Jamie

I bought some car wash sponges from Wal Mart for $1.50 (each) that fit nearly perfectly in the engine inlets. Brightly colored and cheap.

Interesting. I work on an army base for a DoD contractor. I wonder if I qualify.... I'll ask around. Any idea if the program has a name?

If you get a new windscreen, there are other colors now besides "70's green". I got smoke (gray) and really like it.

This looks like a direct link to the request form.

A comment for future mooney buyers that find this thread... My mooney is getting bigger. It's not that it's small. It -feels- small because you sit close, it's a low wing, there's no pilot side door, etc. Once you get used to it, it's roomy. Also, to be blunt, don't expect anything to be big if you're fat. Just losing 20lbs has not only made me feel better, but the plane got larger just because of that. The Mooney was designed before everyone started eating the Standard American Diet. What's the FAA standard adult? 170lbs? Back when our planes were designed, people were actually that thin. Now? heh.

I know it's more expensive, but I always take their insurance, even if my own auto insurance would cover it. I'd rather pay a little more and not have to worry about paying a lot more. I never check for dents or scratches. Not my problem.

I'm not picking on quik flite, but the comment was a place to jump off from. I'm also not an AOPA cheerleader. But damn. GA is under attack from -all sides-. There's a similiar thread to this one over at PoA, and an AOPA guy responds. It's amazing how much crap they defend us from we never hear about. It's not just the big things... it's the local threats to general aviation that we don't see unless we experience it personally. I'm amazed we still have what we have. Pilots are such a minority. AOPA may not be getting us everything we want, but unless 10x more pilots (and members) suddenly appear, why should a politician give a crap? The only reason we're not a bigger target is there really isn't much money here. Yup, we earn more than average but there are so few of us we're just an annoyance. And I'm glad AOPA has a jet. It's the corporate version of wearing a suit to a meeting. If that helps them gain influence then fine. They certainly don't have the numbers behind them that, say, the AARP has. If every pilot in a district voted a certain way, would you even notice? Don't expect to "sub out" your interests to AOPA for $45 a year either. When was the last time you wrote / called your congress person about any aviation related issue? There's a saying about running a software project: "Leading programmers is like trying to herd cats.". Pilots are the same way. Given our size, our intelligence and our relative wealth, we should be one of the biggest small kids on the block.

I think I'll call my parents tonight.

PilotsOfAmerica has a great OSH sub-forum. You can read for hours.... Lots of tips, hints, things to do, etc: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=38

There is no benefit to the FAA to eliminate the medical. I'm amazed the other non-medical classes even exist. It's like there are two FAAs.... one is all about butt covering, and the other allows experimentals and LSAs. I wish they'd go on retreats with each other and sort this all out.

Must have certified equipment in airplane, so we do without if we can't afford it. Must report all doctor's visits on medical, so there's an incentive to not go when we need to. Isn't it great our Safety is a priority with the FAA?

I don't read the magazine, don't take advantage of the website, don't participate in their forums, etc. But I'm still a member. Why? Why not. For the price, it's at least -some- advocacy and representation. I also got an insurance discount that more than paid for the membership.

Oh, and... what do you polish your spinner with?

Purty. You know... I could be persuaded to go with that when I repaint, especially if it saves some money vs. the more complicated modern trim schemes. Did it? Without asking exactly how much, did you get quotes on this and other schemes? Was this cheaper? The thing I hate about mine is that it's not white. It's a light beige and brown. Ick. White with the modern metallics really looks nice.

lol. Yup. I'm going to ask around and see if I can combine some orders but it's still more expensive. OTOH, I'll probably try the Elevation Chophouse at KRYY on the same trip. Hijacking my own thread... anyone know the dress code at the Chophouse?

Oh, you're right. That's actually better. Less crowded.

Anyone ever fly to the Aircraft Spruce East store at DeKalb - Peachtree GA (KPDK)? I know shipping would be cheaper than flying, but I'm flying anyway, so why not go?

Awww, man. I thought I was fast till I found this thread. Had 192kt ground speed hsv->keqy at 9500 a few days ago. Coming back it was more like 130ish.

I don't see how you can NOT do a pre-pre flight IF you only fly once a week or so. Dunno about the rest of you, but I have covers on my wheels that pretty much prevent checking air pressure without removing them. So just to check the tire pressure is a 10 minute job (get the creeper, get on the creeper, pull up to the tire, unscrew three screws, check. And we haven't gotten the air compressor out yet, because we're just, you know, checking at this point.) I'm not saying this happens every time I go flying, but I check before a long trip if I haven't flown in a while. It takes me 5 minutes just to clean the windows (ok, they're new and I'm cautious, but still... 5 windows, 1 minute per window, avg). A pre-preflight allows time to correct the unexpected. It also should allow the actual preflight to go faster (assuming the plane is kept in a locked hangar, which I have). In fact, pre-preflight is a lousy term. It's like pre-meeting meeting. How about "assurance check" or the "fix-it-now-before-your-pax-have-to-wait-while-you-fix-it" inspection. and yes, aviatoreb... My preflights take foreever too. I try to treat each pre-flight like my airplane was sabotaged and I have to find the problem. I also happen to like looking at my plane.

I'll give it a shot... it's free. Be cool if it works. I didn't realize how nice trips could be if you weren't flying them. I let Otto do the last one, and it was just like riding in first class. All I'm doing at that point is monitoring systems (engine, mostly) and looking for traffic. Away from airports, there isn't much one has to listen to, so music would be great.

Yup. And at least one other airshow has already booked the Canadian snow birds for next year instead of the blue angels or thunderbirds.

I could have done without seeing the io-390 cylinder price. Yikes. Well, I bought it with 170ish hours on a brand new engine, so we'll see. All the more reason to take reeeeeeeeealy good care of it.

ok. Reviewing the manual, it looks like the music should "just work". There is no separate source control for the aux in. Which means you guys are correct in that my tablet probably isn't powerful enough to drive this directly. So... I find myself presented with a perfect rationalization for the purchase of a new headset....

Maybe, but I tried 'em all. I took it off "auto" and manually selected each input one at a time. Nothing. Now I'm wondering if it's even possible with a mono head set.

Maybe that's it.... my headset is mono (it's a 15 year old peltor). Could be that I need a stereo headset to make this all work. I'll also crawl under the panel and see if those jacks are connected, and if so, to what. Thanks. I'll check tonight.