Shirl wrote in
:

Bertie:
Oh, and the J-3? Last time I saw it it had over 4,000 hours on the
engine and hadn;t even had a top.

Jay:
Those things run forever. Of course, they've got no compression or
power to begin with, so you won't notice any further loss...

;-)

Bertie:
There wasn't any further loss. I did the compression checks on it
myself sometimes, and they were still in the 70s then. We rented it
out and we couldn;t have done that if it wasn't sound.
the rest of the airplane, however, was a bit of a mess!
Still it held together the whole time I flew it. Mostly.

How does that work with regard to the 100-hr and annual inspections
for a rental aircraft? When I worked at the flight school, our
mechanics said you can run an engine past TBO, but they won't sign off
an annual or 100-hr beyond the manufacturer's published TBO. Is
signing it off after TBO not a direct violation of mechanic regs but
just a matter of finding a mechanic willing to take the risk (ours
wouldn't do it)?



Dunno nowadays. but then it was legal. I think it probably still is.
Our operation, though commercial, was part 91 and I'm not aware of any
changes in that rule.
Nowadays I'm only ever involved with club activity and that strictly on
condition. I'd tear down an antique engine every now and again myself,
though.They're too valuable to put a leg out of bed on.

Someone here will know for sure, though.

Interestingly, if you wanted to goto the boundaries of what's legal
commercailly, and someone will certainly correct me if I'm wrong, but
you could still buy an old OX-5, get a set of drawings and a dataplate
for something like a Waco9 or Alexander Eaglerock, build it, certify it
and then operate it out of a cow pasture with your commercial licence,
all legally. #

Oh yeah, no radio.

And why not?
If the operator knew what he was doing why not indeed?

Mind you , I'd get the OX-5 millerised first.


Bertie