Jay Honeck wrote:
One of our least favorite jobs (thanks to our "Fancy Pants" with their
stupid, under-sized access doors) is airing up the tires on our Pathfinder.

I pull the plane back and forth while Mary fishes around for the stupid
nipple. If you want to hear a woman cuss like a sailor, just stop by the
hangar on tire-filling day!

It seems like we're having to fill the tires way too often. At least every
3 - 4 weeks, we notice that the plane has become a real bear to pull out of
the hangar, and that our take-off roll has become noticeably longer. Sure
enough, the tires will be down around 25%, from 40 to 30 lbs on the mains,
and from 30 to 23 lbs (or so) in the nosewheel.

This seems ridiculous. Is it a product of tubed tires, or do I have slow
leaks that should be fixed? Can you use "Fix-a-Flat" in aircraft tires?
(I'll bet not.)

How often do you guys have to fill your tires?

Our 150 (since sold) had the standard tubes, and we found ourselves
filling them so often that we put a foot pump in the back of the airplane.

As for the 172, we've been using the generic brand of the Michelin Air
Stop for years and have found it necessary to fill only once every 2
months or so. We just replaced the tires and tubes on the 172, and
because they worked well we bought another set of the very same tubes.
So far, so good.

If you'd like to see the replacement process in detail, go to my site
and browse to:

Aviation-Articles-Maintenance-Tire Replacement

-Doug

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Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
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