TANIS, AND ANNUAL
A few days ago, I got a phone call. "Hey, Jack. It's good weather, and I'm here at the hangar. Bring the Duck on over. I have an empty spot for it here, and it's next in line". It's only a 23 mile hop over to Howell KOZW. Piece of cake.
Jim's call made me jump start my day, and reschedule an appointment. I hustled to the hangar and plugged in the Tanis engine heater. Free Air Temp was -3 degrees, and without supplemental heat, my engine wouldn't even turn over, let alone start. When I returned 4 hours later, the engine was still stone cold! I called Jim and informed him that I certainly wouldn't be there today. AARRGGHH!!
Looking around, I found the fuse and pulled it. An odd fuse. After trying three stores, I gave up and called the Tanis people. WOW! What service. It was 4:30 on Friday afternoon, and the president of the company answered. This is a special little fuse, made especially for them. He stuck a couple of them in the msil. The Tanis has heater pads on the bottom and top sides of the crankcase/block assembly, and one in each cylinderhead. It is the best system I've seen for preheating an aircraft engine.
In the meantime, I had an under capacity fuse (10 amp instead of 12) in, and hoped. Next day - another disappointment. Julie and I retreated to the Bestsellers coffee and book shop to lick our wounds. There, we ran into two friends, one of them another pilot. I told him the story, and he said, "No problem! We'll just use my portable heater for an hour, and it'll start. Just give me a call and we'll get it done."
So, now I need to line up Jim at the hangsr, Terry at the heater, and the weather gods. Then, The Ruptured Duck can get inspected and repaired at its annual inspection.