Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter

This experience was a good one! (At least looking back in 2020 hindsight.)

We had to dig deep to fix this one!

I was about to give up and started thinking it might be time to take the airp…

This morning I felt the inspiration to record a podcast episode…

I got my hotel room set up with my computer and my microphone, and there it sat.

I missed the window of opportunity… for wha…

(If you’re in a hurry, scroll down to see the tiny little chafed wire that caused this whole conundrum.)

Now here’s the story…

This landing gear relay breaker had been popping intermittently:

Bennett contacted me awhile back to see if I could lap an exhaust valve for him.

The #4 exhaust valve showed a very uneven appearance when viewed with his borescope.

Bennett flew in to KSHD one…

If you look closely in the photo above, you can see my friend Chris, smiling.

It was the day he arrived at Classic Aviation (KSHD) to begin his annual inspection with me.

Chris is not onl…

Today’s episode is about Pat’s Mooney, and how we sealed up some exhaust leaks.

And it’s a fun story because Pat has become a good friend… check out the above photo where he’s showing his airp…

Last Monday, I lapped the #5 exhaust valve on a Continental engine.

But more importantly, I met the owner / pilot of a Turbo Centurion, and now I’m happy to call him a good friend!

Thanks f…

Everything looks normal in this photo, right?

What we can’t see from this angle is the fact that the brake disc has broken in two pieces!

Check it out:

Here’s the story:

The pilot…

This story begins with a squawk from the owner. It went something like this:

“When I fly my airplane, on the first landing gear retraction, the gear begins to move and then the “gear pump” ci…

The week I’m talking about here was almost too full!

But I wouldn’t change a thing.

A real highlight was taking my Pennsylvania cousin for a short flight in a Piper Cherokee:

From Sunday…

During a recent prebuy evaluation on this nice Beech A36 Bonanza, the question came up, “Does the old analog CHT gauge need to work in order for the airplane to be considered airworthy?”

(In t…

This airplane appeared on the ramp not long ago at the Shenandoah Valley Airport in Virginia.

I discovered it had taken off, and then very quickly made a 180 and returned for landing due to en…

In this podcast episode, we’re talking about alternator maintenance!

Here’s the alternator I removed from a Beechcraft Bonanza to inspect the drive coupling and the brushes… note the brush assembl…

When it’s time to overhaul your engine, who do you call? Where do you go?

Listen to this episode to hear ideas from other airplane owners who have had good experiences with various engine ove…

This ‘ol Piper Apache served me very well to get my MEI training and check ride done.

Listen to the audio for this episode to hear how my check ride went… it was a challenging one!

This par…

Note: Scroll down to see who I unexpectedly met in Florida this past week!

Now for the Prebuy… it was some months ago, and I did a prebuy inspection on a nice airplane on behalf of the buyer…

This podcast episode includes the following:

• Update on my CFII check ride from March 8, 2024
• A description of several maintenance items on a Piper Cherokee
• Some emails I received from podc…

My CFII checkride is in three days! Yikes!

I’m excited, and I have a few butterflies as well… I just hope they are friendly butterflies

Today’s podcast episode is about checkrides, and so…

Check out this spare parts case my friend Bill created!

Although you might not want to carry that much extra stuff in YOUR airplane, it still might be worth thinking about some items to have i…

The paint was eroding on the King Air 350 prop blades. After a lot of research for paint and new Hartzell decals, I was ready to begin.

Here’s where I bought the prop paint and new Hartzell d…