and I think that 5606 and ATF are pretty close to each other. Farm tractor hydraulic oil is often also the hydrostatic transmission oil, so it’s different, but I don’t know how, it’s oil colored and heavier viscosity than 5606, don’t have clue about it other than that though, I wouldn’t use it, I’d use 5606 myself. ‘The cylinders them selves most often have simply O-rings and wiper rings is all. ‘I’d take one to a place that rebuilds construction equipment hydraulic cylinders, I bet they have the parts on hand. Biggest thing that makes an aircraft jack, an aircraft jack in my opinion is the mechanical stop that’s often nothing more that a big nut so to speak that stops the jack from falling if the hydraulics give up. If those have such a device, then they may be worth fixing, if not, maybe not. I think they will be an easy fix

This is the MT prop I have the most experience with and may be their largest? 117” I think, coupled to a PT6-67 engine at 1700 SHP. The Hartzell outperformed it, and was much better suited to conditions where the aircraft was going to, but the customer chose the MT because it looked cool.

Looks like maybe CFIT to me, and if so how would a chute have helped? These two were very good friends of mine, in a CAPS equipped airplane. I feel sure they got into inadvertent IMC and didnt handle it too well even though between the two of them they probably had 20,000 hours and both were Commercial Instrument. ‘CAPS has very limited envelope. I believe that for example normal cruise speed is above its deployment envelope, or have I been told an untruth?

No, don’t go by me, I get the info second hand, but I believe there are some factory adapters that are having problems, and while Air Wolf isn’t cheap I’ve had good luck with their other products, their wet vacuum pump for instance, I believe it’s just a Pesco pump, but it will outlast an engine, a dry pump, maybe 300 hours? There are SAIB’s etc on several oil filter adapters https://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo/all_safos/media/2021/SAFO21001.pdf https://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/noticeView.aspx?nid=11590 https://www.askbob.aero/content/lycoming-engines-sap-oil-filter-adapter-saib-ne-10-27 So while I would say that a filter is better, largely as was already stated it’s a great inspection media, but adapters may bring their own issues that need to be thought about, it’s not just a filter, an adapter has to be installed too of course.

I think wood does an excellent job of dampening vibrations, and while it usually upsets some to hear it, the MT is a wood prop

Pretty much exactly it, The AH-64 is supposedly immune to ground resonance as it’s been “tuned out” by design, in theory it would take both a flat tire, and a collapsed strut to allow an Apache to get into ground resonance. Just as a comment if a pilot recognizes it in time and is at 100% rotor, ground resonance can be stopped instantly by taking off quickly, once contact with the ground is broken, the resonance stops immediately. ‘Anyway fast forward to when we did Carrier qualifications for the Ah-64, the Navy won’t “break chains” until your at 100%, we were concerned that being chained down to the deck could initiate ground resonance, but it didn’t. As far as dynamic balancing a prop, I put a three blade Hartzell on my Maule and never could get it smooth, you couldn’t balance it out as it wasn’t a 1 to 1 vibration. ‘I flew once with a Avia Propellor Engineer from the Czech Republic, he said it’s pretty common on aircraft engines that have a lot of time with two blade props, that he believed the crankshaft and bearings wear to the two blade and when you go to a three blade, you’ll never get it smooth. Maybe this is what the OP was saying about don’t balance an engine prop combo that has a lot of hours on it? ‘For whatever it’s worth as a longtime helicopter guy, dynamic balancing makes everything better, everything last longer, I mean all bearings, avionics, everything, you can’t be too smooth.

in 1958 Mogas wasn’t unleaded, well most wasn’t, Amaco sold a “white gas” that was, but maybe that came later? Mogas to quote Avweb is a “non starter” and I intend to agree largely due to it not doing so well in storage. ‘I assume they likely ran 80 Octane and maybe that’s why the plugs lasted so long? https://www.avweb.com/insider/going-to-the-moon-was-easy-compared-to-100ul/

I’m not abdicating eliminating 100 LL. however it’s no secret that the Friends of the Earth and a few others are. ‘I believe making 94UL widely available and at a slightly cheaper price to give some incentive, would significantly reduce the amount of leaded ful eluded and may buy us more time. ‘I actually though long and hard against buying a high compression fuel injected engine, but decided that the sky has been falling for over 40 years and hasn’t yet so go ahead.

I think unleaded gas would really have made the difference, I look forward to the day that hopefully we will be offered 94UL, so long as they don’t jack the price up for leaving something out. Unleaded fuel ought to pretty much eliminate plug fouling, and allow us to move into the 21st century oil wise. ‘Of course a few need 100, but most don’t.

Mine don’t move as easy as I think they should, Acft has 2100 hours. I was going to use zipper lubricant, but think I’ll give the beeswax a try, if that doesn’t fix it, I’ll look into rollers. ‘It’s a PIA to have to lift my butt off of the seat while trying to slide the seat forward, our old C-210 which had a very similar mechanism you didn’t have to

I would add the Air Wolf remote filter. I do think there is an advantage to having a filter, but it’s not overwhelming, I don’t have a filter on my C-85 in my C-140 for instance and probably won’t add one. But an IO-360 is a bit more money. ‘Air Wolf’s is well thought out and safe from what I can tell. some others not so much

Lifepo4 is extremely resistant to thermal runaway, but no battery is immune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery However what’s different in any lithium chemistry and lead acid is that with Lithium once charged, you really need to discontinue charge to the battery, you can overcharge them, and that cuts into their life etc, Lead acid Ideally is charged with a three stage charger. Bulk and absorption voltage for a Lifeline AGM, which is nearly identical to our Concorde batteries is 14.3V, actually made by Concorde. Once acceptance rates reached .5% of the banks rated capacity in AH, the voltage should be dropped to float, which is 13.3 V for the Lifeline, ideally voltage is adjusted for bank temperature. But lead acid batteries are very tolerant of being fed 14V continuously regardless of the State of Charge, but Lithium isn’t. So Lead Acid can live with a simple alternator that outputs 14V all of the time, Lithium of any chemistry not so much, but a LIFE cell is more tolerant than any other I believe. We just came off of living full time on a Cruising sail boat, and the difference between camping on a boat and a luxurious lifestyle is your battery bank. Lithium is sort the holy grail for many reasons, but the technology just isn’t or wasn’t there to coddle them like is needed, for instance to disconnect the alternator from the battery bank so that you don’t overcharge the lithium is difficult to say the least, it has a tendency to cause the alternator to fail. So what’s needed in my opinion to bring Lithium on mainstream is a complete redesign of the charging system, specially for Lithium, automobiles with their ECU controlled alternators could do it without too much trouble, and they surely will eventually, I suspect they haven’t because lead acid is simply very reliable and cheap, sure they could go to a LIFE battery and lose weight and have a battery that last four or five times longer, but it’s not likely to help sell cars and isn’t cheaper, so why? Our Toyota Prius with its rather large traction battery bank, has a standard 12V automotive battery to initially boot up the cars computer and run the interior accessories etc. Why did Toyota use a regular lead acid battery for that? My guess is so that Jim Bob in his tow truck can jump start you if you run down the battery, where he can’t the big traction battery.

I think it was as much as anything that the engine was developing so little power it was becoming difficult to fly. that and of course they were about to lose sanity and a I’d guess plotting how to kill each other. At that weight it’s likely even with a healthy motor it was a dog That motor had 2000 hours on it with nothing but oil changes, no plug changes, and nothing done to the mags, no timing check etc.