Airplane Owner Maintenance – By Dean Showalter

Last Monday, I lapped the #5 exhaust valve on a Continental engine. But more importantly, I met the owner / pilot of a Turbo Centurion, and now I’m happy to call him a good friend! Thanks for flying all the way up here Mark! Here’s the story: Mark had been a little concerned about the […]

Everything looks normal in this photo, right? What we can’t see from this angle is the fact that the brake disc has broken in two pieces! Check it out: Here’s the story: The pilot landed the Piper Cherokee, and after a successful landing, something gave way on the left brake, and it became ineffective. Now […]

This story begins with a squawk from the owner. It went something like this: “When I fly my airplane, on the first landing gear retraction, the gear begins to move and then the “gear pump” circuit breaker pops. After I reset the circuit breaker, the gear retracts and extends normally with no further problems the […]

The week I’m talking about here was almost too full! But I wouldn’t change a thing. A real highlight was taking my Pennsylvania cousin for a short flight in a Piper Cherokee: From Sunday to Friday, I had the following opportunities: Also, during the Bonanza inspection with my friend Mike, we adjusted the fuel quantity […]

During a recent prebuy evaluation on this nice Beech A36 Bonanza, the question came up, “Does the old analog CHT gauge need to work in order for the airplane to be considered airworthy?” (In this case, the analog CHT gauge had an INOP placard on it.) Check it out: The airplane has a JPI engine […]

This airplane appeared on the ramp not long ago at the Shenandoah Valley Airport in Virginia. I discovered it had taken off, and then very quickly made a 180 and returned for landing due to engine trouble. The pilot thought he may have lost a cylinder. His mechanic stopped by to check it out, and […]

In this podcast episode, we’re talking about alternator maintenance! Here’s the alternator I removed from a Beechcraft Bonanza to inspect the drive coupling and the brushes… note the brush assembly in the lower right side of the photo: The brushes had plenty of length left, but they needed a good cleaning due to carbon dust […]

When it’s time to overhaul your engine, who do you call? Where do you go? Listen to this episode to hear ideas from other airplane owners who have had good experiences with various engine overhaul shops around the country. I always love meeting podcast listeners, and I was surprised when I met Ken Blow recently […]

This ‘ol Piper Apache served me very well to get my MEI training and check ride done. Listen to the audio for this episode to hear how my check ride went… it was a challenging one! This part of the podcast is toward the end. This episode also covers something we did for our son […]

Note: Scroll down to see who I unexpectedly met in Florida this past week! Now for the Prebuy… it was some months ago, and I did a prebuy inspection on a nice airplane on behalf of the buyer. I also became good friends with the owner / seller, for which I was grateful, because sometimes […]