Aircraft maintenance can be very puzzling sometimes. The current puzzle at the hangar is finding an oil leak on Bloke's Smith Mini Plane. He finished mounting an overhauled engine a couple weeks ago, but the first test flight revealed a big oil leak. So we looked back there and saw oil all over the place, but couldn't find the origin. So we started checking gaskets and found an incorrect one. Replaced it with a proper one, test flew the airplane and still a leak. We did this four more times with other components and got the same result.

Then Bloke had a good idea. We placed paper towels at certain locations in the engine compartment, then ran it up on the ramp. Sure enough, we found oil on the towels that were surrounding the fitting where the oil cooler hose exits the accessory case. Could this be the answer to the maiden's prayer? Stay tuned.

Today's photo is the engine compartment. It is a nightmare to work on because it is so crowded.