I posted this to the mailing list for the club to which
I belong, and I thought people here might appreciate it too.

When I joined the club a few months ago, a major motivation was to learn
more about the "operations" side of aircraft. To my mind, this meant
maintenance. As a renter, that side of things - outside of required
inspections and such - was a black box to me. I hoped to learn more
participating in the club.

I'm a lucky fellow, I guess.

A club 172 wouldn't start this morning. I got to watch it tugged to MD's
hanger, and peer over the shoulder of Tom as he looked at it "naked" (I
cannot remember the last time I looked closely at a plane sans cowling).

I learned that one wires the frame to the engine when trying to start
the engine with the cowling top off to prevent the frame from hitting
the spinner. I learned that there is a single "starter" magneto
(although I think I actually knew that already). I learned that the
engine won't start if something's amiss with the single starter magneto.

I learned that it might be something like "a wiring problem", or that it
might require replacement of the magneto. I learned that, when leaving
an airplane with maintenance, one doesn't use the cover or brakes, but
one does put the control lock into place.

I learned that airplanes look rather unhappy when left with maintenance
with the cowling off.

I also had the opportunity to call the person with a booking later today
to give him the Bad News. I didn't really have the full experience of
that, though, as I had to leave a message with his voicemail. I did
also send what I think was a "text message", just as a backup.

I'm getting what I said I wanted, right?

One of the notes I received in response was:

Welcome to the world of airplane (co)ownership.

- Andrew