Vic Syracuse
Vic is a fixed-wing and helicopter commercial pilot, CFII with ASMEL/ASES ratings, an A&P/IA, DAR, and EAA technical advisor and flight counselor. Passionately involved in aviation for over 40 years, he has built 11 aircraft and logged over 10,000 hours in 72 different kinds of aircraft. Vic volunteers as a Young Eagle pilot, has his own sport aviation business called Base Leg Aviation, and has written two books on aircraft prebuy and condition inspections.
Loose Intake Pipe
Sometimes the intake pipes on Lycoming engines can come loose. This will cause an intake leak, usually indicated by a rough idle and higher...
Avionics Dropout
In this case, the non-builder owner stated that the avionics, including his EFIS, would intermittently drop out while in flight and sometimes even on...
Worn Out Manifold Hose
Almost all rubber hoses have a shelf life. Most are around eight years. The symptoms were fluctuating manifold pressure readings, and the hose completely...
Disintegrated Drive Coupling
Ever wonder why the standby alternator or vacuum pump isn’t working? There is a drive coupling that is designed to break if something becomes...
Bad Indication or a Real Problem?
How many of us have seen an unusual engine temp/parameter indication and wondered if it was really the engine or a faulty reading? The...
Cracked Exhaust
Exhaust cracks can be insidious, although sometimes they leave a gray-looking residue. Use a bright flashlight and inspect them every time the cowling is...
Missing Safety Wire
The jam nut on this flap motor is required to be safety wired to prevent the nut from coming loose. There is a lot...
Homebuilt Aircraft Council Awards Hats to First-Time Builders
The Homebuilt Aircraft Council this year introduced a new hat to recognize first-time aircraft builders bringing their aircraft to AirVenture for the first time....
The Case of Electrical Dropouts
Electrical gremlins can be tough to track down. This month’s case involved a non-builder owner of a fairly new RV-8, and it took us...
Improperly Installed Intake Gaskets
We noticed the intake gaskets were leaking on cylinders 3 and 4 on the Lycoming IO-320 in an RV-9A. There was a logbook entry...
In Case You Missed It
Building a Tunable Carbon Fiber Induction Plenum
There’s always more to learn when increasing your engine’s horsepower output and optimizing volumetric efficiency.
Going Glass in a Glasair
Lessons learned while installing a Dynon SkyView system in a Glasair Super II apply to all types of experimentals. By Gary Jones.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook discusses the relative merits of internal versus external antennas, after using his Glastar Sportsman 2+2 as a test bed. His conclusions have to do with both the material used to build the airplane as well as location of the antenna on the aircraft.
![[Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/DSC00008-scaled.jpg?w=324&h=160&crop=1 "Logging Time")