Justin Schmidt

Let's not FB(I) this

I use an Icybreeze and not just in my plane. It has a liquid heat exchanger. Put some water in the cooler with ice. Has a battery and can be used with a 12 car plug. Also has a remote (wired) so you can turn it off/on in flight (I put it in the baggage area). Doesn't have the humidity issue that swamp coolers do.

You have annual taxes, bummer.

Going through an OH now, new Lycoming Cylinders were around 2 years (April 2023).

Do you ever see those idiots on youtube saying you should keep taking out debt instead of pay it down/off. Same idiots that tank companies. Unfortunately, a lot of people follow them.

Especially when in a long line and took 1.5 hrs to get some fuel

The best speed mod is monroy tanks

Also, check for any binding of the flaps.

Why would a "non-flying, non-participating, uninterested passenger" be in the class? If they are not in the class well no...If they are in the class they are not a non-participating passenger.

Mine is named Freyja

I think Savvy is more hype than anything...banking on owners lack of knowledge which can easily be gained. Like a new teen driver to a car. I don't think it is the fact I am an engineer, but when that IA showed me what to look for and explained things, I now find it much easier and less "scary" to go through logs myself and do an inceptive look over the plane.

2021

I did this for the first plane I was looking at...was not impressed by them at all. One of the biggest issues was they tried to get me to use a shop that, after I researched the shop and shop owner myself, ended up being a guy that him and his father that owned another shop was investigated by the FAA and other law enforcement for fraud and other charges. His father spent a good chunk in prison, he spent a little and then started another shop. I ended up picking another shop myself a bit further away and mostly dealt with that shop myself. Additionally, they didn't really look at the logs that had many red flags. The shop that the plane was taken to did go over things to look for in logs and how to tell if a plane is worth pursuing.

Where are you located?

There is a risk to the buyer as well, albeit more of a non-tangible risk. If the buyer believes at first they are dealing with a reasonable honest seller and start the process just to be fought at every turn, the buyer may loose out on another plane ( I am one that thinks it's dumb and dishonest to go after multiple planes as a buyer). As well has loan issues like interest rate. Many sellers that are wishy washy tend to be those that are being "forced" to sell for one reason or another. The ego driven pilot (that I have talked about in another thread) tends to be the worst, most dishonest, no integrity sellers; bad buyers as well for that matter. It would be great if we can get back to a time where all had good intentions, honest, have integrity, and over all just decent people.

Ultimately, maintenance and even the most causes of accidents(fatal non-fatal) boil down to ego. For owner maintenance to work and a shop, one must take ego out and admit to oneself that that do not have the skill, knowledge, tools to do something. Yes even a shop needs to practice that. In terms of accidents, an example if a pilot actually cuts the ego out one should not get to the point of spacial disorientation in IMC when you are not proficient or those that do it without being trained. It is safe to say ego is the greatest killer and the most preventable. ego is, also, a major driving force of why we continually get new regulations. the difficulty is it is anyone's guess to how to fix that.

The switch is a circuit breaker switch. Either the pump has seized/bad motor or the circuit breaker switch is bad.

Sooner or later you will find that it was for the best...could be a lot wrong with it, especially if they aren't allowing a borescope. Had that experience...seems a lot of these hanger and tie down queens are trying to sell in the hot market to some unsuspected person.

Sounds like my first annual after purchase at CalkinAero in Huston (Apparently, was going through a buyout during). I did a cardinal sin and had the annual done before I picked up (I was across the country) with the same shop that the buyer used. I did have the prebuy done at another shop which found things I wanted fixed before flying it across the country (engine mounts, oil/fuel lines). After negotiations on price he didn't want to take it back there for an annual so I begrudgingly let his shop do it. The shop charged me for things they did not do, did things wrong, connected wires wrong (as I found out this annual and now OH). Honestly, I don't think it will be a lack of newer generation pilots that kill GA, I think it will be the incompetence and lack of maintenance.

Is this what you have in mind HAHA

Many think throwing more money at mechanics will make the problem go away (A certain "mechanic" everyone revers as a god)...throwing money at the problem will make it worse. I have had mechanics work on my plane that could barely wipe their our butt. I see things in the way of avionics, wiring, mechanical that I sit there shaking my head. Every industry that throws money at the problem has gotten worse and doesn't attract better people but worse as they can get more money doing little. Frankly, for GA aircraft I don't think an umbrella approach will work, some owners are very mechanically/electronically inclined and others are not. A solution might be allow owners that are able to do certain work do it. (Does this look something like being able to take an evaluation without having to take all the required hours of an A&P). I can say as an engineer I shake my head at a lot of things, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, other engineers etc. and has come that I really only feel safe doing things myself. Also, perhaps in the same line allow an owner whom can't do something chose someone they trust that did go through that abbreviated process. All the good A&P can go to the airlines and costs can remain low (well relatively) in GA. I do think this will get much worse before anyone will stand up and do something such as our GA fleet sitting for over a year waiting for work, more maintenance induced crashes/deaths. I posted above that if we(maybe get EAA/AOPA on board) of creating a database of these failures or just errors that don't result in incidents, we would be able to have some teeth in any approach. We all know the NTSB doesn't pay much attention to GA and well FAA has been hostile for decades.

Or just a maintenance/post maintenance experience. Get a log of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

IcyBreeze works wonders, put it in during preflight...nice and cool. Runs off of its own battery pack

Bet it was so they could pocket it

Guessing you have longer arms than I do. I can disappear into the crowd or corn better haha