by Mike Busch | Feb 1, 2019 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
When mechanics get interrupted, bad things can happen I was recently contacted by the owner of a Cessna Hawk XP (R172K)—I’ll call him “Sam”—who seemed rather shaken by a recent series of events. He told me he was a student pilot with solo flight privileges and ready...
by Mike Busch | Jan 1, 2019 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Taking the complexity out of cylinder break-in From time to time, every piston aircraft owner faces the question of how best to break-in new cylinders. Sometimes this involves just one or two newly-replaced cylinders, other times all cylinders have been replaced...
by Mike Busch | Dec 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Mechanics should never make repairs without owner approval The co-owner of a Beechcraft Bonanza emailed me that his airplane had been inspected and maintained by a trusted mechanic at his home field in California until this year, when the mechanic retired. Forced to...
by Mike Busch | Nov 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
What to do when you pick up your aircraft from the shop My company employs 14 A&P mechanics, 11 of whom are very seasoned IAs with decades of GA maintenance experience. The other day, one of them was asked by a client what he should look for during the preflight...
by Mike Busch | Oct 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
The myriad benefits of high manifold pressure and low RPM I bought my first airplane at age 24 shortly after I relocated from New York to California. It was a brand new 1968 Cessna 182 Skylane that I picked up at the Cessna delivery center in Wichita, and flew home to...
