DualRatedFlyer

If i understand your question correctly, you feel like the seat is reclined too much and you want to sit up straighter. I had a similar problem because my seat cam had been chewed up from years of use and botched repairs. One of the folks in the forum below made some in their shop as an owner produced part. This included a higher notch which allowed the seat to sit forward more than the factory cams do. It appeared much more robust as well.

Can confirm that I am a hinderance during annuals and probably (most certainly) cause it to take longer with all my questions and need of instruction. However, I really like to learn about my aircraft, what things to look out for, how to properly maintain it, and you always seem to pick up great tips and tricks from those guys who are pros at maintaining them - as well as better understanding what to look out for. Cant even begin to explain how much I learned during my last annual - and I have been a CFI for years. Working at a large university though, I spent all day flying and never really got to get involved in the maintenance side of things. The goal was to keep the helos and airplanes flying with students as much as possible. I hope one day after enough annuals I can reverse this and become more helpful instead of dead weight. As much as I trust those that I let work on my airplane, its nice to know when its IMC at night and I have passengers with me that I at least had eyeballs and hands on it during maintenance. Not to brag, but im getting pretty quick at removing inspection panels (no big deal..)

^^ can confirm - this is one of the many reasons Brian is a cut above the rest. I think a lot of it comes from those A&Ps who are also pilots and treat you the way they would want to be treated if someone was working on their airplanes. They understand the cost of ownership which makes them worth a premium in my eyes.

Thanks Chris! Ill shoot you a PM

https://www.sigtronics.com/air/tec_faq_air.html A few Q&As suggest that some audio players have low power audio outputs that can be difficult to hear using the sigtronics device. One of the suggestions is to build an amplifier between the two. Any chance this is it?

Hi @Marauder -- Thats exactly what I am looking for! I see it says battery powered - I was curious if these systems would work if not plugged into the ships headphone jacks. In other words, most people use them just to have additional jacks tied into the main ship audio. Do they work outside the aircraft intercom system using their dedicated battery power -- i.e. just between two headsets? Whats the going rental rate for one of these? Would a fly-in lunch cut it? I have an old collins audio panel. Zooming in one of my photos, I think I can make out PN: AUD-251H. This is connected (lower right in the photo) to a PS Engineering PM501 intercom system. Looking at their website https://www.ps-engineering.com/pm501.shtml it appears that their iso feature separates the pilot from the other 3 passengers "Pilot isolate mode allows the pilot to communicate without interruption during critical phases of the flight while passengers talk and listen to music." When it finally gives up the ghost ill probably upgrade to one that has a better crew iso mode as well as bluetooth etc. One of the most aggravating things with mine is that when I do go to ISO mode I loose my side-tone, so I cant hear myself when talking to ATC.

Planning a long trip with family come January down the East coast to the Keys for a vacation. Passengers will be my wife and her parents. Would like to bring along a portable intercom so my wife and her mother can chit chat in the back on the way down (total trip will be around 7 hours) while myself and her father fly. I taught him how to fly several years ago and he has his private, so he enjoys being a crew-member. He doesn't get to fly as much these days, so any chance to get him back in the cockpit working the radios and flying legs helps keep him proficient. My aircraft has an ISO switch on the com so that the pilot is isolated, while all 3 other jacks are on a single separate channel. Would like to keep the iso off so that my father in law and myself are operating normally, and my wife and her mother are on a separate intercom. Wanted to see if anyone on here has any experience with some of the ones available online and could provide a review - or another way of accomplishing this without upgrading my ancient audio panel. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/search.php?cache=a74fc9d05d76aa91a7f9b978bad7a6d1&filter=&perpage=all&pageno=1 Thanks!

I have a home built engine heater which is just a little space heater with a dryer vent that I plug into the cowl flaps to heat the engine. I usually activate it wirelessly from home to preheat the engine, then when I get to the hanger I pull the dryer vent out of the cowl flaps and put it in the window to warm up the cabin. Does this thing put out enough heat to knock the chill out of the cabin? Would be nice to activate it wirelessly as well and get a thorough preheat of the cabin. Interested in hearing your experience/feedback.

Not sure what obeying all FARs have to do with the conversation, but yes - please obey all FARs. That's not really a negotiable part. Enhancing safety for yourself and everyone else by using flight following is just a personal preference that is considered an industry best practice, not a requirement. I don't know of any pilots who have hung up their headsets because they have to follow the FARs or have been encouraged to use flight following. Have heard of several pilots with God complexions, antiauthority traits, and unwillingness to learn that have met their fate. Guess endangered can have several meanings.

