Gary Lanthrum sent us this photo, with a note: “Flying is what we all love, but owning an airplane requires so much more than just enjoying the skies. At each oil change I get on the crawler and clean the belly of my plane, a Maule MX7-180C. This is the dirty diaper of aviation, and regular wash jobs seldom remove all of the grime that collects there. Now she’s ready to fly to Oshkosh!”
“Flying to Oshkosh will be my first long cross-country flight since becoming ADS-B compliant,” he adds.
Almost 40 years ago I was hired to maintain a small business operation in Iowa. The owner had a Chieftan, a CT210 and a PA39. The guy operated without leaning the engines properly. The first inspection I did discovered a thick layer of lead deposits behind both engines.
Even worse, teh brake discs were worn way below minimum thickness. I was amazed the puck O rings were still sealing.
I spend days cleaning the belly of that airplane and replaced the brake discs, pad and calipers.
I got fired before I had a chance to replace the master cylinders.
The airplane should never have passed an annual inspection in the condition it was when I first saw the airplane.
Congratulations on being an owner/operator who does the maintenance required, it will save your life and in teh long run, control your costs.