A64Pilot

Ever tried to blast something at the “lowest pressure possible” for a max of 2 sec? Nothing is going to happen, I could do that to my finger, because what PSI is “lowest possible pressure”? By not giving a pressure they really didn’t tell you anything I never had a need, but then my engines didn’t burn excessive oil, and I cleaned and rotated them at each oil change.

My Mooney came with two flat spots on each main, they of course come from someone over braking determined to make a turn off. I ignored them, they will sort of go away as the tire wears down to the level of the flat spot, if you don’t over brake again anyway. I didn’t replace the tires until they were worn pretty much out. The flat spot didn’t seem to wear or if the did not as much as the rest of the tire. If they thump taxiing then you need to decide if the thump is annoying enough to replace them, I don’t think other than being annoying the thump does any harm. Mooney’s are way more susceptible than say Cessna’s, so don’t feel bad, your not the first and won’t be the last.

Contrary to popular belief nozzles do get dirty, not always the jet fuel flows through though, our nozzles also have an air bleed under the screen you can just see on them Our nozzles I believe are designed to mix air and fuel together and form a spray, if the air bleed gets a little dirty it can block airflow, that means the fuel won’t be as atomized and it can act as if it’s a richer mixture because combustion won’t be as efficient with a stream of fuel as it is if it’s nicely atomized, fuel burn is slower which drives EGT up and it will be richer as it gets more fuel flow from the divider. I won’t try to explain that I think the RSA manual does though and of course it’s very much more of a reliable source than I am. This is an excellent description of our fuel system, and I’ll admit that even though I’ve read it several times I still don’t fully have the thing down pat. P 17 discusses nozzles very well and what I’m talking about is discussed in the middle of the paragraph. A clogged air bleed screen is more noticeable at partial throttle due to the higher pressure differential between ambient and manifold pressure, but ac we aren’t studying EGT’s like we do when we lean got peak it’s not hard to miss it. https://precisionairmotive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/15-812_b.pdf I’d cut-n-paste but the Ipad won’t do that with a .pdf? Personally if I clean one, I clean them all. I use Hoppes and an ultrasonic. I have four of the smallest baby food jar that I put maybe an ounce of Hoppes in each jar and then put them in the cleaner

Even in S Ga I used to pre-heat when the hangar got close to freezing. I took my little jet engine looking hangar heater and had it blow onto a piece of sheet metal that I placed under the Maule’s cowling exit, formed a ramp if you will from the floor to the cowling. I had the little heater anyway. Some may think it silly but I like the engine to be at or above 50F for starting, maybe not needed but at $50,000 or more for a motor I think excessive measures are justified, if 50K is petty cash to you as it is for some then of course don’t bother. Those though I’d bet are in a heated hangar anyway.

Same, I think over the years damage may be cumulative, it just seems logical to not operate them until voltage is stable. I cringe every time the power flickers at the house, wondering if I get to buy something. Many or maybe even most newer cars alternators are controlled by the engine computer and there is a delay before bringing them on line and they “soft start” in that they are brought up to voltage slowly. All turbines I’ve flown you don’t bring the generators on line until after engine / APU start, then you start bringing avionics on.

I don’t turn the Avionics on until well after starting, my theory is the voltage sags and spikes that occur at that time is bad for them, so for all I know what you have may be normal. I also shut down avionics prior to turning off the engine too

We had to cut the helmet visors for IHADDS helmets for the HDU to fit, it was different for each pilot, so it had to be custom cut. We found that a felt wheel in a dremel with some plastic polish gave a perfect polished edge quickly. I think a router with a tracer bit using the unbroken one as a pattern would quickly cut two prefect pieces. That’s how I cut the door windows for my C-140, worked perfect I think the biggest problem would be sourcing the dark plastic, if Lasar doesn’t have replacements, I’d call Don. He made my visors to my spec of course and the work is very good.

The type 3 tires are likely required to pass the drop test at the higher weight, the size, type and even pressure in the tires make a large difference on the drop test, tires can absorb a huge amount of the energy. Now that’s me speculating of course, but I’ve done instrumented drop tests and seen what just pressure does. In our case having tires under inflated did not absorb more energy like you would think, tires at the higher end of the allowable range did better, which I didn’t expect. Higher ply ratings did better too, we ended up with 10 ply tires, which as they were 29” tires I don’t think we needed to carry the weight.

