Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter

But first… My friend and podcast listener, Chris Wieczorek, flew into SHD recently and we ate burgers for lunch. It was a win-win. I provided the ground transportation, and he bought lunch! https://oldschoolburgerbus.com/ The conversation was very inspiring to me, and Chris was kind enough to send more feedback later in an email, with some […]

Happy new year friends! In today’s podcast episode, you’ll hear about the following: The airplane I’m currently working on. My recent King Air trip to JFK, and the interesting approach we got that day. A couple listener emails. Thanks for listening… see you in the next episode!

Recently, Seth and I spent part of a weekend at a remote mountain cabin location, and we decided it would be a great time to record a conversation about the career changes both of us have made. I love this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as well. I’m so proud of my son […]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’ve been deer hunting with my daughter McKenzie this week, and so far, she got a button buck, and I got a doe… she’s trying to get a good supply of venison in her freezer for the winter. Last evening was one of the rare times we didn’t see any deer, but […]

A week and a half ago, I flew a Cessna 150 from KSHD to Hannah Field near Monterey, Virginia in Highland County. It was a Saturday morning coffee-and-donuts fly-in hosted by the owners of the private airstrip, along with our local EAA group. The Shenandoah Valley is full of all kinds of aviation enthusiasts! Thanks […]

In this podcast episode, I’m sharing my experience of going through the training course for a Type Rating in the King Air 350. FlyRight in Concord, North Carolina was definitely the best choice for this training! Home Page FlyRight is a very professional training center with a family-type feel about it. They specialize in King […]

Listen to the audio for this episode to hear what Dean’s been up to recently, and why there have not been many podcast episodes in recent weeks. I’m transitioning out of the maintenance shop and into a flying job, and I’m very excited about the new season in front of me. Feel free to leave […]

Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to visit NAS Pax River, a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay. My friend, Trace Bowen, picked me up in his Cessna 310, flew me to St. Marys Airport, and drove me over to the base for a tour. Up […]

Have you ever seen one of these? It’s a SureFly Ignition Module, or “SIM” for short: I recently had an opportunity to install one on an E33A Bonanza, so I thought I’d do a podcast episode about it. Hopefully you’ll find this information helpful if you’re considering a SureFly, and for me, I find it […]

You guys know I love out-of-the-ordinary things, and my recent flight review definitely qualifies as one of those! First, my good friend and excellent flight instructor worked me over in the ground portion of the flight review. Here are some things we covered: VFR sectional chart information and interpretation. Briefing an IFR approach plate. Working […]

I recently inspected a Piper Saratoga, and I found the following condition on the right exhaust collector: Earlier this week, I sent this photo to my email subscribers and asked if they would change this piece of exhaust if it was on their airplane. I received a huge response about this, with a large range […]

Chris Saindon, a podcast listener and owner of a Cessna 172G, contacted me with a different, and important perspective that I had completely overlooked. I recently told of a landing gear light in a Piper Seminole, and how the pilots had done some in-flight troubleshooting when the right gear down light did not illuminate. I’ve […]

This was what happened recently in a Piper Seneca… and in this episode, we discuss why the alternator quit… it was something I totally was not expecting. After verifying the field connections (power and ground) were good, and the brushes were nearly perfect, I removed the alternator. And here is what I found… watch this […]

This fuel injector line must have only been attached finger tight when the fuel injectors were reinstalled after cleaning. The engine ran fine at first, but all of a sudden during one engine run, the #5 EGT took a nose dive, and the #5 CHT immediately started dropping off as well. The above photo was […]

When an airplane engine is making a small amount of ferrous metal, but the evidence is not totally conclusive, the decision to tear it apart, or not, can be gut-wrenching. Such was the case for the O-540 engine in a turbo Cessna 182RG I’ve been working on at Classic Aviation LLC. But after the owners […]

This episode is a good one! If you’re thinking about buying an airplane, stop right now and listen to this episode, because Adam Sipe can absolutely save you lots of time, money and needless frustration in the process of buying an airplane. He shared so much valuable wisdom in this episode, and I can’t wait […]

That’s a good question, and although I don’t have the full story, we will toss around some possibilities in this episode. Thanks to all of you who responded with some really good guesses about the cause. I received responses from 33 people after I sent out that email recently! The prevailing guess about the cause […]

My good friend, Clark Trobaugh, flew into KSHD this past week, and while he was visiting with his family, I walked over to his airplane on the ramp and noted a few things that needed attention… Here’s the one that prompted Clark’s brother Scott to send me a text that said, “Thanks for looking out […]

