Repairing the Beech Musketeer

04 January 2006

Drove down to Narrogin with Phil, the engine mechanic from the Royal Aero Club. After a two-hour drive, we reached the Narrogin airfield at around 9:30am.

The aircraft was just how I left it. I took the chance to get a few of the things I'd left in the cabin, particularly the GPS and the Pilot's Operating Handbook. I don't have any checklists for Squibby, so I will make my own based on the POH.

Phil was very happy with how it all went. The aero club doesn't have any Beechcraft, but this Musketeer has a Lycoming engine which is very common. He said some aircraft are harder than other in terms of accessing the nuts, bolts, and generally taking apart the engine. But the Musketeer seems pretty well designed, from that point of view.

The rear-left (number 4?) cylinder was the one which had the fouled plugs, so that was the one he was removing. The plan was to take it back to Jandakot for repair. This means we'll have another trip out when it's ready for re-installation. This is all new to me, but it seems like a very convenient idea to have individually removable cylinders.

The main bolts came off no problem. Phil didn't have to take off the cowling, or remove much else. He needed to remove an inter-cylinder baffle, which was awkward. He said that the most distressing part for me might be when he started banging the piston pin, to remove the piston. But it came out surprisingly easily.

I did have a moment of doubt, when he was removing the cylinder. I started to doubt my memory, that this was indeed the right cylinder. But as soon as he looked at the piston he could see that there was a stuck oil ring. This would have been causing oil to leak past into the combustion chamber, where it was burnt away, but fouled up the cylinder and the plugs. This explains why there wasn't oil all over the engine, even though we were losing about 4 litres an hour by the end.

The cylinder itself looked "glazed", according to Phil, ie almost too smooth. But he couldn't see any obvious problems, although it was too early to tell without cleaning up the cylinder. We were finished by about mid-day.

Mum came out to provide refreshments, which was very appreciated. Then we faced the two-hour drive back to Perth. Luckily, there was cricket on the radio.

06 January 2005

Glen Caple, the Chief Engineer from the Royal Aero Club, rang me to tell me that the cylinder was no good. There was a big crack along the length of the bore. This was just about worse case, because it means I need a full cylinder replacement. Actually, it could be worse, if there's anything wrong with any other cylinders.

I've gone for a second-hand replacement cylinder. Apparently my cylinders have been bored twice, so they're up to full size. Glen said if I got a new cylinder, I'd need a smaller piston. But I've gone for a second-hand one, bored to the same size, which will be about half the price.

This is all quite new to me, so I was discussing engine overhauls with Glen for a while. He told me that at the Aero club, they only rebore cylinders once, whereas mine have been done twice. And they are right on the max size limits. If the Aero club had done the last overhaul, they would have replaced the cylinders. He won't be surprised if other cylinders don't make it to the full engine life. This sounded alarming to me, but he said they will be able to catch it at the hundred hourly inspections.

I decided that if another cylinder goes, rather than replace it with another second-hand, I'll bite the bullet and get four new cylinders. Then it will be time to go to 160 hp.

12 January 2005

The new cylinder is ready. We've booked 19th January to go to Narrogin and fit it. My maintenance release expires on the 21st, so I've got two days to get back to Jandakot, otherwise I'll be stranded in Narrogin. Hopefully weather is great, and no other issues with the aircraft.

Finishing the Ferry Flight (Finally)

19 Jan 2006

The mechanics (Phil and Hilbur [sp?] drove down to Narrogin today. It takes two of them to re-fit a new cylinder. I could have squeezed into the ute with them (although it would have been fairly intimate, but luckily my Mum happened to be in Perth the day before for a dentist appointment, and could give me a lift. I didn't want to bring my own car down, because I'd have to leave it in Narrogin when I flew back.

The arrangement was that they'd SMS me when they had about an hour to go, so we could drive in. It was a beautiful day, some morning cloud but forecast to lift by mid-morning, and not return until late evening.

All morning I was a bit edgy - more nervous than I thought I'd be. I was nervous about the engine - I didn't want any more problems after today. Also, I was nervous about flying. Today would be the first time I flew without Simon sitting beside me. It felt a little bit like a first solo! I did some adding up and calculated that I'd only ever done seven landings in the Musketeer, and it was 60 days since I'd flown her. Yes, I was nervous.

It was around 12:30 when we finally got the SMS from Phil - they only had a half-hour to go. We were looking at the new house my parents are building on the farm, and we drove to the airstrip direct. Mum & I took Mum's car, while my dad took the ute with the dog in the back.

