Recent content by Dan Thomas

https://www.electroair.net/pdfs/ICA%20EIS-61000%20Engine.pdf

Well, now. ALL our high-voltage magnetos have plastic gears in them. They have to, to insulate the spark in the rotor from reaching ground in the mag instead of being sent to the sparkplug. Complaining that they have plastic gears is like complaining that all your airplane's wiring has plastic...

Right. Three-pointers first. There are Seven Learning Factors. From the Canadian Flight Instructor Guide: Learning is made easier when the following factors are used: (a) READINESS - Ensure students are mentally, physically and emotionally ready to learn. (b) PRIMACY - Present new knowledge...

See the note at the bottom: - - means same as preceding model. Like ditto marks.

Same cylinders. Same cubic inches. Taller pistons to raise the compression ratio from 7.0:1 to 8.5:1 or 9.0:1, depending on model. And that's it.

My Jodel's A-65 had the mixture control on its Stromberg. As you say, no leaning at idle. It uses suction from the venturi, metered via the valve to the bowl vent, to hold back the fuel in the bowl. No suction being generated in that big venturi at idle. I made the mixture valve parts for my...

$318 plus installation plus calibration. $500, likely. Certainly not worth risking wrecking it by using a magnetic worklight.

Be careful with anything magnetic around an airplane. You can wreck the compass real quick if those strong little magnets get near it. If the airplane has the Amsafe shoulder harness air bags, a magnet on the floor under the front seats can trigger the airbag release valve switch that is located...

The 172M was the best of the legacy 172s. But most models have their weak spots. The horizontal stabilizer's front spar cracks and breaks due to pilots pushing down on it to lift the nosewheel to turn the airplane on the ground. The lower aft doorposts crack at a small radius where they join the...

I have had maybe 15 headlamps, various makes. I find that the expensive ones don't work much better than the cheap ones. I just need one that has a spotlight or two; don't need floodlighting, as my eyes aren't aimed out to the sides anyway. The spot is always where I'm looking, and it's...

So you missed the point of this post? That 18% of traditional engine failures was in homebuilts, not certified airplanes. It was also 18% of accidents due to failures of traditional engines, not of the total number of traditional engines in homebuilts. Major difference there. Further...

The online free manuals are usually far out of date. They're better than nothing, though. Here's an example of a free online 1977 Cessna 172 service manual's List of Effective Pages: Look at that. No revisions since it was printed in July 1976, 48 years ago. There has been a raft of revisions...

I see yellow pages in that thing. Those are temporary revisions issued by Cessna. Because they're yellow, I'd say that the whole thing is an original, not a photocopy. But it's not likely totally up-to-date. If one is really fussy, you need to subscribe to Textron's revision status stuff and...

The PL-1 was a complex airplane so as to keep it light. It's much more complicated and more work to use many smaller bits to make a rib or bulkhead than to stamp them out of a sheet as a single unit, but the end result is much lighter. The PL-2 was simplified for the homebuilder. Fewer, but...

No. If the inside of the gasket failed it would drain into the case. No external leakage. The only thing to check in there would be the oil pickup tube. If it's not lockwired it could work loose and be sucking air. The tank-to-case interface is nothing special, just a gasket.