Hank

Nah, that's my new Whelen LED belly strobe! It replaced the old, MUCH larger Whelen high-intensity light. Should be good for a pound or two's worth of drag reduction, but as tail-high as we fly, neglible speed increase. When trouble-shooting it's intermittent operation, there was a warning on the side about high voltage. I thought to myself, how high can it be when it's hooked up to 12V DC? The answer, when it felt like firing, was in the range of 550V! Be careful working on these . . .

Quote: jetdriven +% Michael! How about them Rangers!

Quote: orangemtl I'd love to make a small fortune buying and running Mooney. I'd need to start with a large fortune first, however...

Congratulations on getting it fixed, Tony! Now it's time to start enjoying your new ride!

d-CON in the hangar works very well. Sometimes I have to kick a motionless one out the door, but never the same one twice. Seems to always be a spike in the fall when it starts cooling off . . .

Welcome, Robert! I bought my C shortly after my checkride, and had trouble getting insurance. Pay attention to power settings, and watch your speed around the pattern. Give her time to slow down, especially when descending towards the airport. Unlike the high wing/high drag planes you've been flying, your Mooney will either GO down or SLOW down, but will not do both. Get down to pattern altitude, reduce throttle, hold level and in a couple of miles you will be approaching proper pattern speed. Suggestion: go through the Owner's Manual and type up your own checklists. That will force you to read everything. Have your CFI go over it; compare it to the ones you have on your first trainers. Look up anything they have and make sure it's on your new one. It's a great way to learn how your plane wants to be flown.

It wipes off pretty easily during the summer. In th ewinter, it chips off.

Quote: jetdriven Yep, you got it right Dick. I don't open the yogurt in the crew meals at altitude after a few instances.

'What's not to love' is the fuel flow in his Bravo . . . and I suspect with full fuel, the useful load loses ~40%. We all know that we should park with over half tanks anyway, right, to preserve our tank sealant? Beginning next month when I get mine back, I will be much more careful about that; no longer taking after-work Instrument instruction, compliance will be simpler. Plus a 24-hour fuel pump is being installed at home, too. When I did the WAAS upgrade, the box was pulled and sent off for a while. I thought the install time was used replacing the coax and gluing the new antenna into the roof. Memory says we used a very long 5/32" T-handle Allen wrench to tighten it up afterwards. But I didn't spend much time looking over the tech's shoulder, since I hate it when people do that to me at work--I toured a Lear a few hangars down, then ate lunch and checked back in.

Being broken into is no fun; when it happened to me, I left a lot of rubber in the parking lot heading home. If you want good performance and a warranty, buy two Quiet Technology Halos and fill your plane for the price of a single new Bose headset. Since getting mine at Christmas, my head enjoys flying much more and I no longer have sweaty ears or headset-hair.

How far do you want to deviate? KPMH in southern Ohio has a diner, and there's a real restaurant at KPHD just a little west of Pittsburgh's airspace. It's spelled "CLEVER" but pronounced "CLEAVER" and there's a Garmin shop there, too. Watch the one and only tree in the cemetery if landing at PHD--it's right on the runway centerline, and the threshhold has been displaced because of it.

The best way to restart production will involve automated welding of the steel tube and the spar, and automated cutting of sheet aluminum would be nice, too. That's the only way to be competitive. Detroit and UAW fought against it for years and years, but once they bought into the idea and installed some, quality improved, customer satisfaction increased and sales started to pick up. Robotic welders don't get sick, take vacations, ask for raises or make each part differently from the one before. "Hand made" can be nice, but it really is expensive to do and much, much more expensive to replicate.

All I do is write it on my kneeboard. I have yet to be asked to descend more than 4000' at a time, and when they ask for an expedited descent I pay much more attention to what I am doing. When they ask for the next descent before I've finished the first one, I just scribble it down. Climbs are the same, write it down and go there. Other than the initial climbout to cruise, they don't take really long. I use ↑ for climbs and ↓ for descents, along with the target in thousands. I know some people who spin the OBS pointer on their second VOR head to indicate the new altitude. Do whatever works for you. Fortunately I rarely fly in congested airspace.

My wife took these as I was departing towards the sunset on Friday. Picked up my clearance and was through the clouds in 21 seconds. After that, I left them behind and had a beautiful, s-m-o-o-t-h, quiet evening, just me and the stars, on the first leg of my trip to Florida. Finished up in the morning in time to catch the airliner home for supper. For the last photo, she stood behind another plane on the ramp to block the sun; the top of the rudder and beacon are visible. I love the first shot!

Quote: astelmaszek http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=5751ecf1-73ef-4a3e-af5a-cbe60022dec3

Asheville should be beautiful, it's prime leaf-peeping season. Many, many good restaurants, some not too far from the airport but it's not a pedestrian-friendly road. I usually stay and eat with Mom & Dad a half-hour away, so I can't give many nearby places to go. Let us know if they are through renovating the FBO--the new owners were running out of a hangar the last time I was there, all the way at the north end of the runway. Land long. I'll be passing through AVL at 9000' this evening, heading to my brother's place in S. Ga. Have a good trip!

I flew several times with my full ceiling and left side removed during 430W upgrade [had to run new coax for the replacement roof antenna]. Don't remember if noise was different, but that's why we wear headsets. It did feel funny leaving her tied down on the ramp looking neglected and abused, though. CAUTION if you're flying with the ceiling removed: my gear & stall horns are mounted in the ceiling. With the ceiling out, the horns don't work. So be careful going somewhere unfamiliar, very busy or other high-workload environments. Your "reminders" won't remind you . . .

Wow, Austin, you do it fancy. On local feed runs, we usually take fastest plane first unless someone is slow getting ready. Flights are usually 15-20 minutes for my C depending on winds & destination; passing is rare unless the A36 gets behind a 172. Typical group is me, an F, an A36 and a couple of 172s. Often the restaurant has other aircraft coming in, and we blend in as we arrive. Often the next plane is entering the pattern as the preceding one is landing, unless changes are needed to blend in. Bringing in our group from the SE with other traffic from the S, W and N that ranges from Champs to Twin Cessnas can be interesting! I traveled 1300 nm with a Skyhawk who wanted legs 3 hrs or less. We would preflight together, they would crank up and leave, then I would top off my tanks, stretch, sort papers, pass them enroute, fill up and have a ride waiting when they landed. The important part is communication. We ALWAYS use flight following, and talk to each other on 122.75. You gotta know where the guy in front of you is before ATC points him out to you. I say 'him' because it is the rule of English grammar; our group includes 3 female pilots. