Lycoming O-540 cold start

[Great Ozzie]

Ground running increases water and NOT recommended

BTW, Lycoming is also rather clear in this issue, noting that:

Yeah... it's not just Kollin or Lycoming tho...

My prof's said exactly the same thing decades ago (uff) when going thru school... and how inactivity was much harder on aircraft than use. When I worked as an A&P, I saw exactly the same as Oracle mentioned above; ground only run-up. Planes sitting week after week, month after month in open T-hangars.

An April '89 Flying Magazine article by Mac McClellan Used or Abused? (give me two minutes in the attic to dig out my copy ) talking about the same thing:

I've flown some high-time aircraft operated by a Florida flight school, and the damage inflicted by years of sitting out in the elements has been worse than the havoc wreaked by thousands of student training flights.

It's the same story, whether these kinds of issues, or flying into airspace they shouldn't be in, running out of fuel, VFR-into-IMC, loss of control... GA problems that continue to be the same problems.

[mallcott]

Ground running increases water and NOT recommended

BTW, Lycoming is also rather clear in this issue, noting that:

Yeah... it's not just Kollin or Lycoming tho...

My prof's said exactly the same thing decades ago (uff) when going thru school... and how inactivity was much harder on aircraft than use. When I worked as an A&P, I saw exactly the same as Oracle mentioned above; ground only run-up. Planes sitting week after week, month after month in open T-hangars.

An April '89 Flying Magazine article by Mac McClellan Used or Abused? (give me two minutes in the attic to dig out my copy ) talking about the same thing:

I've flown some high-time aircraft operated by a Florida flight school, and the damage inflicted by years of sitting out in the elements has been worse than the havoc wreaked by thousands of student training flights.

It's the same story, whether these kinds of issues, or flying into airspace they shouldn't be in, running out of fuel, VFR-into-IMC, loss of control... GA problems that continue to be the same problems.

I'll let you into a little secret [SSSSsssshh!]

Back when I owned a Diamond Katana DA20 I rented it to the local flying school for exactly that reason - better to have it in use, even by the most hamfisted of users, than left to rot in a field for months on end.
The gain was simple, even though there is little in the way of fatigue issues with the Katana: Aircraft engines fail less when used often, and if you lend it to a school the student is likely being supervised by an instructor who at least recognises you don't walk home if the donk quits, so is going to intervene if anyone tries to do anything particularly stupid. So the walkround is done properly. Then if they broke anything, they replaced it.

With new...

Maintenance cost reductions MORE than offset the slight value reduction from a couple hundred hours use a year - GA values reflect overall condition and time-from-last maintenance over airframe or engine hours in isolation.

Now this won't apply to every type or airframe, but as with a Rotax pretty much ANYTHING with a Lycoming needs to be used regularly for best reliability, even if it does at first seem counter-intuitive.

[AKar]

It's the same story, whether these kinds of issues, or flying into airspace they shouldn't be in, running out of fuel, VFR-into-IMC, loss of control... GA problems that continue to be the same problems.

Yes, it appears. Perhaps it is only the nature of the game! It is not that the aviation is alone with such issues, elsewhere it is just maybe blamed otherwise as applicable. Perhaps the field is only confirming that getting stuck in time is not a solution to learn and control the playground either.

Surprisingly little is written of the effectiveness of these preservation procedures, as silly as they may sound on paper, and ought to be good targets for religious wars. The thing I believe is that they are extremely seldom employed in practice, even if many airplanes are even more seldom flown during off-season.

-Esa

[Great Ozzie]

Surprisingly little is written of the effectiveness of these preservation procedures, as silly as they may sound on paper, and ought to be good targets for religious wars. The thing I believe is that they are extremely seldom employed in practice, even if many airplanes are even more seldom flown during off-season.

I never saw an engine pickled when I was working as a mechanic.

I have a high pressure sprayer and a lawn mower that I wished I had taken the time to pickle both's engines. The riding lawn mower... that will be a treat to get started as it has been years since it has been started.

[AKar]

Surprisingly little is written of the effectiveness of these preservation procedures, as silly as they may sound on paper, and ought to be good targets for religious wars. The thing I believe is that they are extremely seldom employed in practice, even if many airplanes are even more seldom flown during off-season.

I never saw an engine pickled when I was working as a mechanic.

I have a high pressure sprayer and a lawn mower that I wished I had taken the time to pickle both's engines. The riding lawn mower... that will be a treat to get started as it has been years since it has been started.

Yeah..

Around here, the engine preservation has been, at least in many instances, performed for seasonal storage by shops when the season break is known. I'd figure hardly that many owners/operators specifically asked for this during the time I observed.

-Esa