A64Pilot

40 KW? You sure? Most of the bid Diesels we had in the Army on Dual wheeled axles were either 30 KW or the big ones were 60, 60 ran hospitals etc. How many gallons an hour of propane does a 40KW gen use? Want to hear something crazy? UPS just delivered the jack stands I had ordered from Amazon, UPS guy said they were told to expect to work tomorrow too. Disney is open today until 2PM, that’s just stupid that keeps the tourists here until they can’t evacuate, it’s past evac time in my opinion, if your still here, your riding it out for several days at least. We have lived here four years I think, ran the generator for a couple of hours in those four years. I’ve been told that you need to prepare for weeks of power loss if you get the “Big” one storm wise. I can’t justify probably $10,000 in cost of a big whole house generator. 10K includes the expense of another 250 gl propane tank but it’s a WAG price wise, surely you can tie them together as opposed to buying a single 500, but really you may need 750 gls to go for weeks. I’ve got 55 gls of car gas in plastic cans, I’ll burn it of course if fuel is available, but my AVgas tank is 285 gls, I’ve used 45 of that so I have 240 gls of it available for the generator, but at its price I’d rather burn the cheaper car gas. My Propane tank I think is 250 gl, but I think you only can use 80% of that? If so that gives me 200 usable if it’s full. That would only be 50 hours or so of a whole house generator according to this, depending on size and load of course https://canterpowersystems.com/blog/generac-propane-usage/#:~:text=Smaller models — such as the,gallons of propane per hour. I’m thinking buying another cheap generator, probably a 13KW for about $1,500 on Amazon, keep my current one too though somI have a backup. ‘In truth we could just move into the RV though, I’ve run the numbers I can run everything in the house excepting the big loads like drier, stove, water heater but Incan live without that, plan on showering in the RV using its propane water heater. I’d prefer not to take cold showers. If it were to get bad we would just get in the Mooney and go on a Vacation somewhere, or the Motorhome if the roads are OK, just empty the fridges of course.

My point was and is that the weather pattern has shifted, and I think it’s pretty apparent it has. Maybe back to what it was 100 years ago, or maybe completely different, the fact it’s different is the point, not that 100 years ago it was similar. Just as tornado alley has shifted. The weather pattern is now different than anytime in my life, and frankly the time I’m concerned about is those years I will be on this Earth. So as the threats have changed I need to evolve with it, and in my opinion anyone living on the West Coast of Fl needs to consider evolving whatever that means to them. In particular I’m really dependent on power. I’m thinking of buying another 10K plus sized generator as a backup to this one. I do have a rather large in ground Propane tank, but don’t think a Generac type is warrantied, perhaps as I get older it may be. What will be interesting is to see how Looters will be dealt with, because you know there will be some. I think I know how, and it won’t be to pretend they don’t exist and have the news not cover it.

I will throw this out there. Desantis has really got his SH** together, I believe he is a phenomenal organizer.

I was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield a couple of times and from Memory I don’t think Savannah has ever been hit? North and South have though. Wife is giving me looks, we hosted a party yesterday so I have to get up and put the patio furniture away.

Nitpicking I agree but Wilma and Charlie formed South of the gulf I believe, but sort of do show that Gulf Hurricanes are far more prelevant than in recent past. Used to be the East cost usually got it every year, I used to think why would anyone live there? Camille was the one that I remember remember because it chewed up the Panhandle which is where I’m from. Way back people just built regular houses on the beach and of course they got demolished, before Camille it changed they built concrete block on slabs, the hurricane didn’t blow them apart (remember the little pigs?) but the water washed out the sand under the slab, house fell into the hole and was destroyed. After Camille beach front property in the Panhandle was cheap, My father bought a lot and built on Alligator point, built it on slits, actually used big power transmission poles, jetted in until they hit limestone and then cut off to correct height. We paid to have it dried in but finished the interior ourselves every weekend, put hurricane clips on every rafter etc. That house is still there has ridden everything out since, it’s on Lighthouse point that has been enlarging at every major storm so it’s not eroding, just the opposite. I bought an ICF house, insulated concrete forms is what ICF stands for, my house isn’t built to the same standards as this one, but the walls are the same https://www.icfmag.com/2019/09/mexico-beach-survivor/ My hangar though is just concrete block and I think the folding doors aren’t as strong as the big single piece hydraulic ones, so I put this as a wind lock. My roofs though are shingles, so if I get high winds I think I’ll lose the shingles, only have not real big palms around the house so nothing house crushing. I should be on its North side however and if you’re going to be hit, being on the North side is the place to be. Rain I think they are saying over a foot depending on who you listen to, but I’m 99% sure I’m OK there too, believe it or not but my part of Fl is pretty hilly (small hills) but I’m on the side of one about 10 or 15 ft up. Sitting on my couch I look out and I see my neighbors roofs not houses and they have never come anything close to flooding. I expect to lose power for a day maybe until weather clears and I get the generator out, I have 50 gls of card gas and without stealing gas from the Mooney I have 250 gls left in my Avgas tank, so I should have several weeks of gas I think. On edit, the big threat is tornadoes, but the percentage on getting hit is very low

