Skates97

Falcon has a USAA Department and offers discounts for USAA members. I was quoted by I think three different brokers last December when I bought my plane, all were underwriting through STARR but USAA came back the best. This is who helped me out at Falcon. Arlene Rodriguez Agent USAA Department Falcon Insurance Agency, Inc. - Kerrville P.O. Box 291388 Kerrville, TX 78029 Toll Free: 866-750-8722 Fax: 830-792-1144 www.falconinsurance.com

I can't make it to this one but I will be at the Harris Ranch one on the 20th.

Who I am flying with dictates the amount of bumps I'm willing to endure. By myself or with my youngest son the bumps are no big deal (he actually enjoys them). However with my wife I am looking for the smoothest route. Sometimes that means different altitudes, or if I am not flying very high it means a little deviation around that hill/mountain instead of over it. A good example would be when we were flying from Southern California to Mesquite (North of Vegas). The direct route would take me directly over the mountain (close one) to the far left in the picture. It's not high and easy to go over, but I know that there will be some bumps going over it. With my son I go direct over the top, with my wife I go around the right end and the turn up the valley where the ground is smoother and the air is too.

An Irish World War II Spitfire pilot and Flying Ace, was speaking in a church and reminiscing about his war experiences. "In 1942," he says, "the situation was really tough. The Germans had a very strong air force. I remember," he continues, "one day I was protecting the bombers and suddenly, out of the clouds, these Fokker's appeared." There are a few gasps from the parishioners, and several of the children began to giggle. "I looked up, and realized that two of the Fokkers were directly above me. I aimed at the first one and shot him down. By then, though, the other Fokker was right on my tail." At this point, several of the elderly ladies of the church were blushing with embarrassment, the girls were all giggling and the boys laughing loudly. The pastor finally stands up and says, "I think I should point out that 'Fokker' was the name of a German-Dutch aircraft company, who made many of the planes used by the Germans during the war." "Yes, that's true," says the old pilot, "but these Fokkers were flying Messerschmitt's."

I was doing my long XC for my PPL from Chino (KCNO), to Camarillo (KCMA), to Santa Barbara (KSBA), and then back to Chino. I had been carefully watching the weather as Camarillo and Santa Barbara are near the coast and the clouds sometimes roll in during the afternoon. The weather looked good and the flight briefing confirmed that all should be VFR for the flight so I took off. As I was coming into Camarillo I could see some low clouds ahead off of the coast. After landing at KCMA I taxied to the run-up area to get out my flight plan for the next leg. The clouds, just patchy low stuff were obviously coming inland so I checked the weather at KSBA just to be sure before departing. It was showing 12,000' ceilings and 10 mi visibility there so I figured that most of it should just be hung up along the coastline. I had only planned for 3,000' for that leg as it was short and flying along the coast I would be high enough not to worry about obstacles/towers/hills. It wasn't long after taking off that the clouds were straight ahead right at 3,000' so I asked the tower (I was still talking to KCMA) for 2,500' to go under them. (In hindsight I should have asked for higher to go above them, more options that way). As I was approaching Ventura I could see the clouds were getting thicker ahead and lower. Knowing that I had clear skies behind me and inland I began a shallow climbing right turn back towards clear skies. I probably was going through clouds (very thin patchy stuff, what my CFI called "visible moisture" when flying with him) for maybe a second and was in clear skies. I went back to 3,000' and stayed a few miles inland from my planned route and completed the flight in clear skies. Santa Barbara was clear skies and great visibility, it was just a bank of clouds sitting off the coast by Oxnard and Ventura. Could I have gone down to 1,000' right along the coast, or 500' over the water just off the coast and been fine? Maybe. Had I continued trying to stay under the clouds and inland were I had planned my route there is a good chance I would have ended up as a smoking hole in the side of the hills along the coast. Here is a picture along my route of flight. I would have been under those clouds that stop just about at the coastline, but you can see that the hills are much higher.

