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Good weather recently, so I did a 25 hour loop. Pics presented without comment or context.

Finally, almost 2 years wait is over. It was delivered to me last week. Now I need to get 5 hours transition training. BR

Just brought home my new to me CTSW! Looking forward to new adventures

Merry Christmas, I hope everyone has a good holiday.

I di check the two CTLS that are in the shop, and they do have carbon fiber sub fins. So an internal antenna on a CTLS sub fin probably won't work.

The torque adapter works better than a crows foot because it fully captures the nut, and you can't get to the bottom fuel pump nut with a crows foot. I have used a wrench and a scale for the bottom nut before I purchased the torque adapters. Regarding removal of the propeller. The popped heads on the M6 bolts I think came from Arian. It is something I have always done. While the propeller maintenance manual doesn't say that the bolts will be damaged it does say to loosen them before loosening the six M8 bolts. I try to follow the maintenance manual to the best of my ability, especially since it is required by regulation. I don't find any reference to lubricating the plunger in the Rotax manual or the SB on fuel pump replacement, but it is something I picked up in my Rotax training along the way. The lubrication I use is an engine assembly lube. It will fully dissolve in the oil.

Warming the engine and burping are probably not necessary. Unless you are planning to removed the crankshaft gear, locking the crankshaft is also probably not necessary. Make a chute like in the picture to keep oil away from the radiator and oil cooler, and have a drip pan or bucket for the oil. Before installing use some grease to hold the rollers on the bearing in place for installing the gearbox. I have some white grease mixed with STP that I use for engine assembly that I use. Also put a dab of grease on the plunger for the fuel pump as it goes back on. New lock washers 945-832 for the fuel pump would be a good idea, and as I mentioned above a new isolating flange 950-228 should be used. Six new DIN 985 M8 locknuts for the propeller.

When the propeller goes back on tighten the nuts on the six M8 screws in a crosswise pattern to 27nm or 19.91 (20) ft/lb. Then tighten the three M6 screws to 10nm or 88.5 in/lb. My preferred way of torqueing the prop nuts is with a torque adapter turned 90° to the torque wrench. These also work well for torqueing the nuts on the fuel pump. I have used a universal impact socket for the nuts before, but the adapter works better. Neuform Propeller.pdf

I'll see if I can post the Neuform manual tomorrow. When removing the propeller loosen the three smaller bolts first, then just tighten them until the touch. Then loosen the six that hold the propeller on. If you don't do this it is possible to pop the heads off the small bolts. Also slide something in between the engine and the radiator to direct oil away from the engine, because there will be oil that pours out of the gearbox.

Like Roger said it is not hard, but I think his 30-40 minutes is a little light. You will need to remove the propeller and fuel pump. You should probably replace the fuel pump isolating flange. You will need a puller. It is $554.65 from Rotax, but one can be fabricated using some angle iron, bolts, and a slide hammer. One thing I do when applying sealant is to cut some 1.5" wide strips of paper and roll them up and insert into the bolt holes. This will help keep the holes clean when applying the sealant. Also, make sure the sealing surfaces are really clean.

You guys haven't seen bad ethics until you see what's been going on in the last 20 years with used certified aircraft. When I make the comment to a used aircraft salesman that I know about how atrocious some of his planes are, even bordering on criminal, he tells me. "There is a sucker born every minute but I will make a lot of money on it". Most of you guys have no clue on how bad things have gotten. A lot of these 50 to 60 year old planes are so worn out and corroded, restoration is almost impossible. The FAA no longer makes rounds at local airports and even if they did , most wouldn't know what to look at, I know these guys, I could write a book on stupid things they've done. Be glad you have fairly new planes.

