Tiger in for Annual

Anthony

Anthony

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Anthony
The inspection portion of my annual is alomst complete and for the most part here's what we found:

#2 Cylinder exhaust stack cracked
Ailerons, Flaps and Rudder have excessive play
Plane is out of rig
Elevator trim parts are worn and need to be replaced

In general all control services need to be shimmed, have bearings replaced and the plane totally re-rigged. The last two annual I have asked about rigging and control surface movement but was told by two different shops that they were fine. Looks like the plane got a lot worse in one year. :dunno:

The good news is that I'll get the plane to fly right and maybe pick up a few knots cruise.
 
Anthony sounds as if it is at least less expensive than last year. I know folks that have had their plane re rigged and they describe the control imputs afterward like flying a sports car in that it is tight and crisp in the turns, climbs etc.

How long will it be down? I always thought spring and summer annuals can have the potential for killing a good part of the flying season at least here in the Philly area. have you ever thought of moving your annual back one month each year so that in a few years you get it in say January or Feb. Then if they find something that takes a few weeks it won't detract so much from flying time. Is that even practical?
 
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AdamZ said:
Anthony sounds as if it is at least less expensive than last year. I know folks that have had their plane re rigged and they describe the control imputs afterward like flying a sports car in that it is tight and crisp in the turns, climbs etc.
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Adam, keep your fingers crossed. My Tiger is the only Tiger I have ever flown! Strange but true. I have a feeling, with all the slop we found in the rigging and control surfaces your prediction will be true. The mech agrees.

How long will it be down? I always thought spring and summer annuals can have the potential for killing a good part of the flying season at least here in the Philly area. have you ever thought of moving your annual back one month each year so that in a few years you get it in say January or Feb. Then if they find something that takes a few weeks it won't detract so much from flying time. Is that even practical?
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I go with the 13 month annual plan so it moves ahead one month each year. It will only be down for another week, most likey. Not that big of a deal. I'm flying someone 160 HP Cheetah to a fly-in today. The other Grumman guys are pitying me. :)
 
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Anthony, same shop as last year? Erie wasn't it?

Where you flying? Looks like the weather is better than forecast. It's beautiful in Fort Collins right now. I can't go out today but tomorrow I'm meeting Bryant Stewart, from the AOPA board, at Jeffco for a ride. He's out taking a Pilatus A&P course.
 
ejensen said:
Anthony, same shop as last year? Erie wasn't it?

Where you flying? Looks like the weather is better than forecast. It's beautiful in Fort Collins right now. I can't go out today but tomorrow I'm meeting Bryant Stewart, from the AOPA board, at Jeffco for a ride. He's out taking a Pilatus A&P course.
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No I am using Executive Air at Jeffco. I will not return to the shop in Erie as my experience and others have not been good. Evidently the Grumman savvy mechs at Erie have left that shop.

I went down to Meadow Lake (00V) to attend a AYA fly-in. I tagged along with a Cheetah owner. Interestingly, Colorado is home to two award winning Grummans from last years AYA International Convention. A Tiger out of Meadow Lake and an 160 HP AA1C Lynx out of Jeffco. They were both in attendance yesterday. Beautiful restorations and refurbishments.

We had step by step presentations by both owners on the restoration process. Really interesting stuff. The weather in Colorado Springs turned ugly late in the day, but after a little waiting we were able to launch but had to circumvent some nasty stuff around Centennial. All in all a great day.

Eric. I saw a beautiful Mooney 305 Rocket conversion there also. The paint shop, A&P and avionics guy that restored the Tiger also attended and spoke, but the Mooney guy had the same folks involved in his project so he attended as well. We got to look at his plane and it was spectacular. 305 HP and Turboed. He can get over Pikes Peak going direct out of Meadow Lake which isn't that far away as you know. Service ceiling is 25K ft, but he said it will go up to 35K ft. Wow!
 
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RotaryWingBob said:
Anthony, just curious -- is this the same IA who did it last year?
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No its not Bob. See my previous post.
 
