Hi Gang:

Sometimes even bad happens to A&P types.

Wednesday I had a short flight, went to Lincoln Park Airport, NJ (N07).
Flight totally uneventful, landed, uneventful, had lunch eventful – Very
Good Crumpled Blue Cheese Hamburger. Went back to the plane and when I
pushed the GO Button – Totally Uneventful! No spinning of the prop, no
whirling noise. DEAD BATTERY! Well, that is what I thought. OK, let’s
start looking for a pilot so I can get a jump start or at least assistance
with a hand propping. Found a fellow, he made a few calls, so did I (Thank
you Joe, REALLY Thank you it is always great to know the Grumman Gang is
only a phone call away). Walked all over the airport, I approached 7
people with cars and NONE of them had jumper cables. Can you believe that,
7 out of 7 No Jumper Cables? This may attest to the improved quality of
today’s cars and BATTERIES! Or that … Well, I carry cables in my car.
The Sun was setting and it was getting cold. I did not plan on this!!!
It must have been an hour and a half and I’m still checking on things out.
I have two volt meters in my plane and both were reading 12.7 VDC. So WHY
no start? I went through my starting procedure again, and this time I
noticed that my MASTER SWITCH was not sitting flush to the panel. When I
pushed it back in and AGAIN when through the start procedure I noticed the
ALT FIELD CB was popped!
Wait a dang second! The Alt Field has NOTHING to do with the GO Switch.
I Then checked ALL my Fuses… Yo know the ones that are hidden under the
black caps. Well the Last Fuse all the way to the right – Labeled Boost
Pump & Flaps was BLOWN… Ya know what… I do, I did and I know even
more so now… That fuse also powers the Starter Relay! Replaced the
Fuse… YES! I carry at least 3 extra fuses for each size on the panel.
Again, go through the Start procedure and VROOOM, the fan was turning.
DANG!
So what was the problem? Remember a couple of months back one Gangster
posted problems that his Master Switch bracket was not secure in the
panel… TAKE HEED! The same thing happened to me and the switch move far
enough forward to short out against the aluminum panel, blowing the fuse.
Our planes are quite a few years old… Mine is 42 years old. Things wear
out. I have not checked it completely but either the tangs are weak or
broken off. I will get this fixed A.S.A.P.

Learn from this!

Barry
“Chop’d Liver”