Gremlins...

Last week when I returned from Quito to work (that was the 5th of July) I was asked to help with some issues with our new engine on Alas 10. Really long story short, over a week later and without any success in diagnosing the problem exactly, we decided to pull the engine that has only 75 hours on it and put another new engine in it's place. Our need for airplanes because of high demand and other future maintenance on Alas 14 negated that we do this engine change. We still have some very probable ideas to look into, but in order to prove them wrong or right we had to pull the engine off of the airplane anyhow, so why not put another engine on Alas 10 in the meantime.

Yesterday morning we had the engine off of Alas 10 by 10:00am and the new one set back in by 12:30pm. After lunch we came back and finished hooking everything up and just before 5pm we started the engine. Our pre-flight engine tests went very well, and if the weather holds up today, Alas 10 will be airborne for an engine break-in test flight. I don't think our mechanics had ever seen an engine change in one day. I knew we could do it if we didn't have any significant unknowns.

I have been absolutely fried when I have come home this week. I have had plenty to share and show, but lack of energy to post it. The brainpower and problem solving that we put into figuring out this problem revealed a mind that isn't accustomed to thinking like this. It has been a long time since I have been involved at this level of maintenance and diagnosis. Several times we even had to cry "uncle" and call MAF headquarters and another special guy that I know that happens to know something about airplanes and their powerplants.

I have been asked to stay in the maintenance side of things next week as well to help get Alas 14 in and out. It has been burning about a quart of oil an hour so we are going to put new rings on the pistons. This should take a maximum of 3 days for us. Assuming all things go well with Alas 10 and 14, we are going to open up the engine we pulled off of 10 and see if we can find something wrong. Then, after that, probably the end of next week, I will be put back on the flight line and see if I can still land an airplane.