EricJ

The Super Cubs I got my tailwheel training in had high wings and no "both" option. Worst of both worlds. It may exist in other airplanes, but the only place I've seen it is in Cessnas.

I'd challenge this assertion. In general the difference between a TnG and a typical full-stop landing happens after touchdown, so I don't see what could influence the pattern and approach leading up to it to make it any more or less hazardous in a general sense. One might assert that a number of hours of touch-and-goes might have a higher likelihood of a GU than the same number of hours of full-stop landings merely because you'd have more approaches and landings in the same amount of time with TnG's. Personally I think the opportunity to make a GU is generally the same for any approach; and whether you get distracted or have a brain fart or whatever isn't any more likely to happen during a TnG approach than it is for a full-stop. To assert otherwise should require an explanation of what is different about the pattern and approach leading up to a TnG than a full-stop, and if there is a difference that makes it more hazardous, then *just don't do that*.

I think the best way to capture the operating knowledge is to make videos of what you think is important and post them to YouTube or somewhere that people will find them in a search. This way your knowledge is captured and preserved first-hand, and anybody interested can find it if they're willing to look.

I learned in Cessna's with 40-degrees of flaps, both 172s and 150s, and the club that I worked at had a 1959 182 with the straight tail and manual flaps. When I came back to the states and was finishing my license I flew a 172 with the (then new) 30-deg flap limitation. I kept trying to push the lever down more for that extra ten degrees. I still miss it when I fly 172s...that last ten degrees is like putting out a parachute. And some old O-1 Bird-dogs had 60 degrees of flaps. I've wanted to fly one of those just to try that.

I looked at an RV-10 that one of the locals built and was admiring it. He was describing that an early failure mode for RV-10s was a door coming off and smashing into the horizontal stab. I kind of lost interest after that.

Could be, and those do both. You cycle the switch to cycle between constant and strobing. Mostly just posted them as an example of the sort of stuff that's out there. Keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be long until cheap LEDs are the new normal.

The stuff that is out there is getting pretty good and prices are coming down. A buddy put the strobing colored LEDs in his Cherokee. They're pretty nice! I think it won't be long until LEDs are inexpensive and ubiquitous. These: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/el/ledlighting_znavstrobe/navstrobesextant1.php

If you just make sure you've drank the last beer by the time you turn final at your home field you don't need the fridge.

Yes, but if you have a stratux or something like that it could be worthwhile to use an existing external antenna. That's my plan, anyway.

In that case, try to see if the little one has any markings on the hidden portions of it to get a model number or part number or something. You really want to know what band it's tuned for before hooking it up to something. Given the various ways to build antennas, you can't really tell by looking except in a very general sense. If you want it to do something specific (like comm or ADS-B or whatever), it is generally worthwhile to verify that it'll have a decent response at those frequencies. FWIW, DME antennas are reasonably well matched to ADS-B frequencies enough that I would expect a DME antenna to have a good chance of working for ADS-B in. This is something I have in mind to try in the future (there's a DME in my airplane but it's inop and I don't see a reason to fix it). Thirty-year wireless comm engineer here, but don't trust anything I say.

When I first got my hangar at DVT one of the maintenance guys from the city came by and we wound up chatting for a bit. He said the most common alterations were lighting and electrical work, so it's clearly doable and been done before. On the north side a fair number of the hangars are man caves with fridges, etc., so that's being done, too. Sadly, mine is just a single outlet and a single 4' fluorescent fixture, so if I want more it'll require work as well.

That's the sort of thing that should definitely be on youtube for people to see.

I haven't used an IFD550, but I've played with the simulator quite a bit and found it very intuitive and easy, especially compared to a Garmin 430 or 530, which are usable but basically a pain in the butt in comparison. There's a 430 in the Arrow I fly and while I do love it, the user interface leaves a lot to be desired. Just based on playing with the simulators, the newer Avidyne and Garmin units are a huge leap forward. I bet once you get used to it even a little bit you'll love it and wonder how you got by without it. My plan is to put one of those in my panel, too. Edit: To stay on-topic, given this level of integration in the cockpit, and that an E6B was just a computing tool like anything else, I don't see a reason why any particular computing tool technology has to be taught if it's no longer relevant. Power failure? My tablet still works, so does my phone in my pocket, which has flight computing apps on it. There are places for nostalgia, but I don't think it should drive requirements in a curriculum.

A friend hit a group of doves a while back on take off with his Cherokee. They're not big enough to do much damage but a couple of them made quite a mess that had to be cleaned off the wings and tailplane. He did that on his way to pick me up, so it was pretty ugly when I saw it. Bleah. Actually cleaned up pretty easy, though. But, yeah, in the Dakotas and other central flyways during migration the ducks and geese can make your day very bad, even at a reasonable altitude. Around here we have to watch for the hawks and other raptors that hang around the large, open airport spaces looking for rodents. The Harris Hawks are social, so there's often a few of them flying together.

