A64Pilot

Unless you have a gull wing door or something, I see no need to do anything if the door “pops”. I’d probably fly to the nearest airport, land and shut it myself. It doesn’t affect anything, just is noisy is all. Now the Gull wings ones have I believe been torn off, but the one incident I read about it changed nothing about how the airplane flew. Personally I never let anyone touch the door or gear switch but me, even if they are senior in experience.

I’ve wondered that myself as a PMG anyway like used on the GE T-700 series is small, light, simple and I never heard of one fail. It’s just too easy, if it were me they would replace the Mag, but the rest of the components would be individually mounted. The GE PMG had three phases, one powered the engine ECU, the second powered the Ng gauge and the third powered the engine spark igniters, which require huge current, so surely they could power spark plugs at starting RPM? I’m not sure why they called it a generator as it had three phases I believe it made AC power, but the two big 70 KVA AC generators were also called generators eventhough they made AC power and those weren’t permeant magnet. So what makes a thing that produces AC power a generator and not an alternator? Sure why not have bus power as a backup, but with dual independent PMA’s you have the same level of redundancy that dual mags do, or am I missing something? Mag’s of course are powered by PMA’s just may not be called that. Solid state electronic ignition has orders of magnitudes more reliability than point ignition as demonstrated by millions of automobiles running around with then for the last 50 years, so wouldn’t it seem logical that dual independent ones would be even more reliable?

I think as automation and modern “glass” gets better and better there is a tendency to over rely on them, and to not question that maybe it’s doing something you didn’t want it too. Yes I understand these events were most likely human factors failures and the automation was doing exactly what it was told, the human mis-programmed it, but I think pilots are more and more becoming systems managers and less and less pilots and becoming more and more reliant on automation and more accept its infallibility. They are much less likely to back up the systems and monitor MDA etc. I bet there is more chatter in the cockpit on approach and not the level of seriousness there was back when approaches were hand flown. Yes I know automation is safer etc., just think we should have an inherent mis trust of it, the same as I do when someone else is flying, no different. I used to do a LOT of cave diving, of course I used a deco computer for deco stops etc. It was a Shearwater Predator, probably the best there was. The attached photo is from the beginning of its manual, I remember it evertime for instance I let Elon drive our Tesla, sure it’s been perfect so far, but I’m sure one day it will try to pull out in front of a train or something, so I use it, but don’t really trust it.

Not at all. I was passed over for promotion and “Retired”. It was however self inflicted as I wanted to Retire at 20 the whole time, that gives you enough time to build a second Career. You can’t really live on Military Retirement, not very well anyway. I was forced into the Longbow transition and that incurred a service obligation of several years, for those familiar with the Military Promotion process I did not take a DA photo, nor did I review my records for promotion so no way was I going to be promoted, you get looked at twice, then processed out, but as I was over 20 I Retired, more than you would think get passed over and get nothing. Seeing as how the Army passed me over that negated the obligation for Longbow.

I have one on my J, to me it’s a beautiful solution, cheap, lightweight, reliable, easy install, requires no attention, just forget it’s there. Leaving the Nav lights on all of the time isn’t an issue to me. I do not believe the requirement is for 360 degrees of coverage but I’m no Aviation Lawyer either. I know my Factory wing tip strobes do not provide 360 coverage. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/25.1401

Many shops will “repair” exhaust systems, in truth if it’s bad you get a new system, but as they don’t have PMA they have to call it a repair. Sometimes when a part like a muffler cracks it’s due to the material getting thin and just welding the crack won’t last, but of course that’s not always the case.

There are many current and some Retired Airline guys in my neighborhood, according to them it’s pretty bad as in pax behavior, much worse than even just before the “Pandemic”. I think Society in general took a huge dive then for whatever reason.

Yes I would, but I just don’t anymore. Being Retired I’d likely take the Motorhome, which costs more than the Mooney and would likely take three days, but as I’m Retired what does time matter? For me the Journey is part of the point, it’s not just getting there. For instance 20 years or so ago I flew the family in our Maule up to Tuktoyoktuk to dip our toes in the Arctic Ocean, and stopped many places along the way and saw and did things you just can’t flying Commercial. Took a month there and back I think. In truth I have little to no interest going where Commercial flights are cheaper. But then I HATE crowds, it’s not a phobia or anything but I can’t imagine being on a cruise ship for example. I live within four miles or so of “The Villages” most that live there I think like it, I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it as everything about it is crowded. I’m the type that has to live in the Country to be happy

What is 1 GR? IFR? I tell people the day they get their PVT start instrument training, the insurence break pays for the training and of course makes you much safer and makes the aircraft a whole lot more usable. Having said that I don’t fly IFR anymore since retirement.

I would venture that the Thunderstorms without hail are quite damaging too. When we lived in West Tx circa 1981 there was a hail storm so bad that it killed several cows. ‘It looked like the end of the Earth, coming from Ga I had never seen a sky like that.

A few weeks ago at Crystal river where we go to eat every Sun Wx permitting of course.

