Dave Piehler

Say it ain’t so, Mike! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think we have a winner! (I’ll drink to that, Teflon.) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm sure those of you planning to visit AirVenture are preparing your plans of attack, including what to scout and what to buy. What has been your least sexy, but highly useful, purchase at AirVenture? I'm not talking about something as mundane as a new oil filter or plugs, but rather something out of the ordinary that paid outsized dividends and which others might therefore want to emulate. I'll start. Last year I asked my mechanic what the most common AN fasteners were for the Mooney, so I could purchase a supply to have on hand. It seems that every time I get underneath the plane I find one or more screws or bolts have departed the airframe. I went to the Fly Market and found a vendor that sold small quantities (30 or so each) of fasteners and spent ~$35 on an assortment. They came in handy today during my annual clean-the-belly-before-Oshkosh activity. I found a few loose fasteners, but also four empty holes of various sizes, which were quickly and easily filled. Anyone else got a nomination? Dave Piehler

Further info on my malfunctioning Lightspeed 30 3G headset: I found KC Headsets (KCHeadsets.com). Terry, the owner, knows his stuff cold. I described my problem to him in a phone call and he knew exactly what was wrong. I stuck both the Lightspeeds and an old Peltor headset with a broken mic in a USPS flat-rate box. They got to KC Tuesday, and late Tuesday afternoon Terry called with quotes to repair both headsets. $135 for each instance. So for $270 I get both headsets functioning again. A bargain, indeed. Pro tip: The website uses a contact form to make an inquiry. It failed for me. Instead, call Terry at 816 835-4575, or e-mail sales@KCHeadsets.com. Dave

Thanks, Hank. Your Honor, I rest my case. Dave

Although I've noticed that the mic can wander, I've never had to hold it close to my mouth. I've always been able to adjust it to work without repeated adjustments. Dave

Last Saturday when went to shoot some approaches I put on my Lightspeed 30 3G headset. It’s old, but it works (other than annoying me more than once when the batteries failed without warning inside the FAF, resulting in a huge increase in noise just when a distraction is particularly unwelcome). When I checked the sidetone, there was none. Wiggling the wires resulted in intermittent sidetone. Checking with my safety pilot confirmed that the mic was intermittent. I switched to my Peltor 7004 backup set and completed the flight uneventfully. Lightspeed has an excellent reputation for customer service, but they can’t support products forever. A quick check online confirmed they no longer support the 30 3G. So I may be in the market for a replacement, depending on one possible repair establishment (still waiting to hear). And now for the rest of the story…. The Lightspeed is my backup headset, which I was using because my Quiet Technologies Halo headset was in the shop. I bought the Halo headset at least ten years ago at OSH. The wires at both plugs had separated from the insulation, despite the strain relief fittings. When I stopped at the QT booth at OSH last July and told the proprietor, Phil McQuillen, what had occurred, he immediately told me to send them to him. QT has a refurbishment plan, explained on their website ($135 for a complete OH, other repairs billed when the headset is returned). Being in the slow season for flying here in the northwoods, I popped the headset in a USPS Flat Rate Box and mailed it, and an explanatory letter, on 2/6. It arrived at QT on 2/8 (nice work, USPS). I received the repaired headset on Monday, 2/12 (a mere six days after I shipped it off), along with a note indicating there was no charge for repair – not even for return shipping! Talk about one-upping Lightspeed for customer service. The moral of the story: Stop at the QT booth at Oshkosh next July and check out the Halo headset. It’s price is amazingly reasonable, the service is outstanding, and everyone I know who’s bought a set loves it. In fact, they often buy a second set after their SO swipes the first one. Dave

Admittedly, using Tapatalk and a phone to search the forums is likely to miss threads, but it seems that the last time anyone posted about an AOA indicator (I specifically searched for the Garmin GI-260) was years ago. How many people have installed them? How are they working? Have they improved your flying? Are they worth the cost? Dave Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That comment caused me to flash back to Blue Books. Using one of those in the cockpit would likely trigger rapid heart rate and shallow breathing. Needless to say, not a workable solution. Dave Piehler

