April 1993 - American Bonanza Society

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Thanks for Orlando BPPP. [ just wanted to drop you a note to rell you how very much I enjoyed the recent BPPP session at Orlando last weekend. This was my third visit to your school, and once again, [ feel that [ got a tremendous amount out of the program. The key to YOUT progrJIll seems to correlate precisely to the level of instruction you provide. Your classroom instructors were velY well prepared and very thorough. And, if all your flight instnlctors are as rigorous as Jack Mcintosh, everyone Dew home from Orlando much sharper than when they arrived. Jack is a dandy. A final anecdote to let you know that your session on ''Judgment'' didn't go to waste. On Sunday, I was presented with the option of either the Daytona 500, or leaving Florida a day early to get 10 my home in Missouri ahead of a possible storm system brewing in the Midwest. Thankfully, [ chose the latter because I awoke in Missouri on Monday morning in the midst of the worst snowstorm here since 1979-.. over 12 inches! Attending the car race would have caused me to exercise superior skiJIs to extricale myself from the difficult situarion of Monday's ice and heavy snow. Lesson leamed! Thanks again for your effolts al keeping the BI'I'P the quality flying and learning experience that it is. -R. Scott Matthews, j~ , ASS 21861 , Sikeston, Mo. Preheating engine in cold weather. I read with imeres[ the article about the method for preheating member Bill Palm's Baron. It was of special interest to me because for several years [ used exactly the same method for preheating my own 56TC Baron, except that I used galvanized e ight-inch stove pipe lhroughout with a plain tee to divide the flow. I also llsed a keroscne burning salamander heater. I rigged up the entire syslem on the hangar floor and it stayed there all ready to use all the time with a clock timer to U1rn it on early in the morning an hour or more before my arrival at the airport. Everything worked fine. Combustion of hydrocariJOn fuel produces H 2 0 in the fonn of steam, actually more steam by weight than ABSFORUM An idea and information resource for all ABS members. the RIel humed. I did not like that idea vel)' much. It did not appeal to me to be preheating those velY expensive engines with stcclm. The ste-dm could condense in the cylinders and the crankcase and oil and the ignition system and electrical system and not be evaporated until the engines had been run for awhile. So I thunk up a much better and simpler idea, a little system that I can cany in the plane. I bought two 1200 wan hair dryers, electrical extension cords and found some old wool blankets with which to cover dlC engines and stuff into the air intakes. I jusl place the hair dryers inside the engine cowlings in such a position mat they will blow wann air all around inside and connect them to the nearest outlet. T use the hair dryers al only half speed, Olherwise the electrical load would be too heavy, but for the single engine Bonanza 1 can use full power. At my home hangar, I use the same timer as before. It is possible to have special engine cowling heat insulating covers made up that won't blow off in the wind if outdoors. This system is velY successful and heats the entire engine and its oil with perfectly dry air. Just a few days ago, I heated the engine in my Bonanza in very cold weather in this way. I starTed it at half speed by tlle timer two hours before arrival to fly and the entire engine and its oil were hot to the touch. My Continental C-185-ll engine has a (hy sump and a separate oil mnk and the tank and oil were very wann. When I fly cross-country in cold weather, I carry two ShOI1 ex[cnsion cords for the two engines in the Baron and a 100 foot extension to reach a nearby hangar. If not tl1at close to an audet, I have the plane moved to it. I threw the stove pipes away and now don't know what to lise the salamander for. I suppose I could use it to heat the hangar and breathe steam myself, plus some CO. That's not such a hal idea either. I fly the tmbocharged Baron at some high altiuldes and moisture in the ignition system is very "'ungood" when the armosphclic pressure is low up high. And y'know what' I've never l been charged for the electricity. I have saved the cost of having the engines preheated widl combustion heaters at airports. I have Ste~l111 heat in my house and that's enough trouble. But healing an airCf'dft engine with steam yet! Ugh. Yours, for cozy cll)' engines.