A64Pilot

Actually, open even partially is more drag. The reason is the drag comes from airflow through the engine compt, I believe up to 20% of an average piston airplane is from engine cooling drag, no airflow, no drag. There is however an argument that if properly designed there is thrust to be had simply from heating and therefore expanding the air, for example the radiator on the P-51 added speed, not decreased it. Called the Meredith effect, but it’s not applicable here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_effect. Best plan I think is to operate the cowl flaps in whatever position required to keep the temps in the middle of the green, and don’t worry about any speed increase or penalty.

I know, military, but before starting engines we did a flight controls check, which included ALL flight controls, throttles are a flight control, as is the rudder, but who was taught check rudder free and clear? For some reason civilian airplane pilots are only taught check the stick / yoke?

It just happens that there are TV advertisements for that EXACT thing. Found it, it is an App I don’t know if it’s an App or some kind of subscription thing, but something walks you through how to fix things. A very big problem is lack of knowledge of tools, I bet not one in a hundred kids could read the vernier scale on a micrometer, maybe 10 in a 100 even know what a micrometer even is. People are convinced digital mic’s are more accurate, when they aren’t. My Wife teaches middle school, has a clock on the wall, most can’t even read a non digital clock. None can write cursive, most can’t do simple math, I mean like what’s 33 and 15, they need their phone for that. Went to a Dr appt the other day, right outside the UF campus, stopped at a traffic light. College kid is riding a scooter and stopped waiting for the walk light to cross the road. I kid you not, but he took his phone out of his pocket four times to look at it, did something to it once, but couldn’t do without the thing for 15 sec

A LOT of it had to do with younger people just don’t have the mechanical skills they used to. Used to be 30 years ago when I was a Maintenance Officer for 24 Apache Helicopters the farm boys stood out, they knew how to fix things, while the city kids had honestly never held a wrench. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen. There are far fewer farm kids than there used to be, that population is shrinking. When I ran the Assembly line at Thrush I had a very difficult time getting any kind of skilled labor, I remember well interviewing one guy that had on his resume that he was a “sandwich artist” apparently that’s what Subway calls the people who work there, artists The number of kids that took Dad’s lawnmower apart and fixed it are dwindling, just as the number of Dad’s that mow grass, the message from the Government is strongly that they need to borrow money and go to College and get a Liberal arts degree, not get their hands dirty turning wrenches. Many honestly think they are going to make a living playing Video games, just as some think they will get rich playing sports. Evidence if that is Lowes and Home Depot both sales have plummeted simply because believe it or not but many can’t read a ruler or drive a nail, so they a few years ago started classes on the very basic skills, hoping to boost sales, but the younger kids are far less likely to fix the toilet than before, not necessarily because they are lazy, but because they have no idea how or even what tools to use, and they don’t have the tools. One of my Daughters does all the DIY fixing things in their house, both my Daughters have the ability, but then both can drive a manual transmission car too, it’s astonishing the number of people who don’t even understand very simple basic mechanical concepts.

I’m pretty sure that Spanish Embraer landed successfully, but that’s not the point. Many think they want the maintenance rules to be dissolved, and they may get it, I never for a second thought basic med would happen , but it did, so you never know. I’m certain that a rather large and influential part of the FAA doesn’t want to be accountable for GA, especially older GA aircraft. However I don’t think you would want the serious drop in value in an aircraft that’s owner maintained, and I bet insurance would sky rocket for those aircraft too. Canada has I believe some kind of owner maintained program. I know nothing about it except it exists, and I have heard but don’t know that once it’s in that category it’s not coming back, and placing it in that category seriously devalues it, it’s resale value takes a big hit. I think it’s only a few very simple models too, not complex aircraft