I think the overwhelming majority of those weren’t hurricanes are they, and some you show didn’t form in the gulf? 1950 to 2017 is a pretty good run, longer than I have been alive anyway

It is supposed to come over top of me, I’m in Central Fl. I think maybe roof damage and maybe the screen enclosure on the pool. My hangar has folding doors and I think they are the weak link, so I have the motorhome parked sideways against the doors as a windbreak, I dont think it necessary, but why not? The biggest problem if your away from the storm surge will I think be flooding as we have had way more rainfall than normal and everything is just about flooded now. I’m nearly certain I will be fine but too much of Fl has been developed on land that has always flooded and guess what it still does, people from up North move down and just don’t know better, it’s just overdeveloped and they buy into neighborhoods that flood even from just thunderstorms. I think and hope it will hit just South of Tampa because if it hits North, then Tampa is gone, I mean that literally as Tampa is the most vulnerable city in the US for storm surge, haven’t read the article but have known that for years. https://nypost.com/2024/10/08/us-news/why-tampa-is-the-most-vulnerable-city-in-america-for-hurricanes/ As a pretty much Fl native I can tell you that hurricanes never form in the gulf and hit fl, not until 2017 when Michael blew up and destroyed Panama city, but since 2017 three now have I think, the weather pattern has changed, They just didn’t form in the Gulf, they came from the Atlantic, got in the Guif and strengthened but never formed in the gulf, not and hit Florida that is, and they didn’t blow up to Cat 5’s overnight, not until Michael I think maybe Sarasota will be the bulls eye, but that’s not as bad as being just South of the Hurricane, because the rotate counterclockwise if your S of it you get the wind speed added to its forward speed, it’s like the advancing blade of a helicopter, think of it this way if it’s North of yiu with wind speed of 100 mph and moving at 10 mph you get 110 mph winds, but if it’s S of you you get 90 mph winds, and if it’s N of you it pushes water on land, but if it’s S of you it pushes water away. If it hits N of Tampa it may push a 15 ft storm surge into the bay flooding millions of homes, if it hits S it will literally almost empty the bay and nothing floods. Tampa hasn’t been hit in over 100 years since 1921 and before that in the mid 1800’s. Tampa just doesn’t get hit, it’s like Savannah in that respect.

It doesn’t sound to me like the guide failed. I think it was improperly installed, possibly not enough interference fit. Properly installed guides eventually wear out of course but should never loosen from the head.

I concur with your first statement unless price is the driving issue. I don’t know now but they used to be a good value. I love the old Hartzell as I had several contacts there, not so sure now though, gut says Hartzell is different now, but that’s not from experience. In particular the Hartzell composites are a “true” composite and great props, but at the price they cost they had better be While I have not myself tested any props on my aircraft, it’s my understanding from those that have that for cruise speed, nothing yet beats the Mac the factory put on the later J’s, and cruise speed is usually what most of us are after. It’s tough from what I have seen to significantly “improve” a J. You can spend a bunch of money trying though and it’s a normal human trait that you convince yourself after spending a lot of money that what you have is much better, when sometimes it’s not much difference.

For years I built Crop Dusters that were fully 4130 steel tube fuselages. We had to degauss them with a big electric magnet that plugged into the wall, so AC current. In the Army we had to degauss steel parts after they were magnetic particle inspected, we didn’t use a magnet attached to the part, we put the part in a device that put AC current though it making the part itself a magnet and we had to demagnetize it after inspection, used a little thing that looked like a cheap compress that indicated a plus or minus needle reading detecting a magnetic field, looked like something that came out of a Cracker Jack box but it worked https://www.globaltestsupply.com/product/parker-mg-25-20-magnetic-field-indicator?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD39hO_xgspCwwlD12AmHdAnR_dYI&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5aHKpLX8iAMVvaBaBR1NXwDzEAQYCCABEgKOsfD_BwE So I’m not so sure the statement that AC current can’t magnetize is correct. Lightning can magnetize everything steel in an entire airframe, had that happen to one AH-64. Army did not condemn the transmission etc which surprised me. One thing I was sure of those components would never get a chip light. When I was a contract welder in the oil field one of the things we built was cattle guards from old worn out drill pipe, for some reason it was most often very magnetic and hard as hell to weld, the Arc would be moved around by the magnetic field. I think the friction of it being spun against the ground magnetized it? To combat that we would put several wraps of the welding lead around the pipe, if it didn’t work you wrapped the lead the other direction. Our Welders were DC, some AC, both were affected. However in my opinion there is a nearly zero chance that a Vacuum cleaner could magnetize anything, not that my opinion is worth much.

Look up the AD, it requires a gear and bolt to be replaced, I can do that on some aircraft without removing the engine just the accy gearbox cover. That’s is what the FAA requires, maybe run out of the crank flange too, I don’t remember, point is the FAA does not require complete disassembly However Lycoming has a MANDATORY SB that requires removal and complete disassembly of the engine and inspection using tools very few A&P’s will have, furthermore Lycoming has another MANDATORY SB that has a list of parts that must be replaced every time and engine undergoes extensive disassembly, and it’s a very extensive list. These two SB’s are where the money is going, complied with and your pretty close to an overhaul, cylinders being the biggest expense from memory. Neither SB is in truth mandatory, we know there is no such thing, but insurance companies due I’m sure due to fear of being sued. pony up for these SB’s but it’s not because the FAA requires it they don’t. Besides it’s unlikely an A&P will sign off the engine without the MANDATORY SB’s complied with knowing they would have no chance in court when the Lawyer shows the title page with MANDATORY in large type and colored red. Lycoming is why the costs are so high. NOTE, my data is years old, it may have changed, but I don’t think so. Part 91 aircraft only of course

I have been told by several people that have the Type Rating that regular P-51’s require a type rating, however as no P-51 was ever Certified, they have to fly under some type of special Airworthiness Cert, but I have zero experience, but have assumed that Exhibition is likely one that most use.

I have a lot to do the next couple of days getting ready for the Hurricane, so The answer is the Air Tractor AT-802 at 16,000 lbs and the Thrush S2R-T660 at 14,150 lbs. Neither require a Type Rating, but as the Thrush guy I had to put an entry in their logbook attesting that they had received training. FAA didn’t require Type Ratings based on the fact that they were no more complex or different than the smaller airplanes, but they had to require something being the FAA hence the logbook entry. Of course they are sold used everyday and the new buyer gets no log book entry.

Several former military aircraft require type ratings, which I have never understood because as they have never been Certified they don’t have a type Certificate and therefore don’t have a type so how do you get a type rating for something with no type? It’s the FAA not having a rule that really applies but they want X without issuing another FAR so they misuse an existing one. They do this all of the time. I flew AH-64’s which are a 21,000 lb aircraft, but didn’t get a type rating and can’t get one because AH-64’s are not FAA Certified so no type, nor can I get one for a UH-1, in fact US Army pilots never get any kind of Pilots Certificate. UH-1’s can be flown in the Restricted Category as Ag aircraft but supposedly nothing else, yet I’ve seen them charging $$ and giving rides? I was allowed however to take a 50 question written test that my dog could pass, upon successfully passing it I was issued an FAA Commercial / Instrument Rotorcraft Certificate with no oral or practical test, so why don’t they just give the Certificate? So can anyone name any current production fixed wing aircraft that exceed 12,500 lbs but do not require a Type rating? There are two that I know of.

