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
"We're in the twenty-first century here folks"
Oil insights, lean of peak with a carb, burning oil, and turbo advice
43 min
2
"Your mechanic feels worse than you do"
Fuel flow problems, water in the oil, safety wire alternatives, and octane ratings
46 min
3
"It's in your head"
Warm cylinders, cold cylinders, and pressurized mags
50 min
4
"I always try to buy high and sell low"
Carbon monoxide, kickbacks, avionics upgrades, and leaning radials
46 min
5
"Too much data is a bad thing"
Bad intake valves and camshafts, shock cooling, and AD compliance
49 min
6
"TBO is not a reason to do anything to an engine"
Dirt daubers, creeping EGTs, and cloths in wheel wells
54 min
7
"If you lose a cylinder in your Cessna 150 you ...
Sticky valves, A&P currency, and sleepy cylinders
47 min
8
"Am I doing anything evil?"
Leaning, overhauls, and ignoring borescope images
54 min
9
"That installation is fraught with peril"
50 min
10
"I'm an old mechanic and really like the idea o...
46 min
11
"That's an oft-reported myth"
46 min
12
“Is this like pulling a mattress tag off?”
Borescope primer, torque tales, manufacturer nonsense
52 min
13
"The owner can't do maintenance because the own...
A guide to owner maintenance, slipping starter adapters, and more
47 min
14
"You're going to give him nightmares"
Rust on new cylinders, creative leaning, manifold issues
53 min
15
"He has a piston with a smiley face on it that'...
How many hours are too many?
40 min
16
"Just be sure you lube it with something"
Wood wings, generators, and pre-emptive engine overhauls
41 min
17
"If you go to 76 percent, the wings will fall off"
Electronic ignition, creative mods, lean of peak
48 min
18
"It's one of the few accidents where you get to...
Fuel indication problems, high oil temps, gear motors, and corrosion
49 min
19
"Being an aircraft owner is the hardest job in ...
Spark plugs, aircraft records, lean of peak, and circuit breakers
48 min
20
"That's an urban legend"
Keeping cool (and warm), plus oil composition and lean of peak
47 min
21
"More time to fly, less time to turn wrenches"
Flaming exhausts, lean of peak, and unnecessary maintenance
46 min
22
"You have a lot of splaining to do"
How to cycle the prop, cam spalding, and inop parts
50 min
23
"Mechanics can be ornery sometimes"
54 min
24
Live from Airventure 2025
The audience questions come fast at the AOPA tent
44 min
25
"That'd be like putting grease on the road"
Grease options, lean of peak temps, break-in, composite cracks
59 min