Save your back, air up your tires

Last Wednesday I found myself unable to push my plane back into the
hangar without help. It was wet, limiting my shoe traction, and I had
been unable to successfully get back on the concrete pad after cutting
the corner through the squishy grass, forcing me to take a more
straight-in (and more uphill) approach.

Today before flying I hauled my compressor to the hangar and aired up
my tires. They didn't look that squishy, but they sure took a lot of
air to get back to book values. It's a hell of a lot easier to push now!

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

I find appreciable difference in the plane's ground handling and T/O
performance, so much so, that I now have a small foot pump to top off the
tires permanently in the baggage compartment.


"Ben Jackson" wrote in message
news:aETFb.433014$Dw6.1332454@attbi_s02...
Last Wednesday I found myself unable to push my plane back into the
hangar without help. It was wet, limiting my shoe traction, and I had
been unable to successfully get back on the concrete pad after cutting
the corner through the squishy grass, forcing me to take a more
straight-in (and more uphill) approach.

Today before flying I hauled my compressor to the hangar and aired up
my tires. They didn't look that squishy, but they sure took a lot of
air to get back to book values. It's a hell of a lot easier to push now!

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Save your bucks too! The tires wear faster when soft. They can also
rotate on the wheel when suddenly jerked into spinning. This can break off
the valve stem. You do the math.
--
Roger Long

Ben Jackson wrote in message
news:aETFb.433014$Dw6.1332454@attbi_s02...
Last Wednesday I found myself unable to push my plane back into the
hangar without help. It was wet, limiting my shoe traction, and I had
been unable to successfully get back on the concrete pad after cutting
the corner through the squishy grass, forcing me to take a more
straight-in (and more uphill) approach.

Today before flying I hauled my compressor to the hangar and aired up
my tires. They didn't look that squishy, but they sure took a lot of
air to get back to book values. It's a hell of a lot easier to push now!

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

I find appreciable difference in the plane's ground handling and T/O
performance, so much so, that I now have a small foot pump to top off the
tires permanently in the baggage compartment.

One of those battery-powered ones is an absolute God-send at the hangar.
Ours cost about $50 bucks, and has a cigar lighter jack (for powering other
devices) in addition to a very high quality air pump.

We've found that the tires need to be aired up every two weeks or so. They
will lose 10% or more of their air pressure in that time.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The worst is when a tire goes flat on the Stationair. It takes three men and
a boy to push the plane far enough to rotate that valve stem down to the
little door on the wheel pant.

C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

The worst is when a tire goes flat on the Stationair. It takes three men
and
a boy to push the plane far enough to rotate that valve stem down to the
little door on the wheel pant.


Little door? Luxury! It takes four men, three boys, two dogs and
a horse to twist the tire on a 182 into position. And THEN you
get to reach up the pant, past the spiders and grease, and IF
you're LUCKY, you can reach the valve stem which of course
won't be QUITE in the right positon so you have to do it all
over again.

Merry Christmas!

--
Dr. Tony Cox
Citrus Controls Inc.
e-mail:
http://CitrusControls.com/
"

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
One of those battery-powered ones...

What voltage is your airplane? I'm trying to find out if anyone's found
one of these things that can use 28v safely.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

amazing what round tires will do.

Ben Jackson wrote:

Last Wednesday I found myself unable to push my plane back into the
hangar without help. It was wet, limiting my shoe traction, and I had
been unable to successfully get back on the concrete pad after cutting
the corner through the squishy grass, forcing me to take a more
straight-in (and more uphill) approach.

Today before flying I hauled my compressor to the hangar and aired up
my tires. They didn't look that squishy, but they sure took a lot of
air to get back to book values. It's a hell of a lot easier to push now!

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

What voltage is your airplane? I'm trying to find out if anyone's found
one of these things that can use 28v safely.

Mine's 12 volt.

What do you want to do with it in your 28 volt plane? (It's generally a
stand-alone tool.)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article , Dan Luke
wrote:

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
One of those battery-powered ones...

What voltage is your airplane? I'm trying to find out if anyone's found
one of these things that can use 28v safely.

You can still use the 12V one... it just works twice as fast! (Or, put
another way, you get the work done in half the time.)