I used to fly a lot for Business and I won’t fly Commercial anymore unless there is no other way. I haven’t since I retired. The airplane is just part of it, sure maybe the seats aren’t much smaller but back in the 70’s only half the seats were filled on average, now they overbook so most often it’s packed. Trailways, Greyhound etc have gone out of business pretty much and those people now fly is one part of the issue. Today on the news apparently one aircraft had an emergency landing from a Pax urinating in the aisle https://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-flight-diverted-man-exposed-himself-urinated-aisle-2024-7#:~:text=A 25-year-old man exposed himself and peed in,incidents on board commercial flights. That kind of nonsense is common today, and unheard of a couple of decades ago. Yes that’s society not the airlines, but I choose I guess to avoid 21st Century society because I’m not impressed. Fat old, ugly “cabin crew” is part of it just as Transvestites or whatever they are called today as crew is another part But the airplane is just part, the airport and security etc is a huge part of it. moving through huge lines like cattle in a slaughter house, walking in your socks on a nasty floor, is carpet strips too much to ask for? Finally being told to arrive at the airport five hours before departure is icing on the cake. I choose not to be treated that way and to not associate myself with the kind of people that fly today.

Yes I was asking that, I’ve never heard if being hangared reduced rates. It would seem it should as aircraft tied down are subjected to greater loss it would seem , even from other aircraft etc.

That’s very close to what I pay, I’m over 10,000 TT, Commercial / Instrument etc, etc. But I’m based on grass and I’ve been told that severely limits companies that will write a policy. I’m 66. How does being hangers figure into it?

Don’t get too wrapped up on the numbers because a lot has to do with load and where it’s measured, but most often a 12V battery should be at 14V plus or minus .2V after being fully charged after starting. A 24V battery is of course exactly twice the voltage, that’s why for example you hear that you have a 28V electrical system, but a 24V battery, because that’s actually correct. Fully charged but engine off your battery should be approx 26V, 12V battery of course 13. At 24V resting your battery is on average about 50% charged.

Unless you have lots of money burning a hole in your pocket I’d strongly suggest you don’t buy anything for awhile beyond nickel and dime stuff. Two things, it’s not uncommon at all for the first annual to be way more expensive than expected no matter how clean the pre-buy was. Secondly it’s not at all uncommon for the first six months or so for a lot of things to break as it’s most probable that your use rate will be higher than it’s last couple of years

Yes, many, actually most Crop Dusters have an AD for cracking wing spars, most often it’s the wing opposite to the usual turn direction that cracks because at the end of the spray run most pilots pitch up and turn at the same time, if you pitch up first, then turn it’s surprising how much less stress / fatigue there is on the ascending wing spar. Remember by turning your unloading one wing and adding significant load to the opposite side. We instrumented an aircraft with strain gauges in a flight test program that extended the wing spar life limit from 23,000 hours to I think it was 40,000 hours so I got to see what maneuvers etc caused the greatest stress. Older gen aircraft had a wing spar life limit of 5,400 hours as an example.

I’ve seen some put anti-seize on it, I never did but don’t see how it would hurt.

I think the reason why you can only time the dual mag to 25 as opposed to 20 is there isn’t a 20 deg impulse coupling available, so if you timed it to 20 then the mags would fire 5 deg late, which won’t hurt anything but it would make it harder to start. If an impulse fires early it can kick back and break things but late won’t cause a kick back.

No experience with a Mooney, but on other aircraft there is no torque, you tighten until it’s not rattle loose but loose enough until it can easily move, on those aircraft it snugs up right after starting from heat. If nothing else this bumps the thread to the top.

Try a blanket instead of a tarp, softer and water absorbent, plus not a bad thing to carry in the airplane in winter. It’s not hard to siphon the water out, lots easier than siphoning gasoline, get a mouthful, it’s just water At my age I don’t think I could pull the thing full of water over the seats, I think about 5 ft of 3/4” clear vinyl hose stuck out of the baggage door ought to empty it quick, or get real slick and put a baby bilge pump in it. If you can empty it in the airplane maybe you could leave it in the airplane until next time?

Ref fuel tank capacities. Of course there is some variation between aircraft. Aircraft I used to build we quoted a 228 Gl capacity and of course it was checked on every aircraft we manufactured, but on average they all held a little over 230, a couple maybe even as high as 235, none held less than 228. The FAA is fine if one holds slightly more than advertised, but if one holds even one Gl less it’s a pretty big deal starting with paperwork that Engineering has to write a deviation for, that aircraft gets its own special by serial number POH and all placards have to be special made to reflect actual capacity. We never had to do that. So I suspect it’s common for most aircraft to hold a little more than the POH and placards say they do.

By all means check the mags, too easy to do, but as the prop has been worked on twice now that’s where my suspicion would be. Was it balanced after this work? Usually intake leaks show up as rough idle as that’s when vacuum is highest and the leak is worst, often it’s a popping thru the exhaust at idle and or slight rpm surge

In my opinion no well designed aircraft can fill all of the seats and fill the tanks. If it could then you are giving up a whole lot of range for the majority of the time when there are empty seats. Another opinion, just about all four seat aircraft are good traveling machines for a couple, want to travel with four adults? Buy a six seater.

I want to clarify “trickle charger” they are still out there, what they are is low amperage chargers that ideally charge at 14ish volts but as they are most often cheap devices many or most over time will go much higher and leaving a battery on a trickle charger will eventually dry out the mat that holds the electrolyte. I’m certain what most are calling trickle chargers are actually tenders / maintainers etc that will charge until a very low battery acceptance rate, then drop to float voltage usually 13ish volts, they extend any lead acid batteries life by keeping it fully charged which slows sulphation, but does not overcharged and cook off the electrolyte. Just make sure you don’t actually have a trickle charger leaving one of those connected will kill a battery. For those that go to a LifePo4 battery, do NOT float them, ideally for storage a Lithium battery should be stored between 30 and 50% charged, but as was brought out earlier in the thread doing that cooks alternators, and nothing will cook an alternator faster than a Lithium battery of any chemistry, LifePo4 included.