Dean Showalter - Podcast Details

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Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter251 – Bennett’s Exhaust Valve Rescue on his Cessna TTx Bennett contacted me awhile back to see if I could lap an exhaust valve for him. The #4 exhaust valve showed a very uneven appearance when viewed with his borescope. Bennett flew in to KSHD one morning and we got started. Before lapping, we checked the cylinder compression and it was 29/80… not good. Here’s what the valve looked like: We got to work and lapped the valve. When we were happy with the progress, we reinstalled the exhaust valve in the valve guide and installed new valve spri...2025-02-2629 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter208 – Back in the Maintenance Shop and Off to JFK! Happy new year friends! In today’s podcast episode, you’ll hear about the following: The airplane I’m currently working on.My recent King Air trip to JFK, and the interesting approach we got that day.A couple listener emails. Thanks for listening… see you in the next episode! 2023-01-0547 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter207 - A Fantastic Conversation With My Son Seth! Recently, Seth and I spent part of a weekend at a remote mountain cabin location, and we decided it would be a great time to record a conversation about the career changes both of us have made. I love this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as well. I’m so proud of my son and the things he’s doing at 23 years old. How about you? Is it time for a change in your career or in your life? Many of us eventually arrive at a place in l...2022-12-1854 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance207 - A Fantastic Conversation with my Son Seth!2022-12-1754 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter206 – Thanksgiving, Deer Hunting, and Discount Codes Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’ve been deer hunting with my daughter McKenzie this week, and so far, she got a button buck, and I got a doe… she’s trying to get a good supply of venison in her freezer for the winter. Last evening was one of the rare times we didn’t see any deer, but the sunset view sure was beautiful… check it out: I’ve been thinking about how deer hunting is similar to small airplane maintenance… it takes practice, persistence, and patience to get really good at it. Before M...2022-11-2412 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance206 - Thanksgiving Deer Hunting and Discount Codes 2022-11-2412 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter205 – My First Landing at Hannah Field in a Cessna 150 A week and a half ago, I flew a Cessna 150 from KSHD to Hannah Field near Monterey, Virginia in Highland County. It was a Saturday morning coffee-and-donuts fly-in hosted by the owners of the private airstrip, along with our local EAA group. The Shenandoah Valley is full of all kinds of aviation enthusiasts! Thanks to Oren Heatwole and all the great people from our local EAA group, for such a great event! (The Cessna 150 is over to the side, out of view… by the time I left, there was quite a line-up of airplanes there.) Other items in...2022-11-0230 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance205 - My First Landing at Hannah Field in a Cessna 150.mp3Don't you love those grass runways?! Listen in to hear about Dean's flight to Hannah Field recently... that's the final part of this episode. We also discuss some maintenance issues I've been working on, along with some other items that I hope you'll find inspiring.2022-11-0230 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter204 – FlyRight King Air 350 Simulator Training was Awesome! In this podcast episode, I’m sharing my experience of going through the training course for a Type Rating in the King Air 350. FlyRight in Concord, North Carolina was definitely the best choice for this training! Home Page FlyRight is a very professional training center with a family-type feel about it. They specialize in King Air, Caravan, and Dash 8 training. I was so impressed with the whole program, and especially the people. They are friendly, they have extensive experience, and they are absolutely committed to your success. I’m now working for a loca...2022-10-1530 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance204 - FlyRight King Air Sim Training was Awesome!Hear about Dean's recent 2 week King Air 350 Initial Type Rating Training at FlyRight in Concord, North Carolina. This is a top-notch training center!2022-10-1530 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter203 – Dean’s Midlife Aviation Transition! Listen to the audio for this episode to hear what Dean’s been up to recently, and why there have not been many podcast episodes in recent weeks. I’m transitioning out of the maintenance shop and into a flying job, and I’m very excited about the new season in front of me. Feel free to leave me a voice message by clicking the tab at the right side of the page, or you can email me: dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com I want to say a huge “thank you” to everyone who has he...2022-09-0530 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance203 - Dean's Midlife Aviation Transition!This is a special episode to update everyone on my transition out of the maintenance shop at Classic Aviation and into a flying job with a local company.2022-09-0531 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter202 – Pax River Navy Test Pilot: Trace Bowen Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to visit NAS Pax River, a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay. My friend, Trace Bowen, picked me up in his Cessna 310, flew me to St. Marys Airport, and drove me over to the base for a tour. Up until that day, I knew very little about Pax River, so it was interesting to learn about the operations there. The Pax River ITF mission is to effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct safe, secure, and efficient flight test to...2022-06-1550 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance202 - Pax River Navy Test Pilot: Trace Bowen 2022-06-1150 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter201 – SureFly Ignition Installation Have you ever seen one of these? It’s a SureFly Ignition Module, or “SIM” for short: I recently had an opportunity to install one on an E33A Bonanza, so I thought I’d do a podcast episode about it. Hopefully you’ll find this information helpful if you’re considering a SureFly, and for me, I find it helpful to document the process. For this installation, a “Tach 2” device was also required, to convert the rotation of the SureFly to a signal that’s usable with the previously installed Horizon Instruments P-1000 tach in the airplane...2022-05-1438 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance201 - SureFly Ignition Installation 2022-05-1438 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter200 – My Recent Flight Review and Other Adventures You guys know I love out-of-the-ordinary things, and my recent flight review