GeeBee

One of the most spectacular flights I ever performed was north of Iceland the sea was so calm, the sun behind us. I could see from FL360 the reflection of the airplane in the sea as if it were a mirror. We also saw two sunsets and sunrises as our track changed latitude. I've been up to 5 degrees north. One of the most interesting things about polar flying is the knowledge that if you have a medical emergency, which is the most common emergency in airline flying, you have more medical equipment on board than just about every other alternate airport along your route. Equally so, preflighting the arctic suits in case you divert gets pretty funny.

How do you spot flight attendants at a party? They are behind the curtains eating.

Man walks into a bar every day. He always stinks, really bad. I mean clear the bar stools bad. Finally the bartender asks, "Why do you stink so bad". The man replied, "It is my job, I work at the airport" The bartender asks, "What do you do at the airport?" He says, "I empty the toilets, and every time I open the service door a little bit of sewage drops on my head". He goes on, "If I take a few days off it goes away, but with 5 days a week, even if I shower after my shift, it gets into my pores and won't go away." The bartender says, "That's terrible, why don't you quit and get another job." The man screams, "WHAT, GET OUT OF AVIATION?"

A little, but surprising little. I forget the number but it has be thrown out here.

Ditto! By the way my Super Cub flew the same way.

Yep. It is all temperature differential. Even in low temps, you can have differential. Let me tell you something else. Weather changes and moves very fast up there.

200 knots on 3gph. Must be LOP.

PT20J is correct. A battery tender will not deliver current when connected backwards. The LED should have been flashing red. It also has an 80 hour time out circuit if that is the case.

Thank you so much. That is good to know. I will buy a new kit just to put on the shelf. For the benefit of me and Mooney!

Thank you for taking on the mission Jonny. I am sure each day you shake your head as you find out new "gotchas" I've been in your shoes trying to resurrect an FBO and just when you think you can come up for air, someone pushes you back down. I would like to bring up a dire issue that is grounding Mooney's and almost grounded mine. That is the "No back spring" kit. M20-282. I think I bought the last kit in America last month and I called just about every MSC to find one, only to find no stock. As luck would have it, I found one at Cole Aviation just an hour drive away. I know talking to Lasar they have 15 on back order and other's do as well. Without these kits, we cannot fly. The only choice is to find a used actuator starting at about 8000 dollars vs 1000 for the kit. There are many parts owners can reproduce, but this is not one them. Any idea when relief will come?

My wife and I are big back yard birders. We live on a lake and we have all kinds of birds, from red crested wood peckers to gold finches. The Gold Finches (the yellow ones) seem to be the worst at navigating glass and bad weather. They hit the windows of our house all the time in the winter. I have found most the time they are knocked out, and just need a little TLC. I usually put them in the green house which is 78 degrees and warm them up. Most birds, especially migratory birds seem burn a lot of calories in cold weather (because my feed bill goes way up) so often they have low blood sugar, which I think contributes to their confusion in navigation. If they are still lethargic, I give them a little humming bird nectar through a dropper and they perk right up and eventually fly away. There is an occasional injury such as broken wing which breaks my heart as the bird has to be dispatched quickly, but it is better than suffering demise by predators.

I used to work in an auto supply in college. Gates were and still are considered a premium belt. Fully molded, encased fibers. I had one on my PA-18. They turn at far higher speeds in automobiles than airplanes.

Legoland!

I consider the GI-275 to be too small for good SV.

I start just like I cold start. I NEVER leave the boost pump on after priming hot or cold. To prime I have mixture full rich, advance the throttle to 10gph, then idle. Boost pump off. If I cold start it fires right up. Hot start I advance the throttle until the air flows matches the fuel in the cylinders and she lights right up, usually at about half throttle and about 5 blades, then quickly down to idle. Works great.

Also with regard to the magnetometer or "flux gate" I found out something while replacing the screws on the cover over the unit. I had a seized nut plate and the parts manual lists incorrect nut plates. It list MS21049L08K. These are incorrect for G1000 airplanes as they are steel. The installed ones are correctly aluminum. I had a hard time finding aluminum but found them finally at nutplates.com. I also replaced all the screws on that panel with brass. MS24693bb2. I then placarded the panel "Flux Gate Non Magnetic fasteners and tools only".

