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DonMuncy

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Everything posted by DonMuncy

  1. I think that many pilots feel a very real need to do something RIGHT NOW when an engine stops. So they don't take the few seconds it takes to assess which one quit.
  2. If I was doing it, I would fly it home and have my regular guy check it out rather than "pot luck" with whoever you find there to look at it. But I would not do that if it was IMC, and I would watch the voltage like a hawk all the way home. If your voltage was 13.6 for a half hour, your battery is most likely well charged. If the light starts blinking or the voltage drops down near 12v, I would find the largest airport (where you have the best odds of finding a decent technician) within 10 or 15 minutes and land.
  3. Bob, These work great and the price is right. The only problem is they have what I consider to be a short life expectancy. I had one, and after a few years (3 or4 if I remember right), it started giving false alerts. It took me a while and some money to figure out it wasn't a CO problem. The company told me they had a finite life and sold me another one at a discount (don't remember how much). Again after about the same time, it went out again. Hope this helps.
  4. +1 for AAA. Jimmy and David are top notch and straight shooters. I bought my plane thru them 14 years ago, and now consider them to be my friends.
  5. Yes, they have an aviation merit badge. I left the area where I grew up when I was 15 and did not re-enter the scouts.
  6. Didn't have to. It takes a lot of self discipline to avoid lifting your head and get a peek underneath.
  7. One of the reasons for my cb foggles is because I wear reading glasses. I bought a big pair in my magnification, put on the scotch tape and built the side view obstructors. I glued those onto the temple pieces with Plumbers Goo, so I can still fold them to go in my pocket or flight bag.
  8. If you don't want to go to the trouble to sandblast your glasses, scotch tape works very nice to simulate IMC. Lets lots of light in but makes "vision" zero. The only problem I have found is making the side shields to eliminate vision out the sides. Thin translucent plastic works pretty well.
  9. Flynnupe94, If you live in Desoto, do you hangar at RBD. I am there. There is a mechanic at RBD, but I don't have much experience with his Mooney abilities.
  10. Thanks Gary, I had seen the list and figured it was not too big a deal. I just wanted to know whether one would be wise to get a letter from his physician, or whatever, before he went for his exam.
  11. Can someone with experience in this area tell me what happens when your doctor puts you on medication for high cholesterol. Do you just tell the AME you are taking it and he OKs it. Does he require documentation from your doctor about whether it is stabilized. Medical records? Lab results?
  12. The mask will work better. Not to give you oxygen, but to exclude the CO. The blood "likes" CO better than O2 and will absorb CO if it is available. The only way to stop it is to get rid of the CO and then enough time for your body to recover. That is not a fast process. With a near fatal dose of CO, it will be many hours. So if you have oxygen, use it at a high enough flow rate to push the CO away from your face. If you don't have available oxygen, decreasing the amount (percentage) of CO in the air you are breathing by opening vents to get more untainted air in. If you are going slow enough, open the storm window and hold your face as close as you can while getting on the ground as quickly as possible.
  13. I think all this is in the attitude of the driver/pilot. We have a generation of people (hopefully not me or you) who have developed the attitude that driving is so routine and easy that anyone can do it without effort or paying attention. Thus, it is OK to eat, drink, put on makeup, talk on the phone and text, while driving. And "hands free" devices don't help this. It is where your brain is. If we recognize that driving is potentially dangerous and requires our full attention, we would do better. The same applies to piloting. Having all the technology to help us is not a bad thing. Using all that technology is not a bad thing. But relying on it to the extent that we don't maintain the skills nor pay attention to what we are doing is a very bad thing. We must either turn off the A/P, look outside, and keep up with where we are on charts, part of the time, OR fly frequently with a conscientious safety pilot or CFI to maintain our skills. I really doubt that any of us are so complacent that we will program GPS and engage the A/P to fly an approach in IMC, while we drink coffee a carry on a conversation. But I can envision a scenario where the A/P is flying the approach and for whatever reason, it clicks off, and we aren't really well prepared to take over and complete the approach without a hitch. Maybe we ought to have our CFI randomly fail the A/P during the latter stages of an approach.
  14. I don't see a lot of difference between using a spark plug sensor you know reads x degrees high, and a piggy-back under a factory sensor that reads y degrees low. You just have to watch to see if the temperature goes above what you know is "normal" for that cylinder. Ideally you would swap sensors for one cylinder to another to determine the baseline to call normal.
  15. You don't really torque this nut. You turn it gently until the bearing binds slightly and then back off to the next cotter pin slot.
  16. About 6 this evening a Beech 35 (V-tail?) belonging to a Dallas resident on a flight from KELD (Eldorado AR) on its way to KHQZ (most likely his home drome), crashed and killed the pilot. His route on Flightaware (tail # 555SF) shows many gyrations and airspeeds from 80 or so to 140 or so. The weather at 11:00 showed OVC at 600 ft and from what I have seen it was almost certainly about that at the time of the crash. One can only imagine what this poor guy was going through while this was taking place.
  17. I am a big Mike Busch fan, and believe almost everything he says. However, I think I disagree with him on this. As I understand it, the air/oil separator takes the vapors (presumably containing acids, water and oil vapor) and separates it into liquids and vapors. The vapor is blown out and the liquids are returned to the crankcase. If some of the water has condensed back to liquid, it would go back in the engine, but (in my view) likely not in greater quantities than already existing in the oil. Same with the acids (whatever they are). I think keeping the oil, and not blowing it on the belly, is advantage enough to offset what little harm comes from recycling some minor amounts of bad stuff.
  18. I have very little experience driving Ferraris, but what I have had convinces me my Lotus Elan is far more fun to drive.
  19. You are looking in the right place and asking the right questions. Most of these questions have been addressed in some length. Look through the prior posts. I am in Dallas and have done the Texas to California run quite a few times. I did it in one day for a while, and found it was pretty tiring doing the East to West flight at one setting. I started doing Dallas to El Paso or Las Cruces one day and the next leg the next day. Coming east is not so bad, with the time differential and the generally better winds. If you really plan on 4 adults, you will almost certainly want the mid or long bodies for the extra room. You will as much useful load as possible to avoid some of the extra fuel stops.
  20. I agree Bob. Anyone building their own jacks should carefully consider the design and construction techniques.
  21. From the album: #DonMuncy's album

    Jacks Scott McCray and I built
  22. You don't get kicked out of the CBs for having nice things; otherwise, simply owning a Mooney would disqualify you. Entry into the CB group depends on how you got the nice stuff. Discounts, buying used, having your hangar elf install it, or conning another plane owner out of it, are some (but not all) of the ways or maintaining membership.
  23. So you are saying that if I slid in the KT 74, I would have the same capability as I now have. The KT 74, a new tray and some installation costs and I am ADS-B Out compliant. Is the rest accurate; that is, I will have no "In", but would still have to use the Stratus and IPad.
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