Ragsf15e

Love the 10 minutes and California purple look!

But they were my kids and they were 2. We changed my daughter’s dirty diaper across our laps in the front seat on a 500nm xc. Definitely thought about throwing it out the storm window but didn’t. Oregon is desolate. Had both kids and my wife puke once on a bumpy ride into Reno. That required a text to my dad to meet us at the airport with a decontamination team and lots of hefty bags.

Definitely. Time to Turn and Burn!!

Could an injector clogged enough to lean out that cylinder to ~50 ROP do this? I’d think the cracked plugs are more a result than a cause?

Well what’s your leaning technique for ROP? I suppose we could just use poh fuel settings, but most people lean until peak and then enrich until their desired setting, say 100 ROP. That seems to put the engine in a worse state (for a short time) with all the cylinders on the rich side but close to peak.

Yeah, fair enough. Running LOP won’t hurt it, leaning it incorrectly could be bad.

Depending on your engine type and engine monitor, you can pull the mixture to a known LOP setting far LOP and then use the “lean find, ROP” mode in reverse. Enrichen slowly, first cylinder to peak, lean it back again slowly to 10 -20 degrees lean of peak. Done.

IO360A1A: While the probes might not be accurate to the exact degree F as displayed on my jpi930, I’m confident that tgey display the increase, peak, and decrease of EGT pretty accurately. You really just need to know where that last one peaks. Combine that with checking the CHTs as they settle out to make sure they are slightly below where they were ROP (so verifying with a different probe). I’m pretty confident about which side of peak I’m on. I will also use peak (on the last cylinder to reach peak) at low power settings (<65%) if I’m looking for good economy while not sacrificing much speed. if you want to run LOP at high power settings, yes, you can probably hurt the engine if you do it wrong, but if you have the tools and training, I’ve not seen anyone show ill effects. At lower power settings (<75%) it’s going to be pretty hard to hurt an IO360 with the mixture as lycoming states in their guidance.

Unless you look around and find a used GTN 650 or 750 from a reliable source, there’s not a ton to be gained from used, but much to lose in failures, unsupported units, reworking your panel, etc.

Wow, sorry to hear that. Glad it didn’t go catastrophic on you!

Ha! Yeah, I just had the same picture fiasco with my account. Must be something new? I hope they don’t make us delete all our old pictures for space. Some are very helpful accounts of maintaining or improving our airplanes!

That’s the one! I’ve done it many times. That section is awesome!

Another option if you’re in the middle of nowhere. Lake Powell has a really nice canyon to fly through over the lake. Youd swear you were Will Smith in Independence Day. As a bonus, you can check out the water skiers, house boats and sunbathers. There’s a military low level route through there wide enough to incorporate the canyon. I’ve done it at 500’, 500kts and it was really fun. Saw some good water skiing crashes as we blew by.

I have aero LEDs strobes and nav lights (and tail light). I won’t be much help, because I bought the airplane with them installed. I did contact the company twice due to a inop tail light and a wingtip light that filled with water. They replaced both, no questions asked, and I didn’t have any documentation. They have all worked well for 7 years since. One thing… do you still need a beacon? I no longer have one. The wingtip strobes can cover the appropriate area to allow removal of the beacon although I’m not sure on the exact specifics of that rule. Running the wire shouldn’t be terrible using all the inspection covers… well, and removing the interior. Maybe not fun?

Expansion joint?! That looks more like an earthquake fault!

