A64Pilot

If any of you aren’t instrument rated, that rating usually has a large impact on insurence rates, maybe Commercial too. ‘Insurence in general has gone this way, many insurence companies won’t write insurence for larger boats now as well and the ones that will have raised rates by a rather large amount, if it follows the boating model, first you will get a couple of large increases, then a notice of non renewal, and your claims history is irrelevant. It woud be nice if we as a group could find some kind of preferred broker etc. My rate is higher than I expected as well

Good friend of mine did the Certification test flights of the 112, it and the 114 have large spacious cabins, and that cost them in cruise, there was actually a 111 that was a fixed gear 112 that supposedly did pretty well, but they chose not to build it. One of Ralph’s test flights in the 112 that didn’t go so well, nothing like having the aircraft disintegrate around you. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/2731 Now a Meyers 200D is a different animal, but they are old and few and far in between. A Mooney is tight, it’s leg room width that’s cramped for me as the nose gear well is there, but what shocked me is the a Bonanza has no more room, you sit higher, but it’s just as cramped for shoulder room as a Mooney. A Mooney is difficult getting in and out of, as I’m older and knees are gone with arthritis, there is no way to do it gracefully, you climb in and out of a Mooney.

It’s not so bad, second mortgage on your house or whatever, probably get a lower interest rate than you would for an aircraft loan too. ‘Mooney is the first airplane I’m insuring, the others were fixed gear. But your going to need quite a bit of dual I believe, not for FAA but for insurence

They are totally self contained, the module as I’m calling it is a “G” sensor and a battery, the battery fires a a squib that opens the nitrogen bottle that blows up the belt, a sharp blow to the module can set off the G sensor and inflate the bag, that’s why I said be sure you disconnect the module before you remove the seat, it doesn’t take all that much drop on concrete to set the thing off. ‘Not much to the installation really, mount the module securely and oriented correctly, the bottle we mounted via DG clamps to a seat rail but we don’t have those on a Mooney, The bottle you want mounted to the seat if possible because it’s connected to the belt, and the belt to the seat of course, the module has one locking flat type plug and it would be best mounted to the aircraft so anyone has to unplug it to get the seat out. Now all my data is about four years old so things may have changed. ‘They differ from auto air bags in that auto air bags use the vehicles power and some kind of pyrotechnic charge to produce the gas that blows up the bag, so Autobags don’t require yearly service checks and periodic replacement of parts. ‘I believe not accomplishing the service on time and or replacement of parts on schedule grounds the aircraft. There is a test box that you simply plug into the module and get a green led type of test that must be done yearly, and the module is life limited, maybe the battery? the nitrogen bottle every so many years and I’m sure the belt is life limited too. I believe it to be based on the inkjet printer model, the money is in the refill cartridges, not selling printers

I went thorough the Amsafe thing on new production aircraft, I’m sure you know about the continuing maintenance and expense, but the main thing is that they are horribly uncomfortable. Air Bag seat belts have not been proven to be any safer, they have been proven to do no harm. I know I’ll get all kinds of noise about that but it’s true, yes I’ve seen their sled tests. But think about it, if they were safer don’t you think the military and NASCAR would have them? Best restraint system is a 5 point and they can be very comfortable. especially if there are inertia reels, from a pure safety perspective no inertia reels are better. but you have to have the belts tight, tighter than anyone is going to wear them. A four point is not as safe as a three point as you submarine a four point, the diagonal of the three point helps keep you from submarining, three point is actually pretty darn good. If you do get them, be darn sure they are disconnected from the module prior to removing the seat, drop the seat and they will go off. Our installation has the module on the seat. but we had way more room, many don’t, I would assume the module would be remote mounted on a Mooney, maybe under the seat as a guess? I woud assume an STC would have drawings for the install that you would have to follow and come with mounting plates for the module and the nitrogen bottle. We developed factory drawings with Amsafe as sales thought they would help sell aircraft. They were so uncomfortable that I would only wear the lap belt. They didn’t sell

I would say find a way to pay cash for the airplane and maybe only get liability. ‘I would say the cost to a new pilot for a complex airplane woud be high, add in that your 75 and I would think it would be crazy high, probably way higher than what the average C model is worth, so don’t insure it.

