Like any machine, the plane requires maintenance. I had developed a growing list of non-flight critical squawks over the winter, These included a hydraulic seep, a brake chatter on landing and more. In addition, I had purchased several items at Christmas to upgrade the plane, including an ADS-B receiver for weather and traffic, an engine sump heater, an air oil separator and new brakes.
I decided to take a day and see how much of it I could get fixed. I took Friday off from work and got up before dawn. The plan was to load up the plane and get it over to my A&P Dennis Glick at Dutchland Aviation in Smoketown, PA (S37). He and his guys are the very best.
I made it out to the airport by 6:15. It was dark, breezy and 20 degrees.
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I put a blanket over the plane and slid my $19 therapy heating pad into the cowling to preheat the plane, then went over to Burger King for a gourmet breakfast while it heated up.
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I folded the rear seat down and loaded up my wing jacks, new parts and some tools.
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The plane is loaded, the sun is up and I'm ready to go at 7:00.
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As I taxi up to the run up area, the sun is just about to break over the horizon.
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Off to Smoketown. It is no more than a 10 minute flight. It is breezy and bumpy, but clear below 3,000.
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I land at Smoketown and pull up to Dennis' shop.
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They make room, pull me inside and set up a table with the new parts.
Here goes.
First up, I clean and repack the bearings of the main gear under the direction of Dennis' mechanic, Mike. Thanks for the lessons, Mike. The blue tub is a wash station that cleans everything with a powerful solvent. I'd love to have one, they work great. Then everything gets new greas and reassembly.
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Next up, new discs and brake pads. There is a special tool to remove the old brake pad rivets, and another to install the rivets in the new pads. Mike shows me one and I do the rest. Yes, a new skill! I always wanted to know how to do this.
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While Mike and I work on the brakes, Dennis pulls the XM Weather receiver and installs a Stratus ADS-B receiver. It fits just perfectly in the mount we made years ago for the XM unit.
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Next up, Jerad installs an air oil separator. No more greasy streak on the belly.
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The guys feel I have too much plan in the nose gear, so we pull the axle and install some shims.
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We install the new ACK 406 ELT. I had a 121.5 unit that kept me legal, but no one was going to be looking for me if anything happened. This is a retrofit kit that uses the same mount, panel remote switch and antenna mount. We install it and do the online registration, then wait for 2:00 to test it within the first 5 minutes of the hour. We press the self test and get acknowledgement that the satellite received the signal within seconds. All this from within a metal building. I am impressed!
My landing gear is working perfectly now. Go figure. Nothing to fix there. We located my hydraulic seeps. Turns out my nose gear door cylinder needs a rebuild and my pump reservoir housing leaks. I need to order parts for those for another day. In the meantime, it is not a safety issue, just causes a thin red streak on the belly after long flights. Since there is nothing more to do, we button her up and get ready to pull her outside to test the Stratus unit.
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Outside, I try to initialize the ADS -B unit, but no joy. I get Grand Rapids Technologies support on the line and find that I must first update my EFIS software. One more thing to do next weekend.
While I am there, I had the paint shop and upholstery shop stop by. I am having more foam put on the bench seat in the back to address complaints from the kids. I am thinking about putting graphics on the inboard sides of the winglets, but this turns out to be a very pricey proposition that I think I'll have to hold off on for now. Oh well, the upgraded seat will be ready by Monday at a very reasonable cost.
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I load the jacks and tools up and head back to my airport. It is very bumpy and windy now.
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Back home and ready to put her away. I got a lot done in one day and figured out how to fix the remaining issues. I will try to get them squared away next week as we are thinking about going to Sun 'n Fun in a few weeks.
A big thank you to Dennis and his guys at Dutchland Aviation in Smoketown for a job well done and for putting up with me for a whole day of teaching and repairs.
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