--:/obn M . ./YIi/lel; ABS #809, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Former Director at large and also presidel1t of UFO (UI1i1ed Flying Octogenarians), tbe world's most e..."rc/usive pilot club. Take good care of yourself al1d you might qualify for membership som.eday. New product review: WashWax. I have recenlly had occasion to try a new product called Wash Wax developed by Aero Cosmetics of San Antonio, Texas. If T say that it is an amazing innovation, I'd be understating the credit due. Wash Wax is designed to "dry-clean" an aircraft by employing a spr"y-on, wipe-dry technique that tolally eliminates the need for the hose-and-bucket routine, water, or moving the aircraft. \VashWax comes in both a regular and a heavy-duty version. Each \vaxes and '"' prOlects while it cleans. I use it on bod1 • , my Beech Baron and on my Lealiet for everything from after-night touchups to completc washing. The time T save to get the appearance I want is truly remarkable and no maner how bad the grime, WashWax handles it e'dsily. My contacts tell me it handles the Gulfstream class equally well , and since it doesn't interfere with maintenance, we can now clean our aircraft anywhere and any time. Wash Wax and the rest of the Aero Cosmetics line is just now becoming more available on the open ma rket, so I thought [ should let our other members know about its speed and convenience. No usc keeping something this good a secret! -Mike MaiOl1e, ABS 26638, San Antonio, Texas About gust locks and O-rings. Just a couple of small technical notes that may be of interest to other members. First. I have often wondered whether it is safe to tow our Bonanza V3513, SIN 10123, with the gust lock installed. When parking at FBO's, they 1,-.". invariably want the brakes left off so I r , they can move the aircmft around and I always wam the control column hJUst AMERICAN BONANZA SOCIETY, APRIL 1993 PAGE 3207
lock in place to protect the control sutfaces from ever-present dangers. Since I've been unable to find good inf0n11ation on this matter, J did my own Iitlle test during the last annual. \Vith the aircraft on jacks, the nose w heel was rotated with the gust lock bOlh in and out. We could neither feel nor measure any Significant difference in the fo rce required to turn the nose w heel. This suggests that towing the ai rcraft (which requires turning [he nose wheel) with the gust lock installed poses no threat to control linkages. Second. I've had knowledgeable old ABS salts tell me that when my gas gaps (Shaw Aero type) start closing hard and little cracks show upon the large O-rings, that it's time [Q replace the rings. I have found, however, tha( even new rings treated with Parker Iiale O-ring Lube show cracking in a very short time and that caps close ha rd because the earning surfaces are galled, or more commonly, lack lubrication. A drop o r two of silicone, or a dab of O-ring lube on the bearing surface where the gas cap lever rides against the top of the cap housing will work wonders. In fact, without some small lubrication here, it can be very difficult to close the caps or check for proper adjllSUTIent of the cap. On more than one occasion. I've seen ov,TJlers putting the muscle to caps to close them. This can lead to galling and is easily solved by a drop of lube. - Robert Can· , ABS 19257, East lansing, Mich. Checking belt tension. In the December 1992 issue, both Noml Colvin and Lew Gage had some conunems on checking belt tension on those engines that have belt driven genera(Qrs or alternators. I would like to add my two cents worth. In these inflationary times, it may even be worth four cenrs. EveI)' so often, it is worthwhile to pay atte ntion to what your enenlies are saying. In this case, the enemy is Lycoming. Lycoming Service Instruction ' 0. 