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So trip report for Staniel Cay... We departed Houston last Wednesday. The plans was to go to KLEE, get cheap gas, fly onto Boca (KBCT), have dinner with my and drop some things off, and then cross the water to the Bahamas. As you know from "that other" thread, we had a mag problem, Sunair was awesome, but we spent the night in KLEE. Thursday, we actually made it to KBCT at 2 pm, topped off the plane, dropped things off with mom, and departed IFR for North Eleuthera Airport (MYEH), high tailing it into the Bahamas. We originally had planned to take the "scenic" route, crossing the shortest distance over water and then flying along the chain of islands, but with sun set closing in and no night flying in the Bahamas VFR, we opted for radar vectors direct, and after getting outside the Palm Beach area, ATC was happy to comply. Customs was quick and efficient at MYEH, and we were off to Staniel Cay (MYES) in no time. This time I flew down the island chain and oggled at the scenery, we were on the ground in no time. Staniel Cay was just about perfect in every way. You know those post cards of colorful cottages on stilts? Yeah, that! We had a little Boston Whaler and over three days we fed the pigs, we found several private beaches and private sandbars, and saw giant iguanas. I use tripadvisor a lot to find hotels and decide where to stay, so I like to give them good mojo, so in the interest of not repeating my entire review here, you can read it there: (might take 48 hrs to post): http://www.tripadvis... ... R148032073 Some lessons learned for pilots flying there: 1. We opted for the non-all-inclusive in part because we weren't going to use the boat every day, but also because the 20% "pilot discount" applied only to the non-all inclusive, and if you do the math, even with renting the boat every day, it was worth getting this discount (it cancels out the resort tax). 2. The Bahamas offers a $300 fuel credit if you stay 4 nights at a participating resort. When we booked our reservations, there was a blackout date that began on Dec 21, so it wasn't going to be useful for us. But when we got there, we found out the black out date got moved to Dec 26! However, not even the hotel knew this (though it was clear on the web site, the internet was of course down when we checked out), though they said contact them when we get back to the US. However, when we got back to claim the discount they said they needed a copy of our C7A (cruising permit), which we have, our pilots licenses (which we obviously have) and our immigrations cards - uh, huge problem since they take those from you on departure. They are speaking with the Bahamian tourist board to see if there's some other paperwork we could provide instead, because that's an awesome deal. 3. The internet is super sketchy there - get everything filed that you can file (eapis, IFR/DVFR flight plan, etc.) on file before you leave. The internet was down at least 50% of our stay. 4. Bring tie downs and chocks for all three wheels with you. There was only frayed rope and one or two sets of broken chocks. 5. We had heard that you could pay your departure tax on arrival to save a trip to a customs airport on departure. We tried, they would not allow this or take our money at arrival. Speaking to some other pilots, it sounds like people do leave without clearing customs on the way out. We are kind of rule-abiding types, so we stopped at San Andros to clear customs and pay our departure tax on the way out, it was also fast and efficient. 6. Overall the runways were good quality, a little rough, but nothing to worry about. All fields expect the big ones use 122.8 and it was fun listening to people coming and going up the island chains. 7. When we returned to south florida, we came in through FXE. We dutifully sat in our airplanes, as per the instructions, waiting for the customs agents to come out to us. After two other planes parked and their pilots went in, we did the same. The customs agents told us in the south florida region that was normal. Byron will be posting pictures shortly

All of these beautiful ultraleather and leather covered plastic interior panels have it falling off after 5 years. SEM plastic paint can go a long way to making your plastic interior look good for years coming.

I used the Garmin Pilot flight AP on my wifes I-Pad yesterday. She went and bought me a 16 GB I-Pad II for X-Mas. We said "no presents" which I took literally and she feeling guilty for constantly being on her I-Pad bought me one That is my story. I downloaded the temporary Pilot AP on her I-Pad as she has GPS. I also downloaded the airport info, but FAILED to download the charts...oops. Worked great in setting up my Direct flight from CID (Cedar Rapids, IA) to Kansas City Downtown. In practice (I had I-pad) yoke mounted on Co-Pilot yoke...I WAS the co-pilot as my Co-Owner asked if I wanted to tag along for a $200 barbeque...Good day to fly and he was funding the go-go juice so off we went. Great/easy to check freqs, but I had put the international airport in and changing the airport was NOT intuitive, but I figured it out. I used VFR sectional and worked great until we were almost there and...lost the sectional. (because I had forgotten to actually download the sectional info.) Buying the Garmin antenna is a NO BRAINER for us as the pay back is 1.5 years of XM subscription AND we have a 696 (panel dock) in addition to the I-Pad. Pilot has NO obstructed view of instruments with I-Pad II on the RAM yoke mount and front seat passenger/co-pilot has his/her own personal big screen schart showing speed time to destination and position on chart so they KNOW what town/lake that is...and with a little practice they will be a good assistant to pull up freqs/safe taxi etc...as they are USED to an I-Pad. Weather in plane is important to us. Having it be "free" in 1.5 years is a dealmaker. The plus of traffic is just a bonus...even if spotty.

Unlikely... The handheld ads-b receivers are a "niche" item. What we need for the mandated compliance date is basically a new transponder. Unless garmin or sky radar builds an outlet from the panel mount to your handheld, I doubt we'll see any more entrants into the handheld ADSB antenna arena. Best bet is ebay- I've seen a couple gdl-39's go for ~650, but they are few and far between. Still way over priced, but so is XM weather... I think that's what is the key driver of the ADSB antenna price being so high... After paying their subscription fees, 800 looks downright reasonable.

I think by fitting the inlet through the cowl flap and letting the warm air rise through the cowling, heat would be better distributed. A sleeping blanket, cowl inlet covers, and a cell switch or something that allows you to call up your heater two hours in advance of your arrival makes the perfect engine warmer.

I found it funny today. We flew from Boca to Ft Myers to drop off my wife's aunt and her daughter. We laid down the 97 miles in about 40 minutes, and burned up 7 gallons of gas. On descent into KRSW, we were told to slow up 20 knots for an Airbus 320 on final for sequencing. We were doing about 180 KIAS in the descent. Then we were told to slow up another 20 knots. Its not often I have to slow up 40 knots for an airliner. Love those Mooneys.

I started to tighten the generator belt.... Found the generator bolts were loose. Removed those, discovered generator bolts were wrong type. Ordered proper bolts Examined Generator mounts, saw they had oval holes. Removed mounts, welded up, and re-drilled new holes While it was out, saw generator looked old, so sent it for rebuild. While waiting for rebuild, ordered a new voltage regulator While installing Zeftronics, old wire broke, installed new harness Belt looked worn, so removed prop and installed new belt Eventually put it all back together, and the belt was now tight. A typical Mooney project, IMO