General Aviation is the only significant category of aviation that does not use Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) as the basis for maintenance. Read this article to see why airlines, the military and other major aviation entities use it. https://resources.savvyaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/articles_eaa/EAA_2011-03_the-waddington-effect.pdf Here is an AvWeb article discussing Maintenance Induced Failure (MIF). https://www.avweb.com/ownership/the-savvy-aviator-53-the-dark-side-of-maintenance/ This 2021 article talks about the downside of maintenance. It reveals the fact that MIF was found to be an issue in WWII. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/march/pilot/savvy-maintenance-ri It is tempting to conclude that GA would be better off to use maintenance procedures more inline with airlines and the military . It seems generally accepted that maintenance is best done using the right material and good procedures by skilled mechanics and overseen by knowledgeable owners. In my opinion, we should worry more about people knowing now to check their hoses than about when to replace them. Replacing them at an appropriate time will follow if we inspect them carefully and on a timely basis.

Maybe we should rename this forum to FD fliers and welcome these beauties in. We are all in the same family.

First off let me say everyone makes mistakes whether it is offering advise or doing work. I know I have made mistakes. In my opinion the advice being offered in this VLOG is a mistake. In my observations of doing maintenance on CT's the past 15 years I would say that it is likely that going past 5 years will not be a safety issue, but it is hard to tell when it will be an issue. Unless you can verify the material choices made by the installer, and are comfortable with the quality of work I would say the 5 year replacement is a good thing. I have found issues with oil hoses from both substitution of non Rotax hose and safety related installation errors. The installation errors were from the factory and well respected LSA mechanics. The installation error is poor positioning of the Band-it clamp for the fire sleeve causing a constriction of the oil hose. I have posted pictures before. I have seen problems with fuel hoses. Mostly from the wrong sizes being used causing leaks, but also some poor quality hoses. I had one customer have a forced landing due to a bad fuel hose replaced during a hose change the year before I started working on the airplane. It came apart on the inside and a little peice of rubber blocked off the fuel inlet on the 2-4 carburetor. When you shut down one side of the engine it is not good. I had one batch of hose that I bought that I sent back to the supplier because I didn't like the quality, and it did meet the required DIN specification. The hose would collapse and kink when bent around a reasonable radius. I have not seen as many problems with coolant hoses, but I did have one airplane that the hoses were absolutely rotten at 5 years, but they did not appear to be Rotax supplied hose. There was a time that the replacement Rotax 90° hose would leak it you didn't also switch to the new Rotax spring clamps. The old spring clamps didn't apply enough tension to seal up, because the wall thickness of the hose was thinner. A failed carburetor socket can cause a forced landing or leave you stranded. I personally know of two failures. I have removed some pretty rotten looking diaphragms from carburetors, that can also lead to bad things happening. A leaking float needle because it got hard from age can ruin an engine if not caught. I am a little up in the air regarding fuel pumps. A lot of times it is just poor quality workmanship and poor choices with material substitutions. Often times the mechanic doesn't know better because they didn't do the research, or they receive some poor advice.

Good grief. No, I do not change hoses every annual. I was trying to comment on the fear mongering warning me that I am going to crash and burn because I might be skeptical about the Rotax 5-year requirement. After all, if the goal is to be safe, why not be really, really, safe. After all, can we be really, perfectly, totally, absolutely certain that no hose will ever need to be replaced before five years? At some point, the argument about the frequency of hose changes amounts to religion (or, possibly, self-interest if one is in the business of hose replacement) and not to actual risk assessment. If risk assessment was the issue, I would expect Hobbs time to be the better indicator of hose life and not calendar time, anyhow. BTW, except for coolant hoses, all hoses on my E-LSA airplane are custom stainless braid/teflon with a lifespan that exceeds my natural life expectancy. I will switch lower coolant hoses to silicone at the next 5 year change. It may be hard to find silicone hoses for the top of the engine due to the bends required.

Took a short flight this afternoon going east from Hendersonville NC and saw this. Apparently contrail shadows. I don’t know what that dark streak to the ground is. You just never know what you’re going to see up there.

Even cheaper than Andy's suction cup shade, I keep one of those old fashion paper charts in the cockpit and drape it over the forward spar tube when needed.

Yes. Little doctor lake. The plane is very good on floats when it’s light. I have the eprop coming and I’m excited to try it. The main issue now is on floats it has a hard time climbing over 8000ft and it’s always nice to get a little higher than the tallest mountains in your route. But on lower elevations it’s ok. our backyard is the Nahanni park.