I first came on Mooneyspace nearly a year ago (I think) as part of my search for a decent E model, after just getting current again after a thirty year break from flying. I've been flying a rented Arrow around in the interim, but a Mooney fit my personal requirements for speed and efficiency, so I was looking around. I live in AZ and have property and interests in SoDak (where I'm from), so an important part of the mission is fairly frequent trips back and forth between the two. Some of you may recall this thread from the For Sale section: I thought a low-cost J would be a good opportunity, so I went up to look at it in January, while it was in the middle of an annual inspection and taken apart. I though it was a perfect time to go look, it looked basically decent, no red flags, etc., etc. Just an old airplane that needed some TLC and updates. Later, while reviewing my pics I noticed that there was a trace of some dust/dirt adhered to the bottom of the wing near an inspection plate weep hole, so I went back up in early Feb, opened up that plate and took another good look at the airplane. There was no trace of fuel dye or goo or anything in the area near the plate or anywhere, everything else looked like a fairly decent old airplane that had been stored outside in the desert for a couple of decades. There was some neglect, the panel was an avionics museum, but the bones seemed good and it was priced within reason of decent negotiation, so I told the AOPA I was interested. The plan was that once the annual was completed, I'd have the IA do a check flight and prepurchase inspection (he and I had discussed it and had a decent plan, and since it was a donation there was not a conflict of interest). Unfortunately, the annual wasn't completed until the end of May, due to the IA having a busy shop and finding more stuff to fix whenever he looked at the airplane. By that time I figured it might be faster to have the PPI done here (AZ), and the AOPA agreed to ferry the airplane here for that purpose, arranged a pilot for a check flight, etc., etc. A couple guys from here, a long-time but former Mooney owner and a current Mooney owner, went up to get the airplane but recent storms had left one of the tanks with a large amount of water in it. When the IA pulled the sump plug to drain it, it broke. Since a spare plug wasn't available that grounded the airplane. A couple weeks later the IA flew it down and we put it in my hangar at Deer Valley. By this time it was early July. Arranging for the initial ferry and then for the IA to bring it down burned a fair amount of time. The plan was to do a check flight with a pilot the AOPA had selected, but that pilot declined when I mentioned that we needed to check the charging system because the IA that flew it down was getting staticky radios just before landing and the ammeter was not indicating charge. Our (my and the IA's) suspicion was that the ammeter had failed, so, without the opportunity for a check flight, I put a voltage-reporting USB adapter in the cigar lighter, ran it up and confirmed that the charging system was fine, it was just the ammeter that had died. The IA had also reported that the gauge suction looked like it was starting to droop quite a bit while on the way down, but when I ran it up to check the electrical system it was fine. I then started prepping it for a PPI with a local IA, and while underneath the airplane removing the belly pans I noticed a LOT of blue dye around the left wheel well, and some coming out of the exact inspection panel that I had pulled in February to double check. I closed the airplane back up, took some pics of the leak, and told the AOPA I was no longer interested, but that they could keep it in my hangar until I found something else if they wanted to. The AOPA offered to ferry the airplane to Don Maxwell's in TX to get the tank repaired. Since this created no obligation on my part and would provide the opportunity to get the PPI done at Maxwell's, that seemed like a good idea. Rich, aka @N201MKTurbo , offered to ferry it to TX. On July 22 I met Rich at the hangar and we got the airplane ready. I told him I'd wait around until he was airborne a bit in case he needed to come back since the airplane broke every time it flew. I watched him taxi out to the run up area, and then taxi back after runup failed. After a bit of effort back at my hangar (in Phoenix in July) and another run up, the foul cleared up and it was running okay. Rich then made a successful departure, and later reported that the vacuum pump failed ten minutes into the flight. I don't know whether the AOPA increased his ferry payment for having to hand-fly it all the way to Longview or not. He did report that it seemed pretty decent otherwise, with a couple of little squawks added to the list with the vacuum pump. Since it has been at Longview the tank was repaired, the vacuum pump replaced, fuel pump overhauled, motor mounts reshimmed, etc., etc., and the pre-buy done with a fairly long list of non-major, non-critical stuff that it needs that adds up to a very tolerable cost for additional work to be done. As of yesterday the AOPA agreed on a final price with me handling the pre-buy repair issues. Payment for the airplane was wired and received, so it's basically mine now. Expectation is for the remaining work on the airplane to take another week or so, then I'll go out and fly it back. There's a lot of detail left out of the story, naturally, and my frustration level has been pretty high with the long delays. I have been looking at other airplanes this whole time, but just didn't find anything that I thought was overall a better fit. I was salivating over a very nice F33 Bonanza for a while, but it was over twice the price and I just thought it probably wouldn't be the best first airplane for me, as I am a CB. I usually do better with a fixer-upper as a first experience. With all the work that has been done on it during the initial annual and now at Maxwell's, I think I have a reasonable hope of having a decent airplane. We know the bones are good, but I suspect there'll still be some latent deferred maintenance/neglect issues that'll pop up during the rest of the adventure. I'll fly it as-is for a while to see what it needs and then the plan is to upgrade the panel, do the usual stuff, etc. Looking forward to putting some time on it.

