Ask the A&Ps Podcast Por AOPA arte de portada

Ask the A&Ps

Ask the A&Ps

De: AOPA
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Experts Mike Busch, Paul New, and Colleen Sterling answer your toughest aviation maintenance questions. Submit questions to podcasts@aopa.org. New episodes are released the first and fifteenth of every month.
Episodios
  • "That's one way to flat spot a tire"

    "That's one way to flat spot a tire"
    Jul 15 2025
    Mike, Paul, and Colleen explain why they almost never set their parking brakes. Plus, valve guide concerns and gotchas on preflight. Email podcasts@aopa.org for a chance to be on the show. Join the world's largest aviation community at aopa.org/join Full notes below: William wants to know how Mike, Paul, and Colleen do preflight inspections as A&Ps, and if they look at something that most pilots don’t. Colleen said she always checks the last thing she worked on. She suggests to look really carefully at any work that’s recently been completed. Paul mentions the nut and cotter pin on the trim tabs on Cessnas, especially after maintenance. Mike said he worries if the airplane has been moved while on the ground for things like tow limits. Paul also said to check nests, pitot covers, and fuel vent covers for bugs, dirt daubers, etc. Michael is wondering what’s wrong with his parking brake. When he first bought the airplane, the parking break worked to hold the airplane, but wouldn’t release without touching the brakes again. Now, after some work during annual, if it’s anything more than an idle, it won’t hold. Paul said he only ever sets the parking brake to get out and set the chocks. There are only two possibilities, the hosts say. IT’s either mechanically mis-rigged, where the valve isn’t cutting off the line completely, and the other is that the valve is leaking. Paul said the system is simple. You hold the brakes, and the valve pinches off the line. Joey has a Cessna 150 and he does a lot of his own maintenance. About a year ago he had a stuck exhaust valve. A local mechanic did the rope trick to free the valve. He cleaned the exhaust valve guides, although not thoroughly enough. He had planned to do it every 300 hours. He and his wife were flying a few months later, got another stuck valve, and thankfully were able to make a safe emergency landing. He tries to fly very lean, but it happens so often he’s wondering what else he can do. Paul said to definitely ream all four cylinders. Joey is planning to do it every 300 hours at this point. But it takes a full day and he’d like to do it less. Unfortunately the hosts don’t see a way around it until he can run unleaded fuel. He might try a lead scavenger like TCP, they say.
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    42 m
  • "An airplane with no engine is worth nothing"

    "An airplane with no engine is worth nothing"
    Jul 1 2025
    Oil is everywhere this time, with consumption and temperatures problems for three of our owners. Email podcasts@aopa.org for a chance to get on the show. Join the world's largest aviation community at aopa.org/join Full notes below: Mark has a Twin Comanche and is loving his new electronic ignition. He has an issue where oil temperature and CHTs are slightly different on one engine than the other. His oil temperature also spiked on one climbout on a hot day, and he’s wondering what’s wrong. He’s using the variable timing. Nothing like this happened prior to the ignition install. Paul suggested that maybe some baffling changed during the install. The hosts narrow in on either airflow or oil flow as the culprit. Colleen said to think of baffling not as trying to direct airflow across the engine, but a system that creates a high pressure, pushing air through the cylinder cooling fins. Chris is wondering what’s wrong with his new engine. He has a Cessna 206 and he put in a new Continental IO-550. After some initial runs, but found that it was burning about a quart of oil per four hours. On one flight is running a bit rough. It had turned out to be a failed magneto. They added an air/oil separator, which obviously didn’t help. He did some low level, high power runs that didn’t seem to help. At 100 hours he did a ring flush on Savvy’s recommendation. The ring flush seemed beneficial. Then after 10 hours he had only burned a quart. They are now at 150 hours and they are at a quart every 4 or 5 hours, and they’ve done another ring flush and it’s burning less oil again. He’s wondering why the rings are clogging up. Mike immediately zeros in on the problem by asking how long Chris has been running straight weight oil. He admits it was 150 hours on the advice of his mechanic. AD oil helps to prevent sludge build-up. Willie is wondering if you need an A&P to do an AMOC, or alternative method of compliance with an AD. The hosts describe the process, which can be completed by any “operator” meaning owner. So, one need not hold an A&P to request an AMOC. Most AMOCs apply only to the operator, although Mike said a manufacturer can develop a global AMOC that would apply to everyone. Steve was flying his Cessna 182RG with a Lycoming O-540 that he recently top overhauled with all new cylinders. He flew low and at high power to break them in, and oil consumption stabilized. He flew another 15 hours on regular oil and Camgard with virtually no oil burn. Then on a flight he was asked to slow rapidly on approach, and on that one flight he lost oil at a rate of three-quarters of a quart per hour. The consumption eventually settled at around a quart every 2.3 hours. He’s wondering if ring flutter is real and whether it caused the increased oil consumption. He didn’t notice excessive oil on the airplane. A ring wash didn’t fix it. He eventually decided to just overhaul the cylinders again. On inspection they didn’t find anything. Mike would have suspected a broken ring or expander spring. Paul wonders if the piston rings were wrong for the nickel cylinders Steve had installed. Unfortunately, he found a broken stud at 20 hours on his new cylinders. They hadn’t properly torqued 4 of the bolts on his cylinders, reinforcing Mike’s point that sometimes it’s better to leave cylinders in order to avoid maintenance induced failures.
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    1 h y 1 m
  • "You have to cart mogas around like a homeless person"

