171 – Bad Gas in the Cockpit!

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter

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 used in airplanes.

Here’s a link for the CO detector in the above photo:

Forensics carbon monoxide detector.

Cameron (one of the A&P’s at Classic Aviation) is fixing the exhaust issue, and Matt will be back in the air real soon!

For more information about exhaust system leaks, check out episode 035:

AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com/035 “Airplane Exhaust Systems Tell Stories… Are You Listening?”

Also, Mike Busch wrote an excellent article years ago titled “Silent Killer”: If you think CO related accidents are rare, think again.

Click here to read Mike’s article.

---

On another note, I mentioned in this episode that I got to meet General Chuck Boyd yesterday as he was getting ready to depart SHD in his beautiful T34 airplane. It was such a pleasure to meet him, and I want to say “Thank you Sir, for your service in the Air Force!”

Check out this short YouTube video to learn a little about General Chuck Boyd, and to see his T34 airplane.

---

The post, “171 – Bad Gas in the Cockpit!” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com