J. Alexander's an Experience to Forget

I arrived early for a five thirty dinner with a party of nine. The hosting staff of J. Alexander's in Overland Park was courteous and helpful though functionally inept. They attempted to seat our party at two tables for four. They refused to push two tables together. The next suggestion was an attempt to seat nine average sized midwestern Americans at a round, half booth table designed for six. We actually tried to make it work. I was reminded of riding a city bus in Hong Kong, shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow. A third request for a suitable table arrangement finally netted us a table for eight with an extra chair off one corner. Ultimately pushing together two tables after badgering the floor manager for a third time. Drinks were delivered to us belonging to another table, ours lost in the mix. There was not an ice cube to be seen anywhere in the house. Frustrations were high by the time we ordered. Twenty seven dollars for twelve ounces of prime rib and a one cup serving of mashed potatoes. Soup or salad was a separate entree. The house salad I had was filled with fresh surprises and the highlight of the meal.  Servers quickly brought us dinners that we did not order. When the proper dinners did arrive we had been there a hour, silverware for two of our guests had to be requested. One highlight of the evening was when larger than life steak knives were delivered in addition to the steak knives we already had and one of our guests inquired " Are the steaks that tough we need these huge knives?" 

The prime rib was mediocre at best. It was compaired with that of Longhorn Steakhouse and deemed inferior in taste and quality. The atmosphere reminded me of a dimely lit version of a famous pancake house chain. No reservations, uncomfortable bench seating for awaiting guests, high end pricing and inept staff make it a place of no return for my money.

TGIF

Sweet nectar of the grains sooth my pallet as the long weekend slowly enters my reality. Toils of the daily grind slowly melt away while the sun sets on another Kansas day. A golden haired beauty prepairs gourmet cuisine over fire. The mind needs to wander, escape the earthly bounds of restricting faith. Visual aids stimulate relaxation. I am Groot.

Death of an Airplane

A plane died today. It was given its last rights and deemed unfit for further life as it was designed. This story has a moral, a lesson, and a challenge. Meet Xray, a 1962 Cessna model 172 small aircraft.

Aircraft have been mass produced since the early 20th century. The 1950's brought an explosion of economical, safe, dependable personal aircraft for the masses. These aircraft were designed and built with a 10 to 15 year life span in mind. Today there are tens of thousands of these fifty, sixty and seventy year old airplanes still flying. The reason so many of them are flying is due to the federally mandated annual inspections and stringent repair processes they go through. Every once in a while, one slips through the cracks. This is one of those sad stories with a happy ending.

I know very little of the history of this aircraft, only that over the last two years, according to the maintenance records, the only repair that was done during the annual inspections was to install a new set of spark plug wires (high tension leads).

This aircraft was purchased sight unseen, through an Internet auction house for $18,000. The engine has had a recent top half overhaul (pistons and cylinders). The aircraft has flown weekly for a few months and came into our shop for some repairs to the instrument panel. What transpired over the next three days has resulted in the death of this airplane.

The mechanic working on the panel issue noticed the windshield was cracked and working its way out of its lower cradle. The windshield had moved up far enough that daylight could be seen underneath the bottom. A new window was ordered. Work continued to the next day when a couple more serious discrepancies were found that required repair. At that point the owner decided to have us perform a full annual inspection on the aircraft.

The inspection commenced. The next two days brought scratched heads, bugged out eyes, disappointment, and utter disgust for the disregard for human life, regulations and federal laws that apply to aircraft safety.

The certified mechanics that had been taking care of this aircraft before it got to us had performed a lack of maintenance, in my mind, bordering on criminal. The following is a short summation of a list of over 40 items that require maintenance before this aircraft should be returned to service:

• ·      Windshield cracked
• ·      Windshield improperly installed
• ·      Aft rudder and elevator bulkhead mount broken (cast piece)
• ·      Left wing is 5 inches higher than the right when aircraft is level
• ·      Fuel Selector Valve leaks in the Off position
• ·      Elevator up and down stop bolts set to maximum deflection, travel is way out  of limits per maintenance manual
• ·      All control surface cables rusted
• ·      All elevator and rudder hinge bolts rusted
• ·      All elevator and rudder hinge bushings frozen
• ·      Elevator trim eyebolt frozen
• ·      Rudder and Elevator mount bolts severely corroded
• ·      Elevator trim cable installed with two twists between pulleys
• ·      Elevator cable pulley nut held on my one thread
• ·      Flap cable pulleys under floor miss aligned and rubbing outside on rib
• ·      Engine Mount bolts installed backwards
• ·      Oil filter adapter hand tight, safety wire holding it in place
• ·      Number six intake leaking at gasket
• ·      Number six intake has hole chaffed in it from exhaust clamp
• ·      Baffling not installed correctly between #3 and #5 cylinders
• ·      Intake pipe seal clamps on #3 cylinder loose, slid down
• ·      Engine cowl has severe exfoliating corrosion, quarter inch hole in side 
• ·      Eight Axle/Brake Caliper mounting bolts severely corroded
• ·      All eight flap roller bearings worn and grooved
• ·      Both brake master cylinders leaking profusely
• ·      Clock electrical wire chaffing on the battery box
• ·      Unfilled holes in the firewall
• ·      Vacuum filters with no clamps and unsecured
• ·      Oil hose permeating oil through the sides of itself
• ·      Yoke bushings allow six inches of play in the yoke at full aft position
• ·      Second oil temperature instrument inoperative, not labeled as such
• ·      Wing and tail navigation lights, only one good bulb.
• ·      Landing and taxi lights inoperative
• ·      Old birds next inside the elevator and bottom of tail pod
• ·      Battery tested out at 38% capacity
• ·      One main tire has six inch crack in sidewall

  

A few items on this list do not require repair to deem this aircraft airworthy. Due diligence with periodic maintenance would have caught many of these items before they became unserviceable. 

The moral, lesson, and challenge is this; do not buy an aircraft sight unseen. The lesson is, do your own due diligence and if it doesn’t look right, do something about it. The challenge is, and its is a hard one, being an aircraft mechanic in the field we are often asked to look the other way by pilots, owners and those looking out for them. Your certificate is worth more than any job on the planet; do not sell your signature for a few extra dollars so someone can shortcut maintenance.

This is a sever case of short cutting maintenance. Pilots, it is ok to question the maintenance practices. The happy ending?  No human lost their life this time.

Textbook Returns

A long haired, unshaven white guy in a pink shirt, seemingly overwhelmed and trying to go home, paused to hear my plea. I had arrived a full thirty minutes after the last transaction of the day to return my rental books. A student rushed in to find out what time they opened, he was leaving town and desperately wanted to sell his books. "The tills are closed, cash is gone" came from behind the half open window, "we open at nine." "Rental returns I can do" Mr. Pink Shirt said as he motioned me forward, the rental stickers ever blaring from my textbooks. I felt lucky as I watched two more students head for the closed window as I pulled out of the parking lot.

A New Chapter

It was productive for a Friday. My position as an aircraft mechanic is almost a year old and I am quite comfortable at task. A final exam tomorrow will bring the scholastic part of this recent adventure to an end. Five years have been tentatively scheduled to pass before the next great adventure of my life. Events shall meld to a point in time where leaving full time employment behind will be a viable reality. They say a lot can be said in six sentences, we shall see.

And Three Years Later.....

We took a little trip of about 180 miles so I could take a little walk and pick up a piece of paper. Saturday the 9th I walked across the stage at commencement and picked up my Associate of Applied Science in Aviation Maintenance degree from Kansas State University - Salina.

I headed out first thing Friday morning to make a 1pm commencement practice. My mom went with us as it was Mothers Day weekend and her birthday. I am the first of her kids to earn a degree. It was great to be able to bring her along. Reservations were made at the KOA in Salina, Kansas. I booked a deluxe cabin for my mom and a 30amp site for our truck camper. Debbie joined me late Friday night after work.

The campground has been continuously managed for over 50 years. I lived there for two years in our fifth wheel camper while I attended school. The owners are wonderful, easy to get along with and will do anything to make your stay enjoyable. It is at exit 252 on I-70. I would highly recommend it if you are passing through.

 

 Across the road from the KOA is the Central Kansas Flywheels Museum. It is worth a visit. This is a video I made during an open house event they had while I was staying there. If you like antiques and old tractors and such it has some neat rare WORKING steam equipment.

I spent two years in taking classes, then finished my requirements online over the last two semesters. We had fun seeing old friends and catching up with my professors. The fifth wheel got sold when I moved back to Olathe. We just had no where to store it and no plans for any immediate traveling. We just picked up this truck camper last month. We really missed have our get away home. We have lots more adventures planned. Friend us and check back in to see what we are up to. Here's a hint... we leave for Florida in about 6 weeks for a two week trip.