I don't want to go to Florida during the hot months either... I got enough of those flying in 90-100+ degree temps last year while working on my PPL.

I don't know on the K, but on my D it is on the firewall forward mounted directly to the firewall. The positive battery cable goes to the master solenoid and then there is a short power wire that goes from that to the starter solenoid. They are almost side by side on the firewall in my plane.

Does selling everything include my plane? If it's everything except the plane I might consider it.

Hmmm... That's tempting.

Wow, serious stick and rudder skills. Here I am still just trying to hit the centerline...

I'm just a short hop away at Corona, KAJO. Brandin was my CFI, I really enjoyed his teaching style, he's a good guy.

I think I could second that. I have never broken down away from home, but I have had a few problems while there at the small little un-towered field where I have my hangar. I've met some great people who were more than willing to let me borrow a tool or more than one A&P who gave me a hand free of charge, or the IA willing to provide some instruction, look over my work and sign off on my logbook for $20. I love the community at my airport, kind of like if you were living in a small town where people just like to help out.

They did the tanks in my plane two owners ago in 2012. The left tank has no leaks but the right tank will have a little seepage if I fill it past about 22-23 gallons. I called and talked with him on the phone about it. Yes he will honor the warranty, but I would need to get it to him. (I'm in California and he's in the other side of the country). There are still almost two years left on the warranty. He said that if I wanted to plan a trip there he would get me taken care of. After describing the leak he thinks he knows what it is and would be able to quickly remedy it. (According to him probably a bubble in the sealant that he can easily find and fix). If I can't get out to him he said he would send me a check and I could have someone else fix the leak. (I can't remember for how much but it was the equivalent of a few hours work and a can of sealant.) The downside is if I went that route then the warranty ends immediately as he would not be responsible for someone else opening up the tank which is completely understandable. I told him there is a chance I will plan a vacation out his way in my plane in the next couple of years, and stopping a few gallons shy of a full tank is not too big an inconvenience right now. So, I will live with it for now and see what vacation plans come up in the next year or so. If I'm not going to go out that way in the plane I will take him up on the check offer and find someone locally that could hopefully fix the issue. Very nice guy, very helpful on the phone. If I lived on that side of the country and was considering a complete strip/re-seal he would be at or near the top of the list.

This one fits and may or may not be in use by some of the members here. It is not certified and it only has an 8-degree arc where the certified bulbs are a 10-degree arc. If someone was to use it I would recommend that they keep their other bulb to put back in at annual if their IA requires it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009LQG64S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had a similar issue with my plane. I thought it was a weak battery but it always seemed to have more of an issue when it was warm. ie: after flying and then stopping off for fuel before going back to the hangar. It would try to turn but stop at the compression stroke. Eventually it would finally go after multiple tries. I can't remember who but someone posted a link to a troubleshooting page for skytech starters. I don't have a skytech but the first thing on the troubleshooting list, "The Bump & Run" described exactly what mine was doing. Picked up a solenoid for it, had it replaced, and haven't had a single problem since. http://www.skytecair.com/Troubleshooting.htm

Wish I could have been there. Low overcast all day here with some rain showers off and on. Wouldn't have made it over the mountains to the Central Valley. I have it on the calendar for the 20th.