definitely qualifies as one of those! First, my good friend and excellent flight instructor worked me over in the ground portion of the flight review. Here are some things we covered: VFR sectional chart information and interpretation.Briefing an IFR approach plate.Working a weight and balance for a Bonanza.Other useful information. Then, we flew that amazing tail dragger above… we did steep turns, stalls, slips, landed on 2 grass runways, and returned back to KSHD. It was such a great fl...2022-04-0924 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance200 - My Recent Flight Review and Other Adventuresy Recent Flight Review and Other Adventures 2022-04-0924 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter199 – A Bulging Exhaust – Change it, or not? I recently inspected a Piper Saratoga, and I found the following condition on the right exhaust collector: Earlier this week, I sent this photo to my email subscribers and asked if they would change this piece of exhaust if it was on their airplane. I received a huge response about this, with a large range of thoughts and opinions. Thanks to everyone who responded, as it really helped me think through the issue in a much more comprehensive way and I think you’ll find it helpful as well. I read all the email responses in...2022-03-1246 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance199 - A Bulging Exhaust - Change it, or not?2022-03-1246 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter198 – Be Careful About In-flight Troubleshooting! Chris Saindon, a podcast listener and owner of a Cessna 172G, contacted me with a different, and important perspective that I had completely overlooked. I recently told of a landing gear light in a Piper Seminole, and how the pilots had done some in-flight troubleshooting when the right gear down light did not illuminate. I’ve often thought in-flight troubleshooting was a great thing, but Chris reminded me that I need to also communicate the danger of in-flight troubleshooting and the potential for pilots to be distracted from flying the airplane. Before we get into the story Ch...2022-02-2519 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance198 - Be Careful About In-flight Troubleshooting!2022-02-2519 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter197 – When He Put the Gear Up the Right Alternator Quit This was what happened recently in a Piper Seneca… and in this episode, we discuss why the alternator quit… it was something I totally was not expecting. After verifying the field connections (power and ground) were good, and the brushes were nearly perfect, I removed the alternator. And here is what I found… watch this video: It was two things, really. First, the nut holding the drive coupling onto the alternator shaft was loose. And second, the drive gear was turning independently of the alternator shaft… not good! The drive coupling is like a clutch...2022-02-1939 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance197 - When He Put the Gear Up the Right Alternator Quit 2022-02-1939 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter196 - Joe's #5 Cylinder Mystery This fuel injector line must have only been attached finger tight when the fuel injectors were reinstalled after cleaning. The engine ran fine at first, but all of a sudden during one engine run, the #5 EGT took a nose dive, and the #5 CHT immediately started dropping off as well. The above photo was taken AFTER we discovered what the problem was. I’m guessing the nut was not tight, and it worked itself loose, causing the cylinder to immediately cease firing, since the fuel was no longer being sprayed into the injector nozzle. Joe hired me...2022-01-2334 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance196 - Joe's #5 Cylinder Mystery 2022-01-2334 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter195 – Is it Time to Tear That Engine Apart? When an airplane engine is making a small amount of ferrous metal, but the evidence is not totally conclusive, the decision to tear it apart, or not, can be gut-wrenching. Such was the case for the O-540 engine in a turbo Cessna 182RG I’ve been working on at Classic Aviation LLC. But after the owners decided to have it torn apart, and I got to see the evidence, I’m convinced they made the right decision. Take a look at the two worst lifters: And the corresponding cam lobe for thos...2021-12-3132 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter194 – All About Airplane Prebuys with Adam Sipe This episode is a good one! If you’re thinking about buying an airplane, stop right now and listen to this episode, because Adam Sipe can absolutely save you lots of time, money and needless frustration in the process of buying an airplane. He shared so much valuable wisdom in this episode, and I can’t wait to listen to the whole thing again myself. … and don’t be fooled by the fact that Adam is only 33 years old… if you listen to the whole episode, you’ll discover his secret (and it’s a secret tha...2021-12-1059 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter193 – How Did this Starter housing Break? That’s a good question, and although I don’t have the full story, we will toss around some possibilities in this episode. Thanks to all of you who responded with some really good guesses about the cause. I received responses from 33 people after I sent out that email recently! The prevailing guess about the cause had to do with improper magneto timing which then caused the engine to kick back in the reverse direction and break the starter housing. That was my guess as well. Be sure to listen to the audio to hear abou...2021-12-0431 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter192 – We Always Knew He Had A Screw Loose! My good friend, Clark Trobaugh, flew into KSHD this past week, and while he was visiting with his family, I walked over to his airplane on the ramp and noted a few things that needed attention… Here’s the one that prompted Clark’s brother Scott to send me a text that said, “Thanks for looking out for him. We always knew he had a screw loose and I’m glad you could fix it.” That made me laugh, for sure! These brothers have a lot of fun together. It turned out the screw was the wrong on...2021-11-2021 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter191 – A Tale of Two Exhaust Valves In this episode, we are talking about two different exhaust valves, both of which showed signs of burning when we looked at them with the borescope. One valve was in the beginning stages of burning, and the other was too far gone. Scroll down for more info and some photos. We also talk a bit in this episode about Arthur St. Clair and his P35 Bonanza. I mentioned him in a previous episode, and recently he came back to Classic Aviation so we could borescope his cylinders and exhaust valves. Thankfully, all his valves were...2021-11-1421 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter190 – The Cessna 172 is Flying Again! It’s been a long and in-depth annual inspection, along with the extensive list of squawk repairs. But it’s a great airplane, and