by Mike Busch | Sep 1, 2016 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Fixing is usually the easiest part of aircraft maintenance. Figuring out what’s wrong is usually the hardest part. By Mike Busch | A&P/IA A funny thing happened on my way to Milwaukee… It was 2013 and I was flying my trusty 1979 Cessna T310R to speak at the...
by Joe Godfrey | Aug 15, 2016 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
In case there was any doubt, this Puzzler is about mag checks. Specifically, it’s to introduce a new way to display the data from mag checks. For a while now, analysts have been doing this manually and now we have a button that automates the process. And we...
by Mike Busch | Aug 1, 2016 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Before following expert advice, choose your expert with care. We aviators are of necessity a trusting lot. We constantly trust other people with our lives, our safety, and our financial wellbeing. We trust nameless and faceless air traffic controllers to keep us from...
by Joe Godfrey | Jul 15, 2016 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Franklin P. Jones, a Philadelphia reporter, said that experience is what allows us to recognize a mistake when we make it again. That’s a mildly cynical approach, and the true value of experience should be to recognize the pattern that led to the previous...
by Mike Busch | Jul 1, 2016 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
The definition of this ubiquitous term depends on the context. A bit over two years ago, a fellow I’ll call “Bob” bought a 10-year-old Cirrus SR22 from another fellow I’ll call “Sam.” Prior to the purchase, Bob had a very thorough pre-buy performed by an independent...
by Joe Godfrey | Jun 15, 2016 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
I MIFfed my airplane this week. I was installing the passenger seat in my Bellanca Viking – something I’ve done many, many times over my 26 years of ownership, and broke a weld between the seat frame and the seat rail. It’s not a huge repair, and...
by Mike Busch | Jun 1, 2016 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Aircraft parts are expensive, so we really should be repairing rather than replacing them whenever possible. When the co-owner of a 1976 Cessna 172M emailed me, she had just come from talking to her mechanic and was clearly in a state of sticker shock: “Where can I...
by Joe Godfrey | May 15, 2016 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Every flight is a series of decisions. Sometimes the decisions are easy — weather’s too bad, pilot’s not feeling good, airplane’s not ready or equipped for the trip. This month’s Puzzler is a series of three flights, each with its own...
by Mike Busch | May 1, 2016 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
What do you do if a mechanic working on your airplane tells you, “I can’t sign it off”? Dick is the maintenance officer of an 80-member flying club in northern New Jersey. The club operates several aircraft including a 2011 Cessna Skyhawk SP powered by a Lycoming...
by Joe Godfrey | Apr 15, 2016 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
If you’ve been flying LOP in cruise for a while you might forget that not so very long ago operating piston engines LOP was, shall we say – frowned upon. POHs didn’t mention it, except to say don’t do it. Some of the resistance was dismantled...
