The August plane wash was Saturday, the 14th. We had a good turnout of about 15 members. Here are some pictures:
As we sat around afterwards to enjoy Joe's cooking, several issues were discussed. One was the issue of troubleshooting radio/audio problems. Paul Fortino recommended that as a general rule, when there is trouble, try turning off unused equipment. For example, if you can get by with one COM radio, turn the other one off and see if that fixes the problem. Sometimes a radio can cause trouble to the audio panel even if it is not being used. Of course, don't let troubleshooting a radio distract you from your main task of flying the plane. Aviate, navigate, communicate, in that order.
The other issue discussed was about leaning the engine during taxi. We seem to get more fouled plugs in the summer, especially on the Cessna. That shows up as a failure of the mags check during run-up. One possible cause of fouled plugs is idling the engine with the mixture set a full rich. So leaning the mixture during taxi can reduce plug fouling. One thing you do not want to do is to attempt a takeoff with the mixture leaned. If you are using your checklist for the run-up, you know that the mixture is always set to full rich at that time. So as long as you always do a proper run-up, you won't accidentally try to take off with a leaned mixture. But the other thing I like to do is to lean the engine right after start-up or touch-down, almost to the point of cut-off. If you do this at 1000 RPM, then the engine will not be capable of running much faster, which is fine for taxiing. And if you should forget to richen the mixture before takeoff, the engine will definitely tell you. It will sputter, but it will not rev up. That's safer than an engine that might actually let to try to take off with a leaned mixture. So consider leaning for taxi. It not only helps you out, but it helps out the next pilot.