Great Lakes Aero offers plain replacement Piper door windows as well STCs for their "frameless" vent windows adapted to the door side. The cost is only a few Aviation Monetary Units more to get the vent, plus the additional install cost since you need an IA for the STC where you could just do the...

I discovered when I bought my plane that pretty much every aircraft tire I had ever seen was underinflated. The manual calls for 42psi in the mains on my plane, and if you can see even the slightest sidewall squishiness they're down in the low 30's and at the end of a month they're down below...

On 2006-05-14, B A R R Y wrote: My co-owner an I are thinking of doing some USCG Aux. stuff. What does that involve? Heck, I live near the ocean and my airplane is already orange and white... -- Ben Jackson

For a long time I've been meaning to convert my cost of ownership spreadsheet into a web page. Over the weekend I wrote a rudimentary sc-to-html converter (sc is an ancient, terminal based spreadsheet). http://ben.com/flying/costown.html I've already filled the page with caveats and disclaimers...

Someone in another thread mentioned that they carry their airplane keys all the time. I'd like to do that, but my 39 year old airplane has 3 different keys -- one for the baggage door, one for the cabin door and one for the mag switch. Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single...

My lower tail nav light doesn't work because the braided metal ground strap that connected the tailcone to the light housing fell off the tail cone side. I can't tell (at least from the outside) how it was originally attached to the aluminum skin. I don't see a rivet -- would it have been...

My IO-540 with Hartzell compact 2 blade prop is smoother at 2700 RPM than at cruise (2200-2400 RPM). If I have it dynamically balanced at cruise will it vibrate more at climb power? Does the fact that it's smooth at climb power suggest that the engine/prop combo is okay and there is a problem...

Where can I get an old Scott Executive Mark III oxygen system hydro tested and serviced? I have one I'd like to buy cannulas for and fill but I don't know anything about its history. Portland, OR area would be best... If I have to ship that brick I might be better off buying new. -- Ben...

I hear that potentiometer-based fuel senders can be revitalized by soaking them in a solvent to remove accumulated gunk. I'm wondering if they can be sprayed in place by running the tank dry and using a tuner cleaner (I think it's mostly dichlorofluoroethane). Will that stuff destroy fuel...

I'm not sure I'd ever seen an SR20 before today, and boy does it have obnoxious exhausts. Are all Cirrus planes like that and I've just missed it? -- Ben Jackson http://www.ben.com/

I inherited a Scott Executive Mark III portable oxygen system. I can't find anything on the web about this unit. Even Scott's own site ends with the Mk II. The 3 is a boxy unit that straps into the back seat as an armrest. If anyone has a manual for one of these I'd love to get a scan or fax of...

What are the pros/cons of thicker replacement side windows? Does the thickness of the sides affect noise much? Is the 1/4" replacement stuff significantly heavier? -- Ben Jackson http://www.ben.com/

I've got an IO-540. The oil filler neck is a long tube sticking up out of the top of the case with a dipstick that's 15" or so. The top end of the dipstick never even gets splashed with oil in normal operation. That part of the dipstick is mildly corroded. I'm assuming it sits in a steamy...

I'd like to get a tank of N2 to keep around to fill my struts. I assume the welding supply place that will sell me the tank can sell me a regulator that will get me into the 300-500psi range (right?). Where can I get the hose with appropriate (schraeder?) valve for the strut end? Am I looking...

Let's say you're at a point where you need to add a quart of oil. You've decided you would like to finish this oil change interval at a lighter weight (eg you put in AeroShell W100, SAE-50, and now it's freaking cold). Can you add a quart of a (substantially?) lighter weight oil (presumably in the...

Last Wednesday I found myself unable to push my plane back into the hangar without help. It was wet, limiting my shoe traction, and I had been unable to successfully get back on the concrete pad after cutting the corner through the squishy grass, forcing me to take a more straight-in (and more...

My S-Tec 50 needs adjustment (chasing the heading bug) and I'd like to find a shop that has the S-Tec autopilots figured out. Any recommendations in the Pacific northwest, preferably close to the Portland/Hillsboro area? -- Ben Jackson http://www.ben.com/

I bought a PA-24-260 with a verrry slow leak from the prop governor. This has taught me some things about oil leaks. 1) Oil does not go in the obvious direction. Even after you take into account the general airflow around the engine compartment and baffling there are local variations that make...

I found the SCAT tube between the muffler shroud and the defrost vent in the glareshield has some cracks (you can only see them if you flex the tube a certain way, which is why they've been missed). Does this present a carbon monoxide danger? It's not the heat exchanger that's cracked, only the...

In article , Andrew Gideon wrote: Any suggestions as to where I might buy/order copies would be very much appreciated. esscoaircraft.com usually has that kind of thing. If you're listing all the aircraft in a club/rental fleet, you...