Schllc

I wonder what ultimately happens to these planes. Remember that chartreuse one that was priced like this? Either they end up keeping, lower the price, or someone ponies up the money I guess…

Marsh brothers makes lots of things for Aerostars. They are the real deal. I have purchased from them before. They also have items on aircraft spruce.

I really like this as well. I know it doesn’t look as new and slick, but the tactile feel, the way you absolutely know you actuated the switch. (Hope that makes sense). Some of the new rocker style are easier to accidentally brush on or off. I do not dislike the new style enough to replace a nice panel, but if I was building a panel I would prefer toggle wherever practical.

I use ForeFlight and an iPad for planning and briefings, but once I am in the plane I only use my panel mount equipment and the iPad and IPhone are just backups.

Sounds like they may be gearing up to enter the market. or sell the data to the market…

That price is two years old as well.. it’s well north of 100 now.

My particular hangar is asphalt on all four sides. The only place I could put it would be on the north side which would make a mess because as much water as it would produce it would never dry…

One thing I would point out is that cubic feet is more important than square feet. I would be willing to bet that most advertisements that use sqft are predicated on an average ceiling height of 8’. Our hangars are likely closer to double that volume, also no where near as tight as a house. I would figure you need 300% more for the same sqft to make any difference at all. In our hangars that would present a challenge because there is no where to pump the amount of water it would produce.

I have often wondered if tenting the whole plane with a giant tarp and putting the dehumidifier inside would be effective.

Fascinating article…. My only question, which I will answer for myself when I fly day after tomorrow, is can I get the cht’s in the “ideal” range, and still control my tit.

Well, it wasn’t a Mooney, it wasn’t trimmed, and it may have had a little help….

I got an email with a link to the aopa article about the Pilatus crash in NC a few years ago. It was a horrible story and sadly easily preventable. It made me think of a different conversation with a friend talking to his adult child. He made a joke about never breaking two rules at once. Such as if you are going to speed, don’t have expired tags or insurance. The takeaway for me anyway, was don’t tempt fate. I think we have all been in that spot where maybe things don’t look so bad and you’re tempted to skip a step here or there, or maybe you don’t do it intentionally because subconsciously you are evaluating the risk. The story is a dark and somber reminder about how quickly things can deteriorate in IMC. Having my flight plan in my gps is usually done right before or right after startup. Even if I haven’t gotten my clearance yet, and I know I’m likely to get something else, I do not taxi without that being done, even if it’s a short hop and direct. It isn’t written on my checklist but maybe it should be. One last note, I took a young eagle up for a flight the other day and I was discussing the dangers of IMC . I asked him how long he thought it would take the plane to go from straight and level in smooth air if I let go of the controls, and how long he though it would take him to notice if he couldn’t see the horizon. He was unsure about the first but was convinced he could tell immediately. So I put him in the foggles (he was not piloting at all just a passenger), and I let go. It took about 15 seconds to find us in a 30deg bank and descending at about 400fpm. I let it go another 10 seconds or so and asked him how he thought we were doing he said we were straight and level. I told him to take off the foggles, and the look on his face was priceless. He went white instantly. It doesn’t take long, it can happen to anyone, and please don’t take these things for granted. https://www.globalair.com/articles/pilot-error-spatial-disorientation-cause-of-deadly-pc-12-crash-in-2022-that-killed-8?id=6913

Again, I’m not suggesting one is better or worse, only that this has not been my experience with the 550. I never had any cylinder issues at all in the years and planes I owned, nor any of the people I know personally. It’s also curious that all of these aircraft builders are choosing the continental over the lycoming if their engines are so troublesome. Given the wide use of the continental 550’s, I’d be curious to know the ratios of continental 550 to lycoming 540 coming through your shop. If I recall correctly you are a cirrus service center right? If you are seeing four 550’s for each 540, I would expect you to see more problems with continentals. While it may be helpful to have compiled data from shops all over the world to build a database, how do you account for how engines are operated. It’s a complex problem with no real data to codify either opinion, at least not yet. Your sample is obviously larger than mine, but still statistically insignificant. For the record, I am now flying 540’s and I really like them. Their ability to run at low rpm and generate much less noise is something I am really enjoying. They are a different animal to me after all the time behind the 550’s, but I do like them. If I had one comment it is that they are not as efficient.

ForeFlight logbook is fully portable and printable. You can retain it after you no longer subscribe. It definitely makes checkrides a whole lot easier.

Make sure you look at that one with your own eyes. It’s pretty rough inside. my experience has been that people who treat their things well, do not allow them to get to the state that one is in cosmetically.

