Skates97

Ah, the joys of having a hangar at a small un-towered strip with on runway and one taxiway. Startup, taxi down to the pumps, sometimes don't even turn on the avionics for the short trip. It's pretty easy to see if there is traffic on the taxiway...

I didn't want to do the whole front windows but I did about a 2" strip across the top of the windows and I also did one across the top of the windshield. I need to redo the strip across the top of the front windows so that it is a straighter cut, but they help. The one across the top of the windshield made a big difference on how much sun baked you on our last flight. It doesn't affect my view out at all but really helps on the sun shining on your face. You can see the strip across the window as well as the windshield. (Funny, just noticed the light on the tail of the plane behind me looks like a weird collision light on top of my plane...) Really rough cut, I was just trying it out to see how it would do. I am going to make it about another 1/2" bigger and use a nice straight edge for a smooth cut now that I know I like it. Here's the edge of the one on the windshield, you can see how far down it comes.

The most airports I have done in a day is four and that was during my transition training in the Mooney. Went airport hopping one night just for the repetitive practice of take off, climb, cruise, descent, landing. Looking back at my logbook and the most landings in a day was 12 a couple of different times during my PPL training. 37 different airports in a day makes me tired just thinking about it...

Or drain it when it is cold... Leaving it to drain overnight I think gets as much out as running the engine to heat everything up first, although I know there are those that disagree.

I just did mine and it was 1/2". I just went to Lowes and bought I think 3-4' of each size for somewhere around $0.40/ft. I figured it was cheap enough that spending the extra $1.50 to not make a second trip if I guessed wrong was worth it.

That was my exact thought when Alex posted that pic. As for draining the hose, I always dip my tanks and decide how much to put in. The pump shuts off just before the tanks are full and I hold the lever until it stops draining. I suppose I am missing out on the bit that is in the hose below the wing level. On a somewhat unrelated note, I was very annoyed by whomever got fuel before me in St George on Memorial Day. Did the usual routine, ground plane, dip tanks, swipe card, set amount of fuel to buy, pull hose to wing while it is authorizing, go back to switch on pump... no switch... How the heck do you turn on the pump there? Oh, there was just a sign to not lift the lever before it resets. What does that mean? I've never seen that before. Oh wait, there is a place to put the handle and in the bottom of it is a metal plate which acts to turn off and on the pump. I go back and pick up the handle, take it back and put it in the hole which "turns off the pump" and also prints off a receipt charging me $0.81 for 0.170 gallons of gas that was never pumped... All because someone didn't put the handle back where it belonged, and I didn't think anything of it because when I pulled up it was hanging from the reel like everyplace else I've ever gotten gas. After a few words shared with nobody in particular except the 95° wind about the lazy punk that got fuel before me, I swiped my card for a new authorization and then filled my plane.

Watched a special Memorial Day Broadcast this morning that I had recorded last week while out of town. They did the 'Hymn to the Fallen' from Saving Private Ryan. It was updated with some different images than this one from a couple of years ago, but this one is still very good. I was moved to tears. (When it comes to patriotic things, I am often a big cry baby as I think of the sacrifices that have been and are being made.) My grandfather, uncle, and dad all served in the Air Force. My daughter is at advanced training at Ft Lee right now. I believe the greatest gift we have been given is the freedom that we have to choose, and of all the countries in the history of the world, I believe this is the only one where there has been complete freedom. That freedom came at a tremendous price, and there are many that still willingly pay that price so we may continue to enjoy our freedom. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

It does not happen on my second radio. If I turn the radio off the sound is gone, but when I turn it back on it is back. I know that should make it an issue with the radio, but after finding out that my wife is having a different symptom on her headset it made me think perhaps it is something to do with the intercom. I honestly don't know how the two radios are wired into the intercom but I am going to have a look the next time I get out to the hangar. At the very least I will check connections and also clean them with some contact cleaner.

Thank you for organizing it! It was a lot of fun to meet everyone, and the food was good too. My friend that came along has been busy looking up other fun places to fly. We have a deal, I fly us there and he buys the food. I know the gas is more expensive than the food, but I figure I'm going to fly anyway, getting a good meal and company out of the deal is just a bonus. He said that Joe's One-Niner Diner at the Paso Robles Airport has some good reviews. Has anyone been there? Maybe a spot for a future fly-in?

This is what my plane has, just a clevis pin. There is one of them that has what looks like a piece of aluminum vacuum line that someone cut to about 1/4 long on one side that acts as a bushing, then a cotter pin to hold it in place of course. I ended up buying an extra because when I got the plane it was missing a pin on one of the rails, I think it was less than a dollar.