Apparently, there were no unusual problems getting the new cylinder on. A bit of awkwardness with the inter-cylinder baffle again, but everything went relatively well. They had ground-run Squibby for a good length of time, and everything seemed OK, but they needed some flight testing.

Phil had brought down a charger in case the battery was dead, but it started no problems, so it looks like I've got a good battery at the moment. They did a number of useful things to Squibby. Firstly, they completely replaced all 8 spark plugs. They also pumped up the tyres, which had been getting flat. They added a few more screws to hold the cowling on, and put a missing bracket or two back inside the front section. Another thing they did was reduce my idle setting. Apparently it was idling high, more like 900rpm than 5-600rpm. They were saying this would have been giving me some float on landing, since you've still effectively got some power on during the hold-off. They advised me to run at around 2400 rpm, and said that doing this for an hour would help to bed the rings in. Also, they had drained all my existing oil out, and put in new, non-detergent oil. Apparently I need to use this oil for a number of hours while my pistons, rings and bores all get used to each other.

I decided to put some fuel in, because I was planning to fly for a couple of hours by the time I got to Jandakot. I decided to put 70 litres in each. At 38 litres per hour, this would give me almost three hours flying plus the 45 minute reserve. The plan was to circle overhead of Narrogin for up to an hour, then land, so the guys could check my oil consumption. Also, I'd be directly overhead an airstrip, in case there was any unexpected problem. Once they OK'd it, I'd return to Jandakot.

I took ages to get in, get comfortable, fire up the engine, and do my preflights. I copied Hilbur's starting technique of starting on lean, and going to full-rich when it started to kick, and it worked fine. I was a bit worried, since in the past I'd often needed Simon to start the engine for me, because I didn't have the knack. While idling on the ground I was worried about the oil pressure. It was only at the bottom of the green, not at the top where I'm used to it. I nearly shut down to speak to the mechanics, but decided to continue with the run-ups. Then when I revved up to 2000 rpm for the mag check, I noticed with relief that the oil pressure shot up to maximum. Everything looked OK.

Take of was interesting. I did all my departure calls, and all indications were that I was the only aircraft in the circuit. The wind was a diagonal direction meaning I could use either the paved or the gravel, so I elected to use the paved runway 10. This meant taxiing half a kilometre up the pavement, before turning around to takeoff. I smoothly applied full power, and started my takeoff run. As I was building speed, probably around 40 knots, I noticed a Cessna ahead and to my left, which was obviously on short-final for the gravel 18. I immediately cut power and applied brakes, as he drifted in across my nose, about 500 metres ahead, for landing. Shortly behind him was another Cessna, doing the same thing. I've never seen or done anything like this before - I was quite surprised.

I stopped well short of the runway intersection, and paused to think. I realised I was on the area frequency (125.4), instead of the CTAF frequency (134.0). That's why we hadn't heard each other. I had taken the silence for evidence that I was on my own, rather than being on the wrong frequency. Switching to CTAF, I immediately heard them. Now they had touched down (both of them did a touch-and-go), I looked at the windsock and it was definitely favouring 10, so I announced my intention to backtrack on 10 again for takeoff. Then one of the cessna pilots, advised me to use the same runway they had used (18), which I agreed to do. So they must have thought I was a crazy man - I would have in their place.

Anyway, it reminds me the importance of keeping a good look outside the window - you can't always rely on radio for separation, in the end you are responsible for see-and-avoid.

Finally, after running on the ground for around 15 mins, I took off. Even on my own, the musketeer doesn't exactly sproing into the air. I was expecting it to climb a lot faster without a passenger, and with only a moderate fuel load. But climbing was pretty mild, maybe 500 fpm maximum. So it took a while to get up to 4500 ft. There was not a cloud in the sky, and visibility was excellent. I levelled off and flew big circles for about 45 minutes.

I actually got a bit bored. There were no other aircraft in this period. I knew my folks were on the ground, having afternoon tea with the mechanics. I could see Narrogin township about 7 nautical miles away. I would have liked to fly over it and have a good look, but decided I should stick to my plan of staying over the strip. I also would have liked to fly south over our farm, but again, decided not to. I was checking the oil pressure every minute for the whole flight, but it remained faithfully at the top of green. Actually, the main thing I felt was loneliness. I guess because I was just circling around, with nobody to talk to. I've done a lot of my flying with someone sitting beside me.

This is the first aircraft I've flown which doesn't have a both fuel tank setting. So I needed to consider my fuel use. I decided to do this hour on the left tank, then the Jandakot leg on the right tank.

