Hank

Do you have any of the 201-style lenses? These are on my C. Also, this door strap from my C. It's been bent and straightened repeatedly. If so, what is your current pricing? Thanks! I really like everything I've received from you so far.

This is an opportunity for @Gee Bee Aeroproducts to make some. Or maybe whoever sourced replacement Brittain boots last year?

Airstops are great! I usually adjust air pressure in my tires now two or three times a year.

That's generally how it works. Lots of new buttonology to learn, along with the whens and why's and what nexts. And of course, the power settings and responses to learn. My CFII made me fly with my Brittain autopilot turned off. Then I asked if I could use the heading bug, she said OK, then soon noticed that the plane was turning to follow it. When I confirmed that was happening, it was turned off, too. But I did get lots and lots of practice, under goggles and in actual, of pressing and clicking on the G430W. That is still what I have the most difficulty with, making the box do things that I don't do often. But now I have a lovely EFB on my lap, with georeferenced approach plates and airport diagrams, it almost feels like cheating!

Hmmm . . . A Mormon community near Sin City. I didn't realize where St. George is. The whole "no snow" thing is a big plus! But can you get a good cup of coffee in town? Just can't deal with no coffee for breakfast. On the other hand, I'm probably in my last home with independent living. Pond-side, with community pool and community boat ramp into the Big Lake; tiny towns nearby (1000-15,000 are all 8-20 miles away, three to choose from); city airport is 18 miles away, reasonable sublease rate in a box hangar; no traffic out here; university town 40 minutes away, complete with student traffic and a million small restaurants; state capital the same distance in a different direction. Next stop, retirement community near a small airport. Fly the Mooney as long as possible before getting something welded down--may have to find an enclosed biplane for year-round fun (because being cold ruins all of the fun!).

@AJ88V and @cliffy, I'm interested in the install experience. I'm a Mechanical engineer, and can do electrical work when laid out by the wire. But many home electrical diagrams leave out some, like the 4th conductor for 3-way lightswitches. Since Dynon decided to shaft us on the AP, the panel is moving back onto my not-so-soon list. Maybe they'll have a Sun n Fun special next year? Guess I need to start discussing install options near me for professional assistance.

I use AeroCosmetics Wash n Wax in their convenient spray bottle, with two rags (one to scrub, one to buff). Leading edges frequently, sometimes the rest of the plane needs a cleaning, but it takes me more than one time as I tend to stop when my buffing rag is too damp to buff, generally about when my arms are getting tired. But I can still get wing and tail leading edges, the cowling, around the windshield and the top of one wing done.

IFR Lite is fine, just be aware that the weather is what you get, and it may or may not match the forecast. The "off" approach I described above was at the end of a 505nm XC. I was above the forecast layer at 8500', and it rose near me over LA then fell back down over MS. Coming across AL, I could see the edge of the clouds below, marking where weather would magically clear up to scattered cirrus at 25k, visible above me. Well, at the edge, there was another layer down below, murky gray. Finally within range, I listened to ASOS and it was calling 400 Broken, 2 miles in mist. Just then, ATC asked if I had the weather at home; when I responded affirmatively, they came back with "say intentions," my least favorite thing to hear. So I checked nearby fields, the only one with an ILS was calling 900 OC, visibility > 10, so i went there and stumbled into using the non-ILS runway and being vectored across the IAF in a turn, and too high. You gotta do what you gotta do. My wife had to drive an hour to get me, and I met several other nice pilots in the FBO which ad also diverted there from all around. Then we got to drive back later and pick up the plane. At least my truck was still in my hangar to get home. Make the best plan you can, hope ATC doesn't mess it up much, but be ready for the weather to not be what you were told to expect!

My personal attitude is two-fold: In IMC, use whatever assistance you have available. My job is to watch it, anticipate the next move, and make sure everything is as close to perfect as possible. For practice approaches, make some of them with no help, just me holding the yoke and following the needles. My goal here is to be at least as good as my last practice approach, but probably not up to the level of #1 above. If in the clag and hand flying, my goal for that approach is to be close enough to land at the end. Sure, expect a miss on every approach, but really, don't we always land at the end of one, and don't we usually shoot only the one? Sometimes being off isn't all my fault, like when the new tower brought me in, "maintain 3000 until established," and my vector brought me over the IAF, charted at 2700 . . . Fought altitude & speed the whole way, ended up a little right as I broke out just under 1000 agl, and saw the runway to my left. Asked and was given right traffic, circle to land, because I didn't see the benefit of going missed and doing the whole thing again, likely with another poor vector. Isn't hand flying in the soup fun? Tops were just under 3000, ASOS said 900 broken, I thought it would be easy. P.S.-- @AndreiC, if you want goggles to feel "more real," go out with a CFII and do approaches in the evening, out in the country. You won't know where the sun is, because there isn’t one, and any peeks you get from behind them wont help you any.

What concern is "more pressing" than safely making the flight???

Me, too. Hartzell 3-blade, 201 windshield.

This is how my PTT is installed. No 3D printer needed, just a scrap of metal and a couple of screws. The right yoke is even easier, as there's no clock in the way, but I can't find a photo right now.

