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I would suggest a read of the FAA's Part 16 determination (link) that this whole situation is precipitated by. "The text of these Resolutions is unambiguous. In response to the Resolutions, the County took immediate steps without qualification or limitation to implement the specific intent to prohibit the sale or use of 100LL at County airports. Specifically, the County terminated all FBO 100LL fuel sale permits, purchased unused 100LL stocks from FBO-operated tanks, and transitioned all County-owned fuel tanks to the exclusive sale of 94UL, effective January 1, 2022." Aircraft owners were left with no choice but to fuel elsewhere or now fill up with the only 'drop in' replacement (see G12) that arrived just under 3 years later. And a significant number of those who filled up with the 'drop in' replacement have experienced unique and noteworthy issues with their aircraft. I would say that it did not 'enhance the flying experience' for many. Couple relevant airport newsletter links: Fall 2024 Winter 2024 Users were also provided with an incentive that had the following language: "You are each encouraged to buy some fuel and see for yourself that it operates no differently than the 100LL you are accustomed to, with the advantages of a cleaner engine, cleaner spark plugs, cleaner air, and reduced engine wear."

Actually i find that non pilot passengers handle it way better when you pre brief them what is about to happen and that you are intentionally doing it and it’s normal. Then when it happens it’s a non event. I even say there it it is reach down at a normal speed and turn the selector valve. Whereas the complete surprise followed by yelling a cuss word while jumping in your seat and snatching the switch over i find generally puts them in hysterical mode with even pants wetting and swearing never to fly with you again.

The first instance sounds like vapor. Js do get vapor in the fuel lines. Most of the time it doesn't cause a problem but LOP at high density altitude it can cause roughness. You can see it in the fuel pressure fluctuations if you have a digital engine monitor (the factory gauges seem to filter it out by accident or design). When I used to fly float Beavers Part 135 we only filled the rear tank for long flights and it was considered poor form to leave any gas in it for the next guy that might have a heavy load. So we would run it dry by watching the fuel pressure and when it started to drop you had a few seconds to switch to a tank with fuel. Once I got distracted by a radio call and I can tell you that pax HATE it when the engine quits. I know that Deakin advocated it, but I just don't see any reason to run a tank dry in flight. My CiES fuel senders are plenty accurate.

as per Steve on his 3m, the insurance will be suing GAMI and the county/municipality.

If the city/county intentionally made certain product the only choice available for a lawful commercial activity, then they they did, in fact, compel the users to use it. Of course, the crux of the claim would be the misrepresentation of the product as a "safe drop-in replacement" by its purveyor(s). Your posts seem to indicate that you have a vast experience in litigating product liability lawsuits. Perhaps you could educate us stupid pilots on how the legal system really works in US. Maybe a refresher on the Restatement of Torts for those of us who have long forgotten that from our law school years .

You can split an RS-232 signal easily with just a splice. You can have one transmitter feeding several receivers, but you cannot have several transmitters feeding one receiver. So the issue you would run in to is that the serial indicator for a SL30 requires a transmit and a receive, so while the SL30 could transmit data to multiple receivers, the OBS selection being transmitted back to the SL30 can only come from one device.

This is yet another example of local govt s^$#heads trying to be holier than thou and "lead" the good fight to becoming a complete nanny govt with complete absence of common sense. Govt officials love to impose nonsensical mandates so long as they are exempt from such themselves. Look at COVID restrictions in the Bay are few years back and how the govt officials, including the governor, flaunted their disregard for the very restrictions and mandates they imposed on everyone else. Rant off

Blasted the last 2 accounts that started spamming. Again, these are not new accounts but rather old accounts they have from before they never used. We will just keep nuking them all until there are none left...

As many of you are aware over the last couple months and escalating today in an epic nature the site has been invaded by spam bots. It reached a level that was no longer manageable so I have set all new accounts to requiring manual approval. IF YOU JUST REGISTERED A NEW ACCOUNT: Please contact me using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the site requesting approval. Make sure to include your username on the site as I won't know you by your real name and your emails might not match. This might take up to 24 hours so please be patient. Going forward these are the changes I am proposing: All new accounts will be created as a "basic member" that cannot create content but can browse the forums. All current members will become "verified" members. No action or fee required to keep using the site as you already are. To become a new "verified member" you will have a couple options. For instant and easy access you will pay a small fee. Probably a one time $3.00 fee something like that and your account will be verified for life, no additional payments required. A free alternative and slower method will be available where the new user can email me a copy of their ID and something like a utility bill to prove they are who they say they are. As part of this I have upgraded the forum software to include their "commerce" package which will enable the site to automatically take payments for a number of things like membership fees, selling items, etc. I have been considering this for a while since it will automate the current donation system that requires me to manually upgrade accounts after donations which can take time and is prone to errors (such as PayPal emails not matching user emails and me not being able to find accounts to upgrade). So in the near future I expect to change the current "donate $10 or more to remove ads and get Supporter level access for a year" to something more like a $25 per year auto-renewal membership that is completely managed within your member area of the site. While going from $10 to $25 seems drastic, I need to pick a single amount for all users and $25 is actually what the average donation is now from the past 12 months. Also consider that the minimum donation has been the same $10 minimum since 2008 (hard to believe I have been operating this site for 17 years!) and I have been considering raising it to $15 or $20 for a while now. Note that all current Supporter level members will remain as such until it has been 12 months since their last manual donation. I hope this all makes sense. Please feel free to post your comments below. I might not get to reading them all so if you have something really important to tell me please use the in-site messaging system. Thank you all for your patience as we dealt with the floods of spam over the past couple months. It was frustrating for all of us I know. Craig

