I got up the morning after twin flight and headed to the airport to check on the blown out tire. One of the partners met me there and he got started right away removing the wheel fairings so we could get to the tire. While we were working on that, Larry the mechanic called to let us know he was on the way, and suggested we go ahead and take off the other wheel fairing, and we would just fly the airplane to Ava without them on once the wheel was repaired.
We got the fairings off and spent some time cleaning them up, and cleaning the leading edge of the wings, and anything else that could be wiped down without interfering with something Larry might need to see. For example, there was some witness to oil exiting the cowling at the air inlet that we had not seen before. I didn’t want to clean that so Larry could see it for himself.
My father-in-law showed up shortly after that and we all helped Larry with the wheel, and a few other locals stopped by to check on us. After the airplane was airworthy, I
The flight was easy, and the Fall colors were starting to pop. I got to Ava well before the others, so I just hung out and waited. I should have done more flying.
We got started working on the plane, assisting Larry with compression checks while the engine was warm. Larry got started changing the oil and pulling plugs while my Father-in-Law and I got started removing all of the exterior inspection panels.
Once the exterior inspection panels were done, we got started removing the seats and pulling up the floor carpet. The floor carpet was pretty dirty, so we were talking about options to clean it without removing it, when my F-i-L decided to go get some cleaner and grab lunch. While he was away, Larry was inspecting the floor panels and noticed an antenna wire that was sitting on a bell crank. Looking at it, we discovered it was from the ADF radio, which I badly wanted to remove. We quickly decided we would go ahead and remove the seat belts, allowing us to get to the carpet out, and get access to the ADF antenna cable to remove it. We got the ADF out, and pulled all the wire out back to the tailcone, and removed the antenna. It was a big job, but went much easier with extra hands, and we got it out pretty quick.
We did a few other small tasks, but it was getting later in the day, and my F-i-L had nearly a two hour drive home. We thanked Larry for letting us participate, and headed for the house.
The airplane is scheduled for a pitot/static inspection on Saturday, so it will be there until Saturday at least. Larry has some work cut out for him working on the oil leaks, and we will need to get the carpet and the new sump heater back to him before the airplane can be returned to service.
