My most favorite FV-12 maintenance / annual tasks, in no particular order. I just finished my annual, time to rant. Don’t get excited my more uptight colleagues, tongue-in-cheek. Although, I dare one of you to say you actually enjoy these.
• Installing / reinstalling exhaust system springs.
• Anything gascolator; checking the bowl, getting the bowl off, safety wiring the screws….geez
• Anything that requires me to lean into the baggage compartment, especially to peer into the tail cone for any reason.
• Removing the seat pan, which requires loosening the tension barrels, removing an obscene number of screws, tensioning the barrels, …and , wait for it… leaning into the tail cone to measure the tension.
• Balancing the carbs. Although I’m getting pretty good at it.
• Anything that requires removing the avionics bay cover.
• Installing / removing wheel pants, …wheel pants… unnecessary and cosmetic appendages.
• Phillips head screws. Just curious, why can’t ALL Phillips head screws be replaced with Torx?
• Setting the prop pitch. OMG. Why can’t we have a one-piece non-adjustable prop set at 71.4 degrees…or what ever the **** the number is.
OK…I feel better now.
Before anyone mentions that the 12i fixed some of these...don't go there. I had just mated my fuselage to the tail cone when the 12i was announced at Oshkosh.
• Installing / reinstalling exhaust system springs.
• Anything gascolator; checking the bowl, getting the bowl off, safety wiring the screws….geez
• Anything that requires me to lean into the baggage compartment, especially to peer into the tail cone for any reason.
• Removing the seat pan, which requires loosening the tension barrels, removing an obscene number of screws, tensioning the barrels, …and , wait for it… leaning into the tail cone to measure the tension.
• Balancing the carbs. Although I’m getting pretty good at it.
• Anything that requires removing the avionics bay cover.
• Installing / removing wheel pants, …wheel pants… unnecessary and cosmetic appendages.
• Phillips head screws. Just curious, why can’t ALL Phillips head screws be replaced with Torx?
• Setting the prop pitch. OMG. Why can’t we have a one-piece non-adjustable prop set at 71.4 degrees…or what ever the **** the number is.
OK…I feel better now.
Before anyone mentions that the 12i fixed some of these...don't go there. I had just mated my fuselage to the tail cone when the 12i was announced at Oshkosh.