Eduleo

Hi All,

I am the proud owner of a 87' J with a nicely upgraded panel that I intend to keep until I either am told I can no longer fly by an AME, or I can no longer afford to maintain her. Mistresses are expensive!

I fly about 250 hours yearly, mostly commuting for work, so I fly IFR, and at night.

There are tow airports I can keep her, and I can't figure out which one is best. Can you please help me?!

Gettysburg PA (W05)

• 10 minute drive from home on local road
• cheaper gas
• communal hangar, $25/month cheaper than individual hangar at second option, with rusty doors that take 20 minutes to open and close 
• plane gets pushed in and out to accommodate other planes
• uncontrolled
• part time FBO only
• shorter single runway (24/06, 2,500 w/ displaced threshold)
• circling approach only, NA at night 
• rwy 24 NA at night (usually the one with the prevailing winds)

Hagerstown (KHGR)

• 40 minute drive on busy interstate with heavy truck traffic
• pricier gas (by .65 per gallon)
• individual clean hangar ($25/month more expensive than communal hangar at W05), with nice electric door
• no one else touches her
• class D
• several A&P's and one large FBO
• long runways with ILS and LPV approaches
• no approach restrictions

Where would you park your plane? Is it worth the extra hour driving each time you fly and the more expensive gas/hangar rental to keep it in a place you know nobody else is touching her, and where you can come in and out whenever you want?

I'm in NJ often, usually once a week.

Linden, Caldwell, and Morristown are all good, cheaper options to Teterboro, and all within a 30 minute drive from Liberty International. If going to TEB I always use Meridian FBO. Good service for us little guys, much cheaper than Signature. They helped me a few times when I needed it, cleaning a fowled spark plug on a Sunday night, and letting me use a crew car for an extended period of time when my rental didn't show up. TEB used to be $21 landing fee + $57 a day to park outside by Meridian. CDW is a $10 landing fee, a $25 ramp fee, and $20 a night. I was there yesterday.

Please add me to the list. I'm in KCDW almost every week.

2 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

I buy at a nearby airport pilot shop (2W2). I think I paid $62 a case for it back in the spring. I haven’t found a better deal when shipping is considered. I do burn a few gals of LL for the short flight but their fuel is cheap as well so I fill up there as well.

That's a lot better than what I paid last week at Rider Jet in KHGR ($83!)

1 hour ago, Cody Stallings said:

Is it an oily film? Or Greasy film?

Thanks for looking into this, Cody.

I can't quite tell if it is oil or grease on the blade since it was dry when I touched it. Couldn't tell if it gel-like or oil-like. Is there any other way to tell? Would that determine if it is prop grease vs. crankcase seal? I assumed it to be grease since it only shows in one blade.

There is a good shop on the field and I'll ask them to take a look at it tomorrow when I am not so busy at work. I'll let you know what they say.

Found this upon landing in Western Massachusetts today, after a two-hour hard IMC flight. Only one blade, the other was clean. Only on the front side, nothing on the back. I couldn't remove it with my finger or a cloth.

I am assuming it's prop governor grease, but this is the first time that stuff like this shows up on my prop.

What should I do next? 

a) fly another 10 hours until the next oil change at an MSC

b) call local mechanic to look at it for reassurance that it's not something serious enough to ground the plane before next visit to my favorite MSC (looks like the best option to me).

c) this is much more serious and I'm lucky nothing worse happened, and I'm definitely grounded.

Thanks for your insight.

https://kymkemp.com/2021/07/15/airplane-crash-at-dinsmore-airport-fire-spreading/?fbclid=IwAR0RkNmxZywMy_d7CGVuFb33lIB-YNaoWLDCKSHD5POg8XYdBnx-7vDOnPg

This looks like a worst case scenario.

A J with passengers crashed after departure from Dinsmore Airport (D63), California, and caught fire. Very sad for all involved.

They handed me a new Tesla at the FBO at KISP last week.

Couldn't even feel guilty for not filling up the tank before bringing her back.

My jpi900 has tach time showing on the main screen at the top left corner. Maybe that's an optional setting yours too?

32 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

You guys are really only getting 130ish kts true out of your J’s ?

I thought those were ground speeds. Since I seem to always have a headwind, mine are probably even slower.

Grew up next to a commuter airport downtown Sao Paulo, and went to watch airplanes land most weeknights after dinner with my dad (electras, 727's, etc). 

Best buddy age 7-11's father was a 707 captain for Varig. I was reading PPL textbooks by age 10.

The week I got my first full time job (20 years later, in the US, in a career that has nothing to do with flying), I drove to the local airport and had my first lesson. The best memory I have of my dad, the last time I saw him before he passed a month later, was his expression when I told him I was learning to fly and was about to have my checkride.