Known as the rule of unintended consequences, can drive you nuts, also known as perfection is the enemy of good enough. My bet is at some time in the past one elevator was changed due to damage and in order to prevent the dreaded damage history wasn’t recorded, or that record lost.

I understand, a lot of Central and South American aircraft are still N numbered, keeping it US registered for them adds to the value, but I assume makes maintenance a pain as it takes a US Certified mechanic, unless there is a reciprocal agreement and with everything in Europe being EASA now I don’t know there is, there is for Engine and I believe aircraft Certifications but don’t know about mechanics, The Brits for one are extremely regimented, don’t know about the rest of Europe. I assume keeping it US Registered is done due to it increasing the value even in Europe?

Anytime the FAA does ANYTHING it’s in response to something happening, usually a complaint. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t that pencil whipped Annual that was in that IA renewal class, once something gets that public that’s obviously FUBAR the FAA has to respond. If you’re ever in your hangar and an FAA guy walks in I can guarantee it’s because someone called and made a complaint. Ramp checks are an exception, they actually have a Quota of those If it’s a private hangar I’m 99% sure you can tell them to get out so I’ve never even heard of one entering one. But then there is a lot I don’t know.

I know your kidding, but we can usually only work on N numbered aircraft, which hers likely isn’t.

Where this comes from is you asked. Therefore he HAD to give you what we called in the Military as the most conservative response, because of course he could get into trouble if he didn’t. it goes like this, an inspector asks you why you didn’t repack the wheel bearings and you say Mike told me I didn’t have to, you didn’t say because I can inspect their condition by jacking the wheel up and checking, just like I don’t take the calipers apart every year, I can inspect their condition by inspection for function and leaks. You just said Mike told me I didn’t have to, we’ll it may be that Mike is going to get a talking to, maybe even a reprimand, but if he says repack every year he won’t. I’m not saying you did anything incorrect, just know that when asked most of the time you will get the answer that covers the inspectors butt not necessarily the one that he feels is correct, if they want to climb the ladder and Retire they have to. It’s a Government Bureaucracy, that how they function. Sometimes that changes, the second inspector I got for the Repair station that I was an accountable manager for was near Retirement and he didn’t really have anything to lose, he wasn’t building a Career. He let me take him to lunch whenever he came down for example which is strictly Verboten for example.

Interpretations, AC’s and memorandums are not law. If they want me to do something different they need to change the FAR, which IS law, not print opinions, which is what an interpretation is, isn’t it? My opinion or maybe it’s an interpretation?

I haven’t read the whole thread yet so maybe this has been answered, but as an IA I can tell if it’s done correctly an Annual on a new to the IA airplane takes much longer, the reason is the IA has to ensure all AD’s were complied with and all work done since the aircraft’s birth date was done correctly, checking every accessory etc for the correct part number etc. You would be surprised at how many aircraft are out there with incorrect props for example. However if I did the annual last year I only have to validate the last years work and any AD’s that came out last year etc. There is truth in switching shops may give you a better annual, as different people find different problems, the more eyes looking the better, but it’s likely to cost you quite a bit more money. For friends in my neighborhood I charge $300 if they do all the grunt work for simple airplanes, complex ones everyone takes them to shops that specialize in those aircraft which is better, and I don’t want to do Bonanza’s etc anyway, only one asked and I gave a quote that showed I didn’t want to do it. When an IA signs off an Annual, he “buys” everything that has ever been done or not done on that aircraft since it was new, but nothing from that date forward. When an A&P signs off work he “buys” that work, but only that work until the day the airplane is scrapped, buys means accepts accountability of course

They work fine. However any disk that doesn’t rust won’t work as well as one that will. Without getting into exotics it seems that for converting kinetic energy into heat nothing beats sintered iron, which of course rusts if you look at it sideways. However unless your the guy who heavily uses your brakes I don’t think it matters, either SS or sintered iron will work fine. Often aircraft brake pads are offered in organic or metallic, often the words heavy duty go with metallic. I use organic, they don’t last as long but work better when cold and don’t wear the disk nearly as much as metallic, metallic lasts longer largely because they put much of the wear on the disk.