I think they are after ownership for way less than if they bought out the other investors. ‘I’ve seen aircraft manufacturers go bankrupt and were bought for not much, and bought free and clear, the new owners didn’t owe the old debtors. The real value of a Certified Aircraft manufacturing facility is its ability to manufacture aircraft, it’s process specs, procedures, quality control etc are all bought off by the FAA, so you could start building a different aircraft right away, if you try to stand up a manufacturing facility it’s years and millions of dollars and everything thing has to meet new standards etc. where older ones are Grandfathered in I don’t know where an Icon falls into this, perhaps the majority holder wants to build other aircraft, I don’t believe the Icon has set any sales records, I think it’s way overpriced and way underperforming, at least compared to what was advertised.

I believe we have a member that if you ship him your old master cylinder he will manufacture you a duplicate, but I have no idea as to cost. Same guy makes hoses

It wasn’t to see if we would fit, Army aircraft I guess will adjust for most and the others adapt, usually you see little guys in Chinooks, and the big burly ones in scouts all hunched over to fit. Only aircraft I know of that had issues was the OV-1, apparently if you were tall, your knees wouldn’t clear the windshield bow on ejection, a friend successfully flew one IMC on takeoff after losing one engine at a gross weight and flight condition where single engine flight wasn’t possible and the EP was eject, he got it around and shot the ILS. Some called him a hero as he knew he was over the “ville” but John said he was scared of having his legs torn off at the knee, village had nothing to do with it. What I have always thought interesting was Army helicopters all had adjustable pedals, you didn’t slide the seat forward, you slid the pedals aft. Thrush Crop Duster is the same way, seat doesn’t move, the pedals do. I find that more comfortable. ‘How did you end up in a Snake? Marine?

I’d expect to see it in a Cirrus piston first. I guess it’s neat, but can’t imagine it being worth the cost as I’m sure it’s cost is way more than my airplane is worth.

I’ve seen case bolts be loose and cases leak from them, the real concern is that the case has “fretted” or worn when that bolt was loose. The few that I have seen stopped leaking when re-torqued, and yes you break torque on them one at a time and re-torque, so hopefully the cases weren’t worn beyond limits. ‘Many mechanics will use silk thread between the case halves, I use silk thread and Copper Coat, but I doubt Copper Coat is recommended by the engine manufacturers. I believe silk is preferred as I assume it will compress very thin and absorb a sealing compound and synthetic thread may not. Or maybe it’s just been used for 100 years The stuff used to mark bolts is called anti sabotage lacquer, a very popular brand name is torqueseal, so you will hear it called that, but I have used model airplane paint before, you want a thicker fast drying paint, the anti sabotage lacquer is more plastic like, it is the correct tool for the job. Place I worked at I had the inspection dept use yellow slippage marking, no one else in the plant was allowed to use yellow. so when you saw yellow, you knew it had been inspected. ‘Good mechanics will use it or a piece of chalk when they are final torquing whatever, it’s a way to make sure they don’t miss any fasteners

Go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and get appliance epoxy spray paint for the white tips. ‘It’s the same thing as what you buy at Spruce for a whole lot less money. It takes days to dry, several days to fully cure, it won’t stay on until fully cured. Anything that comes out of a spray can is not real prop paint, it will not last, but I figure it’s better than bare metal. I painted mine largely out of curiosity to see how much prop damage I would pick uo from operating off of grass, figured fresh paint would highlight it, surprisingly the answer is none.

It’s short people that I think would have a problem. Many years ago I and everyone in my Squadron was measured, every conceivable measurement. The desire was to determine the average pilot for future cockpit designs. Turns out that I am so 50% it’s uncanny, I am Joe Average, or was. Now I’m a fat version of Joe Average. Anyway at 5’10” I need or am most comfortable pedal wise with the seat slid as far forward as it will go, 81 J model. Anyway it has me closer to the panel than I like, but the control yoke travel is about half what it is in most aircraft or it woud be an issue. I’ve gotten used to it. ‘Now my Father was a little guy, maybe 5’4”? So how did he fly his C model way back when? Were the older aircraft’s pedals closer?

“it’s just business” Whenever I would bring up what was being abdicated was just morally wrong, or actually even illegal, that woud be the response I would get.

