All Work, No Play....

It's been a while since I posted anything. Part of the fun being a trial lawyer is the very long hours. I had a trial which had been coming up for a while. The plaintiff wanted well over a million dollars and the client wanted a defense verdict. This meant an 8 day jury trial in Philadelphia. The good news is that the jury sided with goodness and light (me) and gave the plaintiff zip. That is always very satisfying, especially when the attorney on the other side is less than civil.

The bad news is that I was working 14-16 hours a day and didn't get to see my family, much less the airplane.


I finally went out this weekend to address some nagging maintenance issues The starter case halves were coming apart at the time of my annual. I tightened everything up and proceeded to Oshkosh, but the problem recurred after I came back.

I called up Sky Tec to argue that it should be warranted even though it was beyond the two year warranty period. I was surprised when I didn't get a chance to argue. They told me to simply ship it back to them. They would overhaul it with improved hardware and ship it back to me same day on their dime.

Sure enough, I got a completely overhauled to new starter back in the mail a few days later with official paperwork saying it was overhauled to new specs. I was tickled.

Another maintenance issue had presented itself on the flight to Oshkosh. On the way to Andy Millin's house, I was scanning through the various engine monitoring pages on the Grand Rapids EFIS when  I noticed that the fuel pressure was alternating between zero and - 5 PSI. After initially being flustered, I realized that the engine was humming along happily and would not be doing so if the fuel pressure was really a negative number.

I figured it was either a clog in a filter (less likely) or a bad sensor (more likely). When at Andy's, I had Carlos Fernandez, GRT expert extraordinaire, check things out. He agreed with me. It was still creepy flying over Lake Michigan with a warning inhibited.


I decided to disassemble and check the fuel filter again and to replace the sensor.  We plan to fly up to Vermont in a few weeks and I really didn't want anything questionable going on as we flew over heavily wooded mountain terrain.

_______________________________________________________________________

Here is my good as new starter back from Sky Tec. I'm a happy camper.

_________________________________________________________________

My shiny new starter reinstalled and ready to go.

_________________________________________________________________

The fuel pressure sensors. Why is everything on an airplane always difficult to reach?

_______________________________________________________________

Here is the offending part. I replaced it with a new sender. I removed and checked the fuel filter - there wasn't so much as a speck of dirt in there. I pushed the plane out and ran up the engine. No leaks and the fuel pressure readings are back to normal. Great!

________________________________________________________________

I parked in Fond du Lac while at Oshkosh. They pushed me over a rock or something and crushed the leading edge of one of the gear doors. Might as well fix that too.

_______________________________________________________________

The edge is sanded clean, milled fiber and three plies of glass added, followed by peel ply and clamps. Should be ready to fill, sand and paint tomorrow.

________________________________________________________________

Of course, everything can't go smoothly. I put the lower cowling back on and am just about to screw it in place when I notice that the mounting hole from the screw next to the prop is failing. A screw got loose a while ago and the vibration cracked the glass. Might as well fix it now while it is apart. More on that tomorrow as I realized I left the Dremel at home.

______________________________________________________________