Hank

I'm off on Allegiant this evening, flying my plane back from Florida tomorrow. Having the airlines decide my schedule is just wonderful . . . baaa! baaaa! But tomorrow looks like nice weather, once the front clears the rest of the way. Saturday we're off to the Virginia coast to meet the inlaws, so I won't make the get-together at KGED. Ya'll be sure to enjoy lunch for me!

Quote: Jeff_S

Ain't it neat how headwinds are always stronger than tailwinds??

Tailwinds are great! I took a trip over the mountains to eastern VA--2.0 out, 3.7 home, and I don't remember significant tailwinds [~150 kts east; 100-105 kts westbound]. Take it and say 'Thank you!' :-)

Quote: tomcullen In my opinion, runways are more serious than aircraft type information. I will cheat and say "em twenty papa slant golf" but I will always state the runway number clearly in a readback, and that means 36 = "three six". But perhaps I am to particular? I also avoid saying "for" to connect actions to runways. I will not say "cleared to land for three six", for example. I will say "cleared to land three six". And when IFR, I readback, "3 thousand climbing 5 thousand", because my J model won't climb to 45 thousand, no matter how long I climb! -dan

When they ask [not very often], I tell 'em "MIKE TWO ZERO PAPA." Of course, "Mooney" is included in my initial call up, too. I'm asked somewhat more often about my equipment, and I always reply "SLANT GOLF" to those queries. Not sure what combining the "slant" into the "type" would do to ATC, but it would confuse ME . . .

Ross-- No flaps makes for a nice, gentle takeoff and it will fly off on it's own if I don't rotate. Like Bob says, it feels good, at least in short-bodies. I've only ever had the stall horn squeak when the winds are gusty, and that just means I didn't hold her on the ground long enough. Typical performance is 200+ agl around 3000' from the line [field = 3001'; 10' to the red lights; 10' more to the road cut; then a shoulder and two lanes. Call it 3100-3150' total, minus the displaced threshhold since there are trees there].

Curt-- Sometimes messages come up in a thread that are blank or look really weird. Refresh usually clears it up. If you're trying to post, i-things using iOS versions prior to the data-destroying v.5.0 cannot post. Similarly, my droid-powered smartphone will not enable the keyboard, either. Windows and Linus both work for me; Apple and Droid both don't work for me. Everything reads, not everything will post. And I'm not updating my iPad until it no longer randomly deletes existing data when downloading new--that's just stupid! A SUB port on the durn thing would be nice, too . . .

I have poor options at either end, but halfway between here and Asheville, NC there are no options . . . Since that's where Mom & Dad live, not ever flying there is not a realistic option, but I have driven 6 hours instead of flying 1:15 more than once. The instrument rating has reduced cancellations in favor of early/late departures, though. Eastern Kentucky is DARK at night! and the terrain is unfriendly if you can't see it--descending into clouds whose base is 500 agl will definitely put the hilltops above the bases--pick your spot and hope! Risk reduction is therefore: 1) good maintenance; 2) situational awareness during flight [where am I? where are the hilltops?], including on the paper sectional in case of electrical failure [again]; 3) weather forecasting and monitoring before flight/updating 122.0 during flight. If preflight looks poor, risk mitigation is to drive through the unfriendly terrain with a well-maintained car where a breakdown will only strand me in the middle of nowhere and hope for either a cell signal [not everywhere!] or passerby . . .

Frank-- I'm no A&P, but prior to measuring from the datum, the plane needs to be leveled as it does not sit on the ground in the correct attitude. Second, the distances to the various instruments should be measured to the CG of each instrument, which is neither the panel face nor the lengthwise center of the instrument, and will not be the same for any of them. My Owner's Manual says the Datum Point [station zero] is the nose gear attaching bolt center line, 33 inches forward of the wing leading edge at wing station 59.25. I can't readily find documentation of the panel position. See below for what I have on leveling and W&B of the whole plane, paying attention to 2.10 for leveling and 2.11.8 for finding the zero point. Good luck!