    "You have to cart mogas around like a homeless person"
    Jun 15 2025
    A Cirrus with fluctuating fuel flow, de-injecting an engine, and fear of overhaul are on tap for this episode. Email podcasts@aopa.org for a chance to get on the show. Join the world's largest aviation community at aopa.org/join Full notes below: Joe has a Maule with a 540 engine in it. The company has a mod to turn the engine to a carbureted version and he’s wondering about the legality of something like that. Paul said it happens in the 210 market. Whether it’s a good idea is another issue, the hosts say. Joe is unable to run autofuel is the injected version, which is why he’s interested in it. Colleen said she’d rather have an injected engine than run mogas. David wonders how perspective owners are so afraid of TBO. He has a 182 with an engine that’s nearly at TBO, and people who contact him are afraid of the high time. The hosts discuss strategies for buyers who may be looking at airplanes with engines at TBO. Assuming the engine is running well, a new owner can fly it on that “borrowed time” while they learn and enjoy the airplane. Alternatively, if the engine truly needs to be overhauled, the time down is obviously a concern for a new owner. Mike said he thinks it’s best to buy an airplane with a run-out engine. The price has been discounted for the cost of the engine, the seller is motivated, and worst case you have to overhaul it soon. And every hour and year that you don’t have to overhaul it is “free.” And when it does come time to do the overhaul, you get to do it to your spec. Shalom has a Cirrus that isn’t behaving. If he sets the mixture at lean of peak, the fuel flows start to fluctuate. A few minutes later, it will drop off sharply, and then back quickly. The manifold pressure and rpm stay pretty consistent. He’s changed the fuel pump and the spider. Nothing has helped. Mike said if there’s a constriction in the fuel line between the fuel control unit and the manifold, it can cause oscillating fuel flow and lower flows.
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    1 h y 3 m
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I enjoy the varied questions and the discussions regarding the issues. I have learned a lot.

Great Information

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Excellent information since I am just a brand new power plant and soon to be airframe mechanic there’s so much to learn what is not being taught at schools and some very good information has been gained from your show thank you.

I look forward to your next podcast.

Highly appreciate your show!

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I binged through the whole series. I am a gearhead and the family fixit guy. I love car shows, and this aviation themed podcast definitely has appealed to me. Even if you don't normally indulge in aviation activities, I suggest giving this podcast a listen. I think it will have cross appeal for many with other interests. please

Binged and listened to the whole series

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Wonderful podcast. Learned so much in just the first few episodes! Highly recommend it to anyone!

Wonderful podcast. Learned so much in just the first few episodes!

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