Simple & Cheap Tricks for your plane

In article , Dale
wrote:

I made some cheap light wheel-chocks from PVC pipe.
I used about 1.25 OD PVC glued together to make a |__| shape. The
distance between the uprights being enough to slide around the main
tires. They are a little bulky but light. I had them for 8 years and
never had the airplane move. G

Custom sized for the aircraft's tires, with/with-out wheel covers.

"Dale" wrote in message
...
I made some cheap light wheel-chocks from PVC pipe.

I used about 1.25 OD PVC glued together to make a |__| shape. The
distance between the uprights being enough to slide around the main
tires. They are a little bulky but light. I had them for 8 years and
never had the airplane move. G

They are great for tailwheels.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

I made some cheap light wheel-chocks from PVC pipe.

Jim Weir made a pair for us last year -- with Atlas' "N" number on them and
everything!

They are very cool, and work very well -- but (as Jim warned us up front)
you DO have to be careful using them on grass with wheel pants. Park your
plane at Sun N Fun for a few days, and it WILL sink so that the wheel pants
are setting on top of the chocks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Dale wrote:

I made some cheap light wheel-chocks from PVC pipe.

I'm old-fashioned. I ripped mine on the tablesaw from 2x4 scrap. Screweyes in the
ends and a bit of clothesline, and done. They take up next to no space in the
plane, too.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.

Dan Thompson wrote ...
Cool. This is like Heloise meets Sky King!



Now THAT's funny!

Daniel

Substitute pitot tube cover:

Brightly coloured squeaky dog toy. Once your dog chews a hole in it and the
squeaker won't work unless you hold your finger over it to confuse your poor
puppy, then you can use it knowing that it will be visible and remembered
during preflight.

Now I will have to find a substitute source for those incredibly useful
little plastic containers!)

Drop into your local photo lab when you are shopping and ask. Most will have
a bucket full they haven't taken out to the industrial bin that day and are
happy to have them go to a good home. It also saves the shop assistant a
trip out to the bin!

Peter

In article , "Bushy"
writes:

Substitute pitot tube cover:

Brightly coloured squeaky dog toy. Once your dog chews a hole in it and the
squeaker won't work unless you hold your finger over it to confuse your poor
puppy, then you can use it knowing that it will be visible and remembered
during preflight.

I use an old tennis ball. Cut a slit in the ball and squeeze the ball to open
the slit to make it easy to put on. Also two balls to cover the vents.
Attach a foot long piece of red spinnaker cloth to each.

Chuck

"PaulaJay1" wrote in message ...

I use an old tennis ball. Cut a slit in the ball and squeeze the ball to open
the slit to make it easy to put on. Also two balls to cover the vents.
Attach a foot long piece of red spinnaker cloth to each.

A friend of mine with a 195 uses a stuffed duck as a pitot cover. It
gives the appearance that the duck was skewered from the rear.

A friend of mine with a 195 uses a stuffed duck as a pitot cover. It
gives the appearance that the duck was skewered from the rear.

I believe I saw his 195 at OSH.

Great looking bird(s)!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

A few more tricks that come to mind:

- Someone may have already mentioned this, but a permanent marker (Sharpie)
touches up the paint on your panel easily and perfectly. (It also works as
a temporary cosmetic fix on chipped wing-walk material.)

- Hairspray dissolves ink on vinyl or leather.

- A cheap sleeping bag and two straps with velcro can be used to make a
custom-fitted cowl cover for less that $25.

- If you don't have cylinder heaters, lay a trouble light on top of the
engine, and lay a sleeping bag over the cowl. Combined with a sump heater,
you will have 85 degree oil at every start.

- A temperature-sensitive cube (comes on at 35, goes off at 40) can be used
to control your Tannis heater in your hangar.

- Metal tape (NOT duct tape) makes a great oil cooler baffle in winter.

- Fill all the little gaps in your engine baffling with high temperature
RTV. You'll see you CHTs go down noticeably.

- Silicone spraying your yokes will make your landings better.

- Labeling your tow bar with your name and airport identifier is a good
idea.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"