This is one of the things I really love about the aviation community. We watch out for each other and are always ready to lend a hand.

Back in the 1980's I was working as a charter pilot/instructor at Bankstown Airport Sydney, Australia ASBK. One of our guys blew a tyre on a Baron landing a Sydney International Airport (Mascot) ASSY. At he time this would have been Australia's busiest airport! I was tasked with loading a jack, a tyre and tube and a mechanic to fly across to Mascot. Fortunately "our guy" was able to just clear the main runway 18/36 onto one of the high speed exits but only just off the runway. It was quite an experience to land and taxi back along side him about 20ft off the runway while 747's ect landed alongside us while we changed the tyre. The look on passengers faces on the landing aircraft as they sped by our two aircraft is something I will never forget! The Tower where very helpful, I had no problem with a short notice clearance and landing slot and they were very helpful he getting me the heck out of there! These things do happen!

Great video.... Dave and Colleen are great hanger neighbors.

I love your stories Mike, as a mechanic and pilot along with being a quality assurance manager for Learjet in Tucson Arizona I've got lots of experience on things that happen more than once or twice on an airplane, especially when you're going on a cross country. May I suggest that you carry an extra tire and tube. Also what the heck, that runway was 9,000 ft long what are you doing getting on the brakes. My instructor told me brakes are only used for one thing, and that stopping on the tarmac after the flight is over. And I could agree with that because I worked as a mechanic at a flight school and I had to change tires at least three times a week because of students misusing the brakes on the runway, unless it's an emergency, never ever should you use brakes on a runway That's not what they're for lol

@65gtotrips

6 ай бұрын

I personally dislike using the brakes on my truck and generally lay off the inertia before I need to stop, or I’ll downshift using the gearing.

It’s funny, I was the guy from the small airport near Sioux Falls that the mechanic said he was going to call. Well he never called me but I had 4 tires in stock and 2 of them we have built up with rim and brake. We are located only 10 min away. This is prime example to check Air Nav for airports in the area that have maintenance facilities and make calls to those places.

I had a very similar miracle. We flew San Jose (KRHV) to Oshkosh on Tue/Wed of the show week. Diverted to Rochester MN because of an exhaust sound that turned out to be a cracked #2 cylinder, that likely would have failed dramatically in the next few hours of flying. Local repair shop got it fixed in 2 days while we rented a car and drove to the show. New cylinder in 2 days, and we got to fly home. Mike, if you want another guy for your team, I have a recommendation.

@savvyaviation

6 ай бұрын

You can always email Mike at mike.busch@savvyaviation.com with your recommendations. Thanks~ (Colleen, moderating)

So this was about a $1000 lesson including the tire. The best philosophy in using brakes is that they're for an emergency. Light twins are murder for tire and brake maintenance. I never ruined a tire in 20 years of flying my medium twin which was a DC 9. Reverse thrust helps. I like your articles and maintenance philosophy.

There is no 13 runway here in Sioux Falls and there are three runways at KFSD.

@savvyaviation

6 ай бұрын

Yep, my bad...

Great story and an inadvertent plug for your maintenance svs at SAAVY : ) No telling what might happen while traveling.

Speaking of borescopes, I inspect the inside of the cylinders in the Lyc O-290 in my PL-2 using an endoscope I got off Amazon. It runs on mogas (from a mogas supplier that provides alcohol free fuel). The engine is SO much happier on mogas than 100LL, but the exhaust valve is always a uniform off-white color like it's coated in some sort of ash material I imagine. On performance car forums, this sort of thing is also reported sometimes. I thought maybe it's some kind of chemical interaction between the Aeroshell 15W50 oil I use and the mogas.

@AwestrikeFearofGods

4 ай бұрын

Unleaded fuel rules out lead bromide. I would suspect zinc oxide. It’s a component of some grease formulations, so I wouldn’t expect any problems with sticking valves, even if it precipitates onto the exhaust-valve stems. The source would be oil or oil additives containing anti-wear zinc compounds. Do you use CamGuard?

@JK-rv9tp

4 ай бұрын

No b/c my oil consumption is somewhat high, about a qt in 4-5 hrs and I'd go through a lot of camguard. Also CamGuard is just TCP (the phosphate anti-scuffing agent) + a calcium corrosion inhibitor, and AeroShell 15W50 already has TCP (which makes it compliant with the Lyc O-320AD engine Aw Dir), but doesn't use the calcium anti-corrosion additive.@@AwestrikeFearofGods

There are good people in the world.

As an aviation enthusiast who is not a pilot nor aircraft owner, would anyone like to offer feedback on how much replacement of a tube and tire in a situation like that costs the owner/pilot ? I mean I know it’s not like your vehicle but as a mechanically blessed guy I’m curious.

I cant find the podcast Mike and Colleen are doing. What’s it called? Great story btw!

@savvyaviation

6 ай бұрын

"Ask the A&Ps", sponsored by AOPA: www.aopa.org/news-and-media/podcasts/podcasts/ask-the-a-and-ps

Was Savvy Breakdown service ever contemplated during the resolution process...?

@savvyaviation

6 ай бұрын

We called it initially to get the lay of the land on the airport wrt shops that might be open at that late time in the day. Also talked to the on-call Savvy Account Manager about getting a twin off the runway, and trying to locate a tube/tire. Once Logan showed up, we knew we were in good hands...

@AirBuzz56

6 ай бұрын

TY for your reply...@@savvyaviation

Sir, with all due respect, that airport diagram you are showing is Mitchell SD (KMHE) not Sioux Falls SD (KFSD). We fly out of both all the time.

@dakotafunnel5635

7 ай бұрын

That’s not MKE either. I’m out of Y14. It is KSUX.

@savvyaviation

6 ай бұрын

I think its an old diagram for KSUX. My bad.

Hawthorne flashback?

The best of America.

The diagram you show of KFSD isn’t the right airport. I’ve landed there twice and recall that the runways form an almost perfect “X”. They should be 15/33 and 3/21. Not that it makes much difference, but just note that you pulled up some other airfield. 😊

@SaxPilot525

8 ай бұрын

I see now. You’re showing the Mitchell, SD diagram instead of Sioux Falls 😂

@dakotafunnel5635

7 ай бұрын

@@SaxPilot525that’s KSUX.

Wrong airport diagrams being used. You are accidentally showing KSUX (Sioux City, IA) and not KFSD (Sioux Falls, SD). Also for future reference both Signature and Maverick does maintenance.

@savvyaviation

6 ай бұрын

Oops! Thanks for the catch, and the good info...

Fortune favors those who bring their own tools...and a credit card.

@savvyaviation

6 ай бұрын

lol

Australia first!

@savvyaviation

8 ай бұрын

Winner-Winner-Chicken-Dinner! -- Colleen S.

The Audio Book version of "On Engines", is probably the WORST audio performance of any audio book I've ever heard. The guy they used for it speaks clearly, but he has no inflection or emotion in his voice, and he doesn't sound like he has any idea what he is reading. It would have been better to have a robo-voice read it... What they SHOULD have done was to find someone who likes airplanes or, better yet, someone who likes working on airplanes to read the book.