On 3/25/2021 at 4:33 PM, RobertGary1 said:

Can you share what it really does? Is it just a cool gizmo to impress the passengers? What advantage is the altitude call out? Maybe if you forget to go missed on a low instrument approach? I can see in the airlines when you have a heavy plane and sit up high but curious what the advantage is in a Mooney.

Hi Robert,

I like the extra little bit of situational awareness that this thing gives me at a critical phase of flight. I, for one, have the annoying tendency of flaring one foot too high. Not enough to embarrass me in front of my passengers, but given enough landings like that I start to wonder how long it's going to be before a tank reseal. I also fly often at night to airports with different, sometimes tricky lighting configurations (try Caldwell NJ just after dusk, everything around the airport is better lit than the field).

I do land without the unit sometimes so it doesn't become a crutch, but in general my landings have become better (i've been flying for 22 years, but this is only my third in the Mooney), most of the times with a nice touchdown, less flat than before, and with just a second of stall warning. The other day I was coming back home early evening, after 2 hours of IMC in strong winds all the way down to rwy 27, staring down at the sun as it set. Gear down warning and call outs all the way down to the runway were a welcoming aid for sure.

Personally I think that the "functionality vs. unit price+install time" equation justify the expense. Definitely not a gizmo to impress passengers, though my girlfriend seem to like it. 

Cheers

Eduardo

I've been doing ok with a 9.7" iPad on a small Ram yoke mount without a cover, so the it gets plenty of cooling on the back. Another iPad mini on a large velcro attached to a similar Ram mount on the empty spot on the right panel both connected to the 2 GNS430W's via FS210, and both plugged in to USB chargers. So when I load a flight plan on the iPad in on the yoke it gets transferred to the mini, including approaches. If both go I still have the iPhone on my side pocket.

If all of that fails I probably have other, more pressing problems to deal with . I do have an old VFR chart of my home base on the rear seat pocket.

Love having a solid IFR platform.

Low overcast layer, mild winds, warm OATs. George (the AP) flying while I manage systems, comms, and weather. And i swear it's the Empire State building right there!

Quick PIREP.

Love this thing! I got mine installed yesterday at an MSC in PA, and it took them about 5 hours to do everything, including testing and setup. We did use the panel behind the wheel faring on the pilot side as recommended, and after removing the pilot seat and one side panel, the wiring was relatively easy (at least it looked that way). They did install a fuse so I didn't have the danger of a shorted circuit right behind a fuel tank.

I had two landings afterwards, one in KTEB and another in KHGR, both at night. The system announced all altitudes from 70 down, including the "check gear" warning, and the sound was clear and loud from the ADF input on a Garmin 340. Both landings were made easier and touch downs more predictable. You hear the cadence of the altitude callouts and adjust your rate of descent accordingly. 

Of course you can land without it, but after a long day of flying and landing at night with strong winds, this was a welcome aid.

I did not install CIES senders when I did my jpi900 install back in April. I've found that the senders are accurate within a gallon at the fuel pump and the fuel totalizer on the jpi (after adjusting the K factor a couple of times). I've flown 150 hours that way.

2 hours ago, Microkit said:

@Eduleo,

I have to say it really depends on the airplane panel itself and type/model of the Audio Panel or intercom currently installed.  

For example, it took just less than two hours to get it installed on the Piper.  With most of this time due to fabricating another aluminium inspection plate.  Wiring through the wing to the back of the aircraft panel was less than 15 min as wires are prepared outside and pushed through.  Hooking the audio to the Audio Panel ADF audio IN was also fast as the wire was already out to the old ADF unit tray.  

The customer with the Mooney was charged for one hour only, mainly because the entire audio stack was out for an upgrade so getting wires to the back of the audio panel is direct so he was only charged one shop-hour.      

In general, the most “fun” part of the job is reaching the audio panel to either insert a pin into an unused audio channel or to reach a wire back there.   If in doubt, its a good idea to talk/chat with your regular A&P or a mechanic friend to get an estimate.

Regards

Nidal

 

Thank you for your quick response, Nidal. I'll ask at my MSC, plane will go to annual over there Monday after Thanksgiving.

Looking forward to getting my hands on the unit!

Cheers

Eduardo

Well... here we go again. I log into MS for some light reading and end up $600 poorer. 

This seems like such a useful product I had to order it right away. Can you say anything about average installation time in a Mooney? The oat probes mounted on the inspection panels took longer than I thought it would, I’m assuming a similar kind of job for this.

The first upgrade I had when I got my J two years ago was the FS210.

With an IPad on the yoke and two 430w’s in the panel it made sense for 2 amu installed. The big difference for me, flying in the NE busy airspace, is when ATC calls you to amend your route. Type it on ForeFlight, check it, send it to the 430, check it, and done. 430’s don’t have V airways in their database, so inputing all waypoints by hand means you’re not flying the plane for a looooong time while twisting knobs in IMC. I thought of it as a safety issue.  

