2010 Annual Inspection (i)

The ritual of the Annual Inspection has begun at Three Wing Flying Services. Yesterday I removed all of the "loose items" (like headsets, the Garmin GPSmap 396, publications, tools, etc.) from N631S and Mike the IA started getting into the airplane.

There hasn't been too much progress yet. When Mike checked the compressions there was one weak cylinder. Initially, #2 showed 38 psi (on a day when Continental's service guidance said that 48 psi was the minimum). However, when the prop was pulled through a couple of times and the cylinder rechecked, it came up to 54 psi which is acceptable. The other five cylinders have comfortably high compression levels.

Of course, Mike will inspect all of the cylinders visually with a borescope and we'll hear soon enough if there are any issues.

The spark plugs looked good. There was a fair amount of lead fouling of the lower plugs - not too unusual - but that's why I run fine-wire plugs in the lower positions. They all look like they'll clean up nicely.

There's a bunch more Inspecting happening today, and I shall be visiting N631S again early tomorrow morning for more news. And, of course, AmTrak will have the pleasure of my company this week.