Hank

See the attached photo for a quick shot of the air camping lot at the approach end of Rwy 9. Several high wings blew around, and the Bo that is turned sideways had two tail tiedowns, one Claw and one screw-type. Both tail tiedowns and the left wing came out, turning the plane just over 90º to the right. Not sure what the high-wing planes that did 180º turns were using. Many display aircraft at center field had Claws on Wednesday, as a storm was predicted for the afternoon that never really materialized. But then again, nothing is tornado-proof . . .

I'll take some comparative photos tonight of my new EAA and old dog-style screw-ins.

The Instrument Rating will significantly improve two things: the number of planned flights that you complete, and your overall flying ability. I shot an ILS approach going to SNF last Tuesday at a towered field, but Jax Center wouldn't turn me over to the tower until I was nearly at the FAF inbound. Could not understand it . . . until talking to the Airport Manager on the ground. He came out to over-ride the pump for a 50¢ per gallon discount for SNF attendees. The tower is part of the nearby Aviation College [Middle Georgia College], is part-time and does not have radar. So expect the unexpected. I entered the clouds at 5500 msl, went through several thin layers, and flew most of the approach in IMC, breaking out at 1200 msl [900 agl], my lowest approach so far. So practice, practice, practice! My buddy travelling with me is not rated, and it was his first-ever approach in actual [though he has many as safety pilot]. Having your passengers' trust, and their lives in your hands, is an awesome responsibility, so study hard, develop a good scan and stay current! That last part, I'm finding out, is not so easy . . .

Hey, guys. Last week at Rain-N-Fun was exciting. I watched from inside a hangar as the sky turned black, rain turned to hail, all precipitation and some vendor tents blew sideways. Could not get to my plane tied down at the approach end of Rwy 9 due to trees down on power lines right at the gate. Much water fell the rest of the day. Many trees, branches and tents were down. What amazed me was how quickly the show got put back together. Being my first ever big fly-in, I have nothing to compare it to. The weather going down was poor, with widespread low IFR from the mountains in western NC all the way to south of Ocala, FL, with a break about 60 miles wide roughly around Atlanta. My fuel stop at Heart of Georgia airport south of Dublin had 900' ceilings when I landed just after lunch on Tuesday, so many VFR pilots could not attend prior to the storm. Friday, Sat & Sunday were beautiful! My plane and tent survived unscathed, and a half-full plastic water bottle on a folding table nearby did not even blow over. But the Skyhawk parked on my right wingtip pivoted about its right tiedown and landed upside down and backwards on the beautiful V-tailed Bonanza parked to its right, with the leading edge through the windshield. All I had was water deep enough to get on top of the groundcloth of the tent and make things damp, but some rope and a few trees let things get dry. Damage was widespread in the central part of the airport, and many display aircraft are gone. I only saw limited damage in aircraft parking areas. The entire Zenith Air display [6 aircraft] were totalled, and a Husky on floats ended up on its side, with the down wing bent in two places. I tied down using my fellow travellers screw-in tiedowns purchased at Oshkosh a couple of years ago. The one on the tail leaned forward about 2" due to saturated soil and westerly winds hitting the plane, which faced east. Many "Claw" tiedowns pulled loose from the saturated sand; this is what many of the display aircraft used. I now own a set of the fine EAA screw-ins myself, and my dog-style screws are reverting to pet use only. At least two planes had prop strikes in my parking/camping area: a 182 taxied in Friday morning, buried the nosewheel and stopped with a thud and much flying mud--I saw and heard it. Disheartening is not the right word, these people were arriving for the show and following ground crew instructions. I missed a wedding Saturday evening because the ground around my plane was still squishy, with visible water appearing at each step; I heard on Sunday that a fellow Mooniac two rows away tried to taxi out and depart on Saturday and also had a prop strike. My Sunday 1030 departure was uneventful, other than passing a biplane on initial climb <500' then being passed by a Pitts at 1500'. One never knows what will happen, and staying in bed will not eliminate risk from your life. My heart goes out to those whose planes, cars, tents, trailers, booths, equipment and merchandise were damaged or destroyed, but thankfully there were only a handful of minor injuries. Two funnel clouds came through a crowded airport with hundreds of planes and thousands of people, thousands of tents and campers, and no one was killed. That alone is enough to be thankful for.

Getting a case of spatial disorientation during training is a good thing! Now you know what it feels like, and what to watch for. It happened to me with my CFII in actual, rolling outbound into the procedure turn for a VOR approach. Silly me, I forgot to slow down, hit the turn still at cruise, felt all kinds of funny, and fell out the bottom of the clouds. Recovered, climbed back in, slowed down and completed an otherwise acceptable approach. "Learning moments" must be accepted when they happen. You had yours, now hold on to the lesson. Mitch's turn will come soon enough.