The Aural gear horn only sounds when the gear is up, so how is the voice different? This LED would only trigger when the gear alarm does, I’m think install is as easy as splicing the LED into the alarms power wire. Not saying the LHS is bad, but what did it cost all in? I am not saying the voice isn’t bad, I’m all for pretty much as many different alarms as I could get, I wouldn’t be against a flag that popped up out of the glareshield, waved back and forth that said put the gear down, or as I’ve posted one that put the gear down for me. One thing is clear, what we have currently doesn’t seem to work very well, we need some thing better Just I think a bright LED would be very simple and cheap to implement, and I think visual as well as sound may be more effective. Ideally I think the thing ought to flash, seems a flashing light gets even more attention. I flash the headlight on my motorcycle as well as its brake lights on that theory. I have them flash rapidly for about a sec then go solid so they get attention, without hopefully becoming obnoxious, however I’m nearly certain it’s illegal to flash brake lights for some reason or other, Elon Musk had the Tesla flash it’s if you braked extremely hard and on stopping the hazards came on automatically, the Feds made him stop the brake light flashing, but I think the hazards still come on but not sure. Decades ago as a kid I had an idea, I think brake lights ought to flash, and the harder your on the brakes the faster they ought to flash, give the guy following an idea just how hard the car ahead of them is on the brakes.

On our boat you needed to turn the propane off whenever the stove wasn’t being used, because propane being heavier than air if there was a leak would gather in the bilge and literally blow the boat up, there was an electric solenoid. The Wife would remember to turn the thing on, but not off so I put this LED in the electric panel, it always got my attention as it was quite bright and I would turn the propane switch off. I think it would work well for this purpose, it’s small but bright

I know that’s dangerous, but during the conversation about how many gear ups there are, and obviously when we get busy doing things we turn off aural warnings. By that I mean we of course hear the gear alarm but the brain obviously ignores it. Sure a voice alarm telling you to check gear isn’t bad, but your already ignoring sounds or you would recognize that obnoxious alarm for what it is. It would be child’s play to put a bright red LED in the instrument panel that shined in our eyes connected to the gear aural warning so that we would get a light in the face, and it’s likely that being a visual thing we would see it and recognize it for what it is, or I think I would anyway, harder to ignore a bright light than a noise, have to be bright though, not just a segment light. As we aren’t changing any current alarm it ought to be a simple minor mod

I hadn’t considered that. They need Guard birds for that, the Guard being the States militia isn’t hamstrung by Posse Comitatus, only Federal troops are. Interesting problem, but honestly it seems to be truthful that many rules are ignored now and Presidents (both parties) make proclamations that they have no legal right to do so, and they stick and that rolls down hill As an Active duty Aviator we were used to surveil the Southern border years ago, (1989) but other than observing and reporting to the then Border Patrol we took no other action due of course to Posse Comitatus It was JTF-6 then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Task_Force_North

I did it in flight a couple of times, but almost 30 years ago. but the lower gear doors were removed for some reason (trainer aircraft, but prohibited from grass) Just looking at the lower gear doors it’s my belief that in flight they are going to be pulling down quite hard, how hard being airspeed dependent of course, if that’s correct then maybe the opening pull may override at least partially the over center springs? If I’m right then lower gear doors would make retraction of a J bar airplane really tough.

The performance “boost” of a K&N is marketing, we used it in the crop duster because the original Centrastrip air particle separator was very restrictive, and K&N was ready to supply a filter. You will not notice any decrease in MP if you ditch the K&N We supplied the aircraft with two as you need to let the gauge dry completely before you oil it, and that’s not happening in a hour or two, and believe it or not but don’t put it in the sun, because it’s cotton and it seems the sun will shrink cotton? If you do anything to damage the gauge the filter is trash. The bottle of oil is best, run a bead of oil on the top of every pleat, then flip it over and do the same, spray works fine just you don’t get as much as you do in the bottle, but be sure to completely wet the gauge Donaldson while I’m not familiar with the one on a Mooney is really a very good filter. If I had one I think I might keep it. I guess the downside is they are pricy? I have a Brackett, easy, aircraft came with it, and it’s good enough, honestly if you never get into dust and sand I’m sure a K&N is fine too.

