The AD that wasn't.

I make part of my preflight inspection lifting gently up and down on each
stabilizer tip just enough to see the plane pitch slightly against the nose
strut. I'm listening for any popping, crackling, or movement. It's gentle,
only thumb and a couple of finger.

Does this seem pointless or even crack promoting to you?

--
--
Roger Long
Dan Thomas wrote in message
om...
The gaskets we use on that pump are a black composition material; very
strong and solid. Haven't seen cork in a long time, and never a rubber
gasket.
I agree that any cork gasket there should be replaced with a new
composition gasket.
As far as ADs that aren't, there's another one that should be: the
horizontal stabilizer forward spar centre section cracks and could
fail. Cessna has a service bulletin on it, but sooner or later someone
will die because it wasn't mandated. Those who push down on their
stabs to turn the airplane are almost certainly going to have cracked
stab spars.
Dan

"Roger Long" om wrote in message ...
I make part of my preflight inspection lifting gently up and down on each
stabilizer tip just enough to see the plane pitch slightly against the nose
strut. I'm listening for any popping, crackling, or movement. It's gentle,
only thumb and a couple of finger.

Does this seem pointless or even crack promoting to you?

No, we teach that to our students. They have to understand, though,
that anything more than a gentle shake at the stab tip could
overstress it. Don't move it enough to get the nose oleo working.
We're listening for creaking sounds that might indicate loose stab
forward attach bolts (they might occasionally need retorquing) or any
undue flex that might indicate spar failure. Some oilcanning
(rumbling) of the skin is normal.
The one I flew that had a failed spar was very flexible,
discovered after the fact, of course. With one of us holding one tip
firmly, the other could be moved up and down an inch or two.
We haven't had to retorque stab attach bolts since we stopped using
the stab to maneuver the airplane.

Dan
--
--
Roger Long
Dan Thomas wrote in message
om...
The gaskets we use on that pump are a black composition material; very
strong and solid. Haven't seen cork in a long time, and never a rubber
gasket.
I agree that any cork gasket there should be replaced with a new
composition gasket.
As far as ADs that aren't, there's another one that should be: the
horizontal stabilizer forward spar centre section cracks and could
fail. Cessna has a service bulletin on it, but sooner or later someone
will die because it wasn't mandated. Those who push down on their
stabs to turn the airplane are almost certainly going to have cracked
stab spars.
Dan

Well, you’ll like this story then..

We took our 172 to an airshow as a static exhibit. Believe it or not, it
was one of the most popular planes with longer lines than most of the
military planes. The kids loved it. It was cute, sort of like a car, and
they could imagine themselves flying it.

I spent the day baby sitting the plane, helping kids in and out, and doing
things like stopping one from sticking his gum over the static port just in
the nick of time. We were parked right next to the line of porta potties
and lines were long. I walked to the rear of the plane just in time to see
a large, red faced man back up to the elevators, take a furtive look around,
and start to park his rear end on the tail. My scream sent him almost head
first into the porta potti that was just opening up. He was terrifically
incensed but I told him people's lives depended on that tail and he could
stuff it.

I got to fly the plane out. The runways at this military field are long.
The tower asked which intersection I would like. I thought about all the
little hands that had been plucking at our plane for two days and said,
“Please Sir, could I have the whole thing?” You could hear the guffaws in
the tower. The tankers, big bombers, warbirds, and everyone else were all
taking off from the intersection. This little 172 wants THE WHOLE 9 YARDS!
I taxied down what seemed like miles and miles of taxiway that looked like
they hadn’t seen wheels since WWII. Finally found the end and took off. I
was at my cruising altitude before I came abeam of the tower but it was a
real comfort.

--
Roger Long

The local flying club here in Schenectady had an emergency landing
with it's 182RG just two weeks ago, due to oil exhaustion through the
vacuum pump gasket. I don't know what type gasket was used. Pump had
been on the engine for 900 hours.


On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 18:19:03 GMT, "Roger Long"
om wrote:

Well, you’ll like this story then..

We took our 172 to an airshow as a static exhibit. Believe it or not, it
was one of the most popular planes with longer lines than most of the
military planes. The kids loved it. It was cute, sort of like a car, and
they could imagine themselves flying it.

I spent the day baby sitting the plane, helping kids in and out, and doing
things like stopping one from sticking his gum over the static port just in
the nick of time. We were parked right next to the line of porta potties
and lines were long. I walked to the rear of the plane just in time to see
a large, red faced man back up to the elevators, take a furtive look around,
and start to park his rear end on the tail. My scream sent him almost head
first into the porta potti that was just opening up. He was terrifically
incensed but I told him people's lives depended on that tail and he could
stuff it.

I got to fly the plane out. The runways at this military field are long.
The tower asked which intersection I would like. I thought about all the
little hands that had been plucking at our plane for two days and said,
“Please Sir, could I have the whole thing?” You could hear the guffaws in
the tower. The tankers, big bombers, warbirds, and everyone else were all
taking off from the intersection. This little 172 wants THE WHOLE 9 YARDS!
I taxied down what seemed like miles and miles of taxiway that looked like
they hadn’t seen wheels since WWII. Finally found the end and took off. I
was at my cruising altitude before I came abeam of the tower but it was a
real comfort.