Simple & Cheap Tricks for your plane

Great going, guys. I'll contribute:

- Abrasive-free handcleaner works like a dream on underside, inside
engine compartment, even under the floor during annual.

- PVC chocks can be filled with survival goodies: if needed, shatter
against a rock.

- Pledge towelettes, a lil' spray bottle with water, some cotton tee
paint rags (sold by box at Home Depot), comprise the ultimate
window-cleaning kit. Use bare hand with spray bottle first. Then, a
quick swipe with the Pledge, a lil' more water, and buff. Remember to
only wipe up/down!

- Track oil consumption along with your flight hours: use the blank
column in your logbook to record tach time, preflight oil quantity.
Guess when oil change is due, write across top of page, ahead in the
logbook. When oil is added, identify the event in your "oil" column
with a circle containing the number of qts.* Then, when filling out
your lab form, you can easily tally hours, qts consumed.

- No seatback pocket is complete without a heavy-guage freezer
ziplock bag, cheapee brown cotton gloves, a chem-light. Gloves can be
worn during fueling, preflight. Bags contain barf, if it comes to
that. Chem-light is a flashlight for emergencies at night for which
batteries are never a concern. 'Will bath cockpit in a warm, Hunt For
Red October glow.

- Velcro a carbon monoxide detector to the sidewall in your luggage
compartment. Those little plastic tags with an orange dot don't work!
Well, they might for a few months, and then you forget... I hung mine
by the EXHAUST PIPE of my car, and it STILL didn't change color! My
cheapee detector has identified TWO exhaust leaks to which I was
oblivious. Plus, it has a voice warning, which when tested, really
impresses passengers.

Okay, I'll stop. This thread has reminded me how much talent is out
there. Great job!

A

*Trivia question, RE oil: What do a turkey deep-fryer (1' dia.) and
the 777 Rolls Trent engine (16' dia.) share in common? Ans. The same
amount of oil is needed for operation of each: 16 qts.

ANDY'S HANGAR http://webpages.charter.net/andyshangar/

wrote in message . ..
Great going, guys. I'll contribute:

Quick and cheap chocks for fly-ins-- take a 2 by 4, cut into 8"
sections, put an eyebolt in one end, and tie pairs together with rope.
Good when you're expecting 20-30 airplanes to come in.

The little vinyl covers you can get at the hardware store to cover the
exposed ends of screws work great on toggle switches. Get different
colors for vital systems and it'll be easier to find them. We have a
white one on the boost pump and a red one on the avionics master.

Rolled-up cardboard closed off at one end, held together with
electrical tape, and with a long streamer (plastic model-airplane
covering) is good for fuel vent and pitot tube covering. And, the
plastic flapping around is noisy in even a light wind--the sound will
help you remember to take them off.

Old thin chair cushions--put them in the seat so people don't ruin
your interior when stepping into the plane. Once seated, you can
either leave them there or roll them up and use as a back pillow.

Interim seats--if you're waiting for your nice fancy covered seats to
be finished, but you want your forty hours flown off, large foam
blocks work. Use above-mentioned chair cushion as a back pad.

We rigged up a little swinging metal cover that slides over the blast
tube for our oil cooler. A little pushrod from a model airplane runs
to the oil check door to make it ground-adjustable without removing
the cowl.

I painted little stripes on all nuts/bolts visible from the exterior
(and wing/stab/tail attachment bolts) to make checking for loosening
easier.

Wiping the canopy, leading edges, cowl, and prop down with water and a
sponge gets rid of the bugs while they're still fresh.

Tennis racket grip-tape works good on the stick/yoke and keeps it from
getting too slippery.

Don't hold anything vital too close to a door/window/canopy opening...
we lost a chart one time like that. The metal skirt around the canopy
bows outwards a bit while flying, and the pressure differential there
sucked a sectional right out of my hand.