Glasair 3 surely and I’d assume the retract. https://www.globalair.com/aircraft-for-sale/specifications?specid=1249 How many people can you carry with you, how much luggage space? I’ve been told by a turbine Lancair builder /owner that if you fly it like a Lear you won’t have any problem. I assume the same with the Glasair, meaning shoot your approaches hot and don’t try to slow down much for landing, land hot. It’s when you try to shoot approaches like a Certified airplane it will kill you.

It’s my opinion that a Mooney is much more expensive to build than a Cirrus, very much more complex aircraft and requires many more man hours to manufacture and more skilled labor, so Mooney would have to charge more than Cirrus to be profitable, in my opinion. Think about how much simpler fuselage a Cirrus has, to say nothing about the gear, it doesn’t even have a steerable nose wheel, much less retracts. I’ve heard but don’t know that it doesn’t even have a mechanical elevator trim etc.

Yeah it shouldn’t be much harder than pulling the fresh air vent knob, a little as it overcenters because it’s stretching a spring. If you disconnect the spring and it moves with very little resistance I might even look for a lighter spring. ‘I think in the US I could get by with calling it a minor alteration, but don’t forget to change the POH etc, but I really think your mechanical one needs some work. The cowl flap is no where near as hard as closing the door

Two years later I now usually cruise down low, temps are sometimes like today at 35C at 1,000 ft, that’s 95F and it took the flaps just over centered to keep temps in the middle of green, but I’m now flying 23 squared and 8GPH which using 15 HP per Gl LOP formula gives me 120 HP, 60% power. I climb full rich full open cowl flaps at 130 kts indicated, 500 FPM and that keeps temps right in the middle of the green, same as cruise, any slower and temps go up. I’ve noticed no speed difference with cowl flaps just over centered or fully closed, but I’m cruising at 60% power so I wouldn’t expect to. In Winter I close up the cowl flaps to keep temps up and Summer open them a little, speaking about full closed position.

My opinion is if your doing it in flight, slow to into the white arc especially if you have lower gear doors on, pull cb of course place gear switch down, shouldn’t matter with cb pulled, unlock the handle and slowly pull the slack out then pull up not particularly fast, repeat but take slack out at first every time just like you do when starting a weed eater, but do not snatch of course like you do the weed eater. I won’t check it in flight myself, just don’t see the upside, parts for this thing I believe are pretty much non existent. The gear actuator is the one part that worries me about the airplane, what’s the plan when one breaks? Is there anywhere that can overhaul one? I’m speaking Eaton actuator on the J

Ice in water at sea level once the ice and water reach 32F will keep the water at 32F, we calibrate as in validate OAT gauges that way. The water will remain at 32F until all the ice melts There is only so much heat energy that a given weight of ice can absorb before melting, a block will last longer because it’s heavier being solid but as it’s surface area is less than the same weight of cubes it can’t cool as fast. Ice starting at well below 32 doesn’t make much difference because it’s waters phase change from solid to liquid that absorbs so much heat, a cold block of aluminum for example doesn’t cool nearly as much as water ice for example. You can of course get more weight in a solid block than cubes though, so in the end the block will absorb more heat than the same volume of cubes. Being a Jim Bob Southerner when working on the farm as a kid we would put a gallon jug of water in the freezer and use it to cool the cooler with lunch in it, plus as the jug melted you had good ice cold drinking water, Maybe 1Gl jugs of water would fit in a B Cool? Of course after the flight just put the jugs back in the freezer for the next flight? You guys do have a fridge in your hangar I’m sure, where else would you put your beer? I suspect blue ice etc is the same, it lasts longer because there is an insulating layer of plastic between it and the frozen substance, so it last longer by cooling less, but I bet water ice has a lot more latent heat, if I’m using latent heat correctly ‘Water is a magic substance pretty much no other substance has it ability to absorb heat as much as it does, for example antifreeze in your car reduces pure waters cooling ability, but water freezes of course and causes corrosion, so you give up a little cooling for higher boiling, lower freeze and corrosion protection, but pure water would cool better.

