by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
“I’ll be having the annual inspection of my 1998 Cessna 182 done at Caviar Aviation this year,” Ted advised his Savvy account manager Tom Cooper A&P/IA. “George is the Director of Maintenance (DOM) there, and I spoke with him to schedule my annual for the...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Trace owns a 1979 Cessna 182 Skylane. It’s his first airplane. During his first year as an aircraft owner, Trace devoured everything he could find about GA airplane maintenance. He read Mike’s books and watched a bunch of his EAA webinars. In fact,...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Tim bases his 1975 Cessna T210 in the Virgin Islands, and uses it mostly to fly throughout the Caribbean and sometimes to Florida. He first popped up on our radar screen when he called the SavvyBreakdown 24/7 hotline from his mobile phone. “I just landed in Antigua,”...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
The exhaust valve is by far the most likely component of a piston aircraft engine to fail catastrophically in flight. When an exhaust valve fails, combustion ceases in the associated cylinder. The engine loses power and starts running rough. In a single-engine...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Marc was the owner of a 1974 Cessna 414 who recently came to the conclusion that it was more aircraft than he really needed, with a voracious appetite for fuel and an overabundance of moving parts, many of which are fabricated from unobtanium or unaffordium. So, he...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
“I flew my Skylane about three hours from Pompano to Tallahassee to drop off my daughter,” Alvin posted on his SavvyAnalysis ticket. “After refueling, I taxied out to take off for home. Although the plane performed beautifully on the flight to Tallahassee, on...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
“While I was replacing the worn spark plugs on my Bonanza today, I used my borescope to look at the exhaust valves,” Nick posted to a new SavvyQA ticket. “It looks to me as if the #1 & #3 exhaust valves are beginning to show some asymmetrical coloring. What do you...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Time Between Overhaul (TBO) is a strange concept. The FAA, in its infinite wisdom, requires aircraft engine manufacturers to publish TBOs for their engines, but doesn’t require aircraft owners to abide by them. An owner is free to continue flying behind the engine as...
by Mike Busch | Dec 7, 2023 | Savvy Stories
“Requesting analysis to understand the possible root causes on this engine start,” Willy posted at the beginning of his newly-created SavvyAnalysis ticket. “I hadn’t run my 1966 Beechcraft Bonanza V35’s engine for two weeks, and when I started it I noticed that EGT #3...
by Mike Busch | Dec 7, 2023 | Savvy Stories
“Welcome to SavvyPrebuy, Mark!” Savvy’s technical director Jeff Iskierka posted to the newly-opened prebuy ticket. “ We’re delighted that you have hired us to manage a prebuy examination of this 1949 Stinson 108-3.” Mark lives in the Pacific Northwest, and this...
