by Mike Busch | Oct 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Dealing with mechanicals away from home base. Every aircraft owner dreads a mechanical breakdown while away from home on a trip. In the five and a half decades that I have owned an aircraft—I bought my first plane in 1968 and have always flown lots of long trips—I’ve...
by Mike Busch | Aug 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Optimal flying in a world of expensive avgas. With fuel prices at all-time highs, it’s more important than ever for pilots of GA airplanes to fly in a fuel-efficient fashion. I am especially sensitive to this issue because I fly a piston twin that guzzles 30 GPH and...
by Mike Busch | Jul 5, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
The best maintenance shops often warrant the closest owner oversight. I’m frequently asked by aircraft owners to recommend good maintenance shops in a particular area, and my company maintains a large database of maintenance resources to facilitate such referrals....
by Mike Busch | Jul 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Out-of-control annual inspections are painful—and avoidable. I received a heart-wrenching email from the owner of a Southern California flight school—I’ll call him Chuck—who operates 10 airplanes, mostly Cessna 172s and Piper Archers and Arrows, with a Seneca twin and...
by Mike Busch | Jun 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
This Skyhawk’s Lycoming had a 2,000-hour TBO, but it lasted a bit longer—3,000 hours longer to be exact. What follows is true, though the names have been changed… It was 2011 and Unruly Flyers had a problem. This 14-member Midwest flying dlub’s only aircraft—a 1997...