I’d love to fly it if I had the opportunity! In today’s podcast, we cover the remaining squawks on this airplane, concluding with scale weighing the aircraft, and sending it back out into the blue skies yesterday! I’m confident the owner will get many happy and safe hours of flying out of this amazing airplane. Be sure to check out the store page to learn more about the...2021-10-2132 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter189 – Cessna 172 Squawks Part Two In episode 188, we covered the first 30 squawks on a Cessna 172 that’s in the shop for an annual inspection and a bunch of repairs. In this episode, we are tackling another chunk of the squawks and repairs. Here’s a sampling: Under the pilot instrument panel, some wiring was tied to one of the fuel primer lines… a bad idea. I secured the wiring away from the primer line. Here’s another one: the owner did not like the old, large throttle knob, and was ready to change the whole throttle control...2021-10-1542 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter188 – Cessna 172 Squawks and Repairs It certainly looked like a crusty old engine when we removed the cowling for the annual inspection. The exterior is one thing… but perhaps even more importantly, I wondered about the internal condition of the engine. Surprisingly, the borescope showed the cylinders to be in amazingly good condition on the inside. Perhaps this was partially due to lots of consistent flying in the past couple years. Since the airplane had been in Florida before it was sold, there were multiple areas of corrosion to clean and repaint. Just the other day, it was “spot...2021-10-0858 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter187 – Wonders and Woes of a Cirrus SR22 In today’s podcast episode, I talked about this specific SR22, and some maintenance I was involved in… scroll down for some related photos. But first, I just wanted to say the SR22 is a great airplane! Here are some of the “wonders” of an SR22, as I see it: It’s a beautiful aircraft!It feels so natural, sitting in the pilot seat.It has a parachute.It’s composite-built.It’s been around long enough to become “time-tested” and to have many of the bugs worked out.The paint jobs are usually amazing.It goes fast, but has...2021-09-1837 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter186 – Diamond DA40 Squawks & a new Bonanza Friend! From left: Arthur, Dave, Mervin, Dean (I got to work with these guys last Monday at Classic Aviation., when Dave had me lap the exhaust valves in cylinders 3 and 5.) Scroll down for more info about this valve lapping adventure. Diamond DA40 annual inspection – here are some squawks we discuss in this episode: Electroair ignition leads.Nose gear issues, including a missing elastomer element: This is the elastomer pack for the nose gear. The small elastomer element in the yellow circle is the one that we replaced since the old one had split and fallen ou...2021-08-2835 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter185 – Standby Alternator System and Other Fun Stuff I’ve just completed the installation for a B&C Specialties standby alternator system on an E33A Bonanza. It’s a fantastic system, and I talked about it in today’s podcast episode. Be sure to listen for a caution about the right magneto when installing a new oil seal in the drive adapter for the standby alternator. Here are some other items mentioned in this episode: Jim Lanning (92 years old!) and David McCain, stopped at KSHD yesterday in a beautiful Great Lakes aircraft. Jim is in the front seat. Check it out: A we...2021-08-2041 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter184 – My Oshkosh 2021 Adventure! AirVenture was a fantastic experience once again! In addition to the audio podcast for this episode, I also made a video using some of my favorite photos… here’s the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/VlErN8RQNrQ Don’t forget to click the “Store” tab above and check out the resources there. If you have any questions, click the button that says “Send Voicemail” and leave me a message. The post “184 – My Oshkosh 2021 Adventure!” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com 2021-08-1340 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter183 – I’m Bringing an Engine Cylinder to Oshkosh! Here’s a sampling of items I’m planning to use for one of my presentations at Oshkosh this year. It’s called “Lapping Valves & Saving Cylinders.” Click here for more info I’d love to see you there if you’re attending Airventure this year. It’s on Thursday afternoon, July 29, from 4-5:15 pm in Workshop Classroom C. We’ll be lapping the exhaust valve from this Bonanza cylinder, and I invite you to come join the fun! I’ll also have some other exhaust valves and rotocoils for display. Some of the rotocoils have b...2021-07-2420 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter182 – Plane Lands in Farm Field After Engine Failure Note: I’m offering a 30% discount on the new shock strut servicing video course from now until Monday night, July 12 at midnight Eastern Daylight time. Use the code “STRUT” for a 30% discount and pay only $67 instead of the normal price of $97. Click here to check out the course Now for the engine failure story: They got stopped about 35 yards before the trees! It appears they kept flying the airplane with an oil pressure problem, and the engine finally failed catastrophically. I took a trip with my fellow A&P, Kennet...2021-07-1130 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter181 – Strut Webinar Replay and Video Course Are Ready! We had a great webinar last evening! Thanks to all who showed up on the call. If you were not able to join us, but would like to see the replay, here’s the link: Click here to watch the shock strut webinar replay The webinar replay will be available for the next 7 days. Additionally, the much more detailed training is now available in our newly created Shock Strut Servicing Video Course. Click here for the details about the training course Special bonus until Monday, July 5th at 12 midnight Eastern Daylight Ti...2021-07-0317 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter180 – Almost Time for Oshkosh 2021! It’s almost time to make the journey to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for Airventure 2021! I hope to see you there… I’m super excited to give 2 presentations this year: Here’s the first one: Lapping Valves & Saving Cylinders Thursday, July 29 · 4:00 PM – 5:15 PM in Workshop Classroom C. And the second presentation: Borescope Your Own Exhaust Valves Saturday, July 31 · 8:30 AM – 9:45 AM in Workshop Classroom A. One of my favorite memories from the 2019 show was on Saturday evening when Julie Clark gave her final Oshkosh performance in her T34 Mentor, as she w...2021-06-2618 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter179 – Help! I Took A Turbo Apart Listen to the podcast episode to hear how Jeff bailed me out on this one! (The gasket between the halves of the turbo broke as I was trying to rotate the halves to reseal an oil fitting.) We also talked