Friday, October 12, 2007

Spark Plug rotation

Owner maintenance rules permit owners to remove, clean and reinstall spark plugs. Plugs are expensive at $25+ each, and they need to be treated with care. They also should be rotated in their firing positions to prevent eroding the electrodes in an irregular fashion.
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You need to exchange the # 1 cylinder plug with the # 4 cylinder plug and the # 2 with the # 3 if you want to make sure of the change in polarity. It is also a good idea to exchange positions - top to bottom - to ensure that a minimum of lead fouling accumulates.

Also, idle at less than 1200 RPM tends to lower the plug's nose temperature below 900 F causing the fuel's lead scavenging agents to be ineffective in preventing lead fouling. Remember, idle mixtures are overly rich anyway, adding to the problem of lead-fouling.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

What will VLJ's change?

Other than General Aviation aircraft appearing in terminal areas, airlines have not worried much about the airspace GA aircraft demand.

Now that VLJs are a growing reality, will airlines change the rules by which we have access to the airways? Will they demand that VLJs pay the same user fees as large airliners, using the argument that the same piece of sky has to be set aside for a VLJ as for a 737? Or will the service providers have a pay scale that only airlines can afford? Will VLJs be required to operate at inefficient altitudes? Will service providers change the "first call, first served" procedures for air traffic control where size will matter?

How will we know if the rules are going to be changed?