Skates97

I practiced it with my instructor and consider 900' my minimum to allow for startle factor. The really eye-opening part of it is how much you are looking at the ground as you come around to keep your speed up. It was much more nose down than I expected. Every takeoff I brief an abort point on the runway if I am not at 60mph, option immediately following takeoff (somewhere ahead), and traffic pattern altitude -100' as "able to turn back."

I should really start putting up pictures of my flights here... Yesterday checked a couple more SoCal airports off the list. Fallbrook L18 with it's 2,150' runway and Oceanside KOKB with it's "long" 2,172' runway.

You're a short hop from Art Craft in Santa Maria. https://intothesky.com/2023/01/17/art-craft-paint-review/

Agree, pre-loads are supposed to be checked every annual. I had a similar issue once early on with my plane. Jacked the plane up, released the gear, took out the thumb button which was all gunked up and cleaned, lubed, and replaced along with the shaft where the handle slides up and down. Made a big difference. I agree with the others that if it suddenly became difficult without any maintenance performed I would look for something jamming the mechanism.

I had a friend who would say "Buy the best and cry once." I agree it is worth it. I flew 500+ hours with nothing, not even the positive control wing leveler because they didn't put them in the D's. I like having the trim button on my yoke and being able to adjust trim after taking off, on go arounds, and on approach while leaving my right hand on the throttle. There are times I wish I had put in the Yaw damper servo as well like you did.

I have a 12v in the baggage compartment that I plug it into. It sits on the backseat when not being used. I'll set it on the floor just in front of the rear seat with the exhaust/outlet facing forward to keep it from overheating when in use. I'd leave it there all the time but it prevents me from sliding my seat in my D all the way back to get in/out. It came with cannulas which are nice. I bought a splitter and hose off Amazon so my wife and I can both use it. At 13,000' and below on 6 it keeps our sats in the upper 90's. https://a.co/d/4QcLfvv https://a.co/d/7wjEJ0u

And it looks amazing!

You realize if he does that he won't be able to afford the plane, the girlfriend, or the former wife...

Strut https://a.co/d/7ZPotq1 Mounts https://a.co/d/3QK0t1r https://a.co/d/2MqoNHH Would have to track down the entry but it was something like "Replaced door hold open arm with gas strut."

Best tip I ever received for adel clamps is to clamp it down, put a piece of safety wire around it to hold it closed, after getting the bolt/nut on clip and remove the safety wire before tightening all the way.

Cabin Door Baggage Door

Will be at the hangar next Wednesday and can get a couple pictures.

Mine would never stay open and would hit me in the back all the time. My IA didn't have a problem with me putting a small gas strut on it. It holds the door open great, when taxiing or doing runup the prop wash closes it to about 2 inches and then opens back up smoothly at idle. After my baggage door arm got bent terribly by a mechanic I put a small gas strut on that as well. It's nice because as it closes it goes over center and applies pressure to keeping the door shut. Not sure if it would make a difference if the baggage door wasn't latched and not will to try that experiment... They're similar to this but I would have to look at the length and weight rating to see what I have on there, I ordered a few different ones before settling on which worked best.

Haven't eaten any of the "food" from A&W but the rootbeer floats got us through a few hot afternoons! There was a food truck with Mexican Food by Exhibit Hangar B that was halfway decent in 2021 and 2023.

Put static cling tint on the rear windows, it makes a huge difference. Easy to do yourself and cheap. Keep a few scraps to place on the front windows in cruise or even up on the windshield to cut down on the sun. When not using them just fold them up and put them in the seat pocket. https://intothesky.com/2020/06/02/window-tinting/ You can also make your own window shades out of this stuff. Cut to size they stay in the windows just fine, if it's a hot summer day I'll leave them in the back left window the whole flight as it doesn't affect visibility and in the back right window in cruise. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reflectix-R-21-50-sq-ft-Unfaced-Reflective-Roll-Insulation-24-in-W-x-25-ft-L/3011904 I also made a homebuilt a/c similar to the B-Cool that @Fritz1 mentioned. We use it in the summer if we're going to AZ. https://intothesky.com/2017/08/20/homemade-a-c/