I flew my LDA+GS approach set up like this, having closed the DP sidebar after briefing the approach to declutter the screen. I’m still experimenting. Shutting off the glide ring looks like a good idea. —Up.

Uhh yeah I don’t see it that way Remove proven product, replace product that doesn’t work and damages planes, still are listed as a airport with fuel, pay the man

Here's the ForeFlight Dymanic Procedures video.

Not only that but the transmit and receive formats need to be th same for all devices. Not much of an issue with the SL30, but with a GPS, the receivers all need to be set to receive the same format and speed.

Yes, anytime you run a tank dry, you may want to switch to that tank after you refill it, and start it up on that one to purge the air from it.

What is so stupid about Santa Clara County wringing its hands about leaded fuel is KSJC, 4 miles away is selling 100LL so the airplanes burning lead overhead, not to mention Hollister and other Bay Area airports. It's beyond moronic.

At least, I guess airplanes holding the GAMI STC might be put on a "at risk" list and have higher premiums.

The whole gami scam lowered my [already low] opinion of the FAA. Now that we have aircraft down I think this really needs to be investigated, and by that I mean more like DOJ vs NTSB

Arrived in EGPO... Dublin tomorrow.

One thing to remember is that with a constant speed prop, with lower air density it will run at a higher pitch for the same RPM. So while prop "indicated air speed" is lower, the angle of attack is higher.

The fact that the airport has prohibited the sale of 100LL is, in itself, a strong endorsement pushing pilots toward using G100UL. The argument that “we didn’t force you to buy G100UL” might hold more weight if 100LL were still available for purchase. But as it stands, I can easily see an attorney making the case that the airport effectively forced all its tenants to use G100UL.

It's my understanding that not only did the airport sell the product, but that it helped market and encourage sale. Am I correct?

I learned to fly at the original Glendale airport P37. It was a fun busy airport.

I learned to fly 45 years ago at KTRK, not far from South Lake Tahoe, in fact that's where we went to get out introduction to a control tower. Remember, the engine is Turbocharged, not the propeller or the wings. The engine will perform like it is at sea level, however the prop and wings are acutely aware of their elevation. ;-)

I just got an email for 4 of these ready to ship to me but I never ordered them. They were for E/F and I have a K. I told Heather to see who actually ordered them but it sounds like she's just going to re-sell them. Chandler MSC probably put them under my tail number to stock them or something.

Id also be suspect of the Lasar “overhaul”. I know at-least 2 people that got bad pumps from them recently. Billy

Before doing anything with the pump, I would look closely at the rigging of the cable that connects to the retraction lever in the cockpit to the small pivoting arm on the side of the flap pump. On my E, the cable is clamped to the pump lever with a screw. As I recall it was tricky to get the positioning correct on this. Will the flaps stay down if you disconnect the cable, and have someone manually position the arm on the pump to various places along its travel? This would help isolate rigging vs pump. By all means do this before taking the pump apart and having to re-bleed the system.

I’d think I would want to answer if the exhaust leak is impacting you in the cockpit. Maybe get a reliable digital carbon monoxide detector and see what your levels are at startup, taxi and in flight. Might help you address the immediate safety level of concern you should have. if your pushing high levels in flight then that will give you your answer not only if you’re A&P is correct but change your 50/50 position to 99/1.

It’s worth a try.

You are trying to make sense of civil litigation. A civil jury is a wild thing, don't even have to get a unanimous decision in some cases. Just sympathy.

I’m very thankful I’ve never had a non pilot passenger on board during an inflight anomaly or emergency. I’m certain I would be far more distracted by the passengers reaction that the emergency itself. You’re brain is so occupied and busy when something happens you don’t seem to have the bandwidth to panic. Seems like a form of self protection. Appreciate you sharing the experience. So far, I’ve never run a tank dry and don’t want to.

Don't think so. One because the County is derelict in its duty to its grant assurances, two it is on constructive notice of the issue three and finally and most importantly the county has been hostile to the airport users because it wants to sell the airport to developers who have given a whole lot of money to county commissioners. They don't arrive at trial with "clean hands" in fact, very dirty hands. I can see a big judgement for the C421 and if a crash happens, the ambulance chasers will go after the deepest pocket and that is the County of Santa Clara. I lived there for 40 years, I even served on the SJC airport commission, I know stupidity thrives at the highest levels there.

Here is how it came out!