Here's a shot of my ASI in level cruise at 10,000 msl. It's a 1970 C-model, mph in big numbers and knots in little numbers on the inner ring. I'd have to look close to compare against your chart, but that's not possible while writing a reply.

Quote: N601RX My brother and I both got our licesne in a cessnal 150 that we owned. After getting our license we sold it and got our money back, actually all of it. We then brought a Mooney as low time private pilots. The insurance company made us both get 15 more hrs of dual time with a CFI who had at least 30 hrs of Mooney time. The also made us fly 10 additional hours Solo before taking passengers up. The insurance company only said we have to have 15hrs of dual, so most of those 15 hrs can be geared toward IFR time. The Mooney is going to have a higher operating cost (fuel, annual, insurance) that a small cessna or cherokee, so one thought would be find a good deal on a Cessna or Cherokee that is in good condition and is not going to need any work in the next couple of years. Buy it, get your license and sell it. It beats renting and may make more financial sense also.

I am part of the many pilots with a 430 and no "touch screen need" but a strong weather display desire. Yes, I have a stormscope but would like better. Thus, I "need" the $1799 + shipping + tax Aera, or a used-but-bulky 396/496 or something else. As I understand it, the Aera does not have all of the extra wires, antenna, etc., that the x96 and competition have. Is there anything else compact and neat?

I still have the old, fast gear motor, being too cheap to "upgrade" to the slower motor just yet. That's just how us Cheap B@st@rds are sometimes. But I get occasional comments about how soon, and how quickly, the gear goes up when I'm leaving. It is as soon as I can tell I'm climbing, because there are nice, tall trees just ahead, and 3000' give no opportunity to land on the remaining runway. Give me altitude, and give it to me right now. YMMV, of course.

I don't remember the model number, but last fall I just put in a new sealed Concorde. Two models were available, and I took the one with the most CCAs. It is worth the extra $18 to me, since the winters here are cold [by my standards--I'm from Georgia].

Quote: eaglebkh I think there is a correlation here with the ease of gear operation and airspeed: the faster you go, the easier to come down - the slower you go, the easier to go up. I know most of us manual gear folks probably get that gear up right after lift off, because the gear is much harder to get up (for me at least) once the plane exceeds 80-85 mph.

And you can renew your driver's license through the mail! No income tax . . .

Hmmm, I've never had a problem. Sure to happen to me now, though. :-)

Quote: rbridge The arc on my air speed indicator is right around 105. I read people saying 120, and I bet they were converting to mph.

Quote: scottfromiowa Isn't < symbol "less than"? Didn't the question state < or less than 105knots?

Be careful of your units! KNOTS vs. MPH will burn you . . . My 1970 electric gear operating speed = gear down speed = 120 mph = 105 knots. So you are right. Your gear speed is most likely 105 knots, which is THE SAME as 120 mph. Some J's and later models have higher gear speeds, some up in the 140-150 knot range where they are useful for slowing down. Mine are not . . . I get to slow down very slowly before dropping flaps and gear.

Quote: pilot716 Finally took the keys for our 83' m20J and flew off for some touch and goes then getting familiar with the plane..Man!! what a aircraft, 160kts & handled like a real smooth machine, landing over the numbers at 70...many good days ahead, now I see what the craze is!

Squirrel, you crack me up! And for what it's worth, I always say a little prayer when I move that round white knob from Up to Down and listen/feel for the thump on downwind. Then I double-check it on base, and pet it rather protectively on final, just to make sure that those cute little black thingys are all set to be squished on the asphalt. You've got that great big metal piece, though, which is much more obvious. Those durn sheep seem to follow me all over the country, too, but I've not yet determined how I keep hearing them. Even bought myself a new headset, but they still make themselves heard, especially the last obnoxious one with his two-tone bleat . . . As long as I keep cheating death, though, I won't complain about the occasional odd noise. It's kind of like those ones you hear from the engine when heading into the mountains at night, just as soon as you get past gliding distance from the last airport and the next VOR is 80+ nm away and there are no lights visible down below and nothing showing on the sectional except lots of very squiggly lines.

Oil pressure and CHT were both fine, but the Oil Temp would peg when the master was turned on, even when the engine had not run for several days.