I have never heard of a retorque based on hours. Actually if properly built and torqued I don’t believe one is required at all. Back of the engine should be accessory case, and there are several places leaks can occur because of accessories driven off of the accessory case. Best way to find them is to throughly degrease the engine and then run it up for a few minutes and look with a flashlight and mirror and use a paper towel to see if you can find any oil. Especially if you fly it, the air can carry oil pretty far away from the actual leak

I believe it’s pretty much it, people want it to be something real complex and sinister, but sometimes it’s not. I’m talking exh valve temp, not cylinder head, although high cyl head temp will to some extent raise valve temps because a lot of cooling comes from contact with the valve guides and valve seats, how much oil flow there is in the heads is another contributor. One big reason Lycomings don’t seem to have as much of an issue if they have sodium filled exh valves, which to a great extent properly deals with the heat. But surely there must be more to it than just fitting sodium filled valves, or someone would have gotten an STC long ago and made money.

I hope not, but if you list the number of aviation assets that China owns, or own a large chunk of it’s scary. ‘They obvious implication with Icon without having to read between the lines is that they are diving it to insolvency. ‘My guess is their intent would be to then step in and buy it for pennies on the dollar, financed of course by the other owners who are going to lose their money. Cheaper than buying them out I assume. To quote the guy who ran the last placed I worked into the ground “it’s just business”

I’m not sure what you mean, right now everything is selling and for prices higher than they should be. However it’s my understanding that just a couple of years ago selling a hanger home was difficult, and will I’m sure be that way again, it’s a limited market, maybe what 1 in a 1,000 home buyers would want one? I’m pretty sure to build here you have to be a licensed pilot and a hanger has to be built with plans approved, but I do not think they can keep an owner from selling to whomever they want to. Everything is sold though one Relator that lives here and so far she has kept out any non aviation people, one guy wanted to buy the biggest and best wood working shop of all his friends, I’m not sure how she kept from selling to him.

What drives the price of Avgas is what people will pay. See attached photo, same FBO (Eagles of America), same owner, fuel source is the same, price paid for the fuel is the same. .40 c difference in price. It would be more but I’m sure they have tried that and sales fell off, so ABY people pay 40c more per gl of fuel, because they will.

Having family that are Jewish, I can tell you that they are offended by those that think “Jewish race” What about “Southern Baptist race” ? Its a religion, not a race, so why do so many speak as if it were? I’ve a friend who’s family fled S Africa many years ago, Blond, blue eyed white guy, who was born in Africa, but has been a US citizen for years. He wonders why so many who have never left the US get offended if he says he’s an African American, because he is, and they are not? BTW, when I speak of China I’m speaking about the Government as I’m certain that their businesses don’t do business over here without a large amount of Government oversight, not any person. A friend was over there supporting the aircraft we sold them, his Visa was about to expire so they said no problem when that happens we put people on a train and let them visit North Korea and that resets them so they can get another visa. ‘They didn’t understand why he didn’t want to go to North Korea

I have not had good experiences with it either

Read the article. Thsi is how China does it. held their carrot out to PWC for several Billions for civilian helicopters, just give us a little help and we will buy, buy , buy. Never happened, PWC was stupid enough to believe them, and greed got to them, China has done this over and over to many companies, even farming equipment, irrigation systems etc. ‘PWC made 2 mi, it cost them 75 million in fines, and the Chinese now have sophisticated Military engine management software, that only cost them next to nothing. https://verticalmag.com/press-releases/20959-pratt-whitney-canada-fined-75m-for-selling-tech-to-china-html/

The Chinese are slick, seems everyone who sells to them thinks they are going to get some kind of monopoly and large sales, but that never happens. In the end the Chinese seem to always get the best of the US businessmen.

It’s run out, you may get more time out of it and may not, so price it as if it needs a overhaul now. Having a top about half life is pretty common for a Conti, I wouldn’t consider it a plus in my opinion as it’s average. ‘My experience is that an overhaul at TBO is less expensive than one if you wait until it’s making metal etc. ‘My opinion is if you run one until it’s dead, it may be best to replace it with an overhaul / exchange motor usually a factory reman or zero time motor, they also add value on sale day. I’ve seen overhaul costs with a motor with a worn beyond limits crank etc exceed the cost of a factory zero time, that is what I mean by may be better

You may be right, plus getting it on a normal airfield is more important than runway alignment. ‘My home field is grass with trees around it and decent forced landing areas pretty much straight ahead, so a turn back unless in the pattern is probably not smart, except 090 runway, there is a lot of water and marsh on that heading. Still I may play with it just to get an idea. I think if I’m above 500 AHO and 110 kts I can do it, I’ll see. I cruise climb at 110 KIAS, engine seems to like it better.