Page 26 - Nov21T

From the Flight Deck
by Kevin R. Dingman
Shirt Creek
Pilots don’t complain. We use euphemisms.
After a landing roll, which necessitated a call to Ground and the FBO.
Sometimes people confuse our technical, studious, perfectionist, Type A pilot-personality with that of a complainer. My mom and dad would say, “If you can’t
say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Failure to abide by this maxim or using “bad” words (even euphemisms) could result in mouths being washed out with soap. If the infraction so deserved, Grandma liked a “switch” from a nearby tree. Dad preferred his belt, and mom’s favorite instrument was a paddle. The complaining for which I may be due a scolding this time is aircraft maintenance. The paddle in this story, however, provided relief and not pain from a difficult-to-diagnose propeller squawk.
Patience is a Virtue
I haven’t flown the Duke in many months. And since I stopped f lying for a living in July, the last few non-f lying months have been painfully unique. I am non-current for the first time in five decades; my Santa-like beard a prickly reminder. Thankfully, a week at Oshkosh and a month of hunting in New Mexico helped placate my withdrawal.
com·plain/k m‘plan/verb
Express dissatisfaction or annoyance about something. In pilot parlance: a squawk.
Perhaps my angst can be blamed on a moderate lack of patience. Well, perhaps more than moderate. The Duke’s annual inspection scheduled to begin on April 1 didn’t start until late August. And therein lies grievance number one (hide dad’s belt).
Unfortunately, the long delay was not unique to me, my shop or the Duke. A handful of fellow GA pilot/owners experienced similar maintenance delays and shortages, apparently due to the “COVID Effect,” which disrupted providers, manufactures, suppliers, distributors and shippers. In addition to my shop having a backlog longer than the line at Chick-fil-A, I’d been fighting a squawk that surfaced after last year’s engine overhaul: The right propeller developed a propensity for uncommanded, self-feathering. Thus complaint number two (hide grandma’s switch).
Paddle Me
Fortunately, the self-feathering only occurred with hot oil, low RPM and on the ground – like on landing roll or while taxiing to the hangar. Two or three times I made it all the way to the hangar before the right prop feathered, but a few others, it feathered during the landing roll or as we cleared the runway. This resulted in an inconvenient and embarrassing call to ground control and the FBO to coordinate a tow. The Duke will not taxi on one engine. After the oil cooled, it was sometimes possible to unfeather the prop by attempting an engine start, but the technique and finesse required were often beyond my ability. And for those who have never attempted to unfeather a stationary prop by manually twisting the blades using one or two sets of
24 • TWIN & TURBINE / November 2021
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