My 81 according to W&B isn’t but 900ish lbs. I think it interesting that so many get so concerned by gross weight / useful load. AK FSDO use to and I assume still does issue waivers for 10% overload and CAR3 allows a 31% overload for “special purpose aircraft” IE crop dusters. Just if you do end up heavy be aware of how it affects performance (that’s how it usually gets someone) and as we all probably fly as gently as we can anyway there isn’t much else to be concerned about. Except for not making the takeoff and or climb above obstacles I don’t think I’ve read about an accident from being overgross. Not saying to get stupid with it, but a few lbs over at takeoff especially if planned fuel burn has you landing at less than gross shouldn’t be a big deal. Vast majority of people don’t compute that didn’t become common until apps like Fore Flight became common and made it easy. Yes I know we shouldn’t be abdicating breaking the rules, I’m just bringing up if it’s between barely having enough legal fuel and being a few lbs over, I’m not pushing fuel is all.

What is the terminal velocity of a jet falling nose down? Terminal velocity of a 1000 lb bomb is over 1000 foot per second and I’ve heard but don’t know that the penetrating bomb made from a 8” gun barrel was supersonic. I think terminal velocity is highly variable

I’ve swung hundreds of compasses in the Army and on new aircraft. But I have never seen one that would stick on one heading, not even close, worst I’ve seen was ones that you could adjust within tolerance. Makes me wonder what going on with yours?

It’s just a big electromagnet, simple thing, but you need the little swing needle meter to see when to stop. We had to de-gauss every airframe and still I couldn’t get 1 in 3 compasses to swing so the cockpit needed it again. You need to get one of these things https://www.amazon.com/MAC-DET-Magnetism-Detector/dp/B00E0LGAQ8/ref=asc_df_B00E0LGAQ8/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312350426635&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11138029211919500577&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011535&hvtargid=pla-502262342865&psc=1 A lot is Stainless steel is actually magnetic, cold working and welding can make at least 300 series SS magnetic, or not it literally depends on the piece.

Talking to bush pilots in Alaska 50 years ago that was common, they usually used their cook stoves though, some rig up chimneys with stove pipe. Now they hump a generator usually, but it is much heavier, but safer. The other trick was to drain the oil immediately after landing and heat it with the cook stove, dump it in the engine and hope she starts quickly. For trucks etc the thing was to build a fire with charcoal briquette’s in a metal trash can lid, then slide that under the truck and in less than an hour she would start. Personally I’ve never done any of this, just listening to them as a kid when we flew through that part of the world in July. In the Army I learned that I’m allergic to cold.

You don’t need a pure sine that’s true, but almost any quality inverter is a pure sine (avoid Xantrex) But if you have a pure sine, then you can power anything, it gives you the ability to use it for other things, anything actually. A good pure sine inverter or Honda generator’s power is “cleaner” than grid power, the Honda is astonishingly stable, even with its RPM changing. You can do this cheaply with Walmart batteries etc, and you will get what you pay for. Good as in Trojan or Concorde batteries you can’t get for $70 a battery, more like $250 a battery. But if you want to do the battery thing, this is one of those times LifePo4 makes more sense (in my opinion), you can get a decent 100 AH 12V LifePo4 for $250 or so and instead of 80 lbs a battery they are 25 lbs, and almost all of those 100 AH are usable where lead acid you should only use 50, of course you can use more but cycle life limit drops drastically if you deep discharge. So you could do it with a LifePo4 for less weight than a generator. I’d guess lightweight box with charger and everything maybe even put wheels on it like a carry on bag for 40 lbs or less, you still have the how is it getting charged issue though, with multiple people flying taking it home isn’t going to work If you want to do lead acid batteries the best bang for the buck is Costco or Sam’s Club 6V GC-2 golf cart batteries, they are quality either East Penn or Deca US manufactured batteries and used to be you could get an AH for $1 an AH. I know this because on cruising boats 800-1000 AH banks were common, and banks got a lot of attention because if you had to drop a couple grand for one people tended to do their homework, plus if your band goes dead in the Caribbean, good luck, if you can get them it’s likely two weeks or more and 3 or 4 K to replace a bank. I’ve not shopped deep cycle batteries in quite awhile since we moved off the boat, but when my golf cart ones die, I really don’t think I will replace them with anybody’s lead acid ones, for especially deep cycle non aviation application my opinion is the sun’s set on lead acid.