in this episode about two upcoming opportunities: I’ll be presenting a Zoom webinar on Friday, July 2. The topic is “Best tips for servicing an airplane shock strut.” You can sign up and register here: AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com/shockstruts (There are only 100 spots for this presentation.)Also on that same day, July 2, we will be launching the Shock...2021-06-2020 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter178 – Propeller Mystery Solved! We’ll talk about these photos in this week’s podcast episode, and how they explain the problem Aram was having with his propeller. (Photos courtesy of Dave Pasquale of Pasquale Aviation LLC.) Dave is removing the prop to be sent out for repair, and will reinstall it when the repair is finished. But first, I want to introduce a podcast listener in Germany. Dmitry is the owner of a 1965 Bolkow 208C Junior. He sent me an email last week along with some photos. He’s the kind of airplane owner we love around here at Air...2021-06-1127 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter177 – An Out-of-Control Propeller! He departed KSHD yesterday in his super-nice P35 Bonanza, headed for his home airport in Pennsylvania. The ground runup was normal, and things were looking good as he approached his cruising altitude of 7000 feet. But as he leveled off, Aram discovered he could not control his propeller / engine RPM… it was overspeeding regardless of the position of the prop control. There was only one choice… reduce manifold pressure to a point low enough to keep the prop below red line RPM. So that’s what he did… the trip home was much slower than normal, but the...2021-06-0523 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter176 – Lessons From the Best Kind of Airplane Owner A nice airplane deserves a high-quality owner, and that’s exactly what this amazing P35 Bonanza has. Aram takes meticulously good care of it. In today’s episode, you’ll hear why I think Aram is the best kind of airplane owner, and some lessons you might want to consider for maintaining your airplane as well. lf you haven’t listened to episode 147, be sure to check that one out to hear an interview with Aram. Also, the list of “My Aviation Pet Peeves” came from episode 023, in case you’d like to check that one...2021-05-2137 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter175 – Shock Strut Servicing Course Coming Soon! Does your airplane’s shock strut need fluid? Does it need nitrogen? … or air? And more importantly, could you service the strut safely? If you’ve ever had a low strut, you know it can be very frustrating. Sometimes it can be challenging to sort through all the maintenance manual information, your POH information, your local A&P’s instructions, and your fellow aviators’ opinions, about shock struts and how they should be maintained. What if there was a simple and clear way to learn about shock strut servicing? Very...2021-05-0833 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter174 – Turbo-Normalized Bonanza Exhaust Valve Rescue! I received an email recently from Spence, the owner of an S35 Bonanza with a Turbo-Normalized IO-520 engine. He included a picture of his #2 cylinder exhaust valve. Here’s what it looked like: At first glance, my reaction was something like, “Oooh, that’s ugly!” The most concerning area is the spot at the 10 o’clock position. There’s also a little concerning area at the 2:30 position as well, but not as much as the 10 o’clock position. The normal deposits seen on the top and bottom edges of the valve have been burned away over at the 10...2021-04-3034 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter173 – What’s Happening With Cylinder #1 in my Mooney M20J? I got an email from Michael this past week. He owns a Mooney M20J, and something strange happened with cylinder #1’s EGT and CHT recently. Michael agreed to let me share the story, so that’s the main feature in this episode. The picture above is one Michael took with his borescope while looking for any obvious problems with the cylinder. Before we get to that story, here are a few items I included in this episode: How I microwaved a fork, and nothing bad happened How I’ve been fighting the mice at Classic Aviati...2021-04-1052 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter172 – A Perplexing Low Cylinder Compression on a Piper Saratoga 12/80! That’s a terrible compression test result. And unlike some cylinders, this one did not show any obvious reasons for the low compression… take a look at the valves after the cylinder was removed: Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see anything that would explain such a low compression number. The cylinder has been shipped to Tim Barnes at Skyline Cylinders for repair, so I’m hoping he will be able to give me more information about it. You can listen to the audio for more thoughts about this whole experience, and maybe I’ll give an upda...2021-03-2625 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter171 – Bad Gas in the Cockpit! Can you see the problem with this exhaust muffler? Maybe a closer look will help: (The cracked area was just inside the shroud that collects heat for the cabin.) Thankfully Matt, the owner of a nice Cessna 170, had a carbon monoxide detector in his airplane that picked up the small amount of “bad gas in the cockpit.” Check out his panel: I discovered Matt’s CO detector is available at Aircraft Spruce for $99. He’s been happy with this detector, and I would think it’s FAR BETTER than the little “spot detectors” that are often...2021-03-1222 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter170 – Eddie’s Jabiru Cylinder Compression: From 0/80 to 70/80! I had a surprise call this morning… my friend Eddie called and wondered if he could borrow a borescope. One of the cylinders in his Sonex’s Jabiru engine had zero compression, and he wanted to take a look inside the cylinder, especially at the exhaust valve. Since I’m always looking for a good story, it didn’t take me long to say, “This sounds interesting… I’ll grab my borescope and drive right over to the airport.” We got the borescope set up and quickly noticed the exhaust valve appeared to be open a tiny bit when...2021-03-0627 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter169 – Transformed Interiors with Autumn Elizabeth Design Our guest for today’s episode is Autumn Duntz, an aviation interior designer and refurbishment expert… welcome Autumn! After observing some poor quality elements in a newly refurbished Beechcraft A36 Bonanza interior, I wondered how this type of thing could be avoided. After a little online research, I found Autumn’s website, AutumnElizabethDesign.com. I quickly realized she would be a great guest for the podcast. I was curious about what airplane owners can do to avoid typical pitfalls and make the whole interior refurbishment process more fun and less stressful, while also achieving the desire...2021-02-1938 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter168 – Things I Found on an A36 Bonanza Does your airplane have emergency exit windows? If so, would your passengers know how to operate them? Here’s an emergency exit window where the instructions were hardly readable: Thankfully, the lettering was etched into the panels, and a fine point Sharpie did the trick: Imagine trying to remove that window if you were completely unfamiliar… these placards are important! Find out in today’s episode why the placards were unreadable, and also hear about the other squawks that were discovered on an A36 Bonanza during annual inspection. If y...2021-02-121h 08

