Date: Saturday, September 29, 2001, 12:52:09 AM Subject: Delayed Trip to Avalon (Catalina Island, CA) Howdy all, Today, three of my colleagues and I had planned a work-related offsite meeting at Catalina Island. The plan was to meet at 11am at the FBO, hop in my Cherokee 6, fly 40 minutes to AVX (Airport In The Sky) direct via VTU (the Ventura VOR), and munch on buffalo burgers while discussing some work-related issues. Even though I had checked out the plane on Wednesday (got in 6 touch & go's over at Santa Ynez), unfortunately, Murphy had other plans. My co-workers got strapped in, then I got the ATIS followed by clearance. Time to start the plane: full mixture, full prop, throttle in 1/4"-1/2", turn on the master, turn on the pump, wait for at least 6 gph fuel flow, mixture lean, pump off, press the starter for one rotation of the prop before turning the ignition to the left mag ... but, the prop doesn't fully rotate -- it just turns a third of the way and stops. I repeatedly press the starter, and repeatedly the prop turns part way then stops. It's a new (3 month old anyway) SkyTek starter, the battery is fresh, and, as I said earlier, I had just flown the plane two days ago. So.. what's up with the non-starter? I ask the FBO A&P, Chris, to come over and boost the plane with the portable battery booster, in case the battery somehow mysteriously drained itself in two days. Chris is not only an A&P, but he's also the shop manager, but gives his time generously. So, the battery booster is quickly rolled over, connected, "all clear", but.. still no go -- it cranks over once and stops. Another push, it cranks 1/4, 1/2 rotation and stops. At this point, we all get out of the plane (it's getting a little warm in the plane without any moving air), and Chris suggests replacing the battery "just in case". So, while he's fetching a spare Gil, I open the front baggage compartment, remove the screws, and pull the board. He swaps the battery, then, after another "clear", we crank it over and .. it turns 1/4, hesitates, and another 1/4 and then stops. Sheesh! At this point, I tell Chris that this is now _his_ problem, and tell the guys that we'll be eating lunch at the Beachside cafe in Goleta instead of at the Runway Cafe at Avalon. While we're at the Cafe, I call Chris and suggest that he let me know as soon as possible what the problem is and when it might be fixed, in case we can salvage our plan for the day. Just as we're finishing up lunch, he calls back to tell me that there *was* something wrong--high resistance cables--but that I could have been using the starter switch in a different way to overcome the high-resistance problem. So, we drive back and as we arrive at the FBO, my plane is being taxied back to its tie down from the shop. It was a strange thing to realize that I've never heard my plane from the outside. It seems quieter than from the inside. Chris explains that it's a good guess that the aluminum battery cables to the starter probably need replacing. Meanwhile, he also said that the starter switch should be used like a pump -- when the prop falters, the switch should be pressed again, in order to get a momentum going. I had suggested replacing the cables earlier, when the starter was being replaced, but, at the time, Chris said that it shouldn't be necessary, especially since they were only three feet long. Well, I never had to do this before, so it seems like the age of the cables have finally exceeded some threshold beyond which the starter needs to be pumped. I thanked Chris for his prompt help and work, and asked him to order new copper cables, even if they are only three feet long. So.. we piled back into the plane, got ATIS, clearance, programmed the GPS for direct VTU direct AVX, and away we flew, on a beautiful, clear and sunny southern California day. We managed to have our "offsite" at Avalon, the Airport in the Sky, after all. -- Best regards, Alan K. Stebbens , N4184R, PA32-300, SBA