MIGHTY MOUSE IS ON THE WAY!

When I was a kid growing up we had four channels on TV, and they were all in black and white. I used to watch Mighty Mouse cartoons with my sister, and he was one of the super heroes of our day. The show’s theme song stated: here I come to save the day...Mighty Mouse is on the way. Two meetings have been held in reference to engines and propellers; and in attendance were engine manufactures, propeller manufactures, FAA, EAA, AOPA, Cirrus Pilots Association, Beech Pilots Association and Cessna Pilots Association along with Mike Busch. For some reason Beech and Cessna did not think it was important enough to attend the second meeting. The reason this all came about is that Continental Engines sent out a mandatory service bulletin that could have led owners of these engines to payout anywhere from $20,000 to $35,000 to perform this mandatory service bulletin. Mandatory service bulletins are not mandatory in the United States but are mandatory in other countries. Usually when a company issues a mandatory service bulletin they ask the FAA to issue an Airworthy Directive (AD). I really disdain manufactures asking for an AD because it absolves the manufacture of any liability. When there is a recall on a car, the manufacture is responsible for ten years. Unless your plane is in the warranty period you are out of luck for an AD. I have argued against this for years. If a manufacture makes a mistake in production they should be responsible for it. Their answer is that they have a lot smaller productions than cars and would go out of business if they had to do this. With our lenient bankruptcy laws a company could close down today and start up as a new business tomorrow. This all leads me to our super hero, Mike Busch. Mike fly’s a Cessna 310 which means he would have an expense of approximately $50,000 if Continental was issued the AD. He took it upon himself to fight this service bulletin before an AD was issued. He involved all of the above listed. I was not in attendance for this meeting but the report back from those who were there is that he presented a case of how this could be handled without an AD being issued. I understand his presentation was eloquent, presented with facts and no emotions. The FAA reconsidered and did not issue an AD. Mike is truly a super hero to all those that own Continental engines. He saved people a small fortune. Without his advocacy, along with AOPA and EAA, the FAA would have certainly issued and AD. I am very thankful for his service to and knowledge of general aviation.