It's been a very stressful, tiring week at work with days stretching to night. I wanted to fly some this week but the mornings have been foggy and the afternoons over 90F.
I thought last night would be the night to throw the prop and putt around the sky a bit. But by the time I got to the airport it was 6:40 PM, 88 F, and I was just plain tired. I didn't need the IMSAFE checklist to know when I shouldn't fly so on the ground I stayed.
But I'm already here so...
The hangar door slid open, the light streamed in, and the cowling came off. I refilled the fuel tank with 5 gallons of premium. After that, I only intended to clean the engine compartment but since I took the cowling off I should change the oil. Snip the safety wire, loosen the drain pug, watch the oil flow down into the plastic bin. Sure, I should have warmed the engine up to operating temps, but it was 95 F here today and the oil is flowing like water. Good enough.
Replace the plug, tighten, reapply safety wire (I'm getting better -- I did miles of .032 and .020 safety wiring from 1980 to 1983 in the Air Force, but it's been awhile). I poured in Aeroshell 80W (3.5 quarts and .25 quart of Camguard) and watched for leaks. All good (there is no filter in this airplane).
I wiped down the entire engine and compartment, carefully checking for problems. I cleaned the inside of the cowling, put everything back on, wiped it down, and gave the wings and windshield and clean up.
A quick straightening up of the hangar and then close up and head home.
We don't always have to fly our airplanes -- sometimes it's good to just be around them.
I thought last night would be the night to throw the prop and putt around the sky a bit. But by the time I got to the airport it was 6:40 PM, 88 F, and I was just plain tired. I didn't need the IMSAFE checklist to know when I shouldn't fly so on the ground I stayed.
But I'm already here so...
The hangar door slid open, the light streamed in, and the cowling came off. I refilled the fuel tank with 5 gallons of premium. After that, I only intended to clean the engine compartment but since I took the cowling off I should change the oil. Snip the safety wire, loosen the drain pug, watch the oil flow down into the plastic bin. Sure, I should have warmed the engine up to operating temps, but it was 95 F here today and the oil is flowing like water. Good enough.
Replace the plug, tighten, reapply safety wire (I'm getting better -- I did miles of .032 and .020 safety wiring from 1980 to 1983 in the Air Force, but it's been awhile). I poured in Aeroshell 80W (3.5 quarts and .25 quart of Camguard) and watched for leaks. All good (there is no filter in this airplane).
I wiped down the entire engine and compartment, carefully checking for problems. I cleaned the inside of the cowling, put everything back on, wiped it down, and gave the wings and windshield and clean up.
A quick straightening up of the hangar and then close up and head home.
We don't always have to fly our airplanes -- sometimes it's good to just be around them.
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