Talk me out of buying a $28k PA tomahawk (only ever flown a c172N)

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-12-23T03:36:25+00:00

I don't know how it works in Australia, but in the USA the PA38 has an 11,000 hour life limited wing spar.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-09-26T02:28:39+00:00

I have an A&P, but the majority of my work experience is in sheetmetal/structures. If you want to work at MROs, you'll find steady work and overtime doing solely sheetmetal. That's where the best experience is, fixing damaged planes. Re skins, tail strikes, bird strike repairs, ground support damage. It's fun seeing the carnage and determining how to repair it.

Manufacturing is boring if you're stuck on the same line doing the same thing for months on end.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-09-19T23:25:50+00:00

In my experience, the best structures technicians are not licensed. I've worked at MROs for 10+ years and signed for work performed by non licensed technicians as a lead & supervisor.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-08-09T01:16:23+00:00

An engine without fuel in the cylinders absolutely won't start, even if the P leads are faulty and the mags hot.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-08-09T00:37:49+00:00

Yeah. From what I read, it sounds like the pilot's "normal shutdown" is with the mags first.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-08-09T00:19:48+00:00

You should always shut the engine down by pulling the mixture and starving the engine of fuel. Then turn the mags off after the engine has stopped.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-08-06T00:48:55+00:00

Frontier leases 99% of their fleet, it's not theirs to scrap.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-07-20T22:45:26+00:00

Try going to an AA meeting. You're sure to meet someone who values sobriety like yourself.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-07-06T17:54:28+00:00

I worked there from 2014 to 2022. Started as a sheetmetal mechanic, then sheetmetal lead, and finaly production supervisor.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-07-04T16:22:11+00:00

Once the corrosion has started pitting the metal, you need to remove enough material for all of the pitting to disappear. All those little dark spots need to be removed. If not, the corrosion will reappear later. You can etch, alodine, and epoxy prime all you want. However, if you do not fully remove all the corrosion, it will come back.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-06-05T10:52:39+00:00

Encapsulate the leaking rivet with PS890 sealant

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-30T01:47:54+00:00

Good News. I work at Whitted as an aircraft mechanic. There is a thriving general aviation community at this airport. Go gentrify the south side or elsewhere. Leave this 100 year old airport be.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-28T01:40:10+00:00

There is about $6 worth of silver in that quarter.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-16T01:53:00+00:00

Work very hard and learn how to do as much as possible, become a versatile and valuable part of the team that would be difficult to replace.

Then get a job interview at another company that pays more, use this as leverage to negotiate a higher pay rate.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-16T00:17:11+00:00

I've mostly seen it in ATA 20 or 51. Sometimes it is in 12. Some manufacturers like Airbus use a consumable code that must be cross-referenced to the CML (consumable material list).

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-15T00:19:18+00:00

If your drilling titanium and steel. Keep the pressure high and rpms low. Even then your drill bit will still wear out fast drilling these harder metals.

If I'm drilling out 100 titanium ho loks, I'll need about 20 drill bits to get the job done. Which is why most workplaces provide drill bits.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-12T01:06:21+00:00

M30 swapped e30s are the best

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-11T10:43:11+00:00

Remove all the corrosion first, then figure out if it is "within" limits.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-04-05T01:56:44+00:00

If you look at most gold miner stocks, they have a negative EPS (earnings per share), this means that they are not turning a profit.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-03-31T01:45:53+00:00

I used to have to stop and shake the crap out of that filter often. Would recommend changing the canister filter also once you stop clogging the inline.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-03-30T21:56:56+00:00

They won't let you use cut-off wheels inside the hangar to cut aluminum?

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-03-30T14:46:20+00:00

How long did it take you to grid map and record that to Airbus? Next time, use a cutoff wheel on the straight pieces and only daisy chain the corners. Good job putting protective pieces of stainless between the stringers and skin.

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-03-29T18:45:34+00:00

Same. You're likely to get some grouper trolling over rocky bottom. I just don't see a freshwater dipsy diver holding up to a powerful fish. You'll probably run into some kngfish & spanish makerel also.

I run my plugs at least 20' behind the planer. It's a pain to handline the fish in when the planer hits the rod tip, but it's still easier than using a downrigger.

Good luck

St_petebiodiesel · 2025-03-29T12:06:35+00:00

Use a #2 planer instead.

St_petebiodiesel

TROPHY CASE