2006 Annual Inspection -- Complete

Well, not too many surprises this year, other than the ELT. (Which I
suspected would not pass again, and it didn't.)

1. The Ameri-King ELT installation went smoothly. Running the wiring
up to the stupid annunciator panel in the dash (now required for all
ELTs) was a pain, but Ameri-King uses a long telephone extension cord
for their wiring, which certainly simplifies everything.

Most incredibly of all -- we installed something new in the panel, and
everything else still works! That is a "first" in my 8 years of
airplane ownership.

2, Plastic in Planes is STUPID. The original Piper fairings were all
fiberglass. Sometime in the last 1970s, according to my A&P, the use
of "space-age plastics" came into vogue, rather than "bulky, heavy
fiberglass"...

That way of thinking is now coming home to roost, as all of that
"space-age plastic" turns to non-repairable, brittle junk. My vertical
stabilizer fairings were completely gone -- I was able to "remove" them
by simply grabbing and squeezing, to let them shatter in my hand. Old
fiberglass parts can be easily patched. Plastic parts *can* be
patched, but they're now so brittle as to make it not worthwhile.

3. Annual Inspections Can Cause As Many Problems As They Fix. The
process of removing and installing stuff is a "wear item" in itself.
When I was reinstalling the tail cone at the end the inspection, the
brittle plastic (see #2) snapped while I was tightening a screw. So,
off it came again, to be patched (with aluminum reinforcement) yet
again. This part has been patched nearly every year -- but with 8
stripes of paint on it, the cost of replacing it is simply prohibitive.
So, pretty soon it will be entirely aluminum on the inside...

4. Engine Oil Leak. We flew around an hour today, and didn't see any
signs of oil, but that's not much of a test. We'll see if the goop my
A&P put on the engine does any good over time.

5. Seat Springs. Those stupid little springs that return the handle to
the vertical position were a real bear to replace, but it's done. What
a stupid thing to spend $100 in labor to do, but it needed doing, and I
couldn't even see how the springs were installed, let alone how to
replace them.

So, in the end, it was a pretty decent annual. The total bill is
around $1400 (not including the fairings, oil, filter, and ELT, which I
bought separately), half of which was labor to install the brake pads,
ELT, and the fairings.

It's a lot of money, for sure. Still, when I was climbing out at 1300
fpm today, looking down at all those folks driving to work, it suddenly
all became worth it!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

So, in the end, it was a pretty decent annual. The total bill is
around $1400 (not including the fairings, oil, filter, and ELT, which I
bought separately), half of which was labor to install the brake pads,
ELT, and the fairings.

Congratulations. I haven't received my bill for the annual on my Bonanza
yet, but I expect it to be around your total.

The three items on my bill that elevated it this year were replacing my
rotating beacon that had a motor that just wouldn't turn consistently
anymore (despite being taken apart and cleaned a few times), replacing the
primary alternator that had failed three months after the warranty expired,
and replacing the TKS anti-ice fluid filter, a filter the size of a tumbler
glass with a price tag of a two new tires.


--
Peter

Wish me luck - mine is tomorrow!

Tony
C-GICE



So, in the end, it was a pretty decent annual. The total bill is
around $1400 (not including the fairings, oil, filter, and ELT, which I
bought separately), half of which was labor to install the brake pads,
ELT, and the fairings.

It's a lot of money, for sure. Still, when I was climbing out at 1300
fpm today, looking down at all those folks driving to work, it suddenly
all became worth it!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"




--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

Just curious- why did you have to replace the TKS filter? Were you getting a
high pressure indication? How long and how much do you use your system?

I have a system in my Baron, but always run the fluid through a filter
funnel when filling, and after a couple of years and many tanks of fluid it
still runs great.

Viperdoc wrote:

Just curious- why did you have to replace the TKS filter? Were you getting a
high pressure indication? How long and how much do you use your system?

Yes, I was receiving a high pressure indication.

