john smith wrote:
Forgive me Father for I have sinned!
It has been three months since my last flight.

Yeah...I just had to fill out a questionnaire for our insurance and when
filling out the flight hours for the last 90 days was surprised at the
lower than average number.

I did a good deed. I arrived just in time to watch as a Cirrus pilot who
had flooded his engine while trying to start yet again. Fuel was
dripping from the lower cowling. A fuel puddle the size of a large pizza
lie beneath the exhaust stack.
Nice recipe for disaster. Add an ignition source and poof, you could
end up with a melted plastic...er...um...composite, yeah that's it,
airplane.

The strobes were flashing and the beacon was on.

...I noticed that the display screens were brightly
lit.
I guess he missed the "master off" item on the checklist...if a
checklist was being followed that is.

I had an interesting thing happen while starting the Arrow last week. A
few times when it's been fairly cold (for us) and the plane hasn't flown
in a week or so, it will take a bit more cranking than normal to start.
The last time I flew, it was bad enough that after two blades, it
would stop cranking. Normally the only thing electrical that is turned
on via switches prior to cranking the engine is the beacon. I killed
the beacon...still, two blades and no more. I then thought I'd kill the
alt half of the master. On the next start attempt, it fired right up.
I don't remember if it was after two or three blades. Maybe
coincidence, maybe not having the t/c gyro and everything else
electrical that doesn't go through the avionics master did the trick.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane

"To become a Jedi knight, you must master a single force. To become
a private pilot you must strive to master four of them"
- Rod Machado

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