Expensive Battery

Worked on the flying club airplane this weekend. Specifically, the club Cessna 172. It’s been in a hangar getting new paint, new glass, and a new interior (all to the tune of about $14,000) so it will be like a new airplane really nice.

As the maintenance officer, I carry a lot of daily responsibility for the club – fielding questions about the planes, handling communication about fixes and priorities to our mechanic, authorizing purchases, etc. This was a whole different ballgame. The organization required to get a project this big done by effectively two guys is massive. This weekend was the end – with one exception.

The plane was completely done, including the super-cool new vent canjs and sun visors. It was completely reassembled and cleaned up. We rolled it out to fire it up and take it around for a test flight. No dice. battery dead. After getting jump starts, trickle charging the battery, and even getting it running for 15 minutes – we couldn’t get tthe battery to hold a charge. Needed a new one. How much? For what is roughly equivalent to a slightly-more-powerful car battery? How about $225? For a BATTERY. Good GOD.

So now it’s Tuesday to get it running again.