48109 here

And it's very helpful to have it sitting on a towel when you take it apart to keep that little steel ball in between the two halves from running away....

Not at all, definitely points out how verbal communication is superior to text. I think we are all impacted greatly by this accident as fellow pilots and I understand the desire to find out what caused this tragedy. Sadly sometimes we never get the answer.

So then why A&P and IA worry much about lawsuits? They could just say "Hey buddy, I did my best, you are the owner and the responsible to determine if your aircraft is safe to fly" My uneducated opionion is that any lawsuit will go after: GAMI, FAA, County, and the FBO.

the regs don't matter anymore...GAMI has not proven to the eye of the consumer this fuel is drop in, so sales are virtually zero, planes are down and GAMI is backed against a corner

Not sure how my comment would be offensive I merely pointed out that the J had shoulder harness and I would hope they were being used. As for EGT being the possible cause for poor performance well that’s certainly a possibility and no one wants to know what causes accidents more than this pilot. As much but not more it’s how we learn and fly safely. Hopefully we will get an answer to what caused this terrible accident resulting in such a tragic loss. As for this pilot I can tell if something is amiss when I start when I taxi when I run up and especially when I am making my takeoff role. But then I’ve been flying this same airplane for twelve years and have become very familiar with it. Possibly the pilot just didn’t have enough time to gain that feeling for his plane. Anyway I just hate it when we hear these stories. I know it’s a reality that we all accept when we take to the skies. There is a great line in Lonesome Dove when Augustus says to call I ain’t talking about dying I’m talking about living. God bless us aviators with safe skies.

Just take a regular tap to the grinder.

It was the least snarky reply I could come up with and was the like 4th thing in the google search after doing a right click search. Other snarky replies I thought of: 1 RTFM 2. how hard would it be to go stick your digital caliper in the hole and know for sure. 3. As if you are going to find a bottom tap to fix it 4. I kind of liked the JB weld response. 5. Rotate a couple of degrees and drill 3 new holes. See number 3 about a bottom tap 6. Since they are magnesium you have the added issue of lighting your plane on fire. 7. Are the covers even necessary? They are to the inside while the wheel is up.

I used search.

You can always take the hub caps off before you take it to the shop and then put them back on yourself afterwards.

Plugs are rotated between cylinders to even the wear on the electrodes. The voltage applied to fire the plugs is DC but it changes polarity between adjacent cylinders in the firing order. The spark always jumps from the negative electrode to the positive electrode and in so doing it takes a bit of metal off the negative electrode which is vaporized in the plasma of the spark. So some spark plugs will wear the center electrode and others will wear the ground electrodes. By rotating them properly we reverse the polarity and even out the wear. But, it's not a big deal -- the plugs are wearing a bit every time they fire. All you are doing is evening out the wear on between the center and ground electrodes. I believe that the dual mags always fire with the same polarity on all plugs and so there is no advantage to rotating them and I never hear people with dual mags complaining that their plugs wear out faster. There is no good reason to rotate top to bottom in the same cylinder. The bottom plugs may tend to oil foul more if the rings are worn, but if you take them out and clean them then they are all the same and rotating top to bottom doesn't really do anything. The optimum gap for the the SureFly is greater than for the magneto because the SureFly can put out more voltage necessary to jump the higher gap. The higher voltage spark will have more energy and may provide more reliable ignition with very lean mixtures. A smaller gap will cause the plug to fire before the voltage builds up to it's maximum and some of this advantage will be lost. But, if your engine has been running fine with the smaller gaps then it's probably not worth overthinking it.

I had to turn around and come back in had an avionics issue. I quickly resolved it and am now in Iceland.

Thanks for all you do Craig! The content and info exchange here is certainly more than worth the minimum $25 a year.

Just had AIRTEX carpet installed in my 67 F. Could have spent more time fitting up the carpet between the seats. The previous carpet tucked under the plastic. Careful trimming the side panels to fit; those things are aggravating to install; we ended up with a gap in the back corner as you can see but once the seats are in you don't see it. The panel below the back seats was attached with velcro; hopefully it stays stuck. Your AIRTEX side panels should come mounted to a backing board.

My arms arent long enough to reach the oven in the cargo area to turn the pizza.... I'm not Stretch Armstrong!

not mine but I did get one https://www.customink.com/fundraising/i-will-not-put-g100ul-in-my-airplane?utm_campaign=desktop-post-launch-v3&utm_content=i-will-not-put-g100ul-in-my-airplane&utm_medium=social&utm_source=copy-link

Here's the last turn-key interior that Hector and his crew at Aero Comfort did. I picked it up in mid-March; took five weeks for the whole job. I contemplated sending my panels in as I had the interior out to replace my side windows last year. But my skills and workmanship would have come up short when it comes to the tricks of installation. My plastics were in really tough shape, but they were able to salvage and repair them. I paid full price, but I was really happy with the quality and workmanship and end result The cost was more or less in line with Aero Comfort's published price list, though I had some extra charges due to a couple missing components that they were able to replace. A couple of before/after photos attached.