by Mike Busch | Dec 6, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Fred’s Cirrus SR22 was giving him trouble. The engine would regularly “hiccup” during cruise flight, and this was really spooking Fred. Worse than that, it was spooking Fred’s wife to the point that she was no longer willing to fly in the airplane with him. This...
by Mike Busch | Dec 6, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Harry had been flying his Cirrus SR22 trouble free when its annual inspection came due. He chose a Texas shop that was ultra-experienced working on Cirrus airplanes and had a great reputation, and didn’t expect any big surprises. The plane’s turbonormalized...
by Mike Busch | Dec 6, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Dan just purchased his first airplane, a 1974 Piper Warrior PA-28-151. A 60-hour student pilot, he bought the plane in Texas and—accompanied by his CFI—flew it home to California. Part of Dan’s deal with the seller was that the seller would have an annual inspection...
by Mike Busch | Dec 6, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Ken was having issues with the fuel boost pump on his Cessna 180, so he put his airplane in the shop to have his mechanic investigate it. A few days later, the shop called with some unpleasant news unrelated to the fuel pump. The A&P advised Ken that two of the...
by Mike Busch | Dec 6, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Allen is the proud owner of a 1979 Grumman-American AA-5A “Cheetah” based northeast of Detroit, Michigan. On the morning of April 25, 2020, he was taking off from a 4,000-foot runway to fly home when his aircraft hit a bird and lost power. He was able to abort the...
by Mike Busch | Dec 1, 2023 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Why is GA maintenance done on a T&M basis, which places all the risk on the aircraft owner and none on the shop? A successful surgeon put his Beechcraft Baron 58 in an Arkansas shop for a makeover. He wanted both engines overhauled, new paint and interior, and the...
by Mike Busch | Nov 23, 2023 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
That ubiquitous key-operated ignition switch is fraught with peril On July 26, 2018, private pilot Lanny Steven Kramer of Sarasota, Florida, and his wife Fran flew to the Cleveland Regional Jetport (RZR) in Cleveland, Tennessee to run some errands, after which they...
by Joe Godfrey | Nov 17, 2023 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
It’s a logical question. You see something abnormal in the data and you wonder if your powerplant management triggered or provoked what happened. I’d say about a third of the tickets I work include some form of the question. Another popular question is...
by Joe Godfrey | Oct 15, 2023 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
I never watched MacGyver. It’s not like I watched it once and thought it was junk and never went back. I just never watched it. It must’ve been on when I was busy doing something else. But I think it’s cool that his name has entered the...
by Mike Busch | Oct 1, 2023 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
My hapless blunder en route to Oshkosh triggered a series of incredibly fortuitous events. It was mid-July and my annual pilgrimage to AirVenture Oshkosh was rapidly approaching. I’d finished preparing PowerPoint for the 11 different presentations I would be making....