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter167 – Shop Towels in Wrong Places In a previous episode, I shared the story about how I accidentally left a shop towel in an engine… I got some great feedback from that episode, including the picture above… a flight student found a shop towel during preflight… in a place you would not expect. It’s one more reminder to be extra-diligent during maintenance, and to have another person look over your work before installing the cowling. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing the feedback I got from the story of the shop towel in the engine. (If you missed t...2021-02-0621 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter166 – A Strong and Humble Blue Angels Pilot: Jim Cox Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) James Cox, a member of the Navy’s Blue Angels Team, is our guest today on the podcast! He exceeded my expectations in so many ways in our conversation, and I’m thrilled to share this interview with you. You’ll definitely want to listen to this one! Although the Blue Angels do a lot of traveling, Jim is also a dedicated family man, and we talked about how he stays connected with his wife and kids while serving with the Blue Angels. Jim said, “Communication is key.” That’s a good word for all of us, i...2021-01-2955 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter165 – A Shop Towel in the Engine! Don’t Do What I Did! Hi Friends! I have a story for you today that I wish I didn’t have. But it’s true, so we might as well learn from it. Thankfully, everything turned out well on this one. At Moody Aviation where I went to school years ago, we had a concept called “SYE.” It stood for “Share Your Experience.” It was a concept to encourage us to take our mistakes and make a learning opportunity from them. Listen to today’s podcast for the story of how I accidentally left a red shop towel ins...2021-01-2239 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter164 – Airplanes, Motorcycles, and Bob’s Grass Runway Bob Shenk (right) is a huge fan of Luscombes… this beautifully restored aircraft was among the airplanes I got to see when I visited Bob’s place a week ago… what a pleasure that visit was! Donnie Simmons (left) is a good friend of Bob’s, and often spends his Fridays at Bob’s place, both helping with Bob’s projects, as well as some of his own. In addition to airplanes, Bob also likes motorcycles… He owned a Honda dealership years ago, and has some pretty cool two-wheeled machines… and can you guess what that...2020-12-1839 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter163 – Gear Warning Light Mystery I recently did an annual inspection on a Rockwell Commander, and the gear warning light was not working. Before we tell that story, I want to thank our sponsor, PilotWorkshops.com This week’s “Tip of the Week” was about emergency checklist memorization… a very interesting lesson by Sarah Fritts, a West Point graduate and Army combat aviator. These short, practical, free tips are sent out every Wednesday, and are totally worthwhile. Click here to sign up. I also discovered Sarah Fritts has a website with fantastic training resources at ThinkAviation.net ...2020-12-0621 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter162 – Giving Thanks for my Good Friend Jonathan Brush Without Jonathan Brush, this podcast might not exist! I’m super-thankful for his part in pushing me to launch this whole thing. I think you’ll enjoy the conversation with him today. At the end of the podcast, I asked Jonathan to talk a little about the organization he leads, called Unbound. If you’re curious after hearing about it, or if you have high school age or young adult kids, check out BeUnbound.us for more info. The phone number is on the top left corner of the website, and if you call...2020-11-2645 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter161 – Tobin’s Cherokee Six Our sponsor for this episode is PilotWorkshops.com Be sure to sign up for the “Tip of the Week” and you’ll receive a short, but valuable tip to make you a better pilot… it’s a fun way to learn! Click here for details. PilotWorkshops also has an excellent resource for learning about engines… it’s called “Airplane Engines – A Pilot Friendly Manual.” Click here to check it out. This week, I have a little request… my daughter just launched a new podcast called “Play Piano by Ear.” Please help me surprise her by subscribing and/or...2020-11-2144 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter160 – Jessica Spangler Becoming an A&P in Cameroon Jessica is our special guest on the podcast today. She and her husband Mark, along with their 5 kids, are serving with a mission organization in Cameroon, Africa. Mark flies helicopters, and Jessica works in the maintenance shop, with plans to get her A&P certificate. I think you’ll enjoy her story! Instagram: Spanglers_in_Cameroon Check out the crew Mark and Jessica work with in Cameroon: Be sure to listen for Jessica’s story in today’s podcast, about the time this wrench accidentally shorted across the battery terminals of a helicopter… in fact...2020-11-0948 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter159 – In the Approach Path of a Boeing 737! I’m so glad I got talked into this one! (Thanks Kenneth!) It turned out to be a definite highlight of the week… you can hear more about the details in the podcast audio. I want to thank PilotWorkshops.com for sponsoring the podcast. The book, “Airplane Engines: A Pilot Friendly Manual” is a resource you’ll love. Click here for more info. Also, don’t miss the very popular “Tip of the Week” by PilotWorkshops as well. This week’s tip was about flying through rain, and had some really useful tips both f...2020-10-3130 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter158 – Starters, Starter Adapters, and Starter Solenoids I installed this starter and starter adapter on a Beechcraft Debonair IO-470 engine last week… the starter adapters (or sometimes called a clutch, or starter drive,) sometimes begin to slip, and when that happens, it’s time for overhaul. It’s also recommended to overhaul the starter at the same time, or install a new one. There are also different opinions about the newer “lightweight starters” like Sky-Tek and others. Some prefer the older style starters due to some past problems with certain lightweight starters. Regardless of which starter you choose, take some time to do...2020-10-2532 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter157 – Valve lapping, shock mounts, and vacuum issues Valve lapping