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chrixxer

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Everything posted by chrixxer

  1. I haven't seen any '55s that are FIKI, and my understanding is it's more rare than on the '58 (only certain 55 models are covered by the STCs), but, I'm not necessarily opposed. I don't honestly know enough about Barons (yet!) to really have an opinion...
  2. Speed isn't the primary factor, redundancy is. If I just wanted speed I could go with a Lancair IV-P. I considered the 310, but what I've heard from owners is they're not very robust airplanes. Not sure I can quantify that, though. My understanding also is that only the R models are really safe when it comes to single engine operation (the O-470s just don't have enough power)?
  3. Just me and the dogs, and the occasional girlfriend. None have been long term enough to have an input into plane purchasing.
  4. I have a lot of time in an SR22 (I'm on the insurance for a G2 locally). It's ... Fine, I guess. It's not a plane I would own. And it's still a SEL. With a 'chute, yes, but most of my flying is over mountainous terrain and/or open water. (FWIW, the owner of the SR22 also owns a C340 and uses that for the type of flying I do a lot of...)
  5. My current hangar will fit the Baron. Ground equipment is a drop in the proverbial bucket. Insurance may be the factor, I've got a request out to my agent. Hopefully a good pre-buy will catch any deferred maintenance. I'm not really concerned about loss of value, with any luck the next plane will be my forever plane...
  6. Mooney is offline getting a new engine. It will never be worth more than it will be in a few weeks. I was already seriously contemplating getting a newer Ovation with FIKI, but at the price point, I could be in a BE58 with FIKI (there are a few in the $200K range on controller.com with mid-time engines, ADS-B compliant, etc). Having survived two engine outs in ASELs, I've been casually considering a twin for a while. I'm ME training in a Duchess with a Baron on the field for rent, and we have a C340 I'll occasionally fly for work, but almost all of my time has been in older Mooneys and newer composite thingies with a parachute. I'm aware two engines equals roughly 2.5x the maintenance spend and operating cost, and I'm conceptually okay with that - I think. Unless there are huge "gotchas" I'm missing? Mission is mostly longer distance cross-countries (800-1300 nm), 1-2 people + 2 big dogs, ski trips carrying gear, etc. Lots of higher altitude airport operations and some IFR departures that have been a challenge in a NA single. (But generally not high enough to really benefit from a turbo, i.e., 12-14K stuff.) I don't think I spend enough time at altitudes that require oxygen, to really want a pressurized plane (well, want, sure, but, can't justify the ongoing expense), I'm fine with cannulas...
  7. This just in: https://download.aopa.org/advocacy/190913_AOPA-FAA_ADS-B_Out_Letter.pdf (Spoiler alert: Status quo, clock is ticking.)
  8. We were going to hang it off a Wilga ... (Too soon?)
  9. As some of you may know, I'm an aviation lawyer, and work (inter alia) as an advocate for general aviation interests at airports. A trend we're starting to see is airport sponsors adopting onerous requirements (like, any car that parks in a tie-down spot while the airplane is flying, has to have a million dollar auto insurance liability policy), with the goal of making the airport unpalatable to general aviation customers. I'm working with some of the "alphabet groups" in formulating a response to these shenanigans, and would like to enlist your help in our nationwide fight to keep airports open and accessible to the entire spectrum of aviation. We're asking for copies of tie-down and/or hangar agreements from piston flyers across the United States, especially from airports that have significant traffic but still are oriented towards pistons and light general aviation (think Deer Valley (DVT), as opposed to Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX)). You can redact any personally identifying information, of course. We would really appreciate it if you could send a scan of your rental/license/lease/whatever agreement, including any insurance requirements, to: FightGAdiscrimination@punctumarchimedis.com Thanks in advance!
  10. Hmm. Not sure. I'll ask when he's back in town. Might end up with Lycoming cylinders massaged by Ly-Con after all. (Don't know if it changes anything, but my -A1A was converted to that configuration in the 1980s, and used to be a different configuration (-C something IIRC).
  11. So, not automatically required to be overhauled when overhauling the engine...? The IRAN on my mags was extensive, not sure where the line gets drawn between "RAN" and overhaul. If they need an overhaul they'll get an overhaul (or maybe one side swapped for electronic ignition)... Just don't want to spend the money or f with them if unnecessary. (Shortly after they came back from the IRAN one failed and had to be repaired again, but they've both been rock solid since. Work was done by Aero Accessories at Van Nuys.)
  12. [citation needed] I don't see that in the Lycoming Overhaul Manual?
  13. You're talking about 75-09-08? It does apply. What gussets?
  14. Met with the engine rebuilder yesterday and started to nail down specifics. (He's leaving for England today to bring back a Merlin V12.) Engine Case: Sent to DivCo Supply in Tulsa. “Engine case is remanufactured to new limits by a decking and line boring process.” Crank Shaft, Connecting Rods and Gears: Crank shaft and engine gears sent to Aircraft Specialties Services, also in Tulsa. “Crank shaft is overhauled to new factory limits by grinding, polishing and if necessary renitrided to restore wear surface hardness and increase fatigue strength. Counterweights are re-bushed and balanced to exceed factory limits. Connecting rods and engine gears go through a inspection process. Any component rejected must be replaced.” The crank shaft is dynamically balanced. Cylinders: New factory cylinder assemblies from Superior, with new pistons, valves, piston pins, rings and springs. He's of the opinion the Superior cylinders don't need the Ly-Con “magic” (porting), and that spending the $1,200 to get it done would be a waste of money. Engine Reassembly: “The engine is assembled with new cam shaft and lifters, rod bolts and nuts, main and rod bearings, new oil pump and gears, fuel pump, gaskets and seals, and new case hardware.” I asked about the cam wear and lifters; he confirmed the Lycoming kit is garbage, and only uses hardened parts (cam shaft, lifters) from Superior. He has engines flying with over 3,000 hours using the Superior parts. Accessories: “Accessories should be overhauled at this point depending on the time left on these components. Owner and installation mechanic can make this assessment. Oil cooler must be professionally cleaned by a company such as Pacific Oil Cooler Services, La Verne, CA. All engine bay hoses will be in airworthy condition.” My fuel servo and mechanical fuel pump are less than a year old, the mags were IRAN'd at that time too and the ignition harness replaced; I'm swapping to all new Tempest massive electrode plugs (already purchased). Anything else that should get attention, will. Going to have my prop governor IRAN'd by Johnson & Sons Propeller Services in Shafter, California (he works with them regularly). Probably at least 8 weeks away from having a flying plane again (using the down time to get my AMEL add-on).