While I agree with your points about going around, I've not found this part to be true. I originally thought it must be a long body thing, but your K is a mid-body. I routinely pull throttle to idle in my C well before the numbers; a Piper pilot once commented after we landed that if he'd pulled his throttle to idle when I did, he would have been in the trees, but in my little C, "nothing happened!" This is a recent landing at home after a 3+ hours XC, so it's a little bumpy. Please ignore the dog whimpering in the back seat. Every change in throttle is clearly visible, even though loaded heavy I kept more in longer than on a solo flight. https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1056960197

I've followed a jet around the pattern at Auburn, KAUO. We were both talking the whole way around. He was faster, and flew downwind and base in a bank, leveling off on final. He then pulled clear and watched my landing. Strangely we were alone in the pattern; that must have been before they signed the contract with Delta and tripled the number of planes, leading shortly to adding a yet-to-be-built tower.

Isn't that why most of us here would fit in nicely? BSME, MSE, but didn't pile anything high or deep enough for the next level.

Sounds like Monroe, GA, where I went to high school. The cotton mills.are long closed, shipped to places like Sri Lanka and Vietnam, but the buildings are all turns into multiple businesses. Atlanta hasn't yet grown out to it, and Athens / University of Georgia isn't too far, and due to scholarship money from the lottery, UGA has risen to be quite competitive. There's even an airport with hangars on both sides of the runway, and a decades-long active glider group or two.

My dad drive south in late January, and stopped when he had to turn on the AC. That was in Frostproof, FL, not much around but many lakes for fishing, and more citrus groves than I'd want to count.

My response above ignores any reason why the OP wants to move. I simply pointed out how the area meets his desired quality of life, low cost of living, urban access and airports (both commercial and general aviation). That's as non-political of a post as can be made regarding where a pilot may want to live that has not already occurred in their own private thoughts. I've moved a bunch, now in Town #22, but only my third town since I began flying anything other than a seat way back in the giant aluminum tube. Why an individual wants to move is that individual's own concern. He asked for advice about the areas we live / lived in, and how they may suit his flying and non-flying activities. If the reason for moving is disclosed, and you're offended, ignore the rest of the thread and move on. Or answer the non-offending questions, whatever floats your boat. But there's no reason to bash anyone just because you disagree with an expressed opinion. Or should we tear up the entire 1st Amendment, not just the "free speech" part, so that no one is offended by hearing something on the news or by someone else's religion? I have yet to see any records in our founding documents that even insinuate that any person has the right to not be offended. (See free speech above.) That's a good thing, too, because that thought offends me! Back to the discussion of good places for pilots to live!

Try here in central Alabama. Lake Martin (44,000 acres = 17,800 hectares) is nice on those warm days. A couple or three public and several private airports are around. Property and income taxes are low, and in my small neighborhood (39 lots but only 16 houses), we have one Canadian and a couple from upstate New York. We aren't as backward as some people think. The state capital is less than an hour's drive, Atlanta is two, and a major university is ~40 minutes (with an aviation program sponsored by Delta). NetJets flies all over, and other fractional ownership abound, all using professional pilots. Lastly, what are "snow," "ice" and "cold"? I use ice to keep my tea cold, and sometimes to cool down my bourbon and beer . . . Haven't seen a combined half inch of snow since 2018. We had 3" then, and my company shut down for three days.

@A64Pilot, it seems the @jetdriven is correct. The car comparison falls apart because there you are looking at distance per unit fuel, and with our planes the fuel flow is constantly and we are looking at how far we can go. It is often possible with.an airpla e to burn more fuel and reach the destination both sooner and on less fuel. My little C, for example, cruises right at or barely below, 9 gph; but I travel "with" friends in 172s with cruise fuel burns of 7.5 gph. But I reach the destination in abiut a third less time and on 10-15% less fuel, even though I burn almost 30% more fuel per hour. Example: Me = 9 x 2.5 hours = 22.5 gallons Them = 7.5 x 3.2 hours = 24 gallons Except the trips we've taken are more dramatic than this fictional creation.

Nah. My job went to Mexico last year. Shut down our plant and sent ~2/3 of it down there, scrapped out everything else, sold the building. Because the company has 130,000 employees, they were too full to find anywhere that even a single one of our 150 people could work . . . No confused AI required, unless it was in the Corporate Office figuring out that closing the only plant in our group of six that actually met it's financial goals the year the closing was announced (announced 11/02/22; effective 5/31/23).

That wasn't me, but I've read it here recently. I check gear down three times: Abeam intended point of landing, drop gear and check green light. On base, check green light. Turn final, confirm slope and speed, point at floor indicator. Simple, descend to pattern altitude, reduce power and wait. Takes a mile or two. What power setting do you use for instrument approaches? For me, it's 16-17" / 2300 clean; coming in VFR, I may pull back to 15" to get under 125 mph, but it will never happen in a descent. Once Takeoff Flaps are down, I'm usually around 100 mph and increase throttle an inch or two to stabilize at 90 mph. Gear goes down to start descent for landing, with another power reduction. In my little C model, speed brakes don't exist, and 20" will keep me way too fast to move anything beside the yoke and rudder pedals.

It's an Excel spreadsheet. Just download Excel. I have it on my laptop, tablet and phone; then again, I'm an engineer and give by Excel!

It shows on my phone.