milotron

Hi folks, I know that there is a lot of information here already, and that many of the MSers do long trips regularly, so I am looking for some general advice: I am planning on a Canadian cross-country trip in the summer from Victoria to Halifax and back. It will likely be 3-4 5 hour legs each way, pending winds. Any advice on planning, things to bring, things that you have found strangely useful or any other pithy words of wisdom? I have reasonable mechanical confidence in my M20K as it has done this trip before, but most of my recent flying hast been limited to 2-4 hour out and back legs for work destinations. What say you?

Victoria ( CYYJ ) is very GA friendly. Cheap overnight parking at the Victoria Flying Club. Airport of entry for customs also. On the mainland, either Abbotsford ( CYXX ) or Boundary Bay may be your best bet as Vancouver International CYVR is very busy and expensive. iain

As a fellow Canadian, I feel your pain. I am on the fence on the ADSB thing as NAVCanada is publishing results of their report later this year. What I am concerned with is that Canada is doing the satellite based system that MAY require a diversity antenna ( one on the top and on the bottom ) arrangement. Normally the transponder antenna is only on the belly as it is talking to ground based stations. I would hate to spend $10k+ and find out I don't have the correct box. For what it's worth, I am either installing the Garmin 3xx series or a Lynx depending on how spendy I feel. Lynx install is even more due to more remote stuff to install. The install is like priced for your plane to include a new blade antenna, RG-400 coax and a new altitude encode of some kind. Not big dollar items, but they all add up and require taking the plane apart more. I am planning on working with my AME on the install. I'll do all the grunt work for him, he can do the smart stuff. I would happily do it all if I was allowed. iain

I goosed it back up to 11.45V using another battery on the charger to get the charger working again. I just pulled it off an hour ago. Will see what the stabilized voltage is in the morning, but it is not looking good. I learned a whole lot about charging AGM batteries this morning and used some ad hoc methods to replicate the fancier charging procedures. New one will be here on Friday; I'll use the old with a PV panel, inverter and charge controller for a camera power supply in the yard. iain

No clock at all. This was a discussion on another thread also.....Someone replaced the clock with an EDM 700 many moons ago. I do need/want to put one in later this year. The one I am considering has a built in backup battery. iain

The issue could be in the headliner where the two horns are located ( presumably ). As the stall switch is a the ground point, any spurious contact to ground on the appropriate horn terminals will cause this to happen also. My schematic shows several diodes at the gear horn ( as several things can sound it; gear speed switch, throttle switch, etc ) then a short in just the right spot could cause this action. Just postulating...I have had my own electrical demons to conquer today. Less costly fixing other people's problems! iain

I don't have a schematic for that model, but on my K, they are separate circuits, BUT since both of these are mission critical alerts, I would not be surprised if there was a diode or back feed intentionally in these circuits to back up the primary alert in case of a tripped circuit breaker or to alert you that that circuit breaker has popped. iain

It looks like this in there. At least mine does. iain

I had this issue. After taking the switch apart and cleaning the hell out of it, the issue turned out to be one of the crimpon connectors was shorting to ground on the metal bracket around the stall switch. I presume it just bumped around enough to finally short out. Don't overlook the simple and obvious... iain

Looking at the schematics now, it looks like the cabin lights, clock and OEM fuel flow memory is connected direct to the battery, but isolated using the 'fuel mem' switch, if you have one. i looked at the Shadin miniflo manual and it has non-volatile memory not requiring constant power. Since I also do not have the clock, it looks like i can use t his switch as an override to shutdown these lights completely. I don't want to make this $600 mistake again. Battery is starting to come back up, but i don' trust it now. Once it is up to 12v again, I'll do a load test and see how it does. I am not expecting much from it at this point. Getting it down less than 2V is a pretty deep discharge. iain

Nice. Working on this for my CPL. When did you drop the gear? Also, what did you film this with? iain

That is a good idea. Unfortunately the cabin lights are operational regardless the position of the master switch. I would have to be deaf to leave my master on for the number of fans/gyros etc screaming away. iain

Is this is the same beeping sound that is made when the trim switch is off during startup? iain

Thanks Don. I was thinking of the exact same thing! That or some other indicator, or red marks on the switches that are only visible in the 'on' mode. iain

Thanks, I ordered another Concorde RG 35 AXC from aircraft spruce to replace the one that was installed. I can wait a couple of days for it. I'll try again with a different charging technique to get it up to voltage again, but I am planning a cross country trip for the summer and don't want to have to worry about the battery condition grounding me. iain

So, I have now joined the club of those illustrious few who have drained their batteries by leaving the cabin lights on. Went out today for a CPL lesson and found it dead to the world. Battery volts down to 1.8v once i opened it up. Looked around and found the little cabin light at the back in the 'Dim' position. I never use them, so I never check them for being off but i must have bumped it with baggage from the trip to Port Hardy last week. Add something else to the 'put the plane to bed' list. i was a little surprised to see a Concorde sealed battery in there, dated from 2014. I suppose that is a reasonable lifespan. I know my AME suggested it was due for replacement next year. After an overnight charging attempt, it is showing only 8 volts. I know these glass mat batteries really don't like a deep discharge, so not totally surprised by this. I have a new Concorde coming in from Spruce, so hopefully can get back up and running for the rest of spring break. So, after dealing with some other charging issues that were likely hard on the previous battery, ( broken alternator battery lead, bad voltage regulator on Alt #2 ), and knowing these batteries are a little more sensitive to charging voltages, here is the question: Do any of you change your regulators to summer/winter voltage settings based on operating temperatures?

I hard wired a very short 120V extension cord through one of the blanked off radio blast cooling ports on top of the copilot side NACA duct. The plug is inside the duct and leaves the receptacle end ty-rapped under the copilot area to plug in my heater and dehumidifier. I tie down outside and it stays bone dry ( and warm ) inside with all the doors and windows closed tight, even in the rainforest of the pacific northwest. Maybe a similar idea for the battery minder connections? iain

Just renewed for $2995 CDN. $140kCDN hull and $2M liability. It is $100 more than last year, but they said I gained discounts on experience, time, et, but rate were up across the board this year. That is with Global Aerospace via Magnes. iain

There is reciprocal agreement between US and Canada that is renewed every year by NOTAM that allows for overflights of adjacent country so long as not landing in that foreign country. In Victoria/Vancouver for example, pretty much every flight over flys US airspace, nothing special required. I do agree there could be some drama if you have a forced landing behind enemy lines so to speak, without your passport.

I am going almost exactly the same route in planning my panel, including the ADF. Aspen has a lot of value still from what I can see. G5s don;t really add much at this point unless they can drive the King autopilot. Do you need the diversity on your transponder? Which Garmin box are you using? I love the panel graphics by the way... iain

Looking at solar hot water system. Do you have more details on this? It may be just what I am looking for. On another note, our local flying club got the all clear on the fuel as the latest deliveries came from a different plant on Vancouver Island. They are expecting an overall fuel shortage unless Imperial finds a way to resolve this in the field and without taking the fuel back. It looks like blending with good product, or an additive is what they are looking at. iain

Thanks Marauder. That looks great! I am sticking with OEM type Plane plastics to replace the lower. Upper has some cracked screw holes. The rubber seal around the handle is riveted, sandwiched between the handle and door skin. Not a job for me to take on but will put on the list when I get to a paint job, along with replacing the windows. iain

That's was I was thinking too. I was wondering if something was missing. The backside of the interior panels were very dirty in that area with some evidence of moisture. iain

Hi, I am repairing/replacing the plastic interior panels on my door. Once apart, there is no insulation or seals around the latch. Is my door missing something? There are a couple of sound reduction pads, but not much else. Seems to me there should be more in there. There is a little corrosion on the control rods and I am going to sand/prime them before this goes back together. Using the melted plastic/MEK methods for repairing the cracks, along with SEM paint and getting good results. Thanks,

+1 on the 262, great value proposition, but I am biased. MB engine in this upgrade gets two alternators on the 14V system which is nice redundancy. As noted the only major downside is no Encore potential.