The plane: Never. Previous owner for skimping on maintenance: Sometimes. Weather (including turbulences): All the time.
Whenever I curse at the DPE, I tell them I was cursing at the plane. This is less effective during the oral exam.
never swore at the plane. Now, I admit to some unchristian thoughts when I was replacing the p-lead in my cherokee 140... the thoughts were directed at the A&P who thought it was a good idea to replace it "while we were at it" ("it" being everything firewall forward was repaired, overhauled, or replaced with new). I was the one stuck under the instrument panel.
Never be mean to your airplane. Never swear at it. It can hear you. It understands what you’re saying. Your life depends on its good will. Be nice to your plane. Buy it nice things. Take good care of it. It will take good care of you. That was a really good mushroom.
Every single freakin time I have to work on it! I have no idea why people choose to be aircraft mechanics. Every little thing that seems so simple, is a royal PITA. I built my plane so I'm stuck working on it. No matter how "easy" the task is, I end up swearing sooner or later. I have learned to respect A&Ps. I also get a kick when I hear pilots complaining how many hours their A&P took to do something. I can't help but wonder if they really know all the painfully slow steps it takes to get things done on an aircraft. Not to mention trying to get parts, the right screw, the right washer, and on and on.
Never. Not one time. Never ever. Nope. Never cursed because the AP meandered a bit or didn't anticipate a turn like it was supposed to. Never... nope. Never cursed because the alternator quit... nope. Never once cursed because the annual kicked over expensive items that had to be fixed. No. No way. Never cursed because the passenger seatbelt end somehow got stuck outside the door and flapped around making a terrible noise. Nope never. Didn't once curse when refueling and seeing the total recently. Never. Not one time did I swear when I couldn't hot start the thing once in front of like 32 people at an airport restaurant outdoor seating area.... nope. Didn't curse. Never ever did that.
I have no idea either. I could have made more money working on cars. People need their cars, so they willingly fork over big bucks for new brakes but some will whine about every buck charged for work on their airplane, which they don't need. Still. I just replaced the alternator in my Hyundai. The car has about 240,000 km on it, and knowing what happens to alternators, eventually, I had pulled it to check the brushes. 3/4 gone, at least. Parts? Ha. Good luck. New alternator. But it appears that they took an alternator and built the car around it. I had to pull the radiator fan assembly, drain some antifreeze and remove a hose, take off the right front wheel and the mud shield inside the fender, and even then getting it out was a puzzle. I miss my old trucks where I could climb in beside the engine and work on it. Now everything is buried under cables and hoses and plastic intake piping, and pretty cosmetic panels designed solely to impress the buyer. Most aircraft stuff is easier, and it sure is cleaner, but there are some that are stinkers. The luminescent panel lighting powerpack in the P210 is inside the boot cowl, ahead of the panel, buried under fiberglass insulation, and nearly impossible to get at. They obviously took that component, stuck it in a jig, and built the airplane around it. In some 185s (with the seaplane engine mount) you have to take the starter off to get the oil filter out. And just try installing new battery cables in a Cardinal. Its underfloor space is about two inches deep, and you can't get your hand and arm in there and out again without leaving some skin and hair and blood behind. Cessna had to have stuck the cabling in there before they riveted the floor down.
No cursing at my plane, but I did utter some choice words when I dropped the aircraft battery through the bottom fuselage fabric while removing it one day...
Just came back from a first in-person company meeting.. there was a swear jar.. a tradition. I would just put $20.00 in at the start. I was actually out spent by one of our new managers - for once second place is feeling pretty good.
Only if it is a certified aircraft. Only had one and never again. Building and flying experimental aircraft where I can put things where they’re accessible and relatively cheap compared to yellow tagged stuff (avionics being a notable exception) as well as signing my own annual (inspection) is much less financially painful. OTOH, when I screw something up in construction or repair, I curse my stupidity and occasionally the plane via guilt by association but it always forgives me because it only has a distant relationship with the FAA and no ability to have a closer one. And if a rental I’m flying when I need or want for some strange reason like longer range and/or payload, it might suffer some malady, my only effort is to hit the FBO number on my phone and let them know. Cheers
Never. If there's a mechanical problem, I just call the maintenance officer in the club for that particular airplane.
Having grown up milking cows twice a day I was accustomed to talking all the time. When you talk to cows they know where you are and you do not surprise them and get kicked. So when I started messing with planes I always talked to them. Kinda build up a relationship. About 50 years ago when I took the flight test for my private ticket, The DPE commented how he really liked the way I talked to the airplane, trying to coax her into doing what I was trying to get her to do. To this day I still talk to my plane, I may say "slow down girl" as I reduce the manifold pressure to get down to gear speed. And believe it or not she talks back to me, sometimes via the engine monitor or other times I just know that she is not happy. The pic is when we got back from a 75 flight hour trip to Alaska.
I have been a mechanic for my own business for 30 years. So I am mostly self trained. I have never been one to throw wrenches or to cuss. I have gone home and came back the next day and the solution became clearer over night. Very rewarding doing it yourself. I find my 172 to be a very simple airplane and very enjoyable to work on. No need to cuss if you enjoy what you're doing.
