A Man and His Airplane

The nose wheel has been ordered, but it wasn't a straightforward process. As I noted in the previous post, I sent an email to the shop with the correct part numbers for the nose wheel and main wheel for my plane. Yesterday I received a response from the office manager, Alex, stating that he still hadn't received anything useful from Cessna and asking if I wanted him to get a nose wheel or main wheel. I called him up and said to get whichever was most reasonably priced and could be there soonest. I got a call earlier today from him and he said it might be better if I went ahead and ordered a wheel myself and had it sent to the shop. This is mainly due to the cost of the wheel he'd found. He'd only checked on the availability of the nose wheel part number. Without going into too much detail of the conversation, I asked him to check for available of the main gear part number as well, and that I'd think about just ordering one myself. I'd let him know if I ended up ...

One of the more interesting aspects of owning a vintage aircraft (and probably a vintage vehicle of any type) is dealing with part numbers. As time goes by, part numbers can change, or some parts will become unavailable and be superseded by a newer part with a different number. I've been experiencing this with the nose wheel for my plane. As I described in an earlier post, the wheel that Preston ordered is the wrong size. I got some more information, including the part number that was ordered, I've been doing some research online, and I've engaged the Beech Aero Club brain trust. Here's what I've been able to figure out. First of all, I've been going through the Cleveland product catalog that I've found online in PDF form. It's an older catalog, from 2014, but I think the data is current. Based on that catalog, the part number that Preston was given, and which he ordered, is indeed for a 5-inch diameter wheel. Interestingly, according to the application ...

I forgot to include it in the previous post but, when I was speaking with the mechanic a couple days ago, he commented that the airframe is in very good condition. Because my plane was originally used as a trainer, it has a lot of time on it. In fact, it has over 12,000 hours total time on the airframe. There are a few other planes in this line with similar time, but most have far less. One reason it's still in good condition is that, when it was used for flight training at the University of Illinois, it was also used for mechanic training so it was maintained to a high standard during that time. And it has continued to be well maintained since then. Another reason is that Beechcraft built quality airplanes. They may not be the fastest, but they're solid. So, even though the engine needed overhauling, and it could use some paint, the bones are very good. I have no reason to believe that this airplane will still be flying in ten or even twenty years time. I don't know how lo...

It's been another week, and it's still almost done. Why isn't it completely done? Because the replacement nose wheel arrived and turned out to be the wrong one. It's too small. I don't have all of the details. As near as I can tell, the most likely reason is that the illustrated parts catalog for my plane, or IPC for short, has two different wheel assemblies listed on the same page. This is because the IPC covers more than just my airplane. I use the word "assembly" because the wheel is in two halves, and there are other parts like the bolts that hold those halves together, the bearings, etc. I suspect that whoever Preston was talking to thought he meant the smaller of the two and that's the part numbers Preston was told to obtain. To add to my confusion, my POH notes that there are two different tire sizes that my plane can have. My plane has the larger size, but the original equipment list says it came with the smaller size. The most likely explanati...

I went out to the airport again yesterday to check on the progress and take some more pictures. When I arrived, the engine was already mounted and the mechanic was getting close to finishing the job of hooking everything up. I chatted with him and also with Preston. I'll summarize the current status. The annual is complete. There were a couple of things that need to be fixed, but overall it wasn't bad at all. The most expensive thing is the nose wheel that I described in my previous post. The tire and tube also need replacing, and they already have them ready to go for when the replacement wheel arrives. The main gear tires were replaced a couple years ago, shortly before I bought the plane, so now it's the nose tire's turn. There's a bracket that holds one of the pilot-side brake master cylinders that needs to be replaced. It's a very simple thing that they can fabricate on the spot. If I understood correctly, there's a reinforcement plate behind the firewa...

I spoke with the shop today. The good news is that my engine mount is back and they're in the process of reassembling it. The bad news is that they found a crack in my nose wheel and it requires replacement. This is just the rim, not the entire assembly. Still, it's not cheap. A new one from Cessna/Textron is $3000. They found a source for an equivalent made by Cleveland for $2500, with a three month lead time. Finally, they found a serviceable used wheel for $900. They wanted to know which option I wanted to go with, and I went with option number 3. I don't know how long it will take to get here, but they're still in the process of re-attaching the engine and mount, and complete the annual inspection, so hopefully it will arrive before all of that work is done and there won't be any additional delay. Nevertheless, I'm becoming doubtful it will be done before the end of the month. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

I went out to the shop today to take a few pictures of my engine and plane before the engine is remounted. The baffling and some other stuff has already been attached to the engine. The engine mount is not back yet. Since the nose gear is attached to the engine mount, the plane is currently sitting on the main gear, and a couple of supports just behind the firewall, and under the tail. Here are a few of the photos I took. The engine looks lovely, to me at any rate, especially since I know those are new cylinders.