BDPetersen

Between sun glare and turbulence shake, I realized my years of trying to perfect a yoke mount was folly. A basic lap board seems to be just fine.

When you start torque wrenching the clamps, Tekton sells a compact one as I recall.

It was a bit over 60 years ago I swung my first Mooney gear and often referred to the process as “flick-flick” to emphasize to my buddies how easy it was. Now my arthritically challenged right hand makes the unlatching process a bit daunting. When I first got my current “C” it was significantly out of rig and the down lock was badly worn. Fixing those made the actual swinging a non issue, airspeed not withstanding. Just wish I had a workaround for unlatching.

Pad heater.

Or add a finger width.

My airport had high speed internet available and I tapped into that a year ago with 1 gig speed at my hangar. A smart outlet lets me control my plug in heater from my phone. Even better, I put a point to point wi-fi from there to my house, 800’ away. The cable company promised wiring up the house for years, but nada. Get 500-600 speed at the house and said good bye to satellite internet.

Scott Simon did a nice tribute on NPR this morning.

If you have a trolley or bottle jack handy and a bar stuck through the knuckle (whatever it is called) of the gear, you can lift enough to slip a too tall wing jack into position.

Do you have a list of Manfrotto parts you used?

Looks like the kind of stuff we used to wish on to those at the top of the seniority list to enhance advancement. Hang gliders, too.

Oh, good. All these years of staying mum on CTAF I was ok. Figured anything I said was stepped on by all the other jabbering, anyway.

Okay, I’ll bite. Who “approves” radio calls?

I think I answered my own question. Sorry. Looks like it is but I wouldn’t need the probes, etc. and the new gauge only price is about the same as yours.

Do you know if that is a plug and play for the 700?

Then there is the ubiquitous wire stripping tool that for some reason always sucks me in because of some improvement over the old one. I wonder where it is . . .

While I built a pole barn hangar once, I purchased a 60x42 pole barn type structure on the airport. It never had a successful door at that time. I was familiar with the Ultimate Door being sold as plans and parts in the EAA magazine. I built a 48’ version that has withstood 32 years of use, so far. Extremely minimalistic, stick, cable, garage door track, fiberglass (type) skin, harbor freight winch. Probably not what you had in mind, but it keeps the weather out and the translucent panels let the light in.

Congratulations! Get a big watch and sunglasses and they will know.

I strongly urge the total immersion, camp with the plane experience. Been doing that for 48 years (not every year). So much to take in. I predict 2 things will happen: after 3-4 days you won’t want to leave and return to reality and when you do you will first notice the days just beginning to shorten as summer slides away, you will already be looking forward to next year’s OSH. On a useful note, I noted last year that the taxi paths were alarmingly not smooth and my empty Mooney was difficult to keep from porpoising. Hadn’t experienced that before. Fisk arrival: keep the railroad tracks between your legs, mind your altitude and, of course, eyes and ears open.

Funny how ancient ideas carry forward and never die,

Pretty cool. I hope they use the atomic powered seaplane the strip had in the ‘50’s.

Funny. I had a 1100’ backyard strip at my home in Minnesota on about 5 acres. A challenge for even a Stinson. Had 4000’ on 320 acres in Iowa. I guess the point is you might get creative and sneak in a 2500 footer in an odd piece of land. Adjoining a county airport now, probably the best option.

So, you’re human. I used to instruct students that if they did that or happen onto a dead mag to first close the throttle and let the engine wind down before moving the mag switch. Of course I knew they probably wouldn’t, but not a bad idea to have that thought as a self-briefing before each mag check.

I will watch with interest for answers/theories. After replacing my oil sump gasket a couple years ago I noted an increase in oil pressure (no connection implied). Haven’t figured out a reason or problem.

When the battery on my tug let me down I resorted to the factory towbar to pull mine out of the hangar against a very slight ramp upslope. In the midst of a hard pull the bar slipped out of the nose gear and sent me sprawling and cursing. Note to self: use the towbar that latches on from both sides. Or fix the tug.

I have a Switcheon to sell, by the way. The joy of hangar wi-fi lets me use a smart outlet with the pad heater and old sleeping blanket insulator. About 3 hours does the trick. $150 for the Switcheon. Great system.