In this episode, we are talking about two different exhaust valves, both of which showed signs of burning when we looked at them with the borescope. One valve was in the beginning stages of burning, and the other was too far gone. Scroll down for more info and some photos. We also talk a bit […]

It’s been a long and in-depth annual inspection, along with the extensive list of squawk repairs. But it’s a great airplane, and I’d love to fly it if I had the opportunity! In today’s podcast, we cover the remaining squawks on this airplane, concluding with scale weighing the aircraft, and sending it back out into […]

In episode 188, we covered the first 30 squawks on a Cessna 172 that’s in the shop for an annual inspection and a bunch of repairs. In this episode, we are tackling another chunk of the squawks and repairs. Here’s a sampling: Under the pilot instrument panel, some wiring was tied to one of the […]

It certainly looked like a crusty old engine when we removed the cowling for the annual inspection. The exterior is one thing… but perhaps even more importantly, I wondered about the internal condition of the engine. Surprisingly, the borescope showed the cylinders to be in amazingly good condition on the inside. Perhaps this was partially […]

In today’s podcast episode, I talked about this specific SR22, and some maintenance I was involved in… scroll down for some related photos. But first, I just wanted to say the SR22 is a great airplane! Here are some of the “wonders” of an SR22, as I see it: It’s a beautiful aircraft! It feels […]

From left: Arthur, Dave, Mervin, Dean (I got to work with these guys last Monday at Classic Aviation., when Dave had me lap the exhaust valves in cylinders 3 and 5.) Scroll down for more info about this valve lapping adventure. Diamond DA40 annual inspection – here are some squawks we discuss in this episode: […]

I’ve just completed the installation for a B&C Specialties standby alternator system on an E33A Bonanza. It’s a fantastic system, and I talked about it in today’s podcast episode. Be sure to listen for a caution about the right magneto when installing a new oil seal in the drive adapter for the standby alternator. Here […]

AirVenture was a fantastic experience once again! In addition to the audio podcast for this episode, I also made a video using some of my favorite photos… here’s the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/VlErN8RQNrQ Don’t forget to click the “Store” tab above and check out the resources there. If you have any questions, click the button that […]

Here’s a sampling of items I’m planning to use for one of my presentations at Oshkosh this year. It’s called “Lapping Valves & Saving Cylinders.” I’d love to see you there if you’re attending Airventure this year. It’s on Thursday afternoon, July 29, from 4-5:15 pm in Workshop Classroom C. We’ll be lapping the exhaust […]

Note: I’m offering a 30% discount on the new shock strut servicing video course from now until Monday night, July 12 at midnight Eastern Daylight time. Use the code “STRUT” for a 30% discount and pay only $67 instead of the normal price of $97. Now for the engine failure story: They got stopped about […]

We had a great webinar last evening! Thanks to all who showed up on the call. If you were not able to join us, but would like to see the replay, here’s the link: The webinar replay will be available for the next 7 days. Additionally, the much more detailed training is now available in […]

It’s almost time to make the journey to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for Airventure 2021! I hope to see you there… I’m super excited to give 2 presentations this year: Here’s the first one: Lapping Valves & Saving Cylinders Thursday, July 29 · 4:00 PM – 5:15 PM in Workshop Classroom C. And the second presentation: Borescope Your […]

Listen to the podcast episode to hear how Jeff bailed me out on this one! (The gasket between the halves of the turbo broke as I was trying to rotate the halves to reseal an oil fitting.) We also talked in this episode about two upcoming opportunities: I’ll be presenting a Zoom webinar on Friday, […]

We’ll talk about these photos in this week’s podcast episode, and how they explain the problem Aram was having with his propeller. (Photos courtesy of Dave Pasquale of Pasquale Aviation LLC.) Dave is removing the prop to be sent out for repair, and will reinstall it when the repair is finished. But first, I want […]

He departed KSHD yesterday in his super-nice P35 Bonanza, headed for his home airport in Pennsylvania. The ground runup was normal, and things were looking good as he approached his cruising altitude of 7000 feet. But as he leveled off, Aram discovered he could not control his propeller / engine RPM… it was overspeeding regardless […]

A nice airplane deserves a high-quality owner, and that’s exactly what this amazing P35 Bonanza has. Aram takes meticulously good care of it. In today’s episode, you’ll hear why I think Aram is the best kind of airplane owner, and some lessons you might want to consider for maintaining your airplane as well. lf you […]

