Scudrunners

Please don't do that.  A quarter of a mile
away, and you still made my dog jump.
Sounded like a shotgun, at runup RPM.

It's ok if you hate your expensive exhaust
and you're trying your best to destroy it,
but please, think of the delicate pet ears
ok?

Colonel...

Why, why do you do this to me?

It was one of the more frustrating problems I had with flight instructors......it was almost impossible to correct that habit I had with them.

So finally I called a meeting and gave them written orders that any instructor who caused a backfire during their run up  /  or shut down live mag checks would be fired.

That fixed the problem.

Once again, the lizard (limbic) brain
is screwing pilots over.

The instinct of undoing must be over-
ridden.

If you accidentally select mags off during
the runup, no problem - take your hand
off the key, let the engine die, and pull
the mixture to lean.

Let it sit to evaporate the fuel in the exhaust,
crank it with the mixture lean to purge it,
then start it again.

Understanding such a basic principle is simple enough for anyone with a normal IQ.

The problem lies in the low bar one needs to step over to get the instructors rating in Canada.

The instructors rating is just a few more hours training after getting the CPL......generally from other instructors who made over the same low bar.

So it is sort of like computers..garbage in garbage out.

And it has been this way for many decades.

[quote]it was a capital offense to use the wrong tool[/quote]

My father would have killed me, if I went
at an airplane with a crescent wrench (or
god help me, a pair of water pump pliers
or the spawn of the devil: vice grips).

You spend the extra few seconds to go
get the wrench of the proper size.  This is
true not only for airplanes, but also motorcycles,
bicycles, cars, boats, tractors, trucks, trailers,
etc.  I don't even use that adjustable shit on
[i]lawn mowers[/i].

I have two drawers of "good" wrenches (SAE
and metric) and one drawer of "shit" wrenches:

[img][/img]

for cutting down to fit for specific jobs.  I
recently had to hack up a 1.25" box end to
R+R a vernatherm on an angle-valve 540.

Pro Tip: whenever wrenches go on sale at
Crappy Tire, pick up a set so that you have
some to cut down to make custom tools with.

They don't have to be super high quality, but
don't buy the worst (Harbor Freight) ones.


[quote]touchy-feely-fist-bumping-everyone's a winner type training[/quote]

I get in terrible trouble for not subscribing to
that new age bullshit.  Oh well, Justin Trudeau
and Olivia Chow and I will never be BFF's.  So
be it. 


Don't take a shotgun to an expensive aircraft
exhaust.  Really not that complicated.  Not sure
why so many pilots hate airplanes, or why so
many people hate machinery that they own
and operate.

-- EDIT / UPDATE --

I see today that an AME has taken off the cowls
of the click/click/boom pilot/owner.

Good job!

[quote]cured with early beatings[/quote]

The touchy-feely crowd would simply not
believe what my father did to me when I
fucked up, growing up ... as I said before,
I think the author of the [u]Great Santini[/u]
followed me around.  But I think that kind
of reality is just too far out there, for the
big city / Jack Layton dope-smoking crowd.


[quote]We live in a throw away society[/quote]

True but if someone cares ... airplanes can
live [i]forever[/i].  Look at the WWII warbirds,
that were built to last 6 months max before
they were used up or obsolete or both.  70+
years on, they are still flying.

I personally fly a Cornell, Ryan and Stearman
all built in the 1940's.  If some bonehead
doesn't crash them, they should still be
around in another 70 years.

I still fly a Maule that my family has had,
for 44 years now.  It should outlast me.

PS  Let me know if you run across any
Whitworth tools.  I need some!

[quote]My motorcycle is now 15 years old. That makes it ancient by today's standards[/quote]

I hate to break it to you, but older motorcycles
are becoming chic!  Keanu Reeves:

[img]http://www2.pictures.fp.zimbio.com/Kean ... bAVpzl.jpg[/img]

My four motorcycles are 2000, 2006, 2006 and
2007.  All perfectly serviceable.  Hondas in
particular last ridiculously long.

My 2000-vintage bike did the quarter mile in
10.44 seconds with a pro on board (not me).

Your friends may need to go faster than 10.44
in the quarter, but I do not.  As long as I can
get parts (and I don't mind fabricating some)
I see no reason to replace it.

I admire people that are riding street bikes
that can do nine and eight second quarter
miles.  Generally, though, these people are
completely full of shit so it puzzles me as to
why you would listen to them.