0TreeLemur

That would work great if it's just me and my screwdriver. One trip to a shop and there go the threads.

^^^^ This.

Somebody did that in the past. It was a #10. I'd rather not have a #12 in there. You guys are just full of good information!. My original question - does anyone have info on the dimensions of that wheel? I want to put in a thread locking insert. Before I do, I would like to know if there is enough metal to do that.

In my experience #10 and smaller helicoils are hit or miss. Maybe others have better luck with them, but I don't.

When calibrated after the JPI EDM900 install the reading on the right tank wasn't right in the mid-range, causing repeated "Fuel Qty. Mismatch" warnings. Yesterday we ran the right tank dry in flight and re-calibrated. To my surprise, starting from 0.0 usable when filled it to 32 gal. it wasn't up to the tabs! Full to the tabs was 33.1 gallons.

One of the wheel cover holes on the nose gear of my J is stripped. Since I've owned the plane it's always been a bit "squishy" when I tried to snug it up. After this year's annual it gave way and won't stay in. I gather it is: 040-08700 CLEVELAND NOSE WHEEL ASSEMBLY. Anyone have experience? Does anyone have a cross-sectional drawing of this wheel showing the maximum depth of those holes? I'd want to know that before trying to rethread, helicoil (unlikely to work) or install a thread-locking insert. Thx.

Yes- a Stratus III displayed on iPad and it is always on. On the down side it was a rapidly evolving situation with quite a bit of traffic. When Ball11 turned towards me they were flying faster than 250 knots. To add to the lack of situational awareness I was flying in the direction of the sun making the iPad hard to see due to reflections. A couple of years ago I looked into getting a certified ADS-B in solution to display traffic on my Avidyne IFD540, but that costs about 3AMUs. That would be easier to see under those conditions. They say you can use the open ADS-B protocol to display traffic from a Stratus III on the Avidyne. I tried it and it works, but it screws up the display on the iPad so that's a no go, unless they've fixed that.

Hey- thanks for the detailed instructions on how to play back on ADS-B Exchange! That is a really cool feature! I am really happy to know how to do that. Much appreciated. Looking at the play-by-play it was not as close as the urgency in the controller's voice indicated when he issued the command for me to turn. That's what made me think it was close. I never saw the other airplane. From the replay it seems like Ball11 either saw me or had me on a display and decided to dive to pass under me. When we were closest on the map he had descended to 5,000 and I was at 7500 and still climbing. Not close. I think the controller scared me. I appreciate them doing their job and doing it well. I agree- and it seems that this was the case in my instance here. I learned from this.

I don't think that's a fair extrapolation. We've all flown around aerobatic aircraft like Pitts. There's no comparison. A piston aerobatic airplane maneuvers in a cubic mile of airspace. On an iPad they don't seem to move much. You see them a long way off because you are flying towards THEM. They sure as heck don't come at you in a dive from your 4:00 at over 200 knots. My home field is Tuscaloosa, which is 50 nm from Columbus AFB. T-6's fly all over the place around here. We are surrounded by MOAs. Those training flights from Columbus are extremely well behaved in my experience. They play hard in their MOA's but fly very professionally outside of them. I've never been jumped by one around here.

Tell us, how did you pull up nationwide traffic at a point in the past? The only history I could find was for a one aircraft. I searched online and what I read indicated that to see nationwide traffic at some time in the past required a subscription. I'd really like to know how to do that (without a subscription)! Thanks.

“What’s the problem?" The problem is being told by ATC to take hurried evasive action because someone decided to play Top Gun outside of their designated sandbox. I was already ordered down from 9,500 to 6,500 to stay clear of the MOA—fine, they can go nuts in there, that’s what it’s for. But when they’re out of the MOA in Class E, turning and burning where everyone is supposed to ‘see and avoid,’ they’re forcing unnecessary close calls. If they want to train, they have a massive chunk of airspace for it. Creating a near mid-air outside of that airspace is not the system ‘working’—it’s exactly what the system is supposed to prevent.

My wild flight...

Ball11 was doing a bunch of maneuvering. It looks like they started to climb but I guess when they became aware of the possible conflict they descended at 2,000 to 3,000 fpm and went under me. I was in a steady climb at about 500 fpm, on an 800 nm cross-country. I don't believe that I did anything wrong. If a pilot is out maneuvering at high speed and high rates of climb/descent, I would hope that that pilot is doing it in a way that doesn't endanger anyone... Don't they have MOA's for that? I was vectored out of the USAF sandbox to avoid just this kind of stuff happening. The Air Safety Officer said he would talk to the crew. That's all. I did not request any feedback, just that they learn from this.

Yesterday on a VFR cross-country with flight following at 9,500 ft from Pueblo, CO, to Tuscaloosa, AL, I traversed Vance AFB's airspace. Vance Approach lowered me to 6,500 to get under their active MOA. When I emerged from the eastern edge of Vance's airspace they handed me back over to Kansas City Center while still at 6,500 ft. I asked ZKC if I could climb back up to 9,500 and they said sure because I was out of Vance's airspace. While in the climb the ZKC controller said "N201Y traffic conflict turn left to 360 NOW! Rapidly climbing traffic!" The controller then said that it was a military aircraft that he wasn't talking to. A short while later ZKC said traffic no factor, resume own navigation. This morning I called the flight safety officer at Vance and spoke to him. I didn't want to write a formal complaint and potentially ruin somebody's career, but I do hope that whomever did that can learn from it. Anyone have a subscription to ADS-B Exchange? I don't, but here's the flight history for my aircraft showing my diversion. Date 7/20/25. I didn't get the T-6's call sign. They disappeared off my iPad before I could note it. I'd be interested to know how close the call was. I didn't see them because I was in a turn.

Islands in the sky. Photo taken from my Mooney somewhere over the U.S.