TangoTango

I have a Prestolite ALU-6421 alternator on my IO360-A3B6D, and while investigating a loose field wire I managed to break the F1 field stud. This stud is riveted to the brush holder assembly so now I'm looking for a whole new brush holder assembly. Since Prestolite has been bought by Hartzell, I'm having trouble finding any paperwork indicating the correct part number for this assembly. It looks like Hartzell sells a brush holder assembly that replaces "any aircraft utilizing ALE, ALH, ALT, ALU, ALX, ALY, and ALZ series alternators": Hartzell Engine Tech Brush Holder Assembly Alu-3045Bs | Aircraft Spruce ® Can anyone provide any paperwork or personal experience confirming this is the correct assembly for the old Prestolite units before I order it? Thanks!

When you bought the airplane, didn't it have both seat backs installed? Why would they be with the previous owner? At this point personally I would not trust any shipments, I'd be driving there myself. 15 months is a long time. Most people stop by every so often to check on how the work is going.

I voted no, but I guess I should be in the yes column now: On Saturday as I turned on the landing light on a visual approach, the annunciator started flashing and the ammeter pegged to the discharge. Turns out the field wire worked its way loose. Luckily an easy fix.

Isn't the engine in the Mustang pretty rare? I'd hate to prop strike one

I wouldn't leave anything that isn't conforming to the type certificate on the vent in flight, drag or no drag. I think the takeaway is that plugs can be designed to fail safe rather than fail dangerous if you forget them (i.e. use a design that isn't 100% air tight) and that you should develop (and use!) a walkaround procedure to ensure you remove all ground covers from the aircraft before flight. Cowl plugs and tailcone covers are similarly dangerous if left on, but they are widely used with similar care.

When I first transitioned to my J, I spent a lot of time with the POH and made notes for training purposes. Those notes ended up becoming a small spreadsheet containing all the V speeds adjusted for weight and power setting charts that I printed out and keep in the airplane for quick reference because I'm just wired that way. At this point most of it (or at least close approximations) is committed to memory, but I do make a mental note of my expected landing weight and adjust my over the fence speed to target 1.3 Vs0 at that weight. On my J, that's a difference of 13 KIAS between 2300# and 2900#. I used this page from the POH as my starting point:

I wondered the same thing. In fact, it sounded plausible enough that I made some fuel vent covers in response with "Remove Before Flight" tags to use next dirt dauber season.

Aerospace Reports has a great title and escrow service, but if @jordanschooler is just trying to evaluate options they can order the report directly from the FAA here: Aircraft Registration | Federal Aviation Administration. I ordered the $10 CD for a couple aircraft before I decided on one I liked the history of, then I got Aerospace Reports involved once an offer was accepted and we were ready to go into escrow.

I am missing several as well and have been unsuccessful finding them. Good luck, and if you find them please update us

I believe Jet Aviation on the east ramp is your only option. Nice people and good service, but not cheap.

I treat all li-ion batteries in the cabin (including Apple products) as worthy of consideration before flight. Fortunately, most battery fires I've seen were predictable well in advance - batteries swelling until the case bulges, obvious damage (as the case posted above), extreme heat when charging, etc. If you don't bring the predictable fire hazard on board you probably won't have to deal with its inevitable conflagration.

I suspect you value engine time at $30/hour unless you have a budget overhaul shop to recommend

Our T hangars are actually slightly cheaper than that, utilities included. Of course, for the money all you get is a gravel floor with an asphalt parking pad and a light bulb on the ceiling, but it does its job of keeping the weather out. Suffice it to say we are in quite a rural area. I have very little experience with central LA, but if it's like ours, the anemic local economy is only part of the story. We basically maintain the city's hangars for them and in return the city basically leaves us alone to maintain and fly our airplanes as we wish. I read stories about airports banning maintenance in the hangar or washing airplanes with a hose and it just boggles my mind...

I don't think it's unusual to read 0 in cruise flight when there's plenty of airflow to dilute and carry away the exhaust. Mine is 0 in cruise flight, perhaps 1 or 2 in climb (I assume I could fix that with a door seal), and as high as 40 if I taxi with the door open (I have to mute the Sensorcon AV8 because it sets off the "low" alarm). If I taxi with the door closed, it's single digits. On another note, the card type "spot" detectors aren't great, but I still keep an up to date one stuck to the panel as a backup to confirm the Sensorcon is working.

I don't think it matters whether it is set to continental or regional radar (other than speculation that the lower resolution continental radar may load quicker since it presumably requires less bandwidth). I've seen the same artifact many times on my 650xi at low altitude despite normally keeping mine set to regional, and once I climb out and get ADS-B reception the data always fills in. Interestingly, I noticed on a recent trip across Wyoming on V6 at the MEA (10k MSL, but only 2-3k AGL) when I had poor reception the FIS-B seemed to be smart enough to load a smaller than normal ring of radar data around my location first, then expand as I continued down the airway toward an area of better reception. I thought that was neat, as it's the first time I'd spent a significant period of time with marginal FIS-B reception at altitude.