A Man and His Airplane

I called the shop today to get an update. Neither Alex nor Preston was available at the time, so the person who answered the phone said they'd have one or the other call me back later in the day. Later in the day rolled around and Alex called and gave me an update. This is what happened, based on my understanding of what Alex told me. I think I have it down pretty well. First of all, for the sake of brevity and clarity, I'm going to use the following references: "Carb 1": The original carburetor that was on my engine when I bought the plane, and had probably been on there at least since 1997. "Carb 2": The carburetor that the carb shop in Florida sent back to One Stop Aviation instead of carb 1. "Carb 3": The carburetor that will hopefully be arriving at the shop at Harvey Field before long.  "Fuel pump 1": The original fuel pump that was on my engine when I bought the plane, and had been installed about a year before I bought it. "F...

First, the good news. The second nosewheel is good and has been installed. That part is now done. The over-rich fuel mixture has been corrected. However, another issue has cropped up and it's verging on the ridiculous. Here is my understanding of everything. At some point, Preston received a call from someone at One Stop Aviation, the shop which performed the overhaul of my engine. He informed Preston that the fuel pump on the engine was not actually overhauled, even though doing so was included in the quote. He wanted to know if Preston wanted him to ship a new fuel pump, or remove that item from the cost. Preston recommended getting the new fuel pump, even though the existing one was only a couple of years old. It had been replaced by the previous owner, along with the electric fuel pump. Preston felt that it was a good idea to include the fuel pump in the overall baseline of the motor so that everything is starting out "fresh" so to speak. The new fuel pump arrived. Ho...

The other night, after almost 50 years, the Saturn V was dethroned as the most powerful rocket ever successfully launched by humanity. I use the word "successfully" because the Soviet N1 rocket actually generated more thrust at liftoff, but all four launch attempts ended in failure. For the first time since Apollo 17, a true moon rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying a spacecraft capable of carrying humans back to the moon. This Artemis mission is a test flight, so no astronauts are on board the Orion spacecraft. Despite that, it was a spectacular launch. Because the SLS launch vehicle has a higher thrust-to-weight ratio than the Saturn V, it rose from the launch pad much more quickly than it's predecessor. I think it's a bit heavier than the Space Shuttle, but it has more thrust due to an additional RS-25 engine, and more powerful solid rocket boosters. Watching it rise into the night sky, I was excited, but also a bit melancholy. This was ...

I received notification yesterday (Friday) that the second wheel from BAS had been delivered. A short time after that, I got a call from Alex at the shop. He said the wheel had arrived and, as far as he could tell, it looks just fine. Hopefully there's nothing that will prevent this one from being installed. However, just when that will happen is up in the air. Both Travis, the mechanic that's been working on my plane, and Preston the shop manager, were out sick yesterday. They probably have the same thing I came down with Thursday evening. It feels like a relatively severe head cold. Yesterday I felt like crap the whole day. I did attend a meeting for work but then climbed into bed and slept for several hours. I had a fever, too, but it feels like it abated in the night and I feel a bit better today. If Preston and Travis are feeling the same way, I expect them to stay home and get better. I wouldn't fly in my current condition, and I wouldn't want someone to work on m...

I called BAS Part Sales this morning and told them about the cracked wheel that they'd sent. When I ordered it a couple weeks ago, they had two in stock. Unfortunately, the second one was sold last week. Gah. However, the sales rep (who I'll call 'M' for brevity) said they'd just received a wheel with part number 40-113C. As noted earlier, the 'B' and 'C' wheels are the same except that the C wheel is used on the main gear and includes a brake rotor. Interestingly, none of the C wheels I've seen pictures of during my search include a brake rotor. M said they'd just gotten this wheel in so he would check it for cracks, take pictures of it, and send them to me. It didn't take long for the pictures to show up in my inbox. As with all the other C wheels, there's no brake rotor. However, from what I could see in the photos, it is absolutely identical with the B wheel that they'd sent earlier, right down to every number and letter impri...

The replacement wheel from BAS arrived last Wednesday, almost a week ago. I didn't hear anything from the shop so I planned on heading out to the shop on Saturday to check in. Well, Friday night we had a fairly severe windstorm come through and the power went out in many areas, including my house. It was restored at my house around 9:00 or so the following morning, but it turns out it was still out at the airport. Therefore, the shop was closed so I had to wait some more. I called yesterday, but Monday is a day off for most of the folks at the shop since they work on Saturday. I didn't get much info, but said that I had business out at the airport today and that I'd stop by afterward. The business in question was my Class 3 medical exam with the AME that has an office out at the airport. He's the same doctor I saw two years ago, and also back in 2002 when I first got my medical certificate. The good news is he renewed my medical certificate for two more years. The bad n...