  15. Yeah, I've fooled around with all of that, the main issue is the sound from the GPS496 and the intercom volume level are linked (mixed internally on the PMA450), and the XM radio is (just a tiny bit) too loud relative to the in-cockpit audio. Probably wouldn't bother anyone else, but I'm so used to having such precise control on the iPad, the coarseness of the XM audio levels out of the old Garmin kind of jumps out.
  16. FWIW I have the GPS496 hardwired into my audio panel (was a PM8000B, swapped for a PMA450), and on the lowest volume sometimes wish the XM radio was a touch quieter! (I’ve also used my iPad for music over Bluetooth, and its volume control is more finely spaced with a lower “low”). Bose A20 headset. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  17. Okay, finishing my due diligence. In addition to the ASI and an A&P on the field, I just got off the phone with a customer of the local shop that has had an AEO320, an O360, and an O290 done by the shop and couldn't stop enthusing; and a tailwheel instructor on the field who has been teaching in the same Citabria since the 1960s and has had this shop rebuild the O235 in it multiple times, once passing 3,000 hours SMOH, another time past 3,700 hours. "Guy on the field" FTW.
  18. They're not, but they will be "real soon now." Between the AV-30 and the G5, I kinda prefer the AV-30, don't have to hack up my panel and they blend better (and cheaper install without a magnetometer, though in that configuration you'd still have to reset the DG periodically to the whiskey compass). But it'd be a stop-gap thing anyway, pending full glass.
  19. Baffles were redone about a year ago, and are in good shape.
  20. Will look at the mounts. Not sure on the exhaust. Don't see anything obvious (need to finish this log book review process...!)
  21. Good idea. OMG, I'd love to get rid of the quadrant, don't think that's in the cards, though.
  22. So I'm having my IO-360-A1A overhauled, the cam intake lobes are toast (1800 hours SMOH in 1991, by Firewall Forward). Almost certainly going to have the work done by a small shop on the field, who I've heard great things about (including from a local ASI who's personal airplane's engine was overhauled there), and I met with a guy who showed me his log books, he's had his engine overhauled by the shop three times, and made TBO each time. (Shop has been around for years, the owner is ex-Lycoming and has been overhauling engines for 50 years.) While everything's pulled apart, what else makes sense to do? Most of my accessories are new or have been freshly attended to: Fuel servo and mechanical fuel pump (less than a year), mags IRAN'd and serviced (ditto), new wiring harness (10 months ago). Alternator was rebuilt in 2003. No idea on the vacuum pump (still digitizing and organizing logs), which, I was hoping to at least swap in the AV-30s for now, and go full glass eventually, but, between canine chemo and a somewhat earlier than anticipated rebuild, the "new cockpit" is delayed indefinitely. Prop governor? (The Hartzell "Top Prop" was new in December 2016, has about 300 hours on it.) I can't find anything in the logs to even identify which governor it is, or that it's ever been serviced (but again, still digitizing). Does it make sense to overhaul? Or spend $2500ish on the PCU 5000? (When I took the plane offline, it wasn't making full power on take-off, I was seeing maybe 2640 at 100' MSL. And it has a tendency to very slightly overspeed (2710-2720) for a second or two on level-off, if climbing with the prop full forward and not pulled back before leveling off - don't know if that's normal. I know I never would have noticed it without the JPI throwing a red RPM indicator in my face (it's imperceptible on the mechanical tach).) Assuming I should change the battery. A tender is like $170, a new Concorde is, what, $300? I can't find a battery entry more recent than 2009 in the logbooks, but I know the battery is newer than that. I'm going to go with factory new cylinders, and have Ly-Con "port" them (flow matched and balanced); Ron had that done on the overhauled cylinders he had installed in 2011, and this IO-360-A1A was a lot smoother than the one in my old E. $1,200, seems worth doing. What else should I think about? Rajay turbo normalization?
  23. Mine was behaving exactly the same way, I had an S-Tec shop (Tucson Aeroservice Center) diagnose it. It was the pitch servo itself. Sent it out for flat-rate service and it's been rock solid ever since. 2AMU.
  24. Okay, Ly-Con is quoting $22,500 for a major overhaul, plus $3,650 for factory new cylinders, $1,200 to port flow and balance the cylinders (that was done on the cylinders I have now, and this -A1A is so much smoother than the -A1A that was in 4BE, I think it's worth doing; they'll do just the cylinders for $300/ea, even if they don't do the whole engine build), $190 to strip and paint the cylinders, $678 for their "crankcase o-ring modification" STC, and the "cam replacement would be an additional charge, but there are a few different options there that we can quote at the time of inspection." So, $28,218, not including the cam. Anyone know about the STC? It still looks like it makes the most sense to piecemeal it with the shop on the field, with Ly-Con ported cylinders. ($10,000+ is $10,000+...)
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