I don’t think any RV except the -12 can get to LSA weight limits. Maule tried it with their M-4 and ended up with a tail heavy pig that had pretty much zero useful load. ‘From what I’ve seen of most LSA’s is unless there is a need to fly one, stay away, they have a high accident rate for a reason. Nose wheel RV’s have killed so many that there is a company that was formed to try to cure the problem, called “Anti-Splat”, RV’s it seems collapse tge nose gear quite often and when they do they go over on their back, breaking your neck or back it seems. RV’s don’t pogo and prop strike, they collapse the gear and the people often die. I think @Parker_Woodruff was right most LSA’s are under built trying to get under the legal max weight and still be able to carry a pilot and fuel. However it seems that the Seaplanes aren’t quite so under built, I think they are allowed higher weights? I’ve considered LSA myself, but I’d want something like this https://superpetrelusa.com I think it’s much better built than a -12 myself, plus it’s an Amphib so lots more fun than a -12.

if it’s a repair, involve an A&P to be legal, muffler shop can weld it, but they are working under the supervision of the A&P legally. I’m an A&P/IA and used to be a contract welder in another life, but if an exhaust system needs to be welded I take it to a professional who TIG welds everyday, in my opinion an A&P ought to outsource work to professionals, but they of course determine the airworthiness of the part. If your making or having one made one from scratch, research “Owner produced parts” your allowed to make a part, but need to follow the rules, they are easy to comply with but you have to comply with the rules. Eventhough you made the part, your the manufacturer, you still need an A&P to install it. Among other things the A&P determines its airworthiness. Most of the parts that aren’t hard to fabricate you won’t find for sale new, reason is from Mooney it’s likely a $500 part, that you can fabricate for much less so Mooney has very little demand. Many if not most countries you’re not allowed to fabricate parts, the US is I believe very uncommon allowing it. And yes don’t mention it’s an aircraft part, if asked it came from your lawnmower or something. Down here in Fl it’s amazing how many starters and generators come off of Airboats

I didn’t say it wouldn’t work, but a drain intended for oil has a nipple on it so you can attach a drain tube, this one obviously does not. ‘It does however have a much more positive locking feature, I’ve always been a little leery of the push on, pull off of the average oil drain.

That is a fuel tank drain, not an oil drain

Usually you can take a K&N out and run your finger around the area behind the filter, see if it’s dirty, if it is, that’s dirt that got through the filter

I’ve been around K&N filters on aircraft for a long time, we used them on the AH-64 Air pac airconditioner once we got in the desert, was testing them for the Blackhawk engines in 03 and on the Thrush crop duster I helped build, the pics are of my Daughter when I made a class to teach pilots how to properly clean them, if you ever used compressed air, throw it in the trash, she is 23 now to give you an idea how long ago that was, the second is of a brand new filter still in the bag to show that a little extra oil doesn’t hurt, the oil is what filters, it’s sticky and tge gauge holds the oil and the screen wire the gauge K&N’s are actually poor filters, they let a lot of dirt through and actually to get them filtering well it’s best to let them get dirty but add oil to keep the dirt wet, the sticky oil is what makes one filter. In my opinion, remove it and throw it away and replace it with a good filter, especially if you ever get into any dust or sand, they just don’t filter well.

So why not on new aircraft? You know in truth I’m sure as I think many others are that a Modern design aircraft engine could burn car gas and not weigh any more than these Diesels being proposed, and TBO should go way up, I’m not talking high RPM with reduction gearboxes, but direct drive. Autos are producing high HP, with 11 to 1 compression with car gas, so it can be done without high octane, because it is being done

I don’t know what it means, but Air Carrier makes sense, I hate it when things get abbreviated, back in the day it made sense with strips etc, but not now