All Episodes
Ask the A&Ps — 104 episodes
"If you lose a cylinder in your Cessna 150 you are down on a road somewhere"
"Am I doing anything evil?"
"That installation is fraught with peril"
"I'm an old mechanic and really like the idea of priming and painting"
"That's an oft-reported myth"
“Is this like pulling a mattress tag off?”
"The owner can't do maintenance because the owner doesn't have arms"
"You're going to give him nightmares"
"He has a piston with a smiley face on it that's not very happy"
"Just be sure you lube it with something"
"If you go to 76 percent, the wings will fall off"
"It's one of the few accidents where you get to choose where it happens"
"Being an aircraft owner is the hardest job in aviation"
"That's an urban legend"
"More time to fly, less time to turn wrenches"
"You have a lot of splaining to do"
"Mechanics can be ornery sometimes"
Live from Airventure 2025
"That'd be like putting grease on the road"
"That's one way to flat spot a tire"
"An airplane with no engine is worth nothing"
"You have to cart mogas around like a homeless person"
"You have license to go zorching around"
"Continentals burn valves and Lycomings stick valves"
"My airplane is a flying experiment"
"They put all their maintenance records on napkins"
"Keep torturing those airplanes...and students"
"Shame on you for even thinking about it"
"If that doesn't work you've got the flame thrower option"
"Your airplane is on a full-time IV drip"
"You don’t know if he’s going to hit you with a wrench or a lawsuit"
"There's a serious brain drain in aviation maintenance"
"Check it, log it, and then relax"
"There’s a reason they call these amateur built"
"Don't open up the fuel system if you don't have to"
"The engine didn't explode"
"When they go bad the engine is toast"
"It goes through cylinders like flapjacks"
"When it starts to talk to you it's time to replace it"
"The people who design these airplanes don't work on them"
"Full rich is horrendously rich"
Live from Saturday Airventure 2024
"Mechanics are the surgeons of aviation"
"I've had grass stains on my prop"
"Placard it inop"
"Don't pull the throttle back until you want to land"
"Don't do that!"
"I have permission to get an airplane."
"I'm against throwing a part at something"
"You become the supervisor of your maintenance"
"Don't split the case halves"
"This guy is on his own, he's a test pilot"
"Let us know how the exorcism goes"
"The breather is a slobber pot"
"Think of the prop control as a gear shift"
"Major and minor is in the eye of the beholder"
"It's not good form to jam the throttle forward"
"We call it an Italian tune-up"
"Use whatever time runs the slowest"
"You can't fully pickle it"
"Cleaning injectors causes more problems than it solves"
"Why don't you just fix the problem?"
"It's not the mechanic's job to make flying cheaper"
"Inspections are an imperfect process"
"Don't attack anything with tools"
Live from Airventure 2023
"My airplane is so clean you can eat off it"
"The only that thing that can cause CHT to rise that fast is pre-ignition"
"I'm a total turbocharging bigot"
"Pop that cowling off and squirt away"
"This is a classic infant mortality failure"
"The airplane looks like it's having brain surgery"
"You may have to go to a different shop"
"There are critters living in there"
"You have two options and a top overhaul isn't one of them"
"All engines deserve an engine monitor in their Christmas stocking"
"We're card-carrying members of overthinkers anonymous"
"I'm a choir boy in the church of lean of peak"
"I don't have a baby monitor on the engine"
Live from Airventure 2022
"I'm a reformed shock cooling worrier"
"EGTs are imaginary numbers"
"Use the TLAR system. That looks about right"
"Your airplane may look like the molting hide of an animal"
"We don't check the accuracy of your fuel gauges"
"You'll ruin a set of clothes for sure"
"It's not our job to be the safety police"
"That little cap doesn't hold the wings on"
"Only a CFI would ask a question like that"
"Compression readings are garbage"
"Why can't we do something simple like clone an engine?"
"There's no free lunch in aviation"
"An oil filter inspection is non-invasive, unless you're an oil filter"
"About the half the time, reported cracked cylinders aren't cracked"
"Heavy detonation is normally a self-correcting event"
"I don't see anything that makes me want to attack the engine with tools"
'If it moves, squirt it with something'
'We just saved your engine'
"Did you float the dog?"
'I went to the church of lean of peak'
'You're not going to fall out of the sky because the camshaft wears'
"You're never in a situation where the IA can hold you hostage"
I'm upside down and there's no oil in my engine!
Introducing Ask the A&Ps