The TBM is an amazing machine. It is not a typical GA plane. It is built like a tank. The range is not great, but it isn’t bad either. It is an order of magnitude more than any single or twin piston. I’ve heard people say a single turbine is about the same to operate as a twin piston. This is myth. Before I bought my Aerostar my best friend ordered a TBM 950 and put his 2013 in for annual. About two months later he sent me the photo below. 10 year requirement to remove the tail and rebuild landing gear. This along with a hot section (mid time engine) and all the other timed items, the annual was 350k. On top of this, insurance was 40k a year, recurrent training etc etc… That pretty much made my decision for me. It made a twin piston look cheap.

No, I said the general problems with engine longevity are also related to improper operation. I read in the article that the issue with the roto coils is irrespective of engine operation. I have two friends at my home drone, they are both the directors of maintenance for two different shops on the field. one of them does mostly cirrus maintenance. He has not heard of this issue and has never changed a rotocoil. is this also anecdotal? Probably, but it’s no less valid. Savvy has a much larger network to collect data, but again, the didn’t really quantify their finding. Lets say they counted the incidents of this condition last year, and this year they saw a 200% increase. That’s staggering! Until you find out there were only 2 last year. Why not post a poll here to see how many 550 owners have experienced this type of failure?

Have to agree with this comment / advice. I continue to be shocked at the prices auctions bring for planes. just recently there was a 231 being auctioned and the auction closed at 150k if I remember correctly, and that was with a 6% buyers premium. That is crazy when there are literally a dozen better examples of this model for sale right now between 175k and 198k. Most of these have better avionics, better engine times, more attentive owners and are actively flying. Auctions make people do the silliest things… While an auction is not the ideal way to sell a plane, in your situation it certainly seems like it may be the best option.

To be fair, the acclaim overhaul price is not much different, but continental lead times may be better since the engine is so widely used.

I solicited a quote for a bravo engine factory overhaul a few weeks ago and was quoted “18-24 months”. I don’t even understand how this is possible. Who waits 2 years for an engine? Who waits two years for anything outside of building a house? that long a lead time defies any logical explanation.

The most bizarre part of this is that nowhere outside of military bases(not sure how much they use them domestically either) uses active radar so if you’re flying around without a transponder who would know? that being said, this is just another example of a government / bureaucratic decision that fails to consider unintended consequences, and even worse does nothing after those consequences reveal themselves. Just four days ago a sheriffs deputy was wandering around my office building, asking everyone for me by name. When I greeted him he said he saw my beautiful plane and was wondering if I needed his services as a pilot. When I asked him how he found me he said he looked up my tail number and it provided my name. This was obviously a lie because it is registered in the name of an LLC, so there were a few more steps required to find a name. Not sure why he lied… also, my home drome instituted a “voluntary noise abatement policy” to not use the airport between 10pm and 7am. They can’t enforce it but if you land or take off in the forbidden zone, you receive a letter of admonishing you for bad behavior. This is generated by Adsb The weather and traffic are wonderful innovations, but the lack of privacy is extremely concerning, and seems to be completely unnecessary and intrusive.

Does anyone know if a stearman is considered a “warbird”?

That’s a good article. I guess what I wonder is “what constitutes a problem”? I will create an example purely to illustrate the point, the values are arbitrary. so let’s say continental built 1000 engines and no one really followed the trend until savvy started. but it was something people saw occasionally. now it’s being “followed”, and they say it’s happening “more frequently”. does this mean they used to see one or two a year and now they are seeing 1 in 4, is it 10%, 30%? Without some real data, it sounds more like hangar talk to me. That doesn’t mean I’m saying it isn’t true, just that if haven’t seen it in my years, on my planes or anyone I know, it doesn’t get elevated to “problem”. Sounds like the same type of chatter I heard about io and tsio-550 cylinders before I started flying them. btw, my first ovation which I bought with 900 hours and put close to 700 on when I owned it, is almost to 2400 hours since major overhaul and has only had cylinder work on one cylinder and the owner isn’t planning of overhauling any time soon. My skepticism primarily comes from my experience with most of the mechanics I’ve encountered. They all seem to be all too eager to just change parts without really digging into the root causes. Perhaps savvy will save all this data and in a few years have some actual trends they can identify. The only other caveat is how owners treat their machines. The permutations are endless…

Pretty clever. $8 per gallon is significant, but given I had only used about 15-20 gallons a year so it wasn’t worth the hassle. I have boots now so don’t have to mess with the stuff at all.

I guess I would ask you to define “rash”. Is there data to back that up, or is it anecdotal like mine? I have had several acclaims and have flown them and ovations for almost 10 years now, and I’ve never had to touch a cylinder. I do not believe either manufacturer is “better” than the other, they both have their issues and weak points. I’ve read about the rotocoils, but neither myself, nor anyone I know personally have had to address that issue, and that’s bonanza, and cirrus owners as well. Im not saying it isn’t true, but I don’t know how prevalent the problem is, and would like to see some data if it exists.