I think I had it for more than an hour, but also chose not to pay for it when the time came. $1,000??? For me the hazard advisor in FF on the map view is more helpful if I'm shooting an approach in hilly terrain.

On 9/23/2020 at 9:36 AM, philiplane said:

It's not a dismissive comment at all. It's an admonition to always check the pattern, and final, and never ASSUME the other guy has a radio, has it on the right frequency, and cares to use it. The OP assumed there would be radio contact with other pilots in the pattern, and in doing so, nearly got hit by a landing aircraft. And he would have been in the wrong. The best person to trust with your life, is yourself.

You know, I really didn’t assume anything, I still looked and saw the other plane in time (even though the nose was past the threshold) and avoided a possible disaster. I listened to and communicated my every move on the ground, and was surprised to see someone on a fast aircraft turning what looked like a really low base to a short final. Yes, I should have looked longer, waiting at each sector with my eyes for a few more seconds before moving onto the next one. I will not make that mistake again. I learned to fly at 7B2 just few miles to the west, also an uncontrolled airfield that even uses the same frequency as KFIT. I’ve been cut by a plane taking the runway while I was on final and had to go around more than once. I have also seen planes in a busy pattern who were not communicating. It’s an act of “courage” to hope that the three planes waiting to take off will see you coming in on final before going onto the runaway because you have the right of way. I wrote about my experience in here because I thought it was a valid thing to do, as I learned so much in this and other forums from others who wrote about their own experiences.

I don’t post much on anonymous Internet forums because I see how quickly things turn into a series of misinterpretations and accusations. It’s ugly and I don’t want to put myself in those situations, there’s better things to do with one’s time. That being said I would be glad to have a conversation about flying any time. I love it, I do it to commute from home to work in and around every kind of airport in the country (mostly around NY class B), I do charity flights (really nice one into Boston Logan last week), and I often take those who I love the most with me in the plane. I wouldn’t do any of this if I wasn’t certain that everything under my control wasn’t as safe as humanly possible. 
 

Cheers!

Eduardo

1 hour ago, GeeBee said:

Think about this.  What if it were a no radio airplane? Like a crop duster. Would he have broken any rules? Would you have called him to chew on him? The guy may not be using all available resources to create the highest level of safety, but he broke no regulations and if it had been a NORDO airplane you would have been at fault without a doubt. So what to learn here? It is your responsibility to clear the final before taking the runway. By the way, I've been cleared to line up an wait at tower airports too, and I ask, "What about that airplane on final?" where upon I get "cancel previous". ALWAYS clear the final before taking the runway, it is your real.

 

 

Lessons learned from this:

-obviously, look, look, look. At all directions even if the wind favors one runway. 

-don’t assume your radio is transmitting even if it is receiving. At night when it’s harder to have a radio check on the ground, that can become an issue. I don’t know why we couldn’t hear each other that night, but one of us wasn’t transmitting. 
 

- I learned to fly in 7b2, a few miles away from kfit, and there are plenty of nordo’s in there. Thinking back, I assumed that at night, with the need for lights and an electric system, there wouldn’t be a cropduster kind of nordo. Not doing that anymore. 
 

- I wouldn’t call the pilot, that was a silly idea. I’m not the kind of guy to step out of the car in a traffic dispute either. 
 

- flying can be humbling at times. 

1 hour ago, alexz said:

CTAF for KFIT is 122.7. Only rwy lights controlled on 123.0

Sorry, I got that wrong being tired last night. I was on 122.7, not 123. Edited it in the  original post. 

Tonight I had the perfect weather to fly from Fitchburg, MA to Teterboro, NJ. No wind, mild temperatures, few clouds way up high. Beautiful early Fall evening.

8 pm, full fuel, preflight completed, got the ASOS weather and turned on the runway lights to taxi, announcing my intentions even though the airport was deserted.

After an uneventful runup I announce taking the active 32 for departure to the SW, dim the rwy lights down to 3 clicks, look both ways for someone in the pattern, don't see anyone, radio silent, then as I cross the threshold I see a moving light coming on what could be a fast plane on a low base to the same rwy. I stopped just inside the threshold as a Bonanza lands in front of me. Never a radio call. At night. He didn't realize the rwy lights were already on, he didn't go around as I flashed my landing light, he didn't check that his radio was in the right frequency after the event. I tried radio'ing him several times, could hear other traffic from nearby airports also on 122.7 but nothing from the guy. Had I not seen him and had I gone further on to the runway, we would have both been on the same spot at the same time, and I wouldn't be here writing this. 

All it takes is one careless person not verifying his radio, not looking, not reacting, for all to go south very quickly. This was the closest call I had in 20 years of flying. Had to vent. Venting done!

p.s. I did get his tail number after he departed to his home base and his ADSB kicked in for the first time. I'm itching to call the guy, but I'm not going to. Or should I?