Left Mag Dead... After Annual???

"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
. com...

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

OWNER ASSISTED INSPECTIONS



Post-Maintenance Test Flight (by FBO/Shop owner)

Still not near as good as owner assisted. In nearly 10 years of ownership
no one has layed a tool on my airplane without me watching like a hawk.
99% of the work is done by me with the IA inspecting. So far no surprises
and as a plus the cost of an annual plumets.

In seven years of going to the same shop, I've had no surprises either.

Whatever (or however) floats your boat, but I'm not as handy with my hands
as most.

"Dave Stadt" writes:

[... with owner-assisted annuals] the cost of an annual [plummets].

If you include the opportunity cost of your own time (the income
you eschew) in the calculation, you may find otherwise.

- FChE

Dave Stadt wrote:

Still not near as good as owner assisted. In nearly 10 years of ownership
no one has layed a tool on my airplane without me watching like a hawk. 99%
of the work is done by me with the IA inspecting. So far no surprises and
as a plus the cost of an annual plumets.

With three very young boys and a job that takes me away from home, I wish I
had the time to participate the annual. Once again, this demonstrates
that time has a monetary value and some have to be willing to trade money
for time.

As far as surprises, a 45 minute VFR flight around the airport is the
remedy.

--
Peter

On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 09:40:01 -0800, "RST Engineering"
wrote:

Three magic words to live by:

OWNER ASSISTED INSPECTIONS


Jim

That's good if you have the time and its not a very long and drawn out
job. But when an annual takes a minimum of 8 full days, and it needs
to be put back into service as quick as possible because it is losing
money as it sits there, and you have other planes to fly or have
another job that needs your attention as well. When are you going to
be able to be there 100% of the time? For a smaller GA plane like a
172 or an arrow or something similar I would say heck yea, but when
you start getting into larger, higher performance aircraft, you just
can't allot the time that it would take to do such things. At some
point, you do have to rely on the mechanic. All you have to do is ask
around and you can start weeding out poorly disciplined mechanics in a
heartbeat.


Scott D.

take out the obvious to email me

I've gone to pick up a plane and had it begin spraying fuel out from
under the cowling as soon as I thurned on the fuel pump. Another time
two sparkplug connectors were several turns from even being finger
tight. Never expect an airplane to be airworthy when the mechanic is
finished with it.
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

An aircraft owner should never be surprised by problems occuring after a
mechanic turns the plane back to the owner, in fact you will live longer if
you assume there will be problems after a mechanic turns the plane lose.
The stories are legion.


"three-eight-hotel" wrote in message
oups.com...
So I just got out of a $1900 annual, and stopped by, on Friday, to gas
the plane up for a flight to happen this week... I tried to start the
plane up (Cessna 172), and it never as much as sputtered. The battery
was well charged and it turned over, and over, and over, and over...
Never fired though!?!? I tried for about 5 minutes, and ended up just
leaving it, for the mechanic to look at.

I called this morning, and they are still looking at it. He said, for
some reason, the left mag is dead. He's supposed to call me this
afternoon, when he has something definitive.

I've never had a problem starting this plane (with the exception of a
low battery), and was quite surprised to encounter something like that,
immediately after an annual... It would have been different, if it had
occured during regular useage, but when you go to pick up your airplane
from annual, you are expecting it to be in as tip-top shape as it can
be.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? The mechanic said the plane was
started and running after annual, so is this just a major coincidence?
Is it true??? Are we all just test pilots, when we pick our planes up
from an annual?

Thanks for any input.

Todd

I tend to agree, and it only reinforces the three words to live by,
according to Jim... But, assuming you don't do an owner assisted
annual, how much is too little? i.e. Gene's post on plugs not even
being in finger tight... Does everyone remove their cowl cover after
annual and go through, checking for things like that? I assumed
vigilance during preflight and runup was being fairly responsible...

It sounds like popping the cowl cover might not be a bad thing to do
after annual, although I wouldn't have been able to catch a dead mag.
Again... I'm glad it happened on the ground!

What about folks that rent? Does everyone thoroughly check airplane
logs, and if it is noticed that the flight you're about to take is the
first flight out of annual, how much do you do, outside of a thorough
preflight and runup?

Todd

On 02/27/06 10:43, three-eight-hotel wrote:
I tend to agree, and it only reinforces the three words to live by,
according to Jim... But, assuming you don't do an owner assisted
annual, how much is too little? i.e. Gene's post on plugs not even
being in finger tight... Does everyone remove their cowl cover after
annual and go through, checking for things like that? I assumed
vigilance during preflight and runup was being fairly responsible...

It sounds like popping the cowl cover might not be a bad thing to do
after annual, although I wouldn't have been able to catch a dead mag.
Again... I'm glad it happened on the ground!

What about folks that rent? Does everyone thoroughly check airplane
logs, and if it is noticed that the flight you're about to take is the
first flight out of annual, how much do you do, outside of a thorough
preflight and runup?

Well, I do a thorough preflight and run up each time, regardless of the
maintenance schedule. I certainly cannot remove the cowl and inspect
the security of the spark plugs ;-\

I have thought about it, though. Of course, I'm not launching into IMC
(yet)...


Todd



--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

Well, I do a thorough preflight and run up each time, regardless of the
maintenance schedule. I certainly cannot remove the cowl and inspect
the security of the spark plugs ;-\

I'm pretty thorough about preflight and runup, regularly, as well, but
on the first flight after the plane has come out of annual, is it
overkill to remove the cowl and inspect for something that doesn't look
right? I'm just wondering if it's slightly on the reckless side, not
to go above and beyond our normally thorough preflight and runup?

On 02/27/06 11:21, three-eight-hotel wrote:
Well, I do a thorough preflight and run up each time, regardless of the
maintenance schedule. I certainly cannot remove the cowl and inspect
the security of the spark plugs ;-\

I'm pretty thorough about preflight and runup, regularly, as well, but
on the first flight after the plane has come out of annual, is it
overkill to remove the cowl and inspect for something that doesn't look
right? I'm just wondering if it's slightly on the reckless side, not
to go above and beyond our normally thorough preflight and runup?


Well, I was answering from the Renter's point of view. As a renter, I am
not allowed to remove the cowl (as far as I know). If there is a loose plug
wire that isn't noticed during the normal run-up, I wouldn't catch it.

I've always assumed this is one of the compromises I make by not owning my
own plane.

As for my pre-flight, mine is longer than what is recommended by the POH.
Over the years, as I read or hear about horror stories, I add new things
to my check list so as to not experience that problem myself.

For example, from day one I was taught to check the bolts on the aileron
hinges to make sure they are secure. After hearing a story about someone
who had an aileron hinge come apart due to wear, I now always check for
wear.

If I were an owner, I could certainly create my own list of checks to do
after getting an aircraft back from maintenance. But as a renter, I think
I'm limited in what I can reasonably do.

--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA