jaylw314

Makes sense to do that in SoCal airspace, but even there they are telling you to advise them, not ask them. That way, if there is no other traffic, they can just respond "Roger" and go on with other duties. When you ask for a descent, they have to give you instructions, then you have to read those instructions back, even if there is no other traffic around. If there is traffic when you advise them of your descent, at that point, they can say "Negative, maintain current altitude" or "Remain at or above 4,000" without your having to ask. It just ends up saving everyone radio time.

I actually liked the 152 better than the 172 during training, it just seemed like when you did something, the plane immediately followed. In the 172, with the extra weight, when you did something, the plane seemed like it would wait a while and then say "oh, ok, FINE, I'll raise my nose." Of course, I never went above 3000' in the 152. That might have changed my mind

I would agree that if ATC said "fly to XXX", I would go past that if we couldn't talk and I was VFR in Class C airspace. If they told me "do NOT go past XXX", which has happened to me in Class C airspace once, that's pretty explicit, though. The AIM does actually point out that "lost communications" is not a black-and-white issue, and that it is impossible to issue rules about every conceivable situation. A situation where you are unable to communicate with ATC in a timely fashion because of a busy frequency is an example of a such a grey area. And so the guideline in the AIM is to...exercise your best judgment I think most people would say if you truly lost comms, just squawk 7600 or 1200 (or 7600 THEN 1200), and go on your merry way once outside the Class C. Point(s) taken!

Yes, there is nothing in the AIM about VFR takeoff clearances, but the instruction "remain at or below 2000" does explicitly give a limit on altitude, and if you accept it, you're stuck keeping it even if you're VFR.

Again, everyone is correct, in Class C or D airspace, as long as you have two-way communication, you can do anything unless you are given and accept instructions. The question is whether those instructions have a limit or not. I'm assuming the OP had a "fly to" instruction, which does not imply a limit. If he heard "cleared to", which I've never heard for VFR traffic, then it would. VFR takeoff clearances are common examples of clearance limits at Class C airports. If you accept it, you can't go off in any direction and altitude you want after takeoff, although I've never heard a VFR takeoff clearance giving a waypoint limit. In terms of not being able to get a word in edgewise on the radio, I've had a couple ATC contacts where I never got a chance to say anything. Some of the VFR transition routes over LAX are handled by LAX tower. Approach hands you over to LAX and you're in their class B for about 2 minutes. Both times I've been, I could never make an initial call between all the departing airliners, and then 2 minutes later, LAX calls out and says "frequency change approved." In this case, though, ATC never says anything to suggest there is a limit to how far I can go, so there was never an issue.

Thanks, no my mags were outside the serial number range

They were installed new in 2012 with the remanufactured engine. It's a couple years off, but interesting. Thank you for the info! I'll follow up with my A&P

So much for that idea. Does it have a cell-phone radio? I don't know iPad's, but some tablets that have built-in cell-phones use the cell-phone as a location service to roughly triangulate their position in lieu of GPS. Grasping at straws here, of course....

You'll hear "clear" as in "remain clear" or "not cleared." If you are in class C and you lose two-way communication, you are supposed to leave unless you are landing. Likewise, just being VFR doesn't mean you can do whatever you want if ATC asks you to leave.

Also, I'm pretty sure ATC does NOT enter your route in any system with VFR flight following. They may write it down on a Post-It and hand it off to the next controller, but I don't think it's official. Anyone know for sure?

Yeah, that leaves it kind of ambiguous, doesn't it? If "fly direct XXX" was proceeded by my request for flight following and telling ATC my destination and route of flight, that would certainly suggest I can go past XXX. But the magical word is "cleared." If you accept a clearance, like "cleared to land," you MUST obey that instruction with any limits until amended. And "cleared to XXX" unambiguously states you are not to go past it (otherwise you would have been cleared somewhere beyond).

I don't know Garmin/Foreflight equipment, but many EFB's have an option to use the internal GPS on your tablet vs the external GPS from an outside source (in this case, the GTX345). Does Foreflight have such an option? If so, double check it is set to use the external GPS source.

I think I disagree. If you were only in contact with ATC while VFR, then you can navigate to your heart's content. But once you ACCEPT an instruction, even while VFR, I think you are REQUIRED to follow those instructions absent an emergency or lost comms. In this case, if you accepted instructions to "Cleared to XXX intersection" while VFR, you are acknowledging you can find XXX intersection and that you will not proceed past it until further cleared. I would expect to hold at that intersection using whatever VFR hold I wanted--IFR holds need to be precise for terrain clearance in IMC, which is not relevant here. On the other hand, if ATC said something like "Fly to XXX intersection," the situation becomes a lot muddier, because that is not clearly a clearance "limit".

There's a previous thread with pictures of custom made wheel chocks. The gal who does it was a friend of mine up in Salem before I moved.

You're right, it's right there in the post-inspection checklist

I find FGLFB much easier to pronounce than GUMPS Really, it's mentally more efficient for me to do two to three items for each letter.

If you have one brake pedal pressed and engage the parking brake, will that continue to hold pressure on just that one brake? If so, I could see that happening if the parking brake engaged while you had your foot on the left rudder. I noticed the plastic checklist that came with the plane does not include "check parking brake" on the "Before Landing" checklist, but the POH checklist does include it. My GUMPS checklist is now: "FF" - Fuel tank/fuel pump "GG" - Gear down/gear locked "levers" - Mixture/Prop/Throttle "FF" - Wing flaps/Cowl flaps "BB" - Parking brake/Seat belts

Aaand, the glass is half-empty

I don't recall it being a required part of annual/100 hour inspections. It would only be addressed if the IA noticed it, if it was grossly bad, or if you brought it up as a squawk or related issue

And it turned out it was just a bad e-gap timing in the left magneto due to cam wear. It's an IO-360A3B6 with two Slick mags. The engine was remanufactured, and the mags were new and only have 250 hours on them, so I guess that supports the argument about quality (or lack thereof) of Slick mags. I thought it was just the cold weather, fine-wire plugs helped for a while but it kept getting worse. I had dragged my feet getting the mag pulled, since I assumed my A&P would send it out to a specialty shop, and I was worried about the mag getting sent out to a mag shop and being told I needed a new one (after the prop fiasco). Fortunately, turns out he does to mag work in house. On today's flight it caught after a one turn. Anyway, $230 later I have one mag with a 500 hour IRAN done, instead of $900 for an overhauled mag so I call that one a win.

The FAA books from the AC's are fantastic. The weather one was finally redone recently (It used to be a scanned copy of a bad quality xerox). I found that I was motivated to read them once I found out they were FREE. FREE is a big incentive to use things, if I had to buy them I probably wouldn't have read them...

There is also a pretty good YouTube video that uses the Garmin training simulator

Not everyone learns best through verbal instruction. Some prefer written instruction, some prefer discussion, some prefer visual, etc. You're paying an instructor to give you instruction, but he may not know what works best for you unless you know what works best for you. I've done a lot of teaching with medical students, and the vast majority of students will say they learn best through practical experience, but it then takes a couple weeks of watching them to figure out they learn better a different way.

Although I should point out that high humidity is frequently associated with visible moisture, so they're indirectly related.

You've got a good process there. Not to nitpick (well I am), but the scan you should return to is the AI, not heading and altitude. If you're attitude is steady, your heading and altitude will change slowly enough they can be scanned every few turns. Somewhere I saw Rod Machado say you shouldn't focus on any one instrument most of the time, but there are times it should be the AI.