Does your airplane’s shock strut need fluid? Does it need nitrogen? … or air? And more importantly, could you service the strut safely? If you’ve ever had a low strut, you know it can be very frustrating. Sometimes it can be challenging to sort through all the maintenance manual information, your POH information, your local […]

I received an email recently from Spence, the owner of an S35 Bonanza with a Turbo-Normalized IO-520 engine. He included a picture of his #2 cylinder exhaust valve. Here’s what it looked like: At first glance, my reaction was something like, “Oooh, that’s ugly!” The most concerning area is the spot at the 10 o’clock […]

I got an email from Michael this past week. He owns a Mooney M20J, and something strange happened with cylinder #1’s EGT and CHT recently. Michael agreed to let me share the story, so that’s the main feature in this episode. The picture above is one Michael took with his borescope while looking for any […]

12/80! That’s a terrible compression test result. And unlike some cylinders, this one did not show any obvious reasons for the low compression… take a look at the valves after the cylinder was removed: Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see anything that would explain such a low compression number. The cylinder has been shipped […]

Can you see the problem with this exhaust muffler? Maybe a closer look will help: (The cracked area was just inside the shroud that collects heat for the cabin.) Thankfully Matt, the owner of a nice Cessna 170, had a carbon monoxide detector in his airplane that picked up the small amount of “bad gas […]

I had a surprise call this morning… my friend Eddie called and wondered if he could borrow a borescope. One of the cylinders in his Sonex’s Jabiru engine had zero compression, and he wanted to take a look inside the cylinder, especially at the exhaust valve. Since I’m always looking for a good story, it […]

Our guest for today’s episode is Autumn Duntz, an aviation interior designer and refurbishment expert… welcome Autumn! After observing some poor quality elements in a newly refurbished Beechcraft A36 Bonanza interior, I wondered how this type of thing could be avoided. After a little online research, I found Autumn’s website, AutumnElizabethDesign.com. I quickly realized she […]

Does your airplane have emergency exit windows? If so, would your passengers know how to operate them? Here’s an emergency exit window where the instructions were hardly readable: Thankfully, the lettering was etched into the panels, and a fine point Sharpie did the trick: Imagine trying to remove that window if you were completely unfamiliar… […]

In a previous episode, I shared the story about how I accidentally left a shop towel in an engine… I got some great feedback from that episode, including the picture above… a flight student found a shop towel during preflight… in a place you would not expect. It’s one more reminder to be extra-diligent during […]

Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) James Cox, a member of the Navy’s Blue Angels Team, is our guest today on the podcast! He exceeded my expectations in so many ways in our conversation, and I’m thrilled to share this interview with you. You’ll definitely want to listen to this one! Although the Blue Angels do a lot […]

Hi Friends! I have a story for you today that I wish I didn’t have. But it’s true, so we might as well learn from it. Thankfully, everything turned out well on this one. At Moody Aviation where I went to school years ago, we had a concept called “SYE.” It stood for “Share Your […]

Bob Shenk (right) is a huge fan of Luscombes… this beautifully restored aircraft was among the airplanes I got to see when I visited Bob’s place a week ago… what a pleasure that visit was! Donnie Simmons (left) is a good friend of Bob’s, and often spends his Fridays at Bob’s place, both helping with […]

I recently did an annual inspection on a Rockwell Commander, and the gear warning light was not working. Before we tell that story, I want to thank our sponsor, PilotWorkshops.com This week’s “Tip of the Week” was about emergency checklist memorization… a very interesting lesson by Sarah Fritts, a West Point graduate and Army combat […]

Without Jonathan Brush, this podcast might not exist! I’m super-thankful for his part in pushing me to launch this whole thing. I think you’ll enjoy the conversation with him today. At the end of the podcast, I asked Jonathan to talk a little about the organization he leads, called Unbound. If you’re curious after hearing […]

Our sponsor for this episode is PilotWorkshops.com Be sure to sign up for the “Tip of the Week” and you’ll receive a short, but valuable tip to make you a better pilot… it’s a fun way to learn! Click here for details. PilotWorkshops also has an excellent resource for learning about engines… it’s called “Airplane […]

Jessica is our special guest on the podcast today. She and her husband Mark, along with their 5 kids, are serving with a mission organization in Cameroon, Africa. Mark flies helicopters, and Jessica works in the maintenance shop, with plans to get her A&P certificate. I think you’ll enjoy her story! Instagram: Spanglers_in_Cameroon Check out […]