The Squawk Sheet

✦   Preflight Brief

Squawks don’t age like wine. They age like milk.

Welcome back to The Squawk Sheet. July in Texas means one thing in the hangar: everything that was marginal in May is now failing. The heat doesn’t create problems — it just speeds up the ones that were already there. This month we have three items that deserve your attention before your next flight.

First, a fresh FAA advisory that affects every piston aircraft in the fleet, regardless of make, model, or age — and it has nothing to do with the engine. Second, what your spark plugs are quietly recording about your engine right now — and how to read what they are telling you before the engine has to say it louder. Third, an honest look at the piston pre-buy market in mid-2026 and what it means if you are buying, selling, or simply deciding whether to stay.

We also want to introduce you to someone. The person whose standards are behind every aircraft that leaves our facility. More on that below. As always — a joke at the end. Some traditions earn their keep.

On April 8, 2026, the FAA issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin SAIB 2026-10, subsequently revised as 2026-10R1 on April 15. It applies to every general aviation aircraft flying today — regardless of make, model, year, or engine. The subject is the last piece of safety equipment most pilots ever think about: their torso restraint system and seat belts.

The NTSB triggered the bulletin after reviewing a series of accidents in which restraint systems failed under crash loads — not because the accidents were unsurvivable, but because the harnesses gave way before they were required to. The most documented failure point: the Y-junction stitching, where the two shoulder straps converge and connect to the single fuselage attach strap behind the pilot’s head. A methodical search of NTSB accident dockets identified at least fifteen general aviation accidents in which restraint assemblies partially or completely failed at this exact location. In at least one case, that failure converted a survivable impact into a fatal one. This bulletin is advisory, not an AD — the FAA has not yet elevated this to a mandatory action. But the FAA does not issue fleet-wide advisories as a precaution. They issue them because the data said something worth saying.

What This Means For You

The technical concern is not complicated. A significant portion of the GA fleet is still flying with restraint systems manufactured to older, obsolete Technical Standard Orders — some predating 1987. Current TSO minimum standards (TSO-C114 for torso restraints, TSO-C22g for seat belts) require systems capable of withstanding crash loads on the order of 3,000 pounds or more, depending on configuration. Systems built before those standards were established may not reach that threshold. And the problem is not always visible: webbing and stitching that looks intact on a casual walk-around can be structurally compromised by years of UV exposure, heat cycling, or simple age-related degradation of the synthetic fibers.

The inspection is straightforward. Start with the label on your shoulder harness hardware. TSO-C114 or TSO-C22g on the label means the system was built to current minimum standards. No label — or a label referencing an older specification — means a closer look is warranted. Run your hands along the full length of both shoulder straps: you are feeling for fraying, unusual stiffness, brittle webbing, or discoloration that suggests degradation. Spend extra time at the Y-junction, the single point where both shoulder straps converge. If you have an inertia reel, pull sharply: it should lock immediately and release cleanly. Inspect every anchor point, buckle, and hardware fitting for deformation or corrosion.

We have been doing annuals for a long time. We have replaced more restraint hardware than owners expected — hardware that looked fine, felt adequate, and was neither. A replacement shoulder harness and lap belt set from a respected manufacturer runs a few hundred dollars. There is no way to price what happens when a survivable crash becomes an unsurvivable one because the harness gave way. Effective immediately, we are adding restraint system verification to our standard annual inspection process. If your annual is coming up, it will be included. If it is not — call us anyway.

Every piston engine carries a set of small, threaded witnesses screwed directly into each combustion chamber. They fire thousands of times per flight hour under conditions of intense heat and pressure, and in doing so they record — in carbon deposits, electrode wear, and color patterns — a precise account of how that engine has been operated. Most owners hand them to a mechanic at annual who cleans, gaps, and reinstalls them without a word. That is maintenance. Reading them first is intelligence.

July is the right month for this conversation. Summer heat, high CHTs, and the rich ground-run mixtures that accumulate during long Texas taxi sequences all leave fingerprints on plug electrodes and insulators. If you know what you are looking at, a used spark plug tells you more about combustion health than any single gauge in the cockpit. Here is what to look for — and what each reading means.

The piston aircraft market in mid-2026 is not behaving the way most owners expect, and if you are weighing a purchase, a sale, or simply deciding whether the aircraft you own still makes sense to keep, the numbers are worth understanding before you act on instinct.

Three simultaneous forces are shaping the market — and they pull in different directions. Here is an honest read on each one:

Doug at his desk at KCPT — every camera on the hangar, ramp, and facility visible behind him. That is what operations management looks like when it actually means something.

If you have had work done at DJS Aviation in the last ten years, there is a very good chance that the reason it was done correctly is Doug Kahanek. The photo above tells you something about how he works: that monitor shows every camera on the facility — the hangar floor, the ramp, the parts room, every corner of the operation — visible from his desk at once. That is not surveillance. That is the posture of someone who feels personally responsible for everything happening under the roof.

Doug has been with us for a decade as a certificated A&P mechanic and Inspection Authorization holder — the same IA that authorizes him to sign off annual inspections and certify major repairs and alterations as meeting FAA requirements. He is also a pilot, which matters more than the credential implies. A mechanic who flies understands, in a way that cannot be taught in a classroom, what it means for the work to be right. He has to fly behind it. — the same IA that authorizes him to sign off annual inspections and certify major repairs and alterations as meeting FAA requirements. He is also a pilot, which matters more than the credential implies. A mechanic who flies understands, in a way that cannot be taught in a classroom, what it means for the work to be right. He has to fly behind it.

Doug’s title is Operations Manager, but that language understates the role. He is, in the most practical sense, the standard. When an aircraft rolls out of our hangar, it is Doug’s judgment — and his signature — that certifies it is ready to return to service. His background is broad and genuinely rare: a mechanic of serious accomplishment in the automotive world before aviation claimed him, Doug brings to diagnosis an intuition that comes only from years of working with complex machinery across disciplines. He loves fast cars. He brings that same relentless precision to aircraft.

What distinguishes Doug is not any single skill in isolation — it is the convergence of them. Patient, systematic troubleshooting in an era when genuine diagnostic ability is becoming rare. Engine rebuilding done in-house, with real depth, not outsourced and handed back. An understanding of FAA compliance and maintenance documentation that treats the logbook entry not as paperwork but as the official record on which every future owner, every future mechanic, and every future FAA inspector will rely. He understands that the standards do not bend because it is inconvenient. That every repair either meets requirements or it does not. That “close enough” is a phrase that does not exist in an airworthy aircraft.

Outside the hangar: fast cars and the kind of mechanical passion that led him here in the first place. Inside it: the calm, methodical focus that you want standing between your aircraft and the sky. Ten years in. Not one aircraft has left this facility wrong on his watch. That is not a claim. It is a record.