AOPA Pilot Magazine

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Hostage Situation

by | December 1, 2019 | ,

Don’t fall victim to an overzealous mechanic. Mark is the owner of a beautiful Cessna 185 Skywagon based in the San Francisco Bay area. Awhile back, Mark and his wife travelled to Minden, Nevada in this airplane to visit with...

Evicted

by | November 1, 2019 | ,

Thoughts about being temporarily booted out of my hangar. From the time I first acquired my Cessna 310 in 1987, it has been hangered at Santa Maria Public Airport. Initially, I kept it in a large community hangar. Then in...

Double Standard?

by | August 1, 2019 | ,

Why aren’t A&Ps trained as well as pilots are? I never really wanted to become an A&P. All I really wanted was to be able to maintain my own airplane without adult supervision.  Heck, I’d been doing virtually all the...

I Wanna Sue!

by | July 1, 2019 | ,

When things go awry in the sky, litigation isn’t necessarily the best remedy. My email inbox contained a message with the subject “Legal Question – Advice Needed.” That didn’t surprise me because although I’m not a lawyer, I do regularly...

A Matter of Policy

by | June 1, 2019 | ,

Understanding aircraft insurance If you own an aircraft, you probably have aircraft insurance. Whether it’s the right amount of the right coverages is worth exploring. Here’s what I’ve learned in my 50+ years of aircraft ownership plus extensive discussions with...

Rush to Judgment

by | May 1, 2019 | ,

Before doing something expensive or invasive, slow down “My Cirrus SR22’s oil pressure has been slowly decreasing,” reported Oliver, one of my company’s managed maintenance clients. “At full power the pressure used to be 41-43 PSI, but over the past...

Powerplant Resurrection

by | March 1, 2019 | ,

Reviving an engine that has been inactive for months or years Piston aircraft engines hate to sit unflown. During lengthy periods of disuse, the protective oil film strips off critical surfaces like cylinder walls, cam lobes and tappet faces, exposing...

Breaking Good

by | January 1, 2019 | ,

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...

Just Inspect It, Please

by | December 1, 2018 | ,

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...

Fire in the Hole

by | July 1, 2018 | ,

Spark plugs start the fire going, and need some TLC We all know what aircraft spark plugs do: They accept high-voltage pulses from a magneto or electronic ignition unit and produce an electric spark inside the cylinder’s combustion chamber to...

An IA’s Dilemma

by | June 1, 2018 | ,

“Autographing a lie” is the worst FAR violation a mechanic can commit By Mike Busch | A&P/IA An IA is an experienced A&P mechanic who—by virtue of having earned an Inspection Authorization—is empowered by the FAA to make aircraft airworthiness...

The Bottom End

by | May 1, 2018 | ,

What’s inside your engine’s crankcase? Reciprocating aircraft engines come in a variety of different cylinder arrangements—radial, inline, V, and opposed—but most engines used in piston general aviation are horizontally opposed four- and six-cylinder engines. These engines have two banks of...

Where Fuel and Air Meet

by | April 1, 2018 | ,

Basics of piston aircraft engine fuel metering systems If you fly a piston aircraft, chances are it has a spark-ignition (SI) engines that burns gasoline. There also exist compression-ignition (CI) engines—also called diesels—that burn kerosene, but in today’s GA fleet...

Planes and Cars

by | March 1, 2018 | ,

Some thought-provoking comparisons I received a thought-provoking email from AOPA PILOT reader Nate Bissonette of St. Paul, Minnesota that started me thinking about differences between automobiles and GA airplanes. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average...

Making Metal Behave

by | February 1, 2018 | ,

How we coax metal aircraft parts into doing what must be done Metal is neat stuff. It’s strong, hard, and tough. It’s easy to form, work, shape and machine. It’s fireproof and can stand up to high temperatures. But these...
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