GeeBee

In 2017, I had a 12 hour flight that was ending at an airport for which a hurricane that would be downgraded to a tropical storm was forecasted. The east-west runway was forecast to have a wind of 180/40. Crosswind limit was 40. Company guidelines said for a wet runway 29 knots. I was on a re-dispatch flight plan so at around 50W I received a re-dispatch clearance to my destination. I queried the dispatcher about the winds and he said, no problem now forecast 180/38. I said, "Not landing". He said, "Your crosswind limit is 40". I said yes but on a wet runway guidelines is 29. He told me to keep coming that 29 is "just a guidelines" and that "other airplanes were landing". I said, "We're not landing in excess of 29." We kept on coming and I said to my crew, "You know, we have to fly to KXXX but nothing says, we have to land". I arrived at KXXX the winds were 180 35G40 along with rain. I put the airplane on approach, at 500' I asked for a wind check and it was 180 at 39. I pressed the TOGA switches and went to an alternate. We could have saved a lot of time and money if the dispatcher had not refused my concerns and pressed the arrival. As an LCA I had a lot of access to data and for that day I correlated the airplanes that landing on a wet runway beyond company cross wind guidelines simply using AFM limits vs those like me who bailed. There as a direct correlation to seniority. The most junior Captains were more likely to land to the airplane limits rather than the recommended guidelines.

Since 2017? I don't think so. The only thing that has changed is less net experience.

40 years of flying for the majors, I've had a few times.

Auto-thrust claims another victim.

I know it is not a tail strike because the paint on the fairing is shiny and undamaged. Bulkheads are all intact. Again if you notice the scraping took place underneath the fairing.

No on my airplane, one side curls around the bottom and the other side fits inside the curl. That is not corrosion, it is dark from the photo artifact and corrosionX If you look at the paint on the skin, the scraping stops at the end of the fairing mark.

No. The opening has been enlarged as we removed material that had been eroded by the fairing. When we took the fairing off, it had a crack at the crease. A look at the empenage showed scraping. We used a screwdriver and found the metal foil thin. We then removed the eroded metal with a finger tip to create the gap you see in the photos.

I've owned the airplane for almost 6 years. It's been to Maxwell, Cole, Precision Air. I've removed that fairing myself, 4 years, except for last year. If a hard landing with a tail strike was the case, it would have shown up earlier and I would have seen it. This happened over the last year.

The last time it was installed, it was done by an MSC.

No. This is simply the fairing rubbing against the tail cone.

Doing the annual on my airplane I pulled off the fairing for the tail assembly. I found a crack in the bottom, the I looked up at the tail cone and found the crack was caused by the tail assembly rubbing against the fairing. Has anyone seen or repaired this type of damage?

Run Forest, run!

Yep, I have flown thousands in bleed air, I have flown thousands in boots, I have a thousand flown in TKS. My first TKS airplane was my Mooney and I found it amazing in its performance. Given the choice between boots and TKS I'll take TKS every time.

So how do you do the paper work since to my knowledge it is only good to K models and not beyond.

Actually Marietta produced not only the C-130, and the C-5, but the F-22 Raptor and of course......Al Mooney's JetStar.

Forgot about them, but yes, they should be included and a big part!

Not peaches or pecans. Civilian aircraft and aircraft parts. I had no idea. 800 aerospace companies producing 53 billion in exports. Of course there are a few ( I think 3) civilian C-130Js rolling off the assembly line in Marietta, and a whole bunch of Maules and Thrush's. Then you have Delta's Rolls Royce shop doing all the big Rolls engines. 53.6 billion. Fifth largest in the US without a major large airframe assembly plant like SC, WA or AL.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/eaa-cautions-e-ab-builders-operators-on-g100ul-usage/

It is the money that keeps the airport in the green and out of the hands of developers.

Fake gets what it deserves.

No actually municipalities in GA love airports. They don't make money if you only count rent and sales. Where the money is made is the personal property tax. An airplane is taxed at the same rate as private real estate. I pay about 2800 a year for my Mooney. As any municipality in GA will tell you the airport's tax revenue is almost free money, because it requires little in the way of services and maintenance is pretty simple, there is less asphalt per dollar of tax revenue than a subdivision, little police or fire. We made sure we did an economic impact study of our local airport so the politicos are well aware of how much business it brings in, and how much taxes are paid. When you carefully aggregate it, you can make the case, anytime, anywhere except when the land is worth 10 million an acre like many places in CA such as KRHV.

You know a very good ultra-sonic cleaner can be had for less than 100 dollars. Gets those injectors nice and shiny clean. Heck, I bought two and gave one to my IA. It can be used later to clean your sunglasses as well. If your wife complains about the money spent, bring it home and clean her jewelry, you will do just fine after that.

In so far as airports go, there is one fundamental calculation. The value of the land. If the airport can generate the income to the government jurisdiction or owner in excess of what its value for other uses, it stays. If not, it goes.

I profoundly disagree. By the time this unleaded thing is over CARB (California Air Resources Board) will have weighed in and CARB is the 800 pound gorilla. How big? 15 states and DC all have laws that say, "whatever CARB does, so will we". That means a car you buy in Rhode Island has a California emissions package. It has become so pervasive most automakers have given up dual production and only produce CARB compliant automobiles. It was also CARB that exposed VW's diesel emissions cheating via their very own and very sophisticated labs. I am, quite frankly surprised CARB has not already waded into the waters of PAFI and unleaded 100 octane, and I pray they don't every day.

What is happening at KRHV really gets my blood boiling. I started my aviation career there as did many of my contemporaries. I suspect well into the 4 figures are the number of airline pilots who started there. Having dealt with many of the politicos in SJC and SC County in the past years who were lukewarm at best to GA I am not surprised at what is transpiring. I even stopped my donations to SJSU because they rolled over on the demolition of the aviation department building at KSJC. For me, I moved in 1990, the divorce was complete when I sold the last of my real estate partnerships in 2015 and walked away forever. Until CA as a whole has a viable political opposition party, nothing of anything will happen to change the trajectory of grift that is destroying GA and that continues unabated and without end.