Tips & tricks from our readers

General Aviation News has a very active community of readers who comment on our stories. Most of the time comments are about a story and how much the person enjoyed it. Other times commenters are disagreeing with what the story says or with another commenter.

Interspersed with these comments are tips and tricks that our readers have discovered through their own flying.

Here are some of the latest:

In response to Ask Paul “Why is the temperature so high on my left engine?” John R. says: After many years of troubleshooting high oil temperatures on my right engine on my Twin Comanche (a Lycoming IO-320 B1A), I looked at one more possibility. The gasket between the case and vernatherm unit.

This is what I found. At overhaul the mechanic installed the gasket incorrectly. I correctly installed a new gasket and now have normal acceptable oil temperatures.

Picture on the left is correct way. Picture on the right was how I found it.

I often read Paul McBride’s columns about high oil temperature problems, but never came across this issue as the culprit.

I know the odds of this being other people’s problems are slim, but it happened to me.

Driving ATC Nuts

Re: Jamie Beckett’s Politics for Pilots column, “Holding your hand while flying,” about ATC and flight following, Gary Lanthrum says: I’m IFR rated, but never file when flying VFR because flying isn’t only about getting from point A to point B for me. I tend to wander off the straight line path between waypoints because I see something interesting over there, or I wonder if there is workable lift along that ridgeline (even when flying SEL I think about gliding options).

That sort of meandering tends to drive ATC nuts. It is also what makes flying enjoyable for me.

For this reason, I often monitor ATC without asking for flight following when my meandering is in low traffic density and uncomplicated airspace.

Filing IFR and/or using Flight Following are great aids when dealing with a complicated flight environments, or focusing on getting to a destination, but can be a real joy killer when meandering is what the flight is all about. Fortunately for me, most of my flights are all about whimsical exploration of the aerial environment, even when I’m on a long cross-country flight.

Sometimes meandering and ATC come together. On a return flight from Oshkosh to Washington State decades ago (before GPS) I was wandering around South Dakota looking for the Chief Crazy Horse memorial. I couldn’t find it, so I called Ellsworth Air Force Base and asked if they could give me radar vectors to the site. They chuckled and agreed, and soon I was looking down at the very early stages of this mountain top sculpture. Once I’d had my fill, I cancelled flight following and went about my merry way, often well below altitudes where I could reliably maintain radio contact with ATC. It was a great trip even without hands holding the whole way.

Fun Requires Following The Rules

Re: William E Dubois’ Questions from the Cockpit column, “Are non-towered airports more dangerous?” Suresh Kumar Bista says: Flying is great fun and full of surprises for “happy go lucky” types. Ground school and flight training teach you discipline and there is much to learn from incidents and accidents that have happened earlier.

We as pilots learn much more from experienced pilots and instructors. That is, if we are serious about learning.

In Canada, there are uncontrolled airports everywhere. Some are busy. Some are not. A procedure is always established for joining circuits or for departures. UNICOM frequency at most places is 122.8.

Aviate, Navigate, Communicate…if done correctly, flying into uncontrolled airports is great fun. If we want to retain the fun part, let us follow the laid out rules.

On Fire

Re: William E Dubois’ Questions From the Cockpit Column “Fire starter,” Mike says: A Canadian Search & Rescue presenter suggested carrying a few cotton balls impregnated with Vaseline in your survival kit as fire starters that work well.

Jim Macklin adds: All pilots should carry some essential items:

• A Zippo lighter in a belt case. If it is in a pocket, the vapors will “burn” your skin.
• A good pocket knife, such as a Boy Scout knife.
• A mirror.
• A flashlight or three.
• A hatchet in the baggage.
• Several 1/2 liters of bottled water.
• Sun screen.
• A boonies hat.

To burn compass fluid, cut a seat and use it to make a wick. Give it time to vaporize and light the vapor. Collect your kindling and firewood first.

Better still, don’t crash.

And Terk Williams wraps it up with this: As an old A&P and IA instructor it is illegal even for a A&P to “service” any instrument. Unfortunately that includes the simple topping off of compass fluid on a certified aircraft.

That said, jet fuel is an excellent compass fluid and works well (obviously only used to service amateur-built aircraft.) To get all the bubbles out fill a glass or metal container with fluid (this is where a half gallon of jet fuel is less than comparable to compass fluid… just sayin’…) and submerge the unit. Turn it multiple times to chase out all the air. There is something of a labyrinth inside. Put the screw back in the top and wipe the unit thoroughly before reinstalling.

As to flammability, Jet A has a flash point of 100°–150° F. It doesn’t light easily because it is very slow to evaporate and it’s the vapor that is flammable, not the liquid. This is also why it lit best when absorbed in the many fibers of the stick. Lots of surfaces to evaporate from.

Avgas burns at 50 to 150 ft/second. It does not explode/detonate under open conditions… Jet-A is more on the order of less than 10 meters (30’) /sec.

Now y’all go outside and play…don’t light it in the kitchen…it smokes badly.

If you have your own tips or tricks you’d like to share, please send them to [email protected] with Tips & Tricks in the subject line.