This article I think covers it better than I can, and perhaps it’s more believable than just some internet guy that for all you know isn’t even a pilot, much less a mechanic https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2022/august/10/aircraft-maintenance-critical-knowledge-about-alternator-couplings

Other than apparently that is what the video covers, I don’t know where the concern of permold came from. The issue is that ALL Continental alternator gear drives if not properly maintained to include periodic replacement can cause engine damage, period. Even the 1940’s A &C series engines, and so far as I know I believe ALL gear drive alternator couplings should at least be removed and inspected on a 500 hour interval, but don’t take that as a requirement, I don’t believe there is an AD. They aren’t something to take lightly. I just threw out the IO-520 that was in the 210 because I quite liked its design, seemed to be the best of both worlds is all. Really if you don’t believe the continental IO-360 alternator drive can cause engine damage Just google it. I think of it like the 500 Mag check, no big deal as long as you have it done on schedule, but if you have an engine that you have no idea when or of the alternator drive coupling was replace, you might want to consider doing so. There are a few different SB’s it seems, one for the little guys which this one is https://www.qaa.com/wp-content/uploads/SB95-3B-1.pdf There are apparently a couple for the big motors too. But the only point I was trying to make is don’t take the likelyhood of a slipping / failing alternator coupling lightly, it’s not one of those things that you should defer.

I’m pretty sure but not certain that ALL Continental alternator couplings have issues that can cause severe engine damage. Even the little old A and C series engines but those are just cushion drives, no slipping. Those are simple just replace two little rubber bits The 520 I had had the best of all possible alternator drive set ups, in my opinion. It was belt drive, but off of the back of the engine, so to change the belt it was as simple as a car, no prop removal required.

I did the production test flights for Thrush Aircraft for I’d guess 15 years. Only book I ever signed was the aircraft logbook with the entry of “production test flight completed” Later after the aircraft was inspected by our DMIR it received its airworthiness certificate, and that was its birth certificate and started the Annual clock. Aircraft that weren’t sold didn’t get the DMIR and Airworthiness cert until they were, so that the buyer had a full 12 months and sometimes it meant the difference between this year or last years model. I didn’t look but am pretty sure the engine and prop logbooks just had entries stating they were installed on xxx airframe serial number, I don’t think a 100 was signed off nor an Annual on the aircraft. I don’t think N numbers were used because many were temporary ones as the aircraft were often exported, unsold aircraft flew with our temporary N number 29A, it wasn’t uncommon for two or three aircraft in the factory to have N29A on them., The arrival country’s numbers were not yet assigned, when they were we would put them on the aircraft, there are provisions for that in the FAR’s, but once in a blue moon the receiving Country could get silly, for instance I delivered an Aircraft to the Cayman Islands with their registration numbers on it because it was already registered as a Cayman Island aircraft, but I didn’t have a Cayman license. They ended up issuing me one because me not having one I couldn’t have legally flown it in their airspace

They can be chained down, and there are a million different covers for them to keep rain off. I still have mine, it worked fine on a boat in salt water for three years

On batteries, run the numbers. My golf cart has 4 12V 100 amp batteries, so in theory with one HEAVY golf cart battery if you pull 15 amps at 12V and assume 100% inverter efficiency it will be stone dead in 5 hours, if you use 50% SOC as your stopping point and you should if you don’t want to be buying batteries at least every year then it will be done in 2.5 hours. By the time you buy two good deep cycle batteries and a big pure sine wave inverter your up to generator money or close and your humping a rather large amount of weight, probably would end up with a wagon to haul it all

Buy a 2.2 KW Honda, buy a Honda don’t save money here. This was the cheapest place to buy one shipping was free maybe still is. I ran one every day on the boat for years, nothing is as reliable and the Honda will make more than rated power, cheaper ones will not even make rated power. The Honda would start a 16K BTU AC where a Yamaha or others would not. https://www.mayberrys.com/honda-generators-eu2200i-for-sale-pennsylvania-new-jersey-new-york--honda-generators-eu2200i If you have a generator, then you have something for when the power goes out at home and or you need to run a compressor at the airport or any number of things. I don’t think leaving it and asking someone to start it is a good idea these things grow legs faster than a good chain saw. The Honda is 18 amps at 120V, you can only get 15 amps from a regular wall outlet so it can power anything that can be run off of a normal wall outlet. 20 Amp wall outlets exist, but they aren’t common.