Long post warning... I had a similar experience, but my problem hasn't returned to normal. Feel free to weigh in with ideas, or just in case someone else sees a similar problem. I've been flying with mine since mid February with no issues. Always around 5-10 on the ground and dropping to 0-2 in cruise, sometimes a little higher at the end of the descent when entering the pattern. A couple weeks ago I took my son flying. We were having a hard time getting the door to close and latch but finally did. Took off and shortly after take off it was up in the 40's. Opened vents and it would go down, but then would go up to 80 and drop back down. Could smell a little exhaust so headed right back. Once back in the hangar with the lights on I could see where a screw that holds down the kick plate (I think that is what you call it had come loose and the plate was preventing to door from closing all the way. (Explains the trouble closing the door). I reasoned that maybe the door was pushed out a little at the bottom and didn't seal, allowing exhaust to get sucked in causing the high readings. I fixed that but on the next flight again saw numbers into the 40's. Nothing really on the ground, but about 3-4 minutes after taking off the numbers would just start climbing steadily until peaking in the upper 30's to low 40's. I replaced the door seal (it was ancient) and thought my problem would be over. Nope, same thing so when flying I moved the sensor around the cabin to see if I could find where the numbers might spike but there was no rhyme or reason to it. A place that got a higher reading, once moving it to a different part of the cabin and going back would no longer be giving the higher reading. Always when I would push it back to the velcro on the panel it would spike way up. I reasoned that perhaps there was something seeping through the firewall. Got back to the hangar (flying at night again) and put a work light in the engine compartment, turned off all the other lights, and looked to see if any light was shining through. Sure enough there were a couple spots where once upon a time there must have been a screw or bolt but was now just an empty hole. Small, but maybe the problem? I put some foil tape over the holes to cover them. Now reading 0 on the ground, but again about 3-4 minutes into the flight it was 30-40ppm. Also after the flight with the engine shut down I still had readings of 4-5... This morning went out and pulled the right seat and the carpet back (I had noticed higher readings when it was down near the floor over there). Sealed off the place where the antenna cable runs down through (was never a problem before, but who knows, why not plug it up). Start up and taxi, 0ppm, (I'm getting false hope because I have never seen 0ppm on the ground), run-up 10ppm, 3-4 minutes into the flight again it suddenly just starts climbing to 30-40ppm. Once hitting a peak the numbers were jumping around, not steady increases/decreases. Vents open with the sensor directly in the vent, no change, cabin heat on, no change. Push the sensor back into the velcro on the dash, numbers spike. Back on the ground, I shut down and still reading 5-6ppm inside and outside of the plane. Opened the door to the oil dipstick and put the sensor inside the cowling just to see if perhaps there had been an exhaust leak and there was still some CO in there but no change. I left it sitting on the wing while I put the plane away. There was a 10 knot breeze, no other planes or cars anywhere around, and it was still reading 3ppm after putting the plane away. I squeezed the sensor between my fingers and it jumped to 8ppm and then back down to 2-3. Did the same thing and got the exact same result. Was able to duplicate it again and again. That perhaps explains the spike when pushing it into the velcro holding it to the panel because that put similar pressure on the case as squeezing it between my fingers. I came home and did some digging online and found that there are some things that can cause a false positive (hydrogen, sharpie markers, flatulence) but I don't think that was the case inside the plane. (Feel free to crack whatever jokes about flatulence in the plane) And, nothing has changed inside the plane besides that first time when there was trouble closing the door. However that has been fixed and the door seal replaced so I'm fairly confident that isn't the problem. At this point I am calling "Uncle" and put in an RMA request and going to send it back to them to see what they say.

That's pretty cool. I want to know if they can land it on that...

The forecast looks pretty good up in the central valley, but getting out of here down south in the LA area doesn't look like it will happen. I'll play it by ear, but looks like I will probably have to wait for round two on the 20th...

Others with more experience than I will weigh in. However, I would be concerned that the engine only has 533 hours on in over the last 18 years... If you're interested just start with asking for the log books. The ad says they are "organized and complete" so hopefully they can email them to you. Go through them and see when those hours were flown.

Treat her to a nice flight and a birthday lunch!

I'm in for the 20th. My wife will be out of town but I'll see if I can't convince a friend or two to tag along.

Got it, I'll be watching for the new date.

Welcome back. Like you, I don't even need a place to go, just punching holes in the sky puts a smile on my face.

Coincidentally it wasn't that one. I forgot Lou's was a '61. Actually never even sat in his. Going from cables and pulleys in a Cherokee to the direct link control rods in the Mooney was amazing. It did feel like going from my old Suburban to my BMW.