One clarification from what I posted above. It’s pretty easy to get confused between “Activating the Approach” on the gps and “Selecting approach mode” on the autopilot. They are two different things. Both need done at some point. Mostly. If you steer direct to the IAF, the gps will activate the approach for you. If you’re steering to a different point and are cleared to the IAF, you can activate the approach on the gps and it will select the iaf you entered with the approach. In either case, you still need to select approach mode on the AP to see GS and LOC. or GP on an LPV approach. If you load vectors to final, you will need to activate the approach (gps) and select the APR mode (AP). As a technique for vectors to final, when you contact approach control, you’re typically steering to a gps point. They will generally give you a vector at some point. When they do, that’s when you activate the approach on the GPS. It will sequence to the Iaf or faf and give you some awareness about your position. You will not activate approach mode on the AP until dogleg to final when they say cleared for the approach. That’s your cue to hit APR button on the GPS. If they instead say “maintain xxx’, track the localizer inbound”, do not hit APR as this will select GS and Loc which allows the AP to descend at the glide slope. Instead hit NAV which will select Loc in lateral guidance since you already activated the approach on the gps and have a loc freq and green cdi. It will leave the vertical selection in Alt hold. When the eventually clear you for the approach, hit APR on the GPS and see GS pop up in the vertical guidance.

The FAA left that pretty grey for us, but your definition seems reasonable. The USAF defined it a little more thoroughly for us… on a LOC or TERM (gps) CDI, “off the wall and intercepting” (so just inside full deflection) counted as established. On a VOR or Tacan, the CDI had to be half deflection or less. I don’t advocate for these, but I guess it’s something to use as a guide.

I’ll chime in here, but this is from a gfc700 and g1000 (both cirrus and Piper). Usually Garmin has them work the same as gfc500 but not always… If you select APR on the autopilot prior to the iaf as you said, you’ll check the white standby autopilot mode for GS in the vertical guidance and LOC in lateral. The green active guidance will remain ALT (3000’) and GPS. The autopilot will fly the procedure turn and then exit the hold inbound still in the same modes. It will switch to LOC before the faf but after it passes a bunch of internal validity testing (maybe @PT20J can expound on the switch to LOC?). It will switch to GS at the glideslope intercept at 3000’. Since it never descended to the FAF altitude, this will be before the faf. It will not switch to GS mode and descend if it’s not already tracking the inbound course (ie if you’re not established). Many people will select APR on the autopilot prior to the iaf and let all this magic happen. That’s good in 99% of cases, but just be aware that there are a few approaches in busy airspace that have mandatory altitudes or maximum altitudes between the iaf and the faf. Since the autopilot is in Altitude hold until GS intercept, it will still be at the iaf altitude and may be too high. These approaches are relatively rare and most of the intermediate fixes are at/above, so holding the iaf altitude to gs intercept typically is fine. If you want more control over the approach, use a descent mode after exiting the hold to get down to the faf altitude, then double check the white GS is still in standby for your vertical mode. It will engage at the GS intercept point which is usually right at the FAF.

I’d consider just popping in 2 gi-275s. They fit the existing panel without cutting. I have 2xG5s and like them, but they are a little older and require more panel cutting. You are gonna want an ifr gps and an autopilot at some point. Total cost will go above your $20k with the ap, but you can probably get the gi275s (or g5s) and an ifr gps installed for $20k. You may want to look at a gnx375 for ADSB transponder and gps.

Better that it was empty then because that could have been bad if some acid leaked. I think you’ll find a Concord if you call around.

Look around and you can eventually find a concorde rg-35axc (if you’re 12V) at one of the smaller aviation suppliers. That’s what you want. I wouldn’t mess with anything else unless yours is totally dead. This link at the concorde site says “distributors with stock”. You might just need to start dialing… https://www.aircraft-battery.com/search-by-your-aircraft/battery_detail/159

I’d have never guessed you were an engineer…

That’s pretty much how it goes for all of us. There’s a short denial period for everyone.

Well once, maybe. Twice? I wouldn't be going IFR until I was pretty confident in the electrical system. The intermittant problems are the worst, but that doesn't seem right. I'd start with the wires you guys messed with at the annual at the regulator then very carefully check the wires into and out of the alternator for any grounding. They live in a tough spot down there.

Nice job making a good decision and getting her back on the ground safely. While it may seem an easy decision looking back, it's easy to have a "helmet fire" at that point and mess something else up (gear up, super fast final, no clearance to land, etc). Glad you get to calmly sort out the problem with your mechanic.