I get where you are coming from, but your logic is flawed in that you are not seeing everyone - which is fine and your preference. I am not one to tell another how to fly his plane unless he is paying me to. But to avoid confusion for others out there who read this, it needs to be made clear that your tablet connected to your stratus will not show you the primary targets that ATC is seeing - and there are tons of them out there flying at various altitudes. Please do not think that because there is no blue triangle on your ipad that there are no other aircraft operating in your area. In addition to no transponder traffic, someone with a mode-C or ADSB could even have a transponder failure that they dont know about. Assuming a radar environment, this traffic can be known if you are operating with Flight Following. Just one of the many safety tools we have available to us, like CO detectors, etc.

There is a primary and secondary radar. Primary works by emitting energy and receiving it back as it bounces off of objects (painting targets). As someone else pointed out, this can include things like flocks of birds as well, however there is some filtering to try and remove these as much as possible to only get other aircraft. The timing between the emission and return is calculated to give distance, and the rotating lobe gives direction of the target. Thats about it. Secondary radar emits a transponder interrogation and asks the transponder to reply with additional information (altitude, squawk code, etc). Can never go wrong asking for flight following. Can point to several mishap reports where flight following could have saved lives. Cant really point to any that flight following caused the loss of life.

Kathrynsreport has a writeup about the mishap. Very heartbreaking. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/11/mooney-m20c-n113ta-fatal-accident.html

Lots of ships out there without transponders that ATC can see on primary and advise, but to each his own. Whatever you feel link you need to do to keep your pax safe. I usually file IFR everywhere, so listening for my tail number and chatting with passengers is not a problem for me.

Good SOP keeping the #2 on guard. I also like to keep it monitored incase I pick up an ELT I can report it. Satellites arent tracking the 121.5 anymore. Keep in mind though ADSB isnt the save all. The ADSB mandate isnt required until 2020. Lots of folks operating without it until then which basically means users are only getting a false sense of security in terms of traffic. ADSB coverage can also be spotty to downright unavailable at various altitudes depending on geographic location. In the accident area, ADSB coverage isnt solid-ish until 3000ft AGL. In the event you crash, they could theoretically track your ADSB reported altitude down to 3000ft (in the general accident area) - assuming they knew to even start looking for you. Using flight following and calling a mayday gets someone looking for you immediately. They can also report traffic that is non-ADSB equipped, but showing up on their radar, coordinate with emergency services, clear runways, turn on lights, give vectors, clear traffic, advise on runway lengths/direction etc etc that ADSB cant do, nor can 121.5 - while allowing you to focus on flying the airplane. Keep in mind that after 2020 you can still operate in tons of areas without ADSB. This means lots of folks may not upgrade - so we will still have that false sense of traffic security. I personally dont see ADSB replacing flight following, but thats just my 2c

Went from QBE last year to Global this year. Rate dropped $200. I might be a different case though as my Mooney time went from 0 to 120. CFI FW/RW. Interested to see what happens year 3

Is noteworthy that this judgement call was all ready being made. Did he go burn 100 ll by himself and pencil whip it, or w a private pilot as a safety pilot and pencil whip it. It's just now he can do so in a simulator as well.

Doh!

Wouldn't mind hearing your questions and answers if you'd be open to sharing. My insurance provider just started providing Savvy maintenance as part of my policy at no cost.

The FAA just updated their 10 day lookback preliminary accident report https://www.asias.faa.gov/apex/f?p=100:96:2473323548152::::P96_ENTRY_DATE,P96_MAKE_NAME,P96_FATAL_FLG:27-NOV-18,MOONEY Looks like N113TA

I vote using the trim to flare

Really like that idea. Could you apply it to the top window trim pieces as well to get rid of all the various sized screws that have been used over the years as screw holes get wallowed.

Do you have external cooling for this? My 440 gets pretty warm as well. Always wondered if I'm shortening it's life by not having supplemental cooling for it.

John, Your skills and handywork never cease to amaze me

Dan, I teach for AOPAs air safety institute - i travel around the country doing flight instructor refresher courses for those who want to renew their CFI. Your story made a huge impact on me. I now have a sensor in my airplane. I also present your story at every one of my clinics (25-35ppl) and highlight what your market research has lead you to believe is one of the best sensors out there. I also ask at the end of the class who is going to go out and buy a sensor. At my last class, 10 instructor hands went in the air. Wanted to share. I hope these cfis pass this to their students as well. Keep being a voice for safety - your saving more lives than you know.