Maintenance

All of them create a shine eventually. We thought Flitz, Rolite and Magic Mix got there quickest.

No approved chroming process exists, says the FAA. In spotty enforcement, the agency sometimes says take em off.

As Airborne backs away from the vacuum pump business, Champion says its new design may end premature failures.

[IMGCAP(1)]Think about it: 40 times a second, an aircraft piston rockets to the top of the cylinder, stops dead in a couple of nanoseconds, reverses direction and plummets to the bottom of the jug, all the while trying to stretch the connecting rod like a piece of warm taffy and exerting enough smash on the bearings to reduce them to oily Babbitt pulp.

Or maybe its better not to think about it. Which is precisely why it makes sense to send oil samples to an analytical lab and have them look for signs of impending doom. Oil analysis has been available in the GA piston-engine market for years and there are plenty of labs to pick from.

But pick one you must. With that in mind, we decide…

The first question that came to mind when Jack Riley, Jr., president of RAM Aircraft Corporation, told us about his latest product was this: Does the aviation world really need a $48 throw-away oil filter?

Perhaps a better question would be do we need a better oil filter that costs $48? Anyway you look at it, the high price will be the stumbling block for many, no matter how big an improvement this new filter provides, if indeed better filtration matters.

But make no mistake, by all appearances and laboratory tests, the new RAM replacement for the ubiquitous Champion CH48108 through CH48111 spin-on oil filters (available for only about $12 each from discount suppliers) does provide…

by Mike Busch

As a long-time fan of both Aviation Consumer and Greg Travis, I must tell you I am simply disappointed with Travis article The Oil Argument in the December issue.

In my view, its a one-sided treatment that preaches The Company Line of the Shell and Chevron marketing mouthpieces-who have a major stake in the outcome-while dismissing the collective wisdom from the field overhaul shops and owner associations.

For example, the article dwells on the TCM cylinder problems, which are completely unrelated to the choice of oil. It also dwells on the lubricity issue, which is largely irrelevant because our slow-turning loose-tolerance aircraft engines have such minimal…

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During that week your airplane is in for its annual, you have to dread the phone ringing. Or worse, the message that starts out, Yeah, this is Joe at AeroMech, we found three soft cylinders on your engine and need to know what you want us to do.

At that point, you have two options, neither pretty. Return the call and get the details behind the headlines or drive out to the airport, allowing a few quiet moments for 600 milligrams of denial to kick back the pain of a $6000 maintenance invoice. Yet most owners will face the cylinder replacement dilemma, either at a mid-time top or an overhaul. And then the recriminations start. Where did I go wrong? Should I have picked anot…

When was the last time your airplane got weighed?

Back when Ike was golfing, when it left Lock Haven or Wichita, right? Meanwhile radios have come and gone, engines have been overhauled, changed and re-accessorized, seats have been replaced-or maybe removed entirely. Its probably been painted two or three times, at least.

Perhaps youve had a couple of things 337d aboard with some quick arithmetic to recalculate weight and balance. Who knows what your airplane really weighs in 1998? Certainly not you.

Surprise, Surprise
I didnt know either, it turns out, although my homemade Falco was carefully weighed as recently as 1991, just after I finished building it….