Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter

I’ll get right to it… I think it was because one of the brushes in the heater combustion fan motor was severely worn, and when the motor / combustion fan did not run, the heater did not light.

Mike Garcia has become a good friend over the past year or so.

Recently we completed his annual inspection together, and he really enjoyed working on his airplane while learning more about what’…

Be sure to scroll down to see how my Maui Gold Pineapple plant turned out! (It’s been growing in a pot here at our house for a very long time

Now for this week’s podcast:

I had the op…

In this week’s podcast episode, you’ll hear about:

• King Air flying.
• Listener feedback from the last episode on “Phantom Cylinder Cracks.”
• The latest annual inspection I’m involved in.
• … and a few oth…

Do you think these really are cracks between the spark plug bosses and the fuel injector bosses? (Cirrus SR22 Continental engine.)

The owner of a Cirrus SR22 was told by a service…

The charging system was not working, but why?

There was normal voltage at the alternator field terminal.

The field circuit resistance seemed normal as well.

But the alternator was not pr…

Dan and Jeanne are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, so it’s always a privilege to work on their airplane.

It was annual inspection time, and the compression test on cylinder #1 wa…

This Bonanza had a problem in the landing light wiring circuit. All kinds of weird things were happening when the light was turned on in flight. You can listen to the podcast audio for more det…

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning at KSHD, and we had the maintenance hangar door open with a good view of the runway. A nice, red and white Piper Lance made a perfect landing on runway 5. As…

And the winner is… Ben Moroze!

Recently, in podcast episode #223, I asked for help in identifying an ATC intersection we flew over on our way into Dulles Airport, (KIAD) awhile back.

I remember…

Recently, I received an email from Jim Janaitus, owner of a Cessna 182. He told me the story of lapping an exhaust valve on his engine because the valve showed signs of burning even though the compr…

In the beginning of this week’s podcast episode, I want to give a big congratulations to my friend, Chris Wieczorek, who recently got his A&P certificate!

Listen to the audio to find out how C…

I inspected another A36 Bonanza recently, and one of the cylinder compressions was too low… lower than the minimum prescribed by Continental using the master orifice tool.

I had two options:

Maui is simply amazing!

Maria and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip, and here are some highlights. (And for the aviation maintenance portion of the trip, see the last episode, 220.)

So many inde…

We arrived on Maui the evening of March 27 and were greeted by our friends, John and Leslie Caubble, with a “lei greeting” which is a warm welcome with a beautiful ring of fresh flowers around yo…

It took some significant detective work and deciphering to solve this mystery.

The brake caliper at the top of the photo was the wrong part number for the A36 Bonanza I was working on.

The …

Not long ago, there was an oil leak on the right engine of a Cessna 414. The leak was significant enough to come out the louvers on the top cowling in flight. There was oil all over the rear inboar…

I recently removed a magneto from a Piper Cherokee, and my curiosity about why the magneto had failed got the best of me.

I took the mag home, sat down at the kitchen table, put my grandson Spenc…

Here’s the short answer: Worn and contaminated brushes inside the alternator. Check it out:

My theory is that the excessive amount of carbon dust from brush wear was causing a short circui…

Clark and his family came to Virginia to visit his mom recently, and on the way up from Florida, the right vacuum pump quit working… as often happens when a vacuum pump quits, the drive shaft had…