152 – My Bonanza Door Popped Open, and My Wife Won’t Fly With Me!

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter

This was Jim’s story when he brought his airplane in for the annual inspection.

Listen to today’s episode to find out what we did with Jim’s door latching system… he did most of the work on that issue, and I think his wife will fly with him now!

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Other items of interest in this episode:

• Kat’s story about the time her student overprimed the engine and it caught on fire.
• Comments and questions from Alan Christy.
• Voice message and a question from Dan Douillard. Here’s the Aviation Consumer article about vacuum pumps I referenced in the podcast episode:

Click here to read the article.

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Now back to Jim’s V-tail Bonanza:

We fixed quite a few squawks on the airplane, and here are a few I mentioned in this episode:

1. The electric fuel boost pump was leaking at the case drain tube.
2. The D’Shannon engine baffle scoop for extra cooling on the cooling fins of cylinder #6, was installed upside down, and pointed at the exhaust riser.
3. The throttle microswitch for the magic hand landing gear safety system, was worn and one terminal was very loose.
4. The left aileron inboard hinge was improperly installed, with the bottom 2 screws not even in the holes of the hinge!
5. The main landing gear uplock springs were worn and rusty.
6. The shimmy dampener needed resealing and servicing.
7. And of course, as the title indicates, we fixed Jim’s door latch (Jim did most of the work.)

Here are the corresponding repairs for each of those squawks:

1. We sent the boost pump to Aeromotors LLC in Browntown, WI for overhaul. Their price was HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper than anywhere else I could find!
2. We installed the engine baffle air scoop correctly so that it now points at the cylinder fins for proper cooling.
3. We installed a new microswitch with a new switch actuator, and researched the wiring diagram and attached the switch wires in the correct location. The “magic hand” landing gear safety system checked good, both on the ground and in flight.
4. We removed the left aileron, replaced some rivets, reinstalled the aileron correctly with new screws, and adjusted the aileron rigging.
5. We installed a new set of main landing gear uplock springs, P/N 059, from Performance Aero. (It’s always nice to know the uplock won’t punch a hole in the top of the wing due to failure of the uplock spring!)
6. We completely disassembled, cleaned, resealed, installed a new pin in the center piston, serviced, and reinstalled the shimmy dampener. It should last a long time now!
7. And Jim’s door… we installed a serviceable latch assy. in the top of the door, adjusted the bottom pin turnbuckle and resafetied, lubed, and checked… it works great now! Jim’s all set to take his wife flying!

So there you go… another annual inspection completed. We took care of many more squawks as well, but those are some of the highlights.

Jim, it was a pleasure working with you sir! I look forward to the next time!

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