Another evening of annual Condition Inspection. I’m working my way aft from the spinner and Tanya is working forward from the tail. Everything aft of the baggage compartment has been inspected, lubricated, and buttoned back up. Nothing of interest to report. I completed the new carb heat setup with the “Zilik hinge”. I’m quite happy with it. We’ll see how it holds up.
I did notice that I’m missing one ring gear tooth. I know exactly when it happened. A couple of weeks ago during formation training in Brownwood, I was having a little bit of an issue getting it started when the signal was given. In my haste, I released the starter after enough turns, and reengaged it too quickly. The starter caught the prop in the last millisecond before it stopped. Don’t do that, my bad. The starter has been fine and I don’t see any other damage other than that one ring gear tooth. I’ll press on a new ring gear next time I have the prop off for any period of time.