I was under the understanding that an actual Cheery Max as in blind rivet with a steel stem and a locking ring to retain the stem was actually stronger than a driven aluminum rivet and therefore acceptable to replace any solid aluminum rivet. From memory as I’m not a sheet metal man but there are Cheery lock rivets too, that have aluminum stems and therefore don’t have as much strength as a Cheery Max. Another reason why Cheery max rivets aren’t always used is the are a Bitch (excuse my language please) to remove, it’s getting that lock ring out that’s difficult. I grind the thing out with a cutting disk in a die grinder myself, once it’s out then you can drill the rivet. ‘Now I’m sure if the MM for some reason says only solids are allowed, well then only solids are allowed, but I’ve not seen that. Me personally if I were doing it and could I’d use nut plates and screws, as was said they aren’t structural and in fact other than looking cool, and I guess giving a place to mount lights they don’t do anything.

No, done correctly say if you flew 500 hours this year and had me do an Annual. I sign off 100 hour inspections for the engine and prop. I suspect it is done that way when separate logbooks for the engine and prop became a thing. Annuals didn’t become a thing until after IA’s were conceived. Before then your aircraft was inspected every year by a CAA employee and he issued you a new airworthiness certificate. I don’t remember what year that was, but after WWII I’m pretty sure, article below seems to indicate 1948 if I read it correctly by a DAMI IA’s it seems came into existence in 1956 maybe? And Annuals in 1966 came back, seems there for a few years there weren’t any? If anyone is curious this article I just found explains it in great detail https://www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/maintenance-providers/article/11281307/faa-feedback-the-rest-of-the-story

I used to do 100 hr inspections just because I could I guess then I got lazy, plus I don’t fly as much now. I did it thinking the buyer one day would take it as a sign that the airplane was well maintained. If by chance and I can’t imagine this to be a case, but if an IA inadvertently signed off a 100 hour as opposed to an Annual, the airplane isn’t airworthy when it reaches one year from the last Annual sign off, actually the last day of the month the last Annual was done. I think Mooney rentals are pretty rare? Anyway only the Airplane actually gets an Annual, not airframe, but airplane, so it’s signed off in the airplane logbook or failing that airplane records I guess. I know many prop and engine logbooks have Annual inspections signed off, but it’s not actually correct, doesn’t hurt though, mine has Annuals for last decade or so in the prop and engine logbook and I’ve been wondering if I should keep it up knowing it’s incorrect or sign off 100 hour inspections. To make myself clear, you don’t Annual components individually, you Annual the whole Airplane, the whole thing is in Annual or none of it is. Some aircraft apparently don’t even have an engine logbook, my 140 for example doesn’t have a prop logbook, never has, but then it’s prop is just one piece of metal. I guess arguably no logbook is required, you just have to maintain records. Sometime in the past I guess people started keeping separate books for the engine and the prop, but I don’t think it was ever mandated.

It’s going to turn because there is no load, you have to remove the alternator regardless of the problem. The installation procedure for the coupling from memory has a torque check to see when it slips, I take it to someone myself as I don’t have the tooling to do the job. Its like Mags, I’m legal to do Mags, but prefer to send it out to a specialist. If the coupling isn’t close to new you ought to replace it, some do so every 500 hours. It would be prudent to do as was said earlier, to send it in for inspection / repair depending on if you can wait, cause it’s not going to be done in a hurry. Either way if you suspect the coupling I think I’d cut the oil filter and look for orange rubber pieces I’ve only watched enough of this video to know that it shows the torque check procedure to see if the coupling is slipping or not, but suspect it’s a pretty good video considering the source. It’s also very important that the cotter pin be installed exactly in accordance with the instructions, it’s not a normal cotter pin installation, if done the normal way it can hit something in the engine and cause damage. This isn’t hard, just need the special tools and read and follow directions and it will be fine