Anthony said:
Eric. I saw a beautiful Mooney 305 Rocket conversion there also. The paint shop, A&P and avionics guy that restored the Tiger also attended and spoke, but the Mooney guy had the same folks involved in his project so he attended as well. We got to look at his plane and it was spectacular. 305 HP and Turboed. He can get over Pikes Peak going direct out of Meadow Lake which isn't that far away as you know. Service ceiling is 25K ft, but he said it will go up to 35K ft. Wow!
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There were some big TS yesterday PM.

Did the Rocket have TKS? Either way it is a remarkable airplane. Even has a feathering prop, I think to extend glide after an engine out. Love to see a full restoration.

Off to the airport.
 
ejensen said:
There were some big TS yesterday PM.

Did the Rocket have TKS? Either way it is a remarkable airplane. Even has a feathering prop, I think to extend glide after an engine out. Love to see a full restoration.
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I didn't see TKS, but maybe I missed it. The plane is a 1979, 231 that the guy had restored and converted to the 305 Rocket. Leather interior with the little Mooney symbols on each seat's headrest, Garmin 530, plus a lot of other goodies. Another plane whose panel is probably worth more than my entire airplane. No expense was spared.
 
Ugh, what a pain in the arse. Never happens to Sundowners....;)

Good luck getting back in the air soon. Sounds like you're bird'll fly a lot better when it's all said and done.
 
Anthony said:
The inspection portion of my annual is alomst complete and for the most part here's what we found:

#2 Cylinder exhaust stack cracked
Ailerons, Flaps and Rudder have excessive play
Plane is out of rig
Elevator trim parts are worn and need to be replaced

In general all control services need to be shimmed, have bearings replaced and the plane totally re-rigged. The last two annual I have asked about rigging and control surface movement but was told by two different shops that they were fine. Looks like the plane got a lot worse in one year. :dunno:

The good news is that I'll get the plane to fly right and maybe pick up a few knots cruise.
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Doesn't sound too bad so far. Are you going to participate at all in the annual? It's fun, really it is. Wanna see my scars from the last one?
 
Sounds like you've been flying your plane -- all the gripes you list are typical of the wear and tear of use.
 
NC Pilot said:
Doesn't sound too bad so far. Are you going to participate at all in the annual? It's fun, really it is. Wanna see my scars from the last one?
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I would love to be there physically, but have to "participate" remotely due to my travel schedule for work.
 
Ron Levy said:
Sounds like you've been flying your plane -- all the gripes you list are typical of the wear and tear of use.
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Yes, I've put over 500 hours on it in the last four years. I also have to remember its pushing 30 years old.
 
Over the years I have to perform some sort of rigging on every aircraft I inspected. The rigger is required to be checked every year for a good reason during the annual inspection. I have cautioned some owners to be very careful on take off as the aircraft will respond differently after the rigging changes.

If your aircraft will not fly straight its out of rig. If you take your hands off the controls and the aircraft banks its out of rig. The checks don’t take long or does the rigging procedure. Aircraft out of rig burn more fuel so it makes since to have it checked and fixed at each annual.

Just one man’s opinion.

Stache
 
Stache said:
If your aircraft will not fly straight its out of rig. If you take your hands off the controls and the aircraft banks its out of rig.
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That's not all necessarily true. Misset trim tabs and unbalanced fuel can cause both of the above to happen, too. You can often tell whether it's tabs or rigging by looking at the ailerons. If they're even on the ground with the yoke centered, but go off center in flight with hands off, it's probably trim tabs. Just make sure you have a laterally balanced load (even solo pilot versus two up front can affect this in a side-by-side plane) when you check in flight. For rudder, if on the ground (with the nosewheel centered if it's interconnected) the rudder is off center, it's probably rigging. If it's centered on the ground but the ball isn't centered in cruise with feet on the floor and the ailerons even, it's probably the trim tab.

That said, the AYA does rig checks with the templates at every annual convention -- usually 80-100 planes every year. We have never found a plane with all control surfaces (ailerons, rudder, flaps, elevator, and elevator trim tab) within book rigging tolerances, including planes that had been properly checked and adjusted within the last year. That's why an annual rig check is, as Stache says, so important.
 
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Stache said:
If your aircraft will not fly straight its out of rig. If you take your hands off the controls and the aircraft banks its out of rig.
Just one man’s opinion.

Stache
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My plane will bank either left or right depending on fuel load or souls on board and where said souls are located. I have had many flights where it banked left for a while, then right, then left again.
 
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