However... I did call the company to inquire about the high pressure
indication and one of their techs told me that low voltage can also fool
this sensor into believing there is high pressure in the lines.

At the time I was unaware that my primary alternator had failed (long
story, has to due with problems with my standby alternator sensor light
coming on for other reasons), so in hindsight, it appears that the
indication may have been erroneous.

I have a system in my Baron, but always run the fluid through a filter
funnel when filling, and after a couple of years and many tanks of fluid it
still runs great.

I do the same, but I am the second owner of the aircraft since the system
was installed and AFAIK, the filter was never changed in the six years
since installation. Therefore I am justifying the expense of the filter
replacement as preventive maintenance.

Oh, and the mechanic did admit that the old filter looked used, so it was
only a matter of time. Flying in the northeast and downwind of the Great
Lakes, my TKS system deserves a lot of TLC.

--
Peter

Thanks. After my initial installation I kept getting a high pressure
indication, and went through the process of changing the filter, only to
find that the wire to the panel from the sensor was crimped, leaving an open
circuit. It was a slimy and time consuming job to change the filter, which
obviously didn't solve the problem.

However, I also fly around and over the Great Lakes, and the TKS is the only
way to go short of getting into something that burns kerosene.

Viperdoc wrote:

However, I also fly around and over the Great Lakes, and the TKS is the only
way to go short of getting into something that burns kerosene.

From what I have heard, those pilots who fly the turboprop aircraft in the
Northeast US are never permitted by ATC to get up to the altitudes where
those aircraft really excel.

A pilot at my FBO purchased a turboprop Piper Malibu a few years ago and
admitted that no matter what he files for northeast US flights, he is only
given cruise altitudes in the mid-teens. He stated that the aircraft
prefers the mid-twenties for fuel and speed purposes, so he is actually
considering selling the aircraft.



--
Peter

I had a minor oil weep in my Lyc O-360-A1A and tryied the patch the
seams. Worked for a while but started again. Only way I got rid of it is
when I purchased a factory OH engine. I hope your's works better than
mine did.

Ross
KSWI

Jay Honeck wrote:

Well, not too many surprises this year, other than the ELT. (Which I
suspected would not pass again, and it didn't.)

snip

4. Engine Oil Leak. We flew around an hour today, and didn't see any
signs of oil, but that's not much of a test. We'll see if the goop my
A&P put on the engine does any good over time.

snip
:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Oil leaks can be tricky. I bought my Bonanza last August. Didn't seem
to be much oil usage. I then changed the oil and filter. After 6 hours
I was down two quarts. Very little on the belly and nothing on the
floor. Put two quarts in and flew 6 more hours, down 1/2 quart to nine
and a half quarts. Flew six more and it's still at 9.5 quarts. So I'll
just keep watching it and see.



Ross Richardson wrote:
I had a minor oil weep in my Lyc O-360-A1A and tryied the patch the
seams. Worked for a while but started again. Only way I got rid of it is
when I purchased a factory OH engine. I hope your's works better than
mine did.

Ross
KSWI

Jay Honeck wrote:

Well, not too many surprises this year, other than the ELT. (Which I
suspected would not pass again, and it didn't.)

snip

4. Engine Oil Leak. We flew around an hour today, and didn't see any
signs of oil, but that's not much of a test. We'll see if the goop my
A&P put on the engine does any good over time.

snip

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Ross Richardson wrote:
: I had a minor oil weep in my Lyc O-360-A1A and tryied the patch the
: seams. Worked for a while but started again. Only way I got rid of it is
: when I purchased a factory OH engine. I hope your's works better than
: mine did.

As long as we're describing our respective aircrafts' prostrate problems, My
O-360-A3A had some weeping on the upper case halves. Re-torquing didn't fix it, and
it was just enough to have a slight sheen on the case after a flight. Ran a bead of
RTV down the top and it doesn't leak anymore. No worries.... there are some things
that'll seal it non-intrusively. I doubt it on a crank seal, though...

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************