Please join me in congratulating the newest pilot in the world -- one Private Pilot Todd S., who earned his wings yesterday in Cessna 739 with DPE Tom Hamm!
Way to go, Todd!!
April is always checkride month around here, and we have no less than 7 more scheduled in the next 4 weeks. As you may or may not know, a checkride is the only time we will ask you to change a booking -- it is tough to align aircraft, instructors, and the busy FAA examiners, and we sometimes need to shuffle lessons around to accomodate everything. Rest assured that when it is time for your checkride, we will be able to "make things happen" also! We appreciate your understanding with this policy!
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The bugs are awakening. Every flight may result in a yucky leading edge and cowling -- please let the line know, we will work hard to keep things from getting out of hand with a quick application of a soapy sponge..
(gross)
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Cessna 25R has rejoined us at the home court. We will be putting the finishing touches on her early next week. We are literally one FAA inspection away from her return to service.
Some other updates while I'm here:
Cessna 630 is wrapping up a rather extensive annual, and we expect her return today or tomorrow.
Cessna 68U is cruising. She will be going down in appx 6-8 weeks for an engine swap, with downtime appx 2-3 days. This will coincide with a 100hr inspection, so added downtime should be minimal.
Cessna 739 completed her Annual and is humming along.
Cessna 17J is not bothering anyone.
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A word about starting 17J... and other fuel-injected Cessnas...
As many of you know, Cessna Aircraft are made by hand in Wichita, Kansas (technically Independence, KS since 1997) -- and for those unaware, Kansas is a mystical place filled with corn... and the Cessna aircraft factory, and which enjoys frozen snowy winters AND blistering hot summers.
I mention this because the start procedure for 17J is designed to work even in the frozen -10F Kansas winter. That's fine for them, but for those of us who live where shovelling coconut slurpee off of our cars every morning is not done -- it's overkill.
Specifically, if you omit the "boost pump" priming step from your start procedure altogether, or if it's a crisp early morning, you limit it to ~1 second only, you will find that 17J starts much easier. Give it a shot next time.
If you DO over-prime the engine, the trick is to advance the throttle full, mixture out, start, and then with 3 hands flailing every which way, set mags to both, mixture back in, and throttle back out. The book "flooded start" procedure will extract you from an over-boosted engine start every time.
...and they can keep their "snow"
That's all I know at the moment... suuuuuch nice weather, though! Enjoy it before the summer haze arrives!
Blue Skies,
- Mike