Narrogin township about 7 nm to the East. Great visibility beyond - it was a very clear day.

Circling over the airstrip. After a while I got a bit bored with flying circles.

A beautiful sight, an oil pressure gauge at the top of the green.

Soon enough, I was coming in for landing. Descending into the circuit, I had just joined downwind for 10, when I heard another cessna 10 nm out coming in. This was my first flight since the airspace rules for CTAFs changed in November last year, so it was good to hear someone using the new terminology. I flew a nice base leg, and straightened up on final. I was quite high, so put on full flap and took my power off. I didn't get the sink-like-a-stone I was expecting, it took longer than I thought to get down, and I didn't need any power, whereas I'm used to driving Squibby in a bit. But I did get down in time to level off over the piano keys. There was a slight crosswind, I did not bank my wings enough to stay on the centreline, and started to drift across the runway. But very soon I did a nice smooth touchdown, if slightly off the centreline - none of that bounce that I'd been getting across Australia. I felt elated as I taxied back to the group.

The guys measured the oil, and it had burnt very little. Checking the plugs, the new plugs in the new cylinder were clean, but the plugs into one of the other cylinders were a bit dirty. This was a bit disappointing. They plan to give that cylinder a compression test at the 100-hourly.

I was good to go. So, after saying goodbye to my folks and the great Phil & Hilbur, it was time to leave. Actually, it was lucky my folks had stayed around, since the Aero club ute had a completely flat battery, courtesy of an entire morning of loud blaring radio while they were working. So my dad was going to give them a jump-start.

The actual flight to Jandakot went according to plan. I did it at 4500 feet. The route takes you pretty much straight over the town of Wandering. I was a couple of miles to the east of track, so did a rough 1-in-60 correction to get me back on target. I forgot that at this height, even before you get to the thick forest just after Wandering, you can already see over the hills to the ocean beyond. I could see it shining. The next major landmark which I always like to see is Mt Cook. It sticks out very clearly, right next to the Albany highway, and with dead-straight high-tension powerlines cutting through the forest, and crossing over the highway. From there, you can see the coastal plain, beyond the hills.

Melbourne Centre and got an area QNH, which adjusted my altidude a bit. Soon after, I switched to Perth Rader. Very soon, I heard Perth Radar giving a traffic alert, to two aircraft approximately 10 miles east of Serpentine. I was in that position, so I listened out. The controller said there was an aircraft flying North at 3500, and another aircraft flying North-West at 4300. That aircraft sounded a lot like me, and I checked my altimeter and it was at 4300, after my QNH adjustment.

Climbing back to 4500, I looked out to my left for the other aircraft. Soon I saw it, tracking towards me, but well below, as expected. I wobbled my wings a bit to hopefully make myself more visible to him. As far as I could tell, he seemed to pass exactly under me. I bet for a second we were a single blip on the radar.

I started my descent, and was down to around 2500 when I came out onto the coastal plain. I needed to be at 1500 by the time I hit the Six South, the south-eastern approach point for Jandakot. I know there is only one other Musketeer based at Jandakot, so I felt quite proud when I first contacted Jandakot: Jandakot Tower, Musketeer Sierra Quebec Bravo, Six South, One thousand five hundred, received Lima, Inbound.

From Six South, then over Forestdale Lake, for an overfly of Jandakot. Then, wheel around to the right for a base leg onto 24R. It was relatively busy, and there were about three aircraft lining up waiting to takeoff while I was on final. I did want to do a nice landing - it wasn't my best. During the hold off I floated up a bit and gained some height. As I started to come down, I just squeezed on some power, which actually allowed me to do a gentle touchdown. So not pretty, but OK.

The hard part now was finding my parking spot. I have always flown Aero Club aircraft, where you just leave them where you found them. Now I had to find my bak in the grass somewhere. I poked around a bit and found my spot. I parked a little short of it, not clear exactly how to park, figuring I would drag Squibby into position.

After shutting down, I learnt that I can't drag Squibby around on grass. So I had to hop back in and restart, to move a few metres. Always a good look.

But now I had Squibby back to Jandakot, her new home airport. I felt very pleased as I took a final look at her, all tied up, in the beautiful afternoon sunshine.

I paused for a moment to think of Simon - I know he would have liked to get all the way to Jandakot, so I decided to send him a photo of Squibby in her new home.

Squibby at her new home, Jandakot Airport.

Royal Aero Club hangar building.

I won't fly her again until after the 100-hourly is done.