1129A describes an extremely easy, neat and reliable method for checking belt tension. You simply use a torque wrench and derennine the torque necessary to make the genermor or alternator pulley slip against the belt. Since l ycoming did not take the trouble to copyright the ir service instruction, I shall quote it directly. a. Apply a lOrque indicating wrench lO the nut that anaches the pulley to the generalOf and tum it in a clockwise direction. Observe the torque shown on the wrench at the instant the pulley slips. b. Check the torque indicated in step (a) with torque specified in the follow~ ing chan. Adjust belt tension accordingly. Torque indicJted at generator Width of Belt Condition pulley 3/ 8 inch New 11 to 13 ft.lbs. 3/ 8 inch Used 7 to 9 rUbs. 1/2 inch New 13 to 15 ft.lbs. 1/2 inch Used 9 (0 11 ft.lbs. Note: The higher tension specified for a new belt is to compensate fo r the inilial stretch 1hm takes place as soon as it is operated. These higher (cnsion va l LIes should not be applied LO belts which have been used preViously. Although the specified torque values for DC generators and alre mators are the same, the tension for alternator belts should be slighlly higher than the tension applied [0 DC gener-dtor belts. Also, Chrysler alternators do not have a nut on the shaft and therefore cannol be checked by this method. If you do not have a torque wrench, you can buy one at Sears or K-Mart for about $8-far less than it would cost to have an A&P dleck the belt tension. You w ill also need a ' y" socket for the generator nul. I do not know what size nurs are used on alte rnators (other than Chrysle r), probably the same. Lycoming fa ils to mention that you do have to hold the prop from turning while you are checking the belt tension. Also, the belt manufacturers have recently gone meLric. The three-eighths inch w ide belts, which I think are used by all Continentals, are now shown as 8 mm. -Chet Steele, ABS 22902, San Antonio, Texas. Baron alternator problems. We had a problem with both alternator waming lights coming on at various timestaxiing out, afte r takeoff, in cmise night, in the landing configuration. It did not appear to be in conjunction with the operation of any avionics component or system. It seemed they would always kick out when your attcntion was on some mooe of flighttaxiing, takeoff, landing-never when you were looking at the load meters. Our local Beech shop loaned us their digital voltmeter that hooked up to the lighter socket. We operated d,e plane o n the ground. cutting on and off all lights and avionics. We duplicated a kickoff when we shut off tl,e landing lights. Volts went to 32 o r 33 volts, the n kickoul. This tells us the over voltage protection is doing its thing. $0 now we h~lve a spike that is kicking dle alternator off line. Is d,e spike coming from taxiing out, taking off, cruise or landing? We decided to try and pinpoint the problem operation on one alternator or one voltage regulawr. \Vle flew in the pattern with all combinations of voltage regulator and alternator. It kicked off once-when we were in cruise and low power settings looking out the window for traffic. This was all done with the digital voltmete r in place. The load meters showed any combination of alternator and voltage regulator carried the load fine-except when it kicked out, we were on vohage regulator ':1, right alternator. I wrote Norm about our problem. He suggested changing a voltage regulator. Again, to me, dle voltage regulators were doing their thing~ver voltage trip when we get over voltage spikes. We talked to our local avionics shop to see if they had any ideas on which avionics component would cause a voltage spike. They felt it was alternator caused. We talked to John Evans of Aerotech very ncar LOU (Bowman Field , Louisville, Ky. ). John suggested stopping in when down (hat way to see w hat we could figu re o u t. \Ve scheduled a visit. On the way to LO U, they kicked alit five times-four in flight at cruise, once on fmai. On arrival, we contaaed Rich Coover, service manager for Kennlcky Flying Service (KFS). Rich wanted to run up the plane whUe it was still hot from the flight. We could not get anything to kick out. His opinion \vas that it was O.K. Of course, we knew bener. Next morning, both alternators were removed and Aerotech picked AMERICAN BONANZA SOCIETY, APRIL 1993 PAGE 3208
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Page 4 and 5: BONANZA OF THE MONTH ; Round-the-Wo
Page 6 and 7: I Q I M35 oil filter. My corporalio
Page 8 and 9: gravity near the forward limit. To
Page 10 and 11: AD! L26000 Louis H. Abbett L7978 Br
Page 12 and 13: How to buy a used bird By George Wi
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Page 18 and 19: Replacement value? Consult d1e Blue
Page 20: APRIL 16-18 · Bonanza Pilot Profic

April 1993 - American Bonanza Society

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