A quick statistics question for the Math Prof, from a lowly engineer who did not enjoy taking statistics but has learned to use them in his job. Removing the poor-behavior accidents [buzzing, VFR into IMC, etc.] will reduce the total number n of accidents. This will also increase the percentage p of accidents caused by mechanical failure. But what we are concerned with here is not p, but rather the percentage of flights p' that have mechanical failure. I care about my odds of having a mechanical failure on this flight, right? Or am I concerned that an accident that I may have at some undefined future point will have a mechanical cause? I care about THIS FLIGHT right now, so p' is my point of statistical interest. This p' does not change when removing 'stupid' accidents [hey, ya'll, watch this!] from the accident pool. Dig through the Nall Report and find the total estimated flight hours, or calculate it from the accident rate per 100,000 hours, and divide it by the number of flights that had mechanical failure. THAT is your risk on every flight, day or night, VFR or IMC. The likelihood of a positive outcome depends on where you are when it happens. Departing Rwy 8 at FXE and you may go swimming, day or night, sunny, cloudy or in-between; depart 26 at HTW and you'll need a chainsaw to salvage your plane; other places you'll be heading towards a hill, over a cliff or into a residential area. Mountains, swamps, oceans, deserts, the Dakota Badlands, or low IMC all lower the chances for a good outcome, but due to the random nature of the failure, these odds cannot be calculated in advance--for any given flight, large fluctuations in survivability are likely to be encountered as you pass over various terrain, and are all height-over-ground dependent. Flying at 8500 msl around here is quite high, but at 8500 msl between Billings and Cody, the ground is very close and the hills to both sides are much higher. Or have I completely misunderstood statistics?

My home field is 3001', and I only use TO flaps in my C if I'm loaded heavy in warm weather. When I visit a nearby 2000' grass strip, I usually have TO flaps, but flying solo it makes little difference. It all comes down to: how does your plane perform, and how comfortable are you with the given circumstance? There is nothing wrong with using them all the time.

My 70 model came with an Owner's Manual [actually, two of them]. I later acquired a Parts Manual and a Service Manual. Is there an Aircraft Flight Manual with the updated C numbers? 200 Vne; 125/120 Vfe/Vge; etc. It's great fun to read, and apparently the only emergencies that can happen are alternator failure [two long paragraphs], gear failure [a short checklist], PC failure [two short paragraphs] and oh yeah, engine fire ["In case of engine fire, turn cabin heater off." Nothing else to do but shut off the heater.] Quite the mindset, back in the day.

Quote: xftrplt a comment from a 40-year friend--he won't fly his 201 over wide areas of low ceilings, even DVFR. YMMV.

Tom-- A couple of Octobers ago, about to start an evening IFR-training flight, I pushed that little button and thought I caught a brief whiff of smoke. The lights didn't come on, the radios didn't buzz, and the OBS needles didn't flicker. So I scrubbed the flight and had the mechanics check it out. The Push-to-Test button is attached to a small circuit board, along with all of your indicator lights and whatever panel lights you have since the panel light switch/dimmer goes there, too. They found a smoked component, but were not able to find a schematic; at great length I found a replacement board. Made two flights while waiting, the second flight with no panel lights I had a total electrical failure while shooting a VOR-A below the clouds after completing an ILS in the clouds. Flew home slowly with approach flaps and gear hand-cranked the rest of the way down. Don't mess with this, find out what's wrong. Someone earlier this year posted that they had found a schematic and were able to repair their board. Try the Search button, talk to folks, pull the board from your panel. Maybe it's just a loose connection.

I don't remember the identifier, but last summer I went to my family reunion near Athens. The FBO at Monroe Regional recommended refueling at Jefferson, GA, on the NE edge of Atlanta airspace. I was #2 at the pump, and two more arrived while I was fueling. None of us were based there. Prices were good, there was an air-conditioned trailer with a kitchenette, bathroom and lounge. Not 'primitive' by any means, but very deserted. My wife napped inside while I dealt with avgas, heat and humidity; this time of year it should be quite pleasant, especially for someone from Michigan. Anything 9000 and up should work nicely; if the winds are strong out of the west, go higher to avoid turbulence over E. Tenn/W. NC mountains.

I've been flying single-engine piston at night since I was a student pilot. My non-pilot wife even rode in the backseat of the Slowhawk on my student dual night cross-country as her first flight with me. I am careful about weather and avoid convective activity, which is much easier when flying above the layer--I often find that 10,000 msl works nicely. So far, no night IFR, but I've made evening descents through the crud that made the landing light nice to have for arrival.

I've been flying single-engine piston at night since I was a student pilot. My non-pilot wife even rode in the backseat of the Slowhawk on my student dual night cross-country as her first flight with me. I am careful

I've been flying single-engine piston at night since I was a student pilot. My non-pilot wife even rode in the backseat of the Slowhawk on my student dual night cross-country as her first flight with me. I am

I've been flying single-engine piston at night since I was a student pilot. My non-pilot wife even rode in the backseat of the Slowhawk on my student dual night cross-country as her first flight with me. I

I've been flying single-engine piston at night since I was a student pilot. My non-pilot wife even rode in the backseat of the Slowhawk on my student dual night cross-country as her first flight with me.

Flying at night is great! The air is usually smoother, there's less traffic, the radio is quieter, and with even scattered lights below it can be beautiful. Flying near a large airport you can see the airliners coming and going in steady lines. Gorgeous! Your plane will develop auto-rough anytime you fly at night, and over "hostile" ground [the definition is yours; when it matches the view, the engine will go rough]. I had auto-rough when heading over substantial swamps once, turned out to be Com2 was set for my destination ATIS, with the volume turned down, and 'all-the-way-down' is not quite the same as 'Off.' Turned off Com2 on the intercom, rough sound went away . . . Like anything else, the only way to get comfortable flying at night is to do it. Take someone with you a few times, then go it alone a little bit. It's so much easier to get night hours at this time of year. Fly somewhere in the evening to eat, then the trip home will be familiar and at night, and you get two rewards [dinner, and comfortable night flying].

I haven't been to many uncontrolled fields with more than one runway! And enough taxiways to label! Oh, the luxury!! But I did land once at an uncontrolled field, single runway with parallel taxiway, and as I was navigating my way back and trying to decide which FBO to give my business to, I looked up and saw a Delta 737 parked on the ramp. Yellowstone Regional, Cody, WY [KCOD I think]. Quite an eye-opener. When we left, a United jet was at the hold short waiting on his clearance, so I taxiied out one intersection before him and took off VFR. Not your "normal" uncontrolled field! [yes, I talked to him several times on CTAF first! I'm not suicidal!!]

Because I've already said "26" in the downwind, base, final and back-taxi calls . . . Because other pilots are free to use 8; I've seen consecutive planes land in both directions. When winds are calm, it's easiest to do pattern work by alternating directions--land on 26, roll to the end, turn around and depart 8. It's all up to the PIC, each operation, every airplane. So when I'm "clear of 26" I am, by definition, also "clear of 8," either of which may become "active" for the next aircraft. If someone is close enough behind me that they need to hear the runway number when I'm clear, they are also close enough behind me to have heard the runway number on one of the previous four calls around the pattern. But conditions change, and each pilot is free to choose his own runway, and each pilot should evaluate conditions before following someone else in. There are times when it's difficult to land on 26 due to a low sun, and the next one may choose a downwind landing on 8 simply for improved visibility, or because they can make a straight-in. "The active" can mean a different runway at any time, you don't have to use 26 just because I did. Wouldn't you feel bad if you used 8 just because the guy in front of you did, and he knowingly landed downwind because the sun was low, his old windshield was crazed and he had knocked his sunglasses off? How good are your downwind landings, with 3000' of runway, when you have to come down a slot in the trees to reach it? Bet you'd stay over the trees instead of between them, and then the runway gets really short. Oh, yeah, there's about 20' of grass past the end, then a 30' dropoff to a 4-lane divided highway if you overrun when landing on 8 . . . The picture below cut off the approach end of 8, though.

Quote: gsengle