EAA Sport Aviation Magazine

Can a mechanic who works on your plane refuse to sign it off or put it back together? Boston-based Cirrus owner Mark (not his real name) was flying his turbonormalized SR22 home to Norwood Memorial Airport on what was probably...

Don’t Go Overboard

by Mike Busch | September 11, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

Suppressing the urge to overreact to and overkill problems. The Bonanza owner encountered an engine problem 11 hours after his aircraft came out of annual. He had crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains VFR at 12,500 feet westbound enroute to the...

Backdoor Rulemaking?

by Mike Busch | August 15, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

Cessna gets caught with its hand in the FAA’s cookie jar. On February 10, 2014, the Cessna Aircraft Company did something quite unprecedented in the history of piston GA: It published a revision to the service manual for cantilever-wing Cessna...

Discrepancy Discretion

by Mike Busch | August 1, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

Who decides whether or not your aircraft is airworthy? By Mike Busch My column in the May 2015 issue of EAA Sport Aviation, titled “Fix It Now…Or Fix It Later,” discussed how to deal with mechanical problems on the road....

Why I Hate Pulling Jugs

by Mike Busch | July 1, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

It’s riskier business than most owners or A&Ps realize. Regular readers of this column know how I feel about changing cylinders in the field. I hate it. Especially when several cylinders are changed at one time; this is risky business....

Alterations

by Mike Busch | June 1, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

Clearing up confusion about aircraft mods. You want to modify your certificated aircraft. Let’s say it’s something simple like adding an extra cigarette lighter socket to power your portable GPS or cellphone charger. Or installing an external mirror so you...

Fix It Now…Or Fix It Later?

by Mike Busch | May 1, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

You’re on a trip when a mechanical arises. First you mutter the obligatory expletives, and then you must decide: Should you get the problem fixed now, or live with it until you get home? Nothing is more frustrating than dealing...

Oleos

by Mike Busch | April 1, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

Oleopneumatic shock struts use hydraulic fluid, compressed gas, and darn clever engineering to improve our landings. If every one of our landings were a “greaser” and if runways never had bumps or potholes, then the landing gear on our airplanes...

150 Year-Old Technology

by Mike Busch | March 15, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

Most of us are still flying (and driving) behind powerplant technology that dates from the 19th century. The original four-stroke Otto-cycle internal-combustion engine was patented in 1862 by a Frenchman named Alphonse Beau de Rochas. More scientist than engineer, de...

The Perfect Mechanic

by Mike Busch | January 1, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

What to look for when choosing an A&P to work on your aircraft. Over the past 45 years, I’ve had the opportunity—and often the privilege—of working with hundreds of aircraft mechanics. At first it was as a naïve aircraft owner...

Silent Killer

by Mike Busch | December 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

If you think CO-related accidents are rare, think again… On January 17, 1997, a Piper Dakota departed Farmingdale, New York, on a planned two-hour VFR flight to Saranac Lake, New York. The pilot was experienced and instrument-rated; his 71-year-old mother,...

Prebuy Do’s and Don’ts

by Mike Busch | November 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

If you’re buying an aircraft, here’s how to structure the prebuy. Over the past six months, my company’s prebuy activity has gone right through the roof. We’ve been responding to 30 to 50 prebuy requests a month, perhaps four times...

Energy and Efficiency

by Mike Busch | October 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

Why are our piston aircraft engines so @#$%*! inefficient? Our piston aircraft engines convert chemical energy into mechanical work, but they don’t do it very efficiently. It turns out that only about one-third of the energy contained in the 100LL...

Human Error

by Mike Busch | September 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

“To err is human…” but when humans make mistakes working on aircraft, bad things can happen. During the century since the Wright Brothers first flew, the predominant perpetrator in aircraft accidents has shifted dramatically from machine to human. Today, human...

A Mechanic’s Liability

by Mike Busch | August 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles

If your mechanic seems over-cautious and self-protective in his approach to maintaining your airplane, he has good reason. Mechanics have always been subject to FAA sanctions: certificate suspension or revocation, fines, warning notices, letters of correction, and remedial training. But...

EAA Sport Aviation Magazine

Can’t Sign It Off?

Don’t Go Overboard

Backdoor Rulemaking?

Discrepancy Discretion

Why I Hate Pulling Jugs

Alterations

Fix It Now…Or Fix It Later?

Oleos

150 Year-Old Technology

The Perfect Mechanic

Silent Killer

Prebuy Do’s and Don’ts

Energy and Efficiency

Human Error

A Mechanic’s Liability

A Highly Modified Skyhawk

Cylinder Work: Be Afraid

Scuzzy Skyhawk

Ferry Permits

Not-So-Plain Bearings

High Oil Consumption

Mechanic, Heal Thyself

Damage History

FAA’s War on Jugs: An Update

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