Ask the A&Ps
Experts Mike Busch, Paul New, and Colleen Sterling answer your toughest aviation maintenance questions. Submit questions to podcasts@aopa.org. New episodes are released the first and fifteenth of every month.
1
"They will find you"
Oil temperatures, proper equipment installation, and oily turbos
55 min
2
"Be careful what you ask for"
Putting the lean in lean of peak
61 min
3
Live from AirVenture 2026, Session 2
Mike, Paul, and Colleen take live questions
35 min
4
Live from AirVenture 2026
29 min
5
"We're in the twenty-first century here folks"
Oil insights, lean of peak with a carb, burning oil, and turbo advice
43 min
6
"Your mechanic feels worse than you do"
Fuel flow problems, water in the oil, safety wire alternatives, and octane ratings
46 min
7
"It's in your head"
Warm cylinders, cold cylinders, and pressurized mags
50 min
8
"I always try to buy high and sell low"
Carbon monoxide, kickbacks, avionics upgrades, and leaning radials
46 min
9
"Too much data is a bad thing"
Bad intake valves and camshafts, shock cooling, and AD compliance
49 min
10
"TBO is not a reason to do anything to an engine"
Dirt daubers, creeping EGTs, and cloths in wheel wells
54 min
11
"If you lose a cylinder in your Cessna 150 you ...
Sticky valves, A&P currency, and sleepy cylinders
47 min
12
"Am I doing anything evil?"
Leaning, overhauls, and ignoring borescope images
54 min
13
"That installation is fraught with peril"
50 min
14
"I'm an old mechanic and really like the idea o...
46 min
15
"That's an oft-reported myth"
46 min
16
“Is this like pulling a mattress tag off?”
Borescope primer, torque tales, manufacturer nonsense
52 min
17
"The owner can't do maintenance because the own...
A guide to owner maintenance, slipping starter adapters, and more
47 min
18
"You're going to give him nightmares"
Rust on new cylinders, creative leaning, manifold issues
53 min
19
"He has a piston with a smiley face on it that'...
How many hours are too many?
40 min
20
"Just be sure you lube it with something"
Wood wings, generators, and pre-emptive engine overhauls
41 min
21
"If you go to 76 percent, the wings will fall off"
Electronic ignition, creative mods, lean of peak
48 min
22
"It's one of the few accidents where you get to...
Fuel indication problems, high oil temps, gear motors, and corrosion
49 min
23
"Being an aircraft owner is the hardest job in ...
Spark plugs, aircraft records, lean of peak, and circuit breakers
48 min
24
"That's an urban legend"
Keeping cool (and warm), plus oil composition and lean of peak
47 min
25
"More time to fly, less time to turn wrenches"
Flaming exhausts, lean of peak, and unnecessary maintenance
46 min