A friend built an Experimental Maule, Chuck is the builder of record but it was built in David Wright’s shop, David is in Moultrie and rebuilds Maules, he did mine. Anyway it has an IO-540 built for the Red Bull racers and has an MT aerobatic prop with reversing, being an aerobatic prop when oil pressure is lost like on shut down it goes to full pitch, not min like normal, sounds really strange on start-up. Chuck didn’t get near the speed he thought he would with all the HP and clipping almost 6 ft of wing from a stock Maule. Stock is 235 HP on that airframe and I don’t know how much more than 300 he has. They put ram air on it like a Mooney but didn’t do it right, theirs is like a funnel and has the big end forward which will build velocity but not pressure, you want pressure so even though it’s counter intuitive you put the small end of the funnel forward to build pressure I haven’t seen it for years but bet he has the stock 33’ wings on it now, if he still has it. https://www.kitplanes.com/experimental-maule/ You have an M5? I miss my M6, never should have sold it, it would truthfully be a better fit for the flying I do now.

We used to talk about them when sitting in the desert in South West Asia, the topic usually was what would happen to a parachutist if he got into one. Our best guess was that maybe the chute would get twisted up and then he’d drop like a rock, or would he spin with the chute? I hate the Damn things, there is little noise associated with them, one day we were all in the tent supposedly sleeping, I say supposedly because you can’t sleep in 120 degrees laying in a pool of sweat. The sides of the tent stayed rolled up due to the heat of course, anyway suddenly the world exploded, everything in the tent got thrown around and covered in dirt. We were hit by one of the things, Shamals sucked too but they didn’t sneak up on you, the dirt tornadoes do.

I was around then, I think there are a LOT more accidents now than then, back then there was a lot more seat of the pants flying, and way more short field flying and well just way more flying as in the average pilot flew a lot more than the average pilot now, has to do with age of aircraft and relative expense to fly then vs now I believe. Back then a Middle class person could afford a “used” airplane that was five years or so old and had original engine and prop with less than 1000 hours on them for their first airplane and there were literally more different manufacturers of aircraft to choose from than there were cars. There was also much more of a progression of aircraft bought, by that I mean your first complex aircraft was not your first aircraft, they were cheap enough to be bought and sold every few years, so many progressed up to twins, with a twin being usually about the fourth aircraft you bought, interestingly many that progressed to twins next airplane was a “heavy single” but I digress. The whole attitude and culture around flying was completely different then, it was upbeat and everyone looked forward to next years new models etc and the industry was growing by leaps and bounds. It was a happy time if you will, but then Society was, the perfectly logical assumption was that next year would be better than this year as in spendable income etc. That ended in my opinion in the early 80’s, we didn’t realize it then but looking back I think that was the beginning of the decline. But now I see very inexperienced pilots spending lots of money on autopilots and “glass” that they should be spending on fuel and parts to fly and gain experience, but largely due to social media they believe there is this list of must have modifications to their aircraft Today I see more accidents that seem to indicate inexperience than back then. By back then I mean late 60’s and on. Everyone whether they want to admit it or not follows the same path, as junior pilots they are actually pretty safe, they tend to take out the checklist and use it every time, always enter the pattern mid field downwind etc. They establish routines whether they realize it or not. Their accidents usually occur when they get task saturated and the time doesn’t exist for the methodical approach. Then we cocky, think we’ve got this, it’s easy, we don’t need a checklist for anything else so we don’t use one in the airplane, we enter on base or straight in etc., this breaks the routine we had set up earlier and we are more likely to forget pushing the prop in or gear or whatever. Most often this ends when we scare the snot out of ourselves and the smart ones digress to being methodical and not breaking routines etc again, or don’t and have an accident. But one thing that’s different is that now there are pilots that have been pilots for years, even decades that are relatively inexperienced, that’s always been true, but there are more now. Back to age of aircraft and increased cost to fly, maybe. One thing that fosters that is our age of social media, used to be to be able to be among other pilots and hangar talk etc you had to go to the airport and usually fly, now you just pull out your phone.