The louvers in the overhead vents in our '74 Archer are so badly beat up that they no longer work. These seem to be impossible to get. I can find replacements for the rear overhead vent louvers (longer and narrower than the front pair) in Aircraft Spruce and Wicks, but no one offers anything...

Can a pilot/owner legally remove a spark plug, clean it, replace it, and note in the logs that he has done so? Same question for replacing a spark plug WIRE, in accordance with the Unison installation procedure... Thanks! John Clonts Temple, Texas N7NZ

I'm working my way through "On Glorious Wings", a collection of short stories edited by Stephen Coonts. In at least a couple of the stories from the first part of the 20th century, there are references to airplane mechanics as "Ack Emma". I think the stories where these references appeared had...

Is anyone using electroluminescent lighting in their cockpit? My 1979 Warrior has small bulbs behind the cluster and the lighting has never been great. A scan usually involves holding a flashlight! I was interested in the 2" wide EL strips that go under the glareshield and are sold by several...

hello happiness virtual http://virtual.planepictures.net/ franck

So we've reached 500 hours on our Lycoming O-540. All is well, and it continues to run like a champ, using little oil. (Although we still have a minor drip that's driving us nuts...) and pulling like a tractor. So what needs to be looked at when 500 hours is reached? I know there's a Service...

I'm thinking about getting into an airplane partnership (or co-ownership) and have a few questions. When people say that you can't really save money with ownership over renting, does that include partnerships as well? I would think that with a 4-way partnership, the operating costs would be...

Had to replace the cast iron/steel/whatever cylinder (Piper part 65319) on my cherokee a couple years ago because of a crack (which later was an AD, but my A&P caught it early). The shop presented it to me with the comment "it'll make a *great* lamp base!". Well, not for me. I don't think any of...

I was flying yesterday and noted on my GEM that on cyl #1, the EGT was normal, but the CHT was very low. Most of the time the CHT was off the scale low, so there was essentially no reading, but occasionally it would come up enough to be at the bottom or one bar from the bottom of scale. I can't...

I was reading a previous thread from May about owner assisted annuals. I noticed a number of comments about drilling out stuck inspection panel screws. Back when I used to work on airplanes as an avionics tech, someone showed me a neat trick for getting stuck screws loose. When you find a screw...

....other than pork fat and olive oil For those who do their own aircraft lubeing, which brand of MIL G-23827 Acft, Inst, Gear and Accuator Screw grease do you like? Why? any dislikes? also for MIL G-3545 High temp/wheel bearing grease. How old are these mil specs and have their been...

I'm confused about how GPS units get updated databases. A panel might have a GPS unit feeding into a multifunction display MX-20 or Avidyne or something. Does one need to update both the GPS and the MFD's databases to stay current? Doesn't this get expensive and annoying? Also, must one input...

Our club is contemplating a 396 or 496 for each of our aircraft. It would be more or less permanently mounted in the plane (Piper Archer and Dakota). I've seen several yoke mounts, some panel/post type mounts, the slick AirGizmo's avioincs stack mounts. Our panels are fairly full and the...

There are two versions of the KX155. One will drive a KI204 or 209; one won't. Anybody know if it is possible to buy the interface and have it installed in a non-GS KX155 so that the radio is legal? Don

My Cessna 182Q -- wet wing tanks, no bladders -- has developed a fuel seep from the left tank. Can anyone here recommend a good repair shop within a few hours of Denver, Colorado? Thanks! Jon

Folks, I have a C-182 with an auto-fuel STC, which I've been operating on Mogas (along with an occasional fill of 100LL) for several years. Mogas being unavailable at my home airport, I use a pair of 6 gallon Gerry cans (plastic) to transport the fuel from a local gas station to...

Okay, I always love reading everyone's thoughts on these types of questions so I'll post one for myself. Well, my wife finally gave me thumbs up to buy a plane after taking a 6-year break from flying. Well, I'm pretty conservative and worry about losing my job, etc. But darn it, it is about...

Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In June 2006 Newsletter You are invited to drop by Zeno's Drive-In - www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com - and watch this month's World War II aviation features for free online video viewing. "At the Matinee," we're showing nonstop action in "A Day with the A-36s," "Black...

http://www.ionaircraft.com/Toucan.jpg The GREEN (aluminum) parts need polishing. What's a good 1-2-3-4-5.... step process for polishing up the aluminum wings - for OSH? http://www.ionaircraft.com/engineering.html This will be my first time doing this, so don't skimp on the details please.

Anyone know about this little 2 place twin. I would love to try and talk my Dad into buying a kit. It looks as if it will be the cheapest twin ever. 2 place side by side. 2 80hp motors. 3 1/2 gph, and a total of 7 gph. Looks like it will be the cheapest what to build Multi time. Put one of these on...