Broke Down at AirVenture? – Plane & Pilot Magazine | Aviation

Getting stranded far from home with a broken airplane might be a pilot’s worst fear. And it’s legit – I’ve sat for a long while at an unattended airport, desperately needing a few quarts of oil, wishing there were vending machines for quarts of oil to sit alongside the self-serve fuel pumps. Finally, a fella in a big pickup rumbled through the gate and parked next to a Skylane. For all its redeeming qualities, the Cessna 182 lands terribly unless you have a case of oil in the baggage area – and this guy understood the assignment. His trip out to the airport saved my bacon, while ferrying a clapped out Citabria that burned more oil than fuel.

Coming to Oshkosh for Airventure, many of us are flying well beyond our support network, and we’re doing so in airplanes that were handbuilt – whether in a factory or a basement – and many of these flying machines are older than we are. Occasionally our birds need a little extra attention when we’re stretched to the limit but here at Airventure, we’re surrounded by a thousands of sympathetic souls. But, there are times that the screwdriver on our fuel sampler isn’t the right tool for the job, or a little know-how could help make a challenging situation into a learning experience and an easy repair.

Since 1962, EAA chapter 75 from the Moline Quad-Cities area has staffed the Emergency Aircraft Repair area, helping out…

Source www.planeandpilotmag.com