No, the end of the safety wire away from the filter wraps around a nice two-piece metal plug that once-upon-a-time had a tiny little safety wire holder sticking out of it [that broke off well before I met my plane]. So the safery wire is wrapped around it and twisted down. A careless placement let it droop down and touch the base of the fitting during twisting, resulting in a short. Cut it off and re-safetied, careful to keep the wire on the top half above the insulator. No problem. I'm about to do it again, I can take a picture if you want. As soon as I pulled the safety wire off, I turned on the master and the Oil Temp was no longer pegged, so I knew it was the problem. There is, naturally, no picture of the defective tie, but I can always add an arrow to the picture. NOTE: My O-360 with added-on oil filter is probably very different from your engine! The filter is horizontal at the rear of the engine, with maybe 1" clearance between the filter & firewall during removal/install. Screwing the filter down more than doubles the room.

Quote: maropers My low flight time fiance asked if it were alright if she closed her eyes for the landing... I said go right ahead - I do.

This happened to me once after an oil change. Turned out the safety wire on the filter was grounded out. New wire, more careful approach with the pliers, and everything has been fine.

Wow! What a thread. Some people feel very strongly that there is only ONE right way to land. As a beginner, I learned the easy way, mostly the same way I landed the 172 I used to earn my wings. Keep it easy--90 mph downwind, 90 mph base, 85 mph final. Why vary speed all the way around? Downwind: pitch & throttle for 90, level flight. Drop Takeoff flaps then gear to start down. Adjust trim a lot. Base: pitch & throttle for 90 mph, continue descent. Final: pitch & throttle for 85 mph, continue descent. Adjust flaps to maintain aim point for numbers, not usually visible over the trees at my home field. Hold 200' agl until over the trees, throttle to idle, decelerate over the highway. Hit the numbers at 80 mph - 3 mph for every 300 lbs. under gross. This puts me down usually on the 2nd or 3rd stripe. Home is 3001' long, trees at both ends that hide the numbers. Brake gently, turn around on the runway using full right rudder, no brakes, back-taxi to the turnoff at stripe #4, the only paved runway exit. Taxiing through the grass is a shortcut I don't use much--why hurry to the ramp? I'm a firm believer in the KISS method. My Owners Manual says to put in Takeoff flaps and gear abeam the touchdown point, then adjust flaps and power on final to achieve desired glide. So that's what I do. Keep It Simple. YMMV, and apparently it does for many. I use full flaps when needed, half flaps when possible, often somewhere in between. I really don't look at the indicator once I put them to Takeoff on downwind, and I don't look at the ASI much beyond halfway down final, when it should be pointing at 85 mph. Oh, yes, even in our wonderful Mooneys, in the pattern it still works the same old way--pitch for speed, power for altitude. Even with the trees getting large, I can hold/climb by only adding power and keeping the yoke forward. Learn your plane, practice a lot, feel the wind. Sure, the rudder and ailerons are connected, but use both sets of controls. Overshoot your base leg? Keep a standard rate turn and fly the airplane back. That keeps me away from the ridgeline parallel to the runway [dead ahead on final], comfortably above stall, and reminds me to pay more attention to groundspeed the next time. No two landings are alike, why should any two flap settings be alike? "Extend flaps as required on final approach to adjust for variations in wind, glide angle, and other variables."--Mooney Aircraft Corporation, Kerrville, Texas Once you are comfortable flying and landing the plane, THEN worry about short fields, wheels hitting the numbers, spot landings, salvaging poor approaches, etc. Get the basics down first!

I read that article, too. Seems it said to stop the prop if you are at least 6000' agl, since you have to slow well below best glide. If it happens to me, I'm just going to pull the prop lever all the way back and look for a good spot to set her down. At that point, the plane will belong to the insurance company instead of to me. NOTE: this is for engine failure. If I'm out of gas, switch tanks and hope for a restart. If no restart, then the above applies. My Owner's Manual recommends running on one tank for an hour, then running the second tank dry to determine the time left on the first tank. It is not a strategy that I use. YMMV.

While I would like the analyzer shown in your avatar, or one like it, there is no space in my panel to put something that large. I'm not sure that I could put in even a UBG-16 or the like without making a new panel overlay to rearrange things and make room. So that's a prime consideration for me. I'm not ready to yank out my tach and MP/FP gauge to replace with a box. 1. Will it fit? 2. What unit has the most bang for the buck? for my specific application, 4 cylinders and a carbereuter. There's still something to be said for an analog gauge. I can tell at a glance where the hand is, but reading a number takes more time and greater concentration. A speed tape would drive me nuts--speed goes up and down, but nothing changes on the display, it's always in the same location. Your fancy analyzer combines the two, and that's legitimate. Options that don't apply to my situation don't count, even though I will have to pay for them. [Lean finder . . . I find it when the engine runs rough, or when the EGT needle starts moving the other way.] Brings to mind the old saying, "You can please some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."