"I've had grass stains on my prop"

Ask the A&Ps

An owner wants to know if he should tear down his engine after harvesting some corn with his prop. Plus, the benefits of flying oversquare, why you should use the boost pump at higher altitudes, and pre-flight procedures.

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Full notes below:

John wants to know if he can manipulate the rudder on his club’s 172 during a preflight. Another club member told him he would stress the nosewheel steering by doing that, but the hosts agree that John that was right. Paul explains that the tension on the rudder pedals is created by springs that pull the pedals to the firewall. The steering bungees are between the rudder pedals and the nosegear, not the rudder. The rudder may move the pedals a little. Bigger stress is when you move the pedals from the cockpit without the nosewheel moving, but even so, Paul said the system is made to do that and is unhurt by those checks.

Jeff had a botched landing in his Super Cruiser and hit some corn at full power, and he is wondering whether or not he had a prop strike. The engine didn’t seem to have an rpm drop, and the prop was undamaged. Mike said there’s two possible outcomes. The first is that he didn’t have a prop strike because there wasn’t a reduction in rpm. If Jeff thinks he had an rpm reduction, the AD requires the accessory case to be removed, but not torn down. In all the prop strike events Paul has been involved with, he’s never seen rotational damage due to a prop strike. Magnetos are usually the first thing to be damaged. He said he thinks it’s also unlikely there wasn’t an rpm reduction as it slashed through the corn, and he thinks Jeff is subject to the AD.

Tyler is looking at buying a turbo Piper Arrow and he has questions about turbocharging. He wonders about the diminishing returns of oversquare or overboost as it relates to reduced longevity. He’s also worried about boot strapping, which Paul said is self-limiting. Mike said the highest amount of oversquare allowable within the operating envelope is the most efficient place to operate. It’s important to remember that the chart is rich of peak, and lean of peak provides more of a detonation margin. Mike said the abuse to worry about is horsepower per cubic inch.

Fred’s engine on his Cirrus had a hiccup and he’s wondering why. He was at 10,000 feet climbing in the clouds. One cylinder was getting hotter, and one had passed 400, so he leveled off, things cooled off, and he started climbing again. Just as he leveled off he tried to do the big mixture pull, it stumbled, so he pushed it forward and it still stumbled. The hosts quickly figure out he had vapor lock. Paul said a lot of Cirrus pilots run the boost pump on low all the time. Mike does that on his 310. With a hot engine and high altitude, the fuel is vaporized, so the boost pump helps move things along a bit.