Ricky at MARC

In this update I hope to show you what I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. The following three pictures are from different airplanes. Click on them for a MUCH LARGER view.

The first is a six cylinder engine that failed in flight. The pilot was able to fly it back to the airport and asked me to investigate why he had an “unrequested decrease in power”. Turns out three of the six cylinders had the heads coming off. He is lucky to be alive as there was fuel spraying all over the engine and exhaust. The plane should have been on fire!

Second is an exhaust stack. The owner came in with an “exhaust leak”. I found where it was leaking, and even though he was hoping we could weld the “crack” I was forced to get an entire new piece.

The third problem is and exhaust valve failure. This plane was flying overhead when his engine stopped making power. He glided to the airport and I found the following. On the left you can see the valve is missing several pieces. One piece destroyed this cylinder and piston, which we replaced. Luckily for him I decided to pull all the intake pipes and look for the missing piece. I found it waiting to get sucked into a different cylinder, which would have caused the same problems all over again.

We also have our own aircraft down for maintenance. I am happy to report that the engine issues with one of the Navajo’s now appears to have been fixed, and the King Air is only a part away from having the landing gear reinstalled. More on that next time!