is sometimes a great option for improving cylinder compression and extending the life of an exhaust valve. We’ll talk about it in today’s episode. Pilot Workshops.com is our sponsor for this episode, and I wholeheartedly recommend their resources. Be sure to sign up for the “Tip of the Week,” and receive a short, practical tip every Wednesday morning that will make you a better pilot. PilotWorkshops.com also has simple and practical book about Airplane Engines. It’s packed full of easy-to-understand information for pilots. As we approach the season...2020-10-1736 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter156 – The Weirdest Vacuum System Problem I’ve Ever Seen Although a shop vac might not pull as much vacuum as an engine driven vacuum pump, it can still be useful for some parts of the troubleshooting process. This was just one thing we did on the path to solving a very strange vacuum problem. Listen to the story in today’s podcast episode. Our sponsor for this episode is PilotWorkshops.com Regardless of where you are in your aviation journey, PilotWorkshops has the perfect resources to help you become a safer and more proficient pilot. Subscribe to the Tip of the Week, an...2020-10-0528 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter155 – My Retractable Landing Gear is Not Moving! This is what Josh discovered recently in his Beechcraft Debonair while getting some training in his airplane with an instructor as part of the Bonanza Pilot Proficiency Program (BPPP.) The gear motor was the culprit. Josh’s story is the main feature in today’s episode, but first I want to thank PilotWorkshops for sponsoring the podcast. The more I learn about PilotWorkshops, the more impressed I am. The team led by Mark Robidoux is producing all kinds of valuable resources to help us as pilots go beyond being legal and certified, to becoming proficient and...2020-09-2627 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter154 – If I Looked at YOUR Airplane, What Would I Discover? A good friend from another airport recently bought this Piper Archer, and I’ve had the opportunity to do a little maintenance on it and take a look around. This is one of three airplanes I’ve had an opportunity to look at recently… all three were in annual inspection, but I noticed a few things that could use some attention. We’ll save the Archer for last. First, a Cessna 172: I noticed the fuel strainer (gascolator) was safety wired backwards! The same Cessna 172 also had a small oil leak… I later disc...2020-09-1939 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter153 – A Flying and Maintenance Adventure at Ravenswood WV Josh recently purchased his 1963 Beechcraft Debonair and needed some help, so I flew to his airport and spent the good part of a day with him. We replaced a broken exhaust support angle on the right exhaust tailpipe, and then we took a good look around the airplane. It surprised me when we discovered missing cotter pins in the left and right main landing gear uplock cable clevis bolts. Toward the end of our time that day, we borescoped the exhaust valves, and they were all in very good condition. Here’s the exhaust valve in...2020-08-2931 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter152 – My Bonanza Door Popped Open, and My Wife Won’t Fly With Me! This was Jim’s story when he brought his airplane in for the annual inspection. Listen to today’s episode to find out what we did with Jim’s door latching system… he did most of the work on that issue, and I think his wife will fly with him now! Other items of interest in this episode: Kat’s story about the time her student overprimed the engine and it caught on fire.Comments and questions from Alan Christy.Voice message and a question from Dan Douillard. Here’s the Aviation Consumer article about vacuum...2020-08-2444 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter151 – Things I Found On Tom’s Piper Cherokee I’ve known Tom for a long time, and what a fantastic experience it was, working with him on his annual inspection! Tom is the president of our local EAA chapter, and he’s given me numerous opportunities to speak to the group about maintenance topics. Thank you Tom, for serving our local general aviation community so well! It had been quite a few years since I had inspected Tom’s Cherokee, and it was a great experience to work with him again in the shop at Classic Aviation, LLC. I was impressed with the way he...2020-08-0750 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter150 – John and Leslie Caubble’s Aviation Journey! In today’s episode, we get to hear how John and Leslie got into aviation, and their move from Arkansas to Maui. It’s a real adventure, and I’m sure you’ll be inspired listening to their story! Be sure to also listen to their latest episode of the Fly Maui Podcast, “Don’t Let Setbacks Define You.” What a timely message for all of us! Listen on your favorite app, or click here for the Fly Maui HI website. To learn more about John and Leslie and what they’re doing, check out the following li...2020-07-2454 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter149 – Cessna 172 Q & A with John and Leslie Caubble In today’s episode, I’m super excited to introduce John and Leslie Caubble to you! They’ve become good friends of mine in the last couple years, and they have a really inspiring aviation journey. We put together some Cessna 172 maintenance related questions, and I thought it would be a lot more fun to have them join me for this episode, rather than me talking about these questions by myself. In a future episode, we’ll have them back again to talk about their personal aviation journey. Thanks, John and Leslie...2020-07-1746 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter148 – $200 Annual Inspection with Jim Weir You might be wondering, “How is that possible,” or “What kind of shady operation is that?!” Same here. When I first heard about the $200 annual inspection, I was skeptical… until I actually researched what Jim does and how he does it. That prompted me to call him, and he was gracious enough to take some time to talk with me for the podcast. Thanks Jim! In talking with Jim, I discovered he does a very thorough, AND very efficient annual inspection with the carefully selected owners he works with. He does this by maximizing the involvement of the airpla...2020-07-1030 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter147 – Aram Basmadjian and His V-Tail Bonanza In today’s episode, I’m happy to introduce my good friend, Aram Basmadjian! Aram has a very interesting aviation journey, and it was fun talking with him for this episode. Aram flew for Skywest Airlines for about 8 years, which was a great foundation for the flying he does today. Aram enjoys going places with his wife and daughter in his 1962 P35 Bonanza. He’s also the chief flight instructor at a local college, which allows him to use his skill and passion for teaching pilots effective procedures for instrument flying. And on...2020-07-0445 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter146 – Fixing an