Warren, I know you're a Lift fan (shoes and all!). I have a Lift kneeboard. Love the form fit over the knee. Not so crazy about how it holds an iPad, and not loving the clear strap that goes over the iPad. Am I missing something? The Lift is also just a tad bit bulkier than the plain vanilla aluminum model I mentioned above. That matters a bit in the flight bag. As for the Cheap Bastard award, Browncbr1 and midlifeflyer have certainly put me to shame. The only downside to their approach is that unrestrained pads seem to have a way of sliding off my lap and ending up on the floor. Who needs an instructor to induce an unusual attitude by dropping a pen for me to pick up when I can have the pad do it for me? Dave

I've was a Cheap Bastard long before the development of CBEF (Cheap Bastard's Echo Flight - bonus points to anyone who remembers that). I've also, like most of us, been on a lifelong search for the "perfect" kneeboard. With an iPad on the yoke and an iPhone in the pocket, reference materials really don't need to be printed on the board. All I need is a secure place to hold a note pad and a pen. I've tried lots of different options and have a drawer full if anyone wants to experiment. I've come down on the minimalist side. Sporty's has the "Aluminum VFR Kneeboard with Pen Holder" for $21.50, and the "Classic Kneeboard" for $12.95 (on sale!). The former is okay. The latter has a photo showing a pen held vertically under the clip. Not fond of that. Tried it, don't like lifting the clip and risking the pad slipping. I bought an even more stripped down version of that clipboard at AirVenture a few years ago for $10 (no cheat notes on the board -- just bare aluminum). It's become my preferred note taking device under the KISS principle. (Yes, I've tried taking notes in ForeFlight, and the results look like something my 19 month old grandson did.) BUT, it has the same clip as the Classic version -- not my favorite. So I set about looking for a solution, and found something today that I'm sharing, if only because it's the smallest expenditure I've ever made for aviation, yet Sparks Joy (sorry, Marie - is that trademarked?). Office Depot has "Removable Pen Holders For Clipboards" that simply snap on to the clip of the clipboard and hold the pen horizontally on top of it. Beauty! And the price? 6.9E-4 AMUs. Not everyone will agree with this solution, but I like it. So what's your favorite kneeboard, and why? Can anyone beat $10.69 (plus tax)? Dave Piehler N4583H

I could go down the rabbit hole with this on a long, pedantic discourse on civil procedure, the doctrine of sovereign immunity and common law in addition to the Federal Tort Claims Act, but let's avoid that. Instead, a few comments: 1. Procedural posture: This is styled a cross-complaint, but It really looks like what I'd call a a third-party complaint, because it brings in new parties (the controllers). So yes, it is an attempt to deflect blame to the controllers. This is a common tactic when pilots (or any other defendants) screw up. Find someone else to fob it off on. The more the merrier. 2. The controllers will not have individual liability. The federal gov't is ultimately liable. I'm not an expert on the limits of the Federal Tort Claims Act, but I''ll bet if I dug around I'd find a dollar limit on liability, too. Here in WI it's a measly $50,000 per claim for the state and municipalities, unless it's a motor vehicle accident, where it's upped to $250,000. 3. Note the relief sought. Apparently California is different from my jurisdiction, if there's a common law doctrine of "Total Equitable Indemnity." Indemnity is a doctrine that requires someone to completely take over another's liability. It seems out of place here to me. It's usually a creature of a contractual agreement. The other claims for contribution make more sense. Those claim the controllers share fault with the pilot and should pay a proportionate amount of any award. 4. Considering the stakes and likely damages, the helicopter company is going bankrupt if they lose this case. There can't be an insurance policy large enough to pay all the damages. So this would be rightly viewed as a bet-the-company desperation measure. 5. Yes, juries do stupid things. Remember the Carnahan crash in 2000 and the $4M jury verdict against Parker-Hannafin because a vacuum pump died and an AI went Tango Uniform? That problem is exacerbated by judges letting juries hear junk science and letting emotional appeals about damages bleed into the liability determination. The Daubert and Kumho Tire doctrine about experts is fine in theory, but in practice it often get ignored by judges and ipse dixit nonsense is allowed to be spouted to the jury. And bifurcated trials separating the determination of liability from the determination of damages are frowned on as inefficient. 6. Can we please avoid cheap shots at lawyers? There are good eggs and bad eggs in every occupation and profession. And lawyers wouldn't get away with the nonsense about which people often complain if courts would smack those silly claims down hard like they should. They do it because the systems lets them, and it works. (See item 5, supra.) 7. Look at para. 11 of the pleading Flash linked -- the helicopter went from 1,500' AGL to 2,300' AGL in 8 seconds. That's 6,000 fpm. I gotta get me some of that!! Dave Piehler

An additional note: When we were briefing the flight in the lounge at Wisconsin Aviation, the fellow who manned the desk at the South ramp in 2019 came up to us looking very excited and asked if we were from the Mooney Caravan. He commented on how much they missed us this year and how much fun he had working with us last year. His statement was that working the Caravan was his "Superbowl." Nice that we could brighten his day. Dave

Mooney Caravan History: In the beginning was the gaggle. Then came the Great Flood of 2010, also know as Sploshkosh or Sloshkosh. That year the Caravan was cancelled, since EAA couldn't accept arrivals that weekend, and couldn't say if or when grass parking would be allowed. Still, the Mooney Caravan flag had to be at least figuratively flown at OSH. Three intrepid Mooney Caravaners flew to Oshkosh that Monday, and demonstrated the feasibility of arriving via formation. Chris "Toro" Shopperly led and landed, since he'd reserved hard surface parking. Larry "Joker" Brennan and James "Pepper" Oliphant made a low pass and departed for lack of somewhere to park. The experiment was so successful that in 2011 the Caravan was a hybrid of three three-ship formation elements with the rest of the group flying the gaggle. That proof of concept went so well that 2012 and onward have been all-formation affairs. Even though AirVenture was cancelled for 2020, the Mooney Caravan flag had to be flown (figuratively again) there in July. To do otherwise would simply not be acceptable. Hence, today Bret "Whitey" Lowell (Mooney Caravan 2020 Alternate Lead), Dave "Porsche" Austin, Steve "Fender" Henderson and Dave "Raptor" Piehler did a four-ship sortie from MSN - OSH following the Mooney Caravan route. Sorta. We got a Rwy 21 departure at MSN (excellent geometry for the rejoin after takeoff) and managed to persuade OSH Tower to approve the overhead break to Rwy 9. The winds were from the SE. RWY 36 would have been a handful with a tailwind, and element landings on Rwy 18 would be tough with that 1,500' MSL crossing restriction over Rwy 9. But I digress... OSH ATIS had the Unwelcome Mat out. The relevant portion, which I wrote down verbatim,. said "EAA AIrVenture is Cancelled. All EAA facilities are closed. Hard surface parking only." As the photo shows, the grounds are empty and forlorn. Basler has moved to the old terminal, and there's massive demolition underway to re-purpose that. Taxiway A, aka 36R, is being reconstructed and is closed. All very sad looking. However, our undaunted aviators made the trip, showed the flag, and had an excellent lunch at Beckett's patio on the Fox River (Friar Tuck's was open, but has no outdoor dining). As you can see, social distancing and masks were the order of the day. We were met by Doc Flamo with his handy dandy Instamatic, whom we can thank for several of the photos. Dave Piehler Postscript: There were no formations of Cessnas, Cirri, Bonanzas or PIpers in evidence anywhere.

gsxrilot: Thanks! Neat demo, and the Along Track button teaches me something else that's new. I assure you I searched for info on holds before I posted, but that one escaped me. (Funny that it was just created yesterday, the same time I was thinking of this.) Dave