Wow, I didn't even know you could request a transfer! I kinda feel like I won the hangar lottery, so I'm staying put. BTW, just wired money for the airplane, should have it back here in a couple of weeks if not sooner. Glad to see your beast in a home, though!

Awesome! Where did you wind up? North side, south side? Just wondering how far you are from mine.

Or just neglected, poorly maintained, or misrepresented airplanes. I looked at one that "needs paint" that was also the most corroded airplane I've ever seen. Filiform and bubbling paint everywhere. Nearly everything I checked in the panel was broken or misbehaving in some fashion or other, even though the airplane was priced as though it was in premium condition. Unfortunately, this is not a rare thing. It is also why I try to restrict my search to airplanes within range of me being able to personally inspect them. I don't want to waste time and money on a PPI for something that is clearly a non-starter. Unfortunately, even the best plans go astray sometimes. I hope to close on an airplane this week or next that has been a bit of an adventure.

Some recent updates to FltPln Go screwed up some features (including that I could no longer see ADS-B traffic), so I used the Avare installation on my spare tablet on our trip from AZ->SoDak->WY->AZ for the eclipse. I think I'm pretty much converting to Avare now. I found it a lot more intuitive to use and was able to get more out of some of the features than I have been able to do in FltPln Go. There are some features in FltPln that I'll miss, but the more I mess around with Avare the more I think I like it better. I think now FltPln will be on the spare tablet and Avare will be the primary.

If you do, holler, we can go drink beer. Unless you need to fly back or something.

Those guys come to Scottsdale for practice, shooting approaches, and just transitioning the airspace all the time. They're on the radio every day here, too. Anyone who flies here frequently or just wants to know what to look out for regarding the training traffic, the Arizona Flight Training Workgroup maintains a very helpful website for just that purpose at http://aftw.org/. If you use the Stanfield VOR for navigation or just go through that area, it is important to know about "the stack" that is used there. Basically, the stream of traffic shooting approaches at Casa Grande gets so thick that there's a traffic stacking procedure that is used. As far as I know, this is the only place that it is published, since it is not a formal procedure, but is well known among the local schools (because aftw): http://aftw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Stanfield-VOR-procedures.pdf In my experience one area that needs high diligence is NW of Deer Valley (DVT), which is where the Trans Pacific, Westwind, and other practice areas are. There have been mid-air collisions out there, and that's where I had my head-on near miss. If you watch the general area with something like flighradar24.com or a similar service, you can see a lot of GA training traffic, and you'll see many of the same tail numbers in the air all day every day (well, you know what I mean). Generally tail numbers in the 4400x range are Oxford, and anything that is xxxPA is Trans Pacific. They're all over the valley all the time. Except last Tuesday when the place was totally devoid of any GA traffic. Given how thick it usually is around here, that was very, very strange. If I'm making it sound like it's tricky to get around here, it's not, it's quite easy. But it's not a good idea to be complacent about traffic awareness around here.

Truth, that. This is definitely a place where ADS-B-in with a traffic display on a tablet (or somewhere) helps a ton. There are several very large flight schools here that serve global airlines, so there are a lot of student accents and non-perfect English on the radio. Scottsdale, Chandler, and Falcon also have helicopter schools with a lot of traffic, which makes it even more entertaining. You really have to keep on your toes around here, but I find it makes it more fun when it's not abjectively terrifying.

Post pics!

This thing: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dignity+Statue/@33.6183731,-111.9189456,76m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8781373396695eb9:0xeb8e709b447d7761!8m2!3d43.786875!4d-99.338286 BTW, PHX Sky Harbor is not a place for GA traffic. There's no FBO, airline traffic is constant, etc. That said, if you need to fly over PHX the bravo transition is really easy and the controllers usually very accommodating. Also, the Scottsdale, SDL, terminal is being demolished and replaced, so double check that your favorite car rental company office still exists. Otherwise, there's transient parking in front of where the terminal was and I think you can still get in and out of the man gate (at least I did a while back right after the terminal closed). If you go to Ross, or Signature if you're a mega-baller, there's still easy access through those for the price. Elsewise all of the local GA airports are quite good. Chandler, CHD, will probably be the most convenient for you but the car rental situation there is questionable, as it is everywhere except Scottsdale when the terminal is open, which it isn't.

Sadly, and most unexpectedly, I did not win. I was sure I had it in the bag this time. Since I expect to be on Basic Med in the not-too-distant future, a Piper Meridian is probably the best I could hope for. I was already making out the check for the deposit when the tide turned and my lottery ticket was defeated. I'll do more thorough prep next time.