Obscure Oil Leak The part in the yellow circle is an oil scavenge pump that returns oil back to the engine oil sump after it lubricates the turbocharger center bearings. The right side of the assembly is the adapter that fits into the engine accessory case. The left side of the assembly is the hydraulic pump that is used for the landing gear system, the flap system, and the nosegear steering system in this Aerostar 601. Inside the oil scavenge pump, there are two oil seals, (sometimes called garlock seals,) and two o-rings. In today’s episode, we discuss th...2020-06-2739 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter145 – Seatbelt Airbags and Transient Voltage Suppressors NOTE: I now have limited spots available on Fridays for one-on-one calls. Here’s how it works: Click the following link and pick a time on my calendar that works for you. https://calendly.com/deanshow/60minSend me a payment for $100 at the following link: PayPal.Me/airplaneownermaint (This is for a one-hour call.) Why would you invest in one of these calls? General look-over of your airplane.Troubleshooting an issue with your airplane.Question and answer session.General airplane advice.Other ideas you may have. And… it’s risk-free. Within 24 hours after the ca...2020-06-1623 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter144 – Joe Godfrey, Engine Data, and Savvy Analysis Joe Godfrey is an expert when it comes to analyzing engine data from aircraft engine monitoring systems. Joe is the Director of Operations at SavvyAnalysis, as well as a Columnist and Editor for SavvyAviation News. Not only does Joe analyze airplane engine data, but he also owns and flies his own airplane, a Bellanca Viking. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “Puzzler” in the Savvy Aviation Newsletter, where some real-world airplane engine data is discussed in a way to help us understand how to “read” the data. These puzzlers are from actual problems encountere...2020-06-0654 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter143 – Oh No! A Lycoming Exhaust Stud Pulled Out! Note: The “Safety Wire Like A Pro!” video training course is available for one more day at 20% off (use code “canard” for discount coupon.) Read about the training here: https://airplane-owner-maintenance.teachable.com/p/safetywiring Three stories for today: Story #1: A Lycoming exhaust stud pulled out. It was disappointing, but turned out to be an inspiring learning experience. A helicoil had previously been installed, which pulled out, and left a hole too big to install another helicoil (thread repair). Listen and find out how we solved the problem...2020-05-3037 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter142 – Fixing a Stranded Cessna 172XP and Flying it Home What an adventure! This airplane got stranded at Wilmington, Delaware due to failure of the #2 cylinder on the Lycoming IO-360 engine. The local maintenance shop discovered the exhaust valve rocker shaft stud had broken… here’s what it looked like: Obviously, that cylinder was rendered useless… and it caused a significant power loss. Thankfully, the flight instructor and student were able to make an uneventful landing at KILG. Weeks later, Kenneth and I set out on an adventure to fix the airplane and get it back home. We left early...2020-05-1640 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter141 – Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, is Exactly Backwards! Scroll down for pictures of some things included in today’s episode. Sitting in my truck the other day, I had a revelation. Here it is: When you are having maintenance done on your airplane, Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, is exactly backwards. Instead, it’s important to “Communicate, then Navigate, and finally Aviate.” First, communicate. TALK WITH your A&P or shop about the work you need done. Establish good communication right from the start, and maintain that communication all the way through the process. This way, you can hopefully avoid th...2020-05-0134 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter140 – I Traveled to Wyoming and Canada this Week and Learned About Four Different Airplanes! Before we get into the places I “traveled” through FaceTime calls, I wanted to share something you might be interested in… my friends, John and Leslie Caubble (FlyMauiHI.com) now have a “Fly Maui” YouTube channel, and I recently watched their new video where they talked about ForeFlight basics… It’s called ForeFlight 101. It’s really good information, and here’s a link for that video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_wXmz7UGuFcK4paSe0gRg I “traveled” to 3 different locations this week, not physically, but through FaceTime video calls, where I talked with 3 airplane owners and “walked aro...2020-04-1830 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter139 – My Alternator Came Apart… Should I Also Replace the Voltage Regulator? NOTICE: UNTIL THE END OF MAY 2020, USE CODE “CANARD” FOR A 20% DISCOUNT ON MY VIDEO COURSE “SAFETY WIRE LIKE A PRO!” (Listen to the podcast to hear the story behind the word “canard” and why I chose that for the code.) Click the following link to learn about the course: https://airplane-owner-maintenance.teachable.com/p/safetywiring I received an email recently asking a question about an alternator that came apart due to a failed bearing… listen to today’s podcast episode for some thoughts on that. Also, many older airplanes don’t have a digital v...2020-04-0436 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter138 – Mike White and his 1948 Piper Stinson ——————————————————————————————————————– Special announcement: We have more pictures of Mike’s airplane, but first, I want to let you know about a Zoom call I’ve scheduled for tomorrow. I’m hoping to provide a way to get together online for some aviation encouragement in this weird time we’re in with the Corona Virus and the effects of it. Here are the details for tomorrow’s call: Time: Mar 28, 2020 03:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/100883804?pwd=R1ZlQWVwRFhUdldOMnFCKzJlVlVmZz09 Meeting ID: 100 883 804 Password: Airplane If you’d like to see some pictures of things I’ve been wor...2020-03-2722 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter137 – IA Seminar Borescoping and Exhaust Valve Stories Yesterday, I had an opportunity to present a talk at our local IA renewal seminar about exhaust valve borescoping. I shared some of my favorite pictures – the ones that demonstrate how critically important borescoping is, and that compression testing alone is not sufficient. The following three examples are especially startling, since they showed a compression test of at least 60/80, but were in imminent danger of in-flight failure: The FIRST ONEis from a Continental engine in an A36 Bonanza. Notice the green area at 9:00, indicating that area was in danger of a piece breaking of...2020-03-1542 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter136 – Engine Oil Leak: How Much is Too Much? Engine oil leaks are a common problem on small airplanes with piston