Kyle Boatright
Well Known Member
So the family and I planned to take the RV-10 to Ft Lauderdale/Pompano as its first "family trip". We departed into the cold on the Monday after Christmas.
Of course, the airplane broke on the first stop - Palatka, FL. My first AOG away from home in 30 years of flying and (obviously) the first one with the whole family in tow. What are the chances?
We'd refueled ($4.50ish fuel), the airplane started fine and then the mag check failed. The left mag was inop. In hindsight, I'd noticed a modest EGT jump in cruise about halfway along during that leg of the flight. I assume that's when the mag failed but I didn't pick up on it at the time.
We taxied back to the ramp where I pulled the top cowl and sent SWMBO and our son to find a warm place to hang out and something to eat. In the meantime, I checked to see if there was anything obviously amiss with the wiring in and around the mag. Nope.
So I prowled the airport looking for help and was eventually pointed to Warren Cilliers, who runs a maintenance shop on the field that seems to specialize in high end aerobatic aircraft, although he was doing a Waco prebuy when I interrupted him. He was kind enough to drop what he'd been doing and spend a couple of hours troubleshooting, removing, and rebuilding the mag, which had a couple of internal problems that he was able to rectify pretty quickly. We (he) reinstalled it and the RV-10, chock full of Boatright family was back on its way. I was very fortunate to find willing and able maintenance when I really needed it. It would have been a real downer for the first family trip to turn into 3 days of hanging around Palatka waiting on a mag or mag parts.
The cherry on top of the day was the rotten weather when we arrived in South Florida. The last 20 miles or so were crummy VFR with extremely variable ceilings and rain. Yuck.
There was a bright spot that evening. The folks at Sheltair in Pompano were very helpful in helping us park, unload, secure the airplane, take stuff to the rental car, etc. Excellent service there in the rain and after sunset.
We came home (Pompano, FL to Cartersville, GA) on Wednesday, non-stop with a tailwind. About 3:20 from engine start to being parked in front of the hangar. Much less stressful than being AOG halfway to the destination.
Of course, the airplane broke on the first stop - Palatka, FL. My first AOG away from home in 30 years of flying and (obviously) the first one with the whole family in tow. What are the chances?
We'd refueled ($4.50ish fuel), the airplane started fine and then the mag check failed. The left mag was inop. In hindsight, I'd noticed a modest EGT jump in cruise about halfway along during that leg of the flight. I assume that's when the mag failed but I didn't pick up on it at the time.
We taxied back to the ramp where I pulled the top cowl and sent SWMBO and our son to find a warm place to hang out and something to eat. In the meantime, I checked to see if there was anything obviously amiss with the wiring in and around the mag. Nope.
So I prowled the airport looking for help and was eventually pointed to Warren Cilliers, who runs a maintenance shop on the field that seems to specialize in high end aerobatic aircraft, although he was doing a Waco prebuy when I interrupted him. He was kind enough to drop what he'd been doing and spend a couple of hours troubleshooting, removing, and rebuilding the mag, which had a couple of internal problems that he was able to rectify pretty quickly. We (he) reinstalled it and the RV-10, chock full of Boatright family was back on its way. I was very fortunate to find willing and able maintenance when I really needed it. It would have been a real downer for the first family trip to turn into 3 days of hanging around Palatka waiting on a mag or mag parts.
The cherry on top of the day was the rotten weather when we arrived in South Florida. The last 20 miles or so were crummy VFR with extremely variable ceilings and rain. Yuck.
There was a bright spot that evening. The folks at Sheltair in Pompano were very helpful in helping us park, unload, secure the airplane, take stuff to the rental car, etc. Excellent service there in the rain and after sunset.
We came home (Pompano, FL to Cartersville, GA) on Wednesday, non-stop with a tailwind. About 3:20 from engine start to being parked in front of the hangar. Much less stressful than being AOG halfway to the destination.
