Wait you actually got out so he could check the tire? And you got back in? I'm pretty non- confrontational, but I'm pretty sure I would've pulled the plug right there.LOL. That would be quite an act of intimacy in a Cherokee... I'd feel almost obligated to put a $20 bill in his belt loop for the dance.
We both got out
I don't know if I would've made it past the point where the guy was playing whack-a-mole with the fuel pump breaker.
Yeah, we both got out. It was about 2 minutes later that I said he can drop me off.
"Nice guy" sounds like a bad reason but it's kind of human nature to put the gloss on. Like others, if the repeating fuel pump breaker tripping didn't do it, that combined with the avgas smell, would have been the last straw. And if I was instructing them, all "nice guy" would get them is that I might not charge them for my time and the airworthiness ground lesson.
Is an "overexaggeration" worse than an "exaggeration?"
Yeah, I've worked on a few airplanes for their new owners. Nice paint and upholstery and radios sure do sell, but they are sometimes just lipstick on a pig. I used to find some sick stuff that should have killed the deal if they'd had a proper prebuy done.
My only experience with roughness came during training. As I advance throttle on run up I thought I heard something. Mag check was fine. Chalked it up to first flight with new headsets. Take the runway and advance throttle I hear it again. But it's worse. Instructor didn't hear it. Abort. And down the runway I'm playing with the throttle trying to diagnose. Instructor now hears it and asks what I think it could be. Out loud first thing I said was exhaust leak....but it would be a really bad exhaust leak. Is it down a cylinder like a plug wire came off? No, mag check was ok. Settled on exhaust leak. Instructor pulls the cowl, "nailed it!" One exhaust flange was only being held on by one nut, which eventually worked it's way off. The other stud was chowdered up and I pulled out the remnants of a failed attempt of a helicoil.
no his altimeter was off by an inch
You figure that Arrowflyer86 can't visually tell the difference between 600 feet and 1600 feet? That's an inch of mercury.
Such good inspections it was getting. The exhaust was one of the first things I looked at once the cowl was off and the oil draining. Cracks are common, some systems being worse than others, and I wanted to see if I would need to order new parts right away, or take off the cracked piece and send it off for repair.
Sorry, bit of a thread detour but why is it that cracks in exhaust are so common? When I bought mine that was one of the first repairs we had to do.
Don't discount those temperature fluctuations, and try to understand the temperature gradients between parts. That exhaust system can glow red-hot at full climb power, so expansion and contraction are a big issue. The riser flange is bolted flat to the head, and the head conducts heat out of it, so that flange is never red-hot or anywhere near it, but the pipe just below will be really hot. The pipe is expanding more than the flange, and that stresses the welded area. As the red-hot pipe is being restrained by the weld to the flange, some compression of the hot metal takes place. When the engine is shut down, that pipe cools, and now it's shrinking to a smaller size than it was before, due to the compressed metal, pulling hard at the weld.
It does happen in cars, too. I owned a new 1970 Barracuda that developed a cracked exhaust manifold.
I once had a 1978 Dodge pickup (worst vehicle I ever owned, btw) that had the 225 Slant Six in it. The exhaust manifold cracked in a couple of places. I think a previous owner had "snugged-up" the nuts of the manifold studs, exactly the wrong thing to do there. The torque specs are fairly low, with the idea that the manifold can shift on/around those studs as it gets hot and then cools off. Those long one-piece manifolds are bad for that. They expand more than the head does, and need to slide a bit.
It was prior to first annual of my ownership. Found a handful of things that were concerning. When i bought he said he had a minor oil leak they couldn't track down. Was the housing for the oil screen. Dye and black light found right away.
Or reasonably similar financial position it sounds like.
Seems like it should be a short conversation if it's an airworthiness item?
Unless the debate is whether or not something is an airworthiness item. Then it could be a long conversation.
Yeah, that's fair. I haven't had a partner. Largely for this exact reason. My safety and comfort isn't open to democratic vote. I'm too dictatorial for it lol.
I think the bigger problem is doing inspections only every 100 years.
I think the bigger problem is doing inspections only every 100 years.
I would question the CFIs judgement after that interaction. Probably would not fire him completely but it would definitely change my perception of him.
Same here. That would have been my exit.