engines. But how much oil leakage is too much? Here’s an indicator: If there’s oil on the nose tire, and it paints a stripe on the pavement with each revolution, that’s too much oil leakage. This was the case the other day on a Cessna 172, so we did some detective work to see where the oil was coming from. After removing the cowling, it was obvious the oil leak was significant, and it appeared to be coming from the left side o...2020-02-2226 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter135 – Carl Valeri: Airline Pilot, Piper Pilot, and Aviation Careers Coach After a successful career in computers early in life, Carl Valeri decided years ago it was time to pursue his passion for aviation. Since that time, he’s been an airline pilot, flight instructor, aviation careers coach, mentor, Piper Cherokee pilot, and many other things. Carl is well known as the host of two podcasts, the Aviation Careers Podcast, and the Stuck Mic AvCast. You can find him in both of those places: AviationCareersPodcast.com StuckMicAvCast.com Be sure to check out the Scholarships Guide that Carl produces… there are more than...2020-02-091h 05

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter134 – An Unlikely Cause for a Hot Mag on a Cirrus “There’s no RPM drop when I select left mag, and if I turn the ignition switch off, the engine continues to run.” That’s what the owner of this Cirrus reported when he arrived at our airport the other day. One of our technicians got to work to troubleshoot the problem. Here’s what he found: The magneto P-lead wiring checked good.The ignition switch checked good.It appeared the problem was with the magneto. So let’s pause and ask, “Which magneto, left or right?” Good question, because this stuff can someti...2020-02-0223 min

Spirituality for the Politically IncorrectWhy Love Heals with Dr. Dean ShrockWhat a surprise when this doctor found that when he wrote prescriptions for his patients to go fishing, he found that his patients were living much longer than those getting only conventional medical treatment. Don't miss this amazing episode to discover how Dr. Shrock came to believe--and wrote a book--on Why Love Heals!Dr. Dean Shrock wrote a book in 2000 about the wellness program he taught and the insights he gained. This book, Doctor’s Order’s: Go Fishing, is not about cancer, as much as it is about life. Readers can use the information to get w...2020-01-2625 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter133 – The Firetrucks Rolled When a Navajo’s Landing Gear Did Not Extend I was sitting in my car that day, having lunch with my friend Matt, when we noticed the airport fire trucks were rolling out toward the runway. Although they exercise these trucks regularly, this time seemed different. And sure enough, a Piper Navajo made a low pass and it was obvious the landing gear was not extended. I decided to go inside and try to find out what was going on. After some conversation with the unicom people, I offered to talk with the pilot. They gladly agreed. Thankfully, we had maintained several...2020-01-2630 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter132 – Real Inflight Magneto Failures & Troubleshooting Note: scroll to the bottom of this post for a special announcement. Have you ever experienced an inflight magneto failure? If not, you might some day… but if you take action on the recommendation in today’s episode, you can dramatically reduce the likelihood of that happening. The left mag on this Cessna 172RG failed in flight, and after opening the mag, it became obvious what happened. The finger electrode that is part of the distributor gear inside the magneto, had gotten loose from its mounting position, and was able to rotate freely 180 degr...2020-01-1836 min

Aviation Careers PodcastACP255 Aircraft Mechanic and Flight Instructor Dean ShowalterWelcome to the inspirational, informational, and transparent aviation careers podcast. Today discuss the civilian route to becoming an aviation maintenance technician. We have a special guest Dean Showalter, aviation maintenance technician, and podcaster, to help us understand the life of a civilian aviation mechanic. But first a few announcements. Announcements: Congratulations To Nik Schiaffo for […] The post ACP255 Aircraft Mechanic and Flight Instructor Dean Showalter appeared first on Aviation Careers Podcast.2020-01-1548 min

Podcast Archives - Aviation Careers PodcastACP255 Aircraft Mechanic and Flight Instructor Dean ShowalterWelcome to the inspirational, informational, and transparent aviation careers podcast. Today discuss the civilian route to becoming an aviation maintenance technician. We have a special guest Dean Showalter, aviation maintenance technician, and podcaster, to help us understand the life of a civilian aviation mechanic. But first a few announcements. Announcements: Congratulations To Nik Schiaffo for […] The post ACP255 Aircraft Mechanic and Flight Instructor Dean Showalter appeared first on Aviation Careers Podcast.2020-01-1548 min

Stuck Mic AvCastSMAC229 Airplane Owner Maintenance with Dean ShowalterWelcome to the show about learning to fly, living to fly, and loving to fly. Today we have a special guest Dean Showalter the Host of Airplane Owner Maintenance Podcast. Dean’s podcast has a plethora of information for the aircraft owner who takes an active role in aircraft maintenance. I am excited to have Dean … Continue reading SMAC229 Airplane Owner Maintenance with Dean Showalter The post SMAC229 Airplane Owner Maintenance with Dean Showalter appeared first on Stuck Mic AvCast.2020-01-151h 00

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter131 – Drew Wright’s Cessna 182 Exhaust Valve Lapping Success! During the recent annual inspection on Drew Wright’s Cessna 182, cylinder #1 had a low compression of 42/80. However, with the amazing technology of borescoping, he was able to take a look inside the cylinder. The nice concentric circle of deposits on the face of the exhaust valve indicates a healthy valve. Drew wondered if perhaps this valve would be a good candidate for lapping in place, without removing the cylinder. Even though the valve appeared healthy, Drew noticed a significant amount of air leaking out the exhaust during the compression test. Once again, his borescope was very helpful in...2019-12-3044 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter130 – A Fuel Leak That Didn’t Catch Fire Limited time offer on the “Safety Wire Like A Pro!” video tutorial course: (Offer good until midnight December 24, 2019. Just use code “2019” at checkout.) Click here to save 10% and become an expert! Hey, check out this 10 second video of an absolutely startling fuel leak I found this past week during a “routine oil change.” The reason I put that “routine oil change” in quotes is because I’m convinced we should never view an oil change as just a routine thing in itself. Rather, it should be viewed as an opportunity to become a detective...2019-12-1427 min

Airplane Owner Maintenance026_-_Cracked_Flight_Control_Surfaces..._Are_They_Airworthy_or_Not_.mp3 2016-06-0923 min