The messages are telling you clear enough. GPS data is not available. Both to AHRS and to ADS-B. Given your GIA's are functioning, it may be antenna or data bus. I don't know if the GIA would give you a red check with a GPS receiver only malfunction. What ever it is, data is not getting through.

Generally life is about 2 years. I have been just ordering it in gallon bottles from Amazon, yes Amazon. Better price in bulk from Spruce, but the gallon bottles keep it fresh. As to how do I deal with the run-off? I don't in general unless it is for maintenance. If it is for maintenance I pull the airplane just outside my hangar and let it run onto the asphalt. It seeps in fast and the mark is gone with the next rain. I really don't like to do that because unless you want a mess running out of your cowl from the slinger nozzle you need to cap it off. For just exercising the system, I do so when I fly the airplane. I did so today. Ran both windshield pumps and both airfoil pumps. Sorry about that TKS fluid falling on you in Tuscaloosa, but then again, Sabin has it coming.

I have been in moderate icing and found it quite effective. I like it better than boots. I've flown them all, bleed air, boots and TKS. Bleed air works great if you have the engine power which many airplanes do not (like the MD-80). TKS IMHO works better than boots. As to my pushing 50 bucks worth a fluid every month. Yep I do and I find the reliability of the system greatly increases the more you use it. Two gallons of fluid a month is what I have found to keep the thing in really good shape. You can do less, but it takes longer for the system to pressure up etc. This way, lights go green the minute I hit the switch.

I live in the ATL metro area, based at KGVL and have a FIKI Ovation. It is costly to maintain. First there is the monthly exercise, expect to push about 2 gallons of fluid. 50 bucks. I just had to overhaul the stall vane, which was 4 weeks down time and 1800. bucks. The previous owner did not maintain the system, he had to spend about 6000 getting the pumps overhauled, but even after that, I had to put in another 2000 to get it all operational because the panels were not well purged. So if you buy one, make sure it is 100% operational and if not, make the buyer fix it right. That all said, I sought and wanted a FIKI airplane. My missions take me up through the mid Atlantic all times of the year. I also go to the Dakotas in fall and winter for hunting. It takes up a lot of useful load, but my mission is usually just me and my wife. If they have a gross weight increase however, I will buy it. The safety and security of an IFR dispatch with a FIKI airplane cannot be understated. I can think of 4 missions last year I would have canceled without FIKI. The good news for you, is I'm local! I built a purge unit which you are welcome to borrow should you need it. I also have spare seals, B nuts, pressure test plugs etc.

The one I had in for overhaul came back finally, so no need for new. $1768 for overhaul.

I got my stall vane back from Safe Flight. Looks very good. They even personalized it with a "G" on it for me! I am posting this because when I got it back from SafeFlight the inspection report said, "non standard connecter removed" and the unit now had a square molex connector like the one in the pictures from CAV posted above. So now I have my unit, but the connecters don't match! So I called CAV and as always, Mr. Jason Jennings is there to bail me out. He explained that both connecters are acceptable, and that the one on my airplane is what they used to put on which is a Tyco plug. He gave me the part numbers for the new style and they are as follows Plug Molex #03-06-2122 qty 1 Pins Molex #02-06-2103 qty 4 I checked Mouser and they have 45,000 in stock LOL! Anyway I had Tyco pins left over from my defroster motor project, and after discussion with my mechanic the preference was to change the plug on the Safe Flight unit rather than the plane, because there was more material to work with and it was easier to work on the bench. So we removed the pins from the old plug and put in the wires and pins. Here are some pictures

If you start getting into financial justifications for personal airplanes either the airplane itself or the trinkets you hang upon it you will bee on a fool's errand. Like my boat I expense it to "mental health". I have yet to see a hearse with an armored truck behind it and my kids can make their own fortune like I did. Inheritances poison families.

The manual says overhaul the regulator every 6 years, inspect every 3 years. If you are part 91 that is not mandatory.

This is not a test flight. It is a flight evaluation. It is a check to see if the airplane meets the certification requirements and that the systems installed function as intended. Additionally it is a check to see if the training module Boeing has designed is adequate for the average line pilot and the training fidelity is adequate. As the VP of Ops, Dickson used to do FCF's, functional check flights of aircraft all the time for the company. It is entirely within his training and experience to operate this flight.