125 Hour Service

This is a link to our form we are using to do our 125 hour service with.

N162FA_125_Hour_Maintenance_Form

We put the form on another page so we could print it on the fly without all the other pictures and data.

Re-saftywiring the radiator petcock
&
Replaced ballance of overflow hose because it had discolored

Redid the safty wire on the alternator bracket.

 Check of the engine cooling system petcock valve safty wiring

yeah 3 pictures of it!

This is the thing that brought Bill Orth and I down in a full down engine out autorotation on my second hour of flight training so it's a pretty big deal to me lol

Engine Oil 3/6/06

Every now and then theres a recall on engine oil
so we've learned to record the batch numbers and other information on the case it comes in.

Throttle linkage inspection

The red stuff you see in the pic is from the filter oil that runs down after you do the cleaning process.

Our ELT Unit.

We got to do some cleanup work on it

It and it's mounting bracket had corosion along the bottom from the battery acid that purged it's self out of the battery for some unknown reason.

While we were at it we took it apart and installed 6 new batterys
and then give it a test run to make sure it was working.

3/11/06

We replaced the batteries in our ELT unit for the 2nd time since we put it into service.

It was still working fine but when we took the unit apart for inspection of the battery voltage
and we found that 3 of them were begining to leak acid which we all know isn't a good thing.

Specifications call for 6 Duracell MN1300 alkaline D batteries to be replaced before the date on the batteries themselves.

Ameri-King however strongly recommends that the batteries be replaced on a yearly basis.

Another thing about the batteries

is that all of them must have the same expiration date on them.  For example in our case today we purchased 1 pack that had two batteries in it and another that had 4 batteries in it.  Donna actually had to look at each package to make sure that she bought ones that all expired on the same date.

Our ship also has an ELT remote unit that has a battery that
must be replaced every 8 years.

Specifications on it call for a Duracell DL1/3NB 3 volt lithium battery.

Testing this unit actually involves setting it off

and checking the two frequencies that it broadcasts out on to make sure the unit is actually sending out a signal.

Ameri-King says this unit should be tested every 3 months. This can only be done during the first 5 minutes of each hour and for no longer than 1.5 seconds at a time.

We also had to cleanup the Battery tray and the floor of the tub.

We mixed baking soda and water and used to nutruealize the acid.  After soaking up that mess with paper towels we used a glass cleaner product we had on hand to finish it up.

March 11th 2006

Our 3rd battery

We had to install another battery after finding that it's 3rd cell was almost dry from what I think is having the charger hooked up to it to long combined with the fact that I had most likely over filled it with electrolite when it was first put into service in May of 2004.  We had some considerable physical down time this year and for the most part of the past several months we left the charger hooked up for weeks at a time.  We did start having trouble starting the ship but we just wrote it off attributing it to the extreme cold weather we were attempting to operate in.

This time around I noticed that the instructions for filling the battery with electrolite had conflicting information so I made a call to the Gill Battery tech support.  In the end I learned that I was misinterpreting the information and had more than likely caused the problem to occur.

Broken down in terms I could understand, here's how it's all supposed to be done and maintained.

This is a very important step in the process
because the electrolite actually expands when it gets warm and if it's filled to high it will expand during charging to the point where it will purge itself from the battery.  Having it warm and just at the bottom of the seperator rings puts the electrolite at its highest level and will assure a large enough air pocket at the top of the battery that will avoid this problem.

It shouldn't be putting out more than 13.2 volts.
This is done simply by hooking the charger to the battery and placing a volt meter across the terminals and reading the voltage.
If it does it will cause the electrolite to produce oxygen and hydrogen gas to the point
that it will exceed that air gap we left in the battery and cause the acid to purge out.

March 13th 06

We've had an anomaly with the size of the new battery.

For some reason it's to big.

It's just a touch, 3/32 of an inch or less but that that means at least in our ship that it won't properly fit the mounting bracket.

The day before I bent out (flared) both lower brackets as far as they would allow but it still had to be pried into the mount and even at that it won't sit down far enough in the brackets.
Next I went over the bottom sides of the battery with a file along the bottom edges and that didn't help either.

What I think is going to come of it is after awhile the brackets will rub through the case and cause us to have a catastrophic battery failure.  In a ship with a mag system that isn't such a big deal but in a RotorWay once it gets below 10.some or so volts (I can't remember the exact figure off hand) the FADEC units shut down and the spark plugs will cease to fire which pretty much means we're coming out of the air.

At any rate, with our kind of luck, we're not the kind of folks that purposely set ourselves up for a wreck
so we are trying to get a new battery that fits properly from Gill Battery.  I spoke with them on the phone on this day and they told me they had never had this problem before and that they would help us solve the problem one way or another.  The fellows first idea was to drain the acid out of the battery and ship it back to them but I wasn't to keen on that idea because if there was a leak from the package and a hazmat situation arised from it I'd be responsible.  I simply told him that for the hundred and some dollars involved here that it would be better for me to just eat the price of the battery rather than take on such a liability and he agreed.  On a second note the call ended with the fellow saying he'd get back to me as soon as he could on the issue.

 
Mean while I got to thinking that when we put the battery in the ship it was fresh off the battery charger and just maybe because it was still pretty warm that the case was swollen a bit from the heat of the electrolite.

I took the ELT unit back off along with the rest of the brackets but it still didn't fit properly nor could it be pressed down into it.

At this point well just have to wait and see what the folks at Gill will do to resolve it.

Our collective cables are getting a notch rubed in them

I added this plastic wire tie to the mix, well keep an eye on it and see how that works out.

Checking the Fleetguard Antifreeze

Reading	Levels	Outcome	Outcome
A	Freeze Point =	50% Glycol	-30 degree Fahrenhight
B	Molybdate =	300 Parts Per Million	Sends us to Row 2
C	Nitrite =	1600 Parts Per Million	Sends us to Row G

Combining steps B and C gave us
a reading of 3.0 on the chart
which means we don't have to do a thing to the mixture

Random shots of our cyclic controls

We cant see them very well without removing the tub but the camera can lol.

Shots of the FADAC unit plugs.

Shots of the intercom unit.

Body Damage from an Adel Clamp

that was turned out toward the frame to far. It made a small outward dimple in the fiberglass which is super hard to see in this pictures.

Pause