Not a dumb question, but my answer may be a dumb one... I have adjusted the squelch on the SPA-400, but on the individual headsets? Mine don't have any adjustment for squelch for the individual ones, or if they do I have no idea how. The only thing on the headsets themselves is just volume adjustment. I don't know of any squelch adjustment anywhere else besides the one on the Mark 12D but pulling the volume out (which someone said is the squelch) doesn't do anything. I'm going to check connections, given the completely intermittent nature of it. Flew 4 hours straight without it ever happening, and then had it happen constantly off and on for a couple of hours.

Oh... Take a set of ear plugs for sleeping. When I go camping I always have a few sets in my bag.

I'm way behind on my blog. Just posted up the Harris Ranch fly-in. Going to try to get caught up this afternoon and post about my trip last weekend. http://intothesky.us/2017/05/20/harris-ranch-ca-3o8-fly-in/

A little behind on things, but here was my take on the trip to Harris Ranch along with photos and some video of the landing. http://intothesky.us/2017/05/20/harris-ranch-ca-3o8-fly-in/

Ok, a new piece of information that is causing me to lean towards the intercom. I have a Sigtronics SPA-400 in it. I was talking to my wife today about it and she mentioned that she has no idea how I can hear ATC or the radio calls when we are getting the static. Apparently on the right side, when I am getting the open squelch sound, there is static in the headset constantly, even when a transmission is coming in. She said she can barely hear the transmission because of the static. I told her that on the left side I get static when there is no transmission, but when I am receiving a transmission the static is gone and it is crystal clear. Because it is affecting both sides differently I am thinking it is perhaps the intercom, not the radio? Am I pointed in the right direction? I did spray some electrical cleaner in the PTT switch and cycled it because sometimes when I am getting it if I click it then it will go away. Considering pulling the intercom and checking all the connections.

I didn't even think of that. I should have had my CFI sign off on a BFR when I was doing my 10 hours transition training.

I'm not sure if someone mentioned it, but the ability to stand up in the tent is priceless. I have done a lot of camping/backpacking and when car camping we take the big tent that you can stand up in. Backpacking it is all about the weight, but getting undressed/dressed when your head is almost touching the top of the ten while sitting down is not something I want to do unless I have to....

I was very fortunate to have a great CFI. There was never a question in my mind if he cared about both me and my progress (two different things). He allowed me to make mistakes, allowing me to proceed through the mistake so long as it didn't put us in danger, and reviewing with me later. Sometimes he would ask me about it afterwards, or let me get just far enough into the mistake before mentioning it, like the time when I was pulling out onto the runway for a return trip on a XC with full flaps still down. I had missed retracting them after landing which I normally did as soon as I was on the ground before braking. He let me taxi back, get everything set up, contact the tower for clearance, and roll across the hold short line without saying anything. It was only as I was lining up on center-line that I think his words were "So what flap setting do you use for take-off?" I immediately realized what I had missed... a valuable lesson learned.

When I put the shoulder harnesses in they came with the new push button style buckles, problem solved. Before that I adjusted the length of the strap on the buckle side longer to put the buckle further away from the path of travel. I never accidentally released the buckle but I did skin my fingers a few times on that little metal piece that the belt goes through to adjust the length of it.

I took my check-ride in a Cherokee that had a main tire that was almost completely bald. Owner of the school had said it would be fine, there were no cords showing and even if there were it was okay until there more than two cords showing. The DPE took a look at it and just said "it's fine, there's no cords showing, just don't lock the tires up."

Since this has wandered off topic... Here's my theory on women. All women are crazy. Some are the certifiable, belong in an institution in a padded room crazy. Run away from them. However, if you are lucky enough to find one that is just "normal" crazy then hold onto her. It took me two tries. The first was the certifiable crazy. The second, well she's amazing, I hit the jackpot with her!

You have the manual Johnson bar, correct? Most of that will go away as you get more and more time in the plane. Eventually it will be very smooth. The other part of it is that the manual gear goes up fast and you just move on to the next task. For me, it is positive rate of climb, gear up, flip the flap lever up so they start coming up, boost off, and then trim as necessary for whatever rate of climb/speed I am looking for.

I just hope they don't have a bunch of CG completely unrealistic crap like you see in so many movies now. I loved the flying sequences in Top Gun. Excellent stuff.

I am wondering if it was the tach cable. I went out to finish the oil change tonight and checked the tach cable, it was loose enough I could turn it with my fingers. I tightened it up and will keep an eye on it. I tried to see if I could turn it so that the weep hole would be on the bottom, but without turning the whole cable I am not able to. I am guessing that it would need to be adjusted inside at the tach a half turn so that it would be facing down at the engine end?

No, the C is non-linear as well. That is why I would add 2 gallons and mark, and another 2 and mark, etc... The level between 10-12 gallons is much different than the level between 20-22 gallons. The fuel stick that came with my plane was marked off at exact intervals, needless to say it was not very accurate.