Skates97

My first flight in a Cessna was after I think about 400 hours in our Mooney. We rented on in Maui and took a CFI along. I told him I'd never sat in a Cessna but to just give me speeds and power settings. Two hours later I was coming in to land and when I was where I pull power on the Mooney I pulled the power. He immediately reached over and shoved it back in as I said "sorry, I'm used to my Mooney."

Agree, I love the 900 in my plane.

My wife and I just had this discussion on a flight Saturday. When we put in the GFC500 I didn't add the yaw damper, couldn't justify the extra cost. In cruise I typically stick my foot/boot in between the rudder pedal and side panel to keep it straight and not have to keep constant pressure with my leg. It would be nice to just let the AP do that work. I still might add it one day.

Finally made it up to Half Moon Bay. Shot the approach and broke out at 1,500'. Had a great lunch and took off in VFR conditions to fly the San Francisco Bay.

Are you talking about the clear triangleish plastic behind the light that sticks up above the wing? I might still have it at my hangar from when I put LED's on.

It was @flyingchump but looking at his profile he hasn't been on the site since August 2023.

I bought some three years ago that @flyingchump made and they are great! Smooth as they can be.

I did it with my CFI in the Cherokees when working on my PPL and in my Mooney for transition training. Both times the most startling factor was how much ground you were looking at to keep the nose down enough to maintain airspeed through the turn. In the Mooney I didn't drop the gear until I knew I had the runway made. I verbally brief three points before every takeoff. By saying it out loud, even if nobody is in the plane it is an effort to solidify the plan in my mind in the event I need to employ the plan. "I should be at 60mph or off the ground by xxxx or I pull power and stop on the runway." "Problems immediately after takeoff my best option is xxxx." (Someplace out in front of me.) "Traffic pattern is xxxx, I can make a turn back at xxxx." (Where my turn back altitude is 100' less that TPA) Sometimes the last one is "Traffic pattern is xxxx, by the time I get there I will be too far away to turn back so my best option is xxxx." For example leaving KPSO yesterday with DA just under 10,000 there was no way I would get the altitude needed in the time needed to turn back.

Flew to our place in CO for Labor Day weekend. Mt Humphrey's by Flagstaff High Desert Ship Rock KPSO landing in light rain

Needed to get a flight in today to keep my streak going for flying every week. Today was week 49, just three more to go to hit my goal of 52 weeks. Short hop from FUL to POC for some breakfast in between some small cells pushing through the area.

Yep, waiting with my checkbook!

Having a carb you get a fair amount of warning as the fuel pressure slowly drops. I've been running a tank dry on long cross country flights for almost nine years now. Never any issues. Three times I didn't catch the fuel pressure drop and the engine quit. Not a big deal. You will also see a surge in fuel flow as the bowl refills after switching tanks. Also as Mike mentioned early in the thread, the next time you switch to that tank there may be a brief interruption in flow as the lines that had air in them fill with fuel. Once I ran a tank dry, switched over, and finished the flight. Topped both tanks and started on the tank I landed on. One hour into the flight I switched tanks and saw my fuel pressure and flow start dropping so quickly switched back thinking "What was that?" Then I realized it was probably air in the lines from the previous flight. Switched back and after a brief moment the pressure and flow came back to normal and continued on. This is why I run it dry, my personal minimum is on the ground with 10 in the tank I'm landing on, not 10 gallons split between the tanks.

And it's very helpful to have it sitting on a towel when you take it apart to keep that little steel ball in between the two halves from running away....

This one with the USB mini fits the Ghost X. https://www.nflightcam.com/products/nflightcam-gopro-audio-power-cable The XL uses a USB-C port and I tried the NFlightCam cable that has that connection but could not ever get the XL to pick up the audio.

I have a few Drift Ghost X cameras. One I use with the Nflightcam cable to capture the radios. The Drift Ghost XL will give you almost 7 hours of battery if you have the wifi off on it, I love it for the longer flights under the wing. I just recently bought a DJI Action Pro 5 and the stabilization and picture quality is amazing, a huge step up from the Ghost. They claim up to 4 hours battery if wifi is off on 1080 with stabilization but I am seeing about 3 1/2 hours.

We fly out of some high DA airports in our D with it's whopping 180hp. I have found it's never a problem leaning on the roll. I know where my EGT's are taking off at 100' MSL from home base and lean to "about" that number on the roll. Even out of KPSO with DA's above 10k we don't have a problem, it doesn't climb fast but it is safely doable. You have to know that the deck angle is going to be different that what you're used to seeing, it's going to climb slower, and you just let the plane give you what it can. Pulling back to climb faster doesn't work as others have mentioned. The DA in this instance shouldn't have caused issues.

I have done all sizes. The small ones in crates, the big ones clipped into a rear seat belt so they can't get up front. I should have followed your #1 and #3. I was bringing a Dobe mix from AZ back to CA. He was fine the entire flight but got just a little antsy before landing when I smelled something. I've had Dobe's for about 15 years and they can clear a room with gas so I didn't think much of it until after landing when I saw there had been an accident in the back seat. It took quite a bit of cleaning, and was the last time I took a dog not in a crate.

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...