Alternate Air

One thing about training at one of the more inexpensive clubs is that their equipment isn't all bright and shiny and new. Alternate Air has 3 C150s that rent for $64/hr and and C172 which rents for $89/hr. The C150's are between 30 and 40 years old, and the C172 is almost 30. These are pretty old planes and things do go wrong with them.

Yesterday our reserved plane had the PTT switch go out. This is minor and not in any way related to the age of the plane - the switch is aftermarket. (It seems to me that PTT switches are always on the fritz - I've flown in lots of small planes where the pilots complain about them).

However, one of the other C150s is in the shop right now (due back any day) for a cylinder problem. And the remaining C150 came back from a flight yesterday with the pilot reporting a rough engine. We chatted with the pilot, who had landed at Harvey (where we were only minutes later) and had the rough running engine inspected by a mechanic. The mechanic cleared a fouled plug, ran the engine to test, and declared it good. But on the flight back to BFE, the engine began losing RPM again. Ed theorizes that perhaps a magneto is out of alignment. He says they can twist and this affects the timing of when they fire.

Regardless, that C150 is probably out of commission for a few days or more.

I told Ed that Alternate Air may not have the newest most expensive equipment, but they have the best instructors. He laughed pretty hard at that.