Turns out that FD soldered the motor wires to the spade terminals ( you can’t see that because it’s covered with a rubber boot) and one broke off. I installed spade connectors on both terminals and it’s all good now. Thanks for the helpful advice.

Price of tires, oil, filters, you name it - it's all 30% + from a few years ago. Thank Brandon.

440 NM. Total fuel burn was 17 gallons.

ELSA is the only way to go and it should not devalue the aircraft depending on who does the work. I probably have the most modified SW in the world and all of the modifications were done in accordance with accepted practices and technology for aircraft. Some things take a lot of research and effort and not everything is successful to do, but it can make a much better aircraft. Someone came in my hangar not long ago and commented that I just can't leave things alone. I guess not for the last 50 years.

It will take a lot of padding with a 6" ladder. I use one that is almost 6 foot tall.

I just had the bowls off within the last week for my annual, they were super clean. I can check them again, but I don’t think that’s it.

Water bottles are useable for more than one thing! Just don't forget it's not lemonade!

PS I believe the thread well size of the sensors are 10mm x 1.5mm pitch. You still have to take a depth reading and make sure the thread engagement area isn't too long either, as said there are many variations available, but if you find one it will be all of 25 dollars instead of 200.

I understand the sentiment, but I'm experimental and I wouldn't remove the BRS. I consider it an excellent piece of safety equipment, and a real selling point of the CT series. Yes it's expensive, but it's also something that can turn several low probability but unsurvivable events into very survivable events. The service intervals are obviously very conservative because BRS wants to make sure this thing works, *every time*. Even if you don't want to pay for the BRS service, I'd leave it installed and it will most likely work as designed, even if it's been 15 years. Everybody has their own risk analysis and YMMV, but I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it (e.g. "die").

Just got back from Freeport Grand Bahama. Flew KMLB, KPBI, MYGF, and back after 2 day visit. No need to take on fuel. Still had 11 gallons left. The 912Is is just so efficient. Fun trip, but the paperwork and DHS procedures can be intimidating. N838Q if you’re interested in looking at the flight path. Highly recommend. It’s a whole different world over there, but you have to fly 80 miles over open ocean, and wear a life jacket. Eat the conch salad and enjoy.

Won't be long it'll be $10,000.

Morning. I LOVE my CTsw. It's just so easy to fly. So I'd like to keep it longer. Could I convert my S-LSA 2006 CTsw to E-LSA for IFR? Has anyone done this? I'm getting a quote for new panels on it. Will the plane lose value? Would there have to be a checkout period like other E-LSAs? Just wondering what are the pros and cons of doing so and anyone's experience. Edit: Also, anyone have a rough quote on what they paid for their panels?

Seek out a EAA Chapter in your area. Those guys will steer you in the right direction.

I had an event a few weeks ago while flying that could have resulted in an engine fire. It was quite a struggle to get to the fire extinguisher in the pocket behind the copilot seat. I have since moved it to another location in the cockpit. I would suggest everyone try accessing their extinguisher while piloting and see if they have better success than I did. Ken N296CT

The spinner screws are not titanium. It's not worth taking the chance as a screw can take a chip out of a blade. If it exceeds the repairable size, then the blade must be changed or repaired by E-Props. Using Locktite 222 is easy to use and you can still remove the screws easily.

Here are my trip numbers if you’re interested. 0A7 to MLB ( Melbourne Fl.) 3:38 hrs MLB to MYGF ( Freeport Grand Bahama) 1:33 hrs MYGF to PBI ( Palm Beach International to clear in) 46 min ( parked next to Trump plane!) PBI to MLB 56 min MLB to FHB ( Fernandina Beach weather diversion) 1:35 FHB to 0A7 2:47 Total flight time 11hours 15 min. Total fuel burn 53 gallons 4.8 GPH average fuel burn. Never added oil.

I get mine from Amazon too. have been since 2008.

Also you can adjust the aluminum tubes in the large radiator hoses and radiator to better position the radiator, and to take siginificant load off the shock mounts.

Lord H6122 https://www.leadingedgeairfoils.com/engine-airframe-accessories/rubber-mounts/lord-sandwich-mount-1.html Much sturdier.

The CT is an amazing plane with incredible performance for 100 hp. The main issue is it must be kept in a hangar and rotax maintenance may not be easily available. The issue with a Cessna 150 is that it is old technology, most likely high time, maybe poorly maintained, prone to corrosion on the coast, and slow. If you can get a hangar I would go with a CT. The engine maintenance is where you will have to find someone, the airframe can be handled by any decent A&P. I've owned and maintained a lot of different aircraft and am still very impressed with the CT. The only other issue is finding a CT instructor, it's more of a demanding plane to land for a student pilot, a 150 has a much more forgiving landing gear and maybe a good plane for initial training at a local flight school.

"It's listed as "6.00x6 6 Ply Retread **Monster 11/32nds'". That's it. I like them because the tread is thicker that many tires.

I think what he was trying to say is, the FAA will allow work experience as a LSRM to count towards the work experience for the A&P certificate.

No. They are not interchangeable. I'd just go on condition and save all that money. I have friends with 3K - 4K hours on their engine.

That means your rotary switch on the board has gone bad. The microcontroller is unable to determine what flap setting is being requested. As additional evidence: When you set manual up or down, there are no connections to the microcontroller and that is why it shows three dashed lines. Instead, manual up bypasses the microcontroller completely, sending the signal to the relay itself. At that point, the microswitches on the actuator are the last resort to stop the movement by opening the signal connection to the relays. Are you E-LSA?

I had an SL40 with different issue and got rid of it and went to a GTR200. Much better radio with latest technology in canbus wiring and a great built in intercom.

AWOS is a low strength signal to start with. The one on my airport had been having the same issue for months until they fixed it. If other frequencies are good then it's probably not you.

The actuator portion can be accessed by removing one of the screws that go into the side of the jackscrew tube. It's what the actuator pivots on. It will expose the jackscrew. The motor gearbox is covered by a black push plug. Pop that out and you can spray in there too.

It won't travel that far if you use a proper hot torch right at the end of the inner blue flame. It will melt and break within a few seconds, and it will only feel a little bit warm a couple inches back. That's why you leave a tail that's 2-3 inches by welding the end together.

The electrical on FD is horrible. On my CT the lower panel main switch gets power from the 25 amp breaker, it's then daisy chained to the switches, then each switch goes to the breaker and then to the appliance. That's backwards, if there is a short prior to the breaker on any of the switches either the wire burns or the 25 amp breaker pops shutting down all power. The original breackets all have spade connectors which is very poor. I changed all my electrical to what is standard for aircraft. There should be two buss bars, one for avionics and one for everything else with avionics having a separate breaker. That's one reason to go ELSA.

I've been working on Piper Cherokees for over 30 years, and have owned a Warrior for over 25. Pipers tend to wear the inside of the tire, unless someone has over compensated with shimming on the scissors. This is due to the geometry of the axle related to the strut. The drag of the tire as it rolls on the surface will cause it to toe out due to wear in the scissors.

Hi guys,just for your infomation I've managed to track down a seal service kit for the Marc Ingregno master cylinder from Airmasters in the UK. and I'm going to attempt the seal change over this coming saturday and I will keep you up to speed on how I fare. many thanks for everybodys input on the matter and if this kit dosn't solve my problem then I will certainly look into changing over to Matco. if anybody else is interested in the size of the Marc Ingregno seals they are: 17 x 14 x 1.8 14.5 x 11 x1.8 12.5 x 9 1.8 8 x 4.5 x1.8

Just a note and a personal opinion: There have been a couple of comments in this thread (and others) about not wanting to do things to your airplane to "preserve resale value". To me this seems a little ass-backwards. An airplane is a depreciating asset like a car. While they typically don't depreciate as quickly as a car, every hour you fly the thing does in theory "lower the resale value." I'd say don't let fear of valuation changes drive you to less enjoyment of your airplane; these airplanes seem to resell for similar pricing, with the only big changes being due to high total hours and/or damage history. As a friend of mine once said: Not doing things you want to do for resale reasons, is like not making love to your girlfriend so she'll stay pristine for the next guy. YMMV