john_graham
Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 45
Location: Algonquin, IL
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 Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:06 pm Post subject: Dennis Savarese maintenance training course |
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Good evening,
I respectfully submit the following in the sole
interest of safety of Yak-52 flying. Earlier this
week, I, along with Grant Farrell (fellow Yak owner)
and my A&P/IA and his assistant had the privilege of
participating in Dennis Savarese's Yak-52 maintenance
training course.
In short, I feel that any Yak-52 owner who is not
comfortable with all (and I mean ALL) of the basic
functionalities and systems (pneumatic, fuel, pitot,
static, instrumentation, oil, electric, etc.) of the
concepts listed below has a duty to themselves to
either learn these items or take Dennis' course. It
is the best deal going. The course was simply
invaluable to me.
The course starts out with a 4-5 hour classroom
session where the systems are reviewed in depth, with
special emphasis on the pneumatic system. The next
day (8-9 hours) and the third day (4-6 hours) are
spent hands-on (you will get dirty!) on your airplane
at your location. So, can you, as a Yak-52 owner,
answer the following?
1. Do you have schematics for the fuel and pneumatic
system? Can you read them? What should you do to
your air tanks at each annual to ensure a long life of
your pneumatic system?
2. Do you know how many actuators are on your plane?
Have your uplock actuators ever been removed and
inspected? My plane is a 1993 and still had the
original factory safety wire on the uplock actuators.
A review of these actuators is a good proxy for the
condition of the landing gear and flap actuators.
Mine are now all being serviced as a result of our
inspection.
3. Have your prop blades ever been pulled? Mine were
clearly unserviced for at least 7 years and maybe
longer. The grease in the prop bearings was virtually
gone and in little balls. We pulled both prop blades
and cleaned and greased them - what a cool thing to
see!
4. How about your brakes and wheels? Do you know
what happens inside your brakes when you depress the
brake handle? What is the probable cause when your
brakes feel mushy?
5. With respect to the pneumatic system, do you know
what other systems can be operated via the emergency
air valve? Can you lower your emergency gear when
testing it at annual without it slamming down
violently? We can now!
6. If your air starter solenoid goes bad, do you know
how to start your plane using the starter button the
little known (to me at least) toe switch that will
bypass the solenoid and put air pressure into the
engine to crank it over?
7. Do you know what you should tighten and clean on
the fuel, intake and exhaust systems each time you do
an oil change?
8. Can you identify all of the major parts of your
engine? How about the fuel, pitot and static lines by
their colors? Those colors mean something - who
knew?!?
9. Do you know the empennage risk areas to check at
each pre-flight inspection and how to mark them so any
increase in risk is obvious?
10. Do you know the purpose of EVERY switch in both
cockpits and which ones you should probably safety to
the OFF position in the rear cockpit?
11. Do you know the first places to look when your
main or emergency air pressure is leaking?
12. Do you know the easiest way to unlock an uplock
parrot hook that has been accidentally pushed into the
locking position? (And it doesn't involve a
screwdriver.)
13. Can you install safety wire and do it in the
proper direction? Seems simple but I learned how and
would feel confident doing it in the field.
14. Can you identify all the cylinders, their firing
order, the power arm cylinder, set your magneto
timing, check for a valve clearance, etc.? Do you
know how to easily identify which cylinder has the
mis-firing plug? How to pull your plugs to alleviate
hydraulic lock and how to find top dead center on a
cylinder? Not that you will do them, but it is nice
to know how all of these are done.
And those are just the basics you learn in the
course!I am not an A&P and probably won't perform
anything but the basic maintenance on my plane and
assist with the annual condition inspection, but the
confidence in my plane and the understanding of the
systems I took away from the course will allow me to
trouble shoot problems and fly with exponentially
higher levels of confidence. And I can't wait to
update my pre-flight inspection checklist!
Fly safe my friends!
Thanks,
John P. Graham
CubFlyer1940(at)Yahoo.com
Cell phone (847) 641-1330
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_________________
John Graham
N15YK 1993 Yak-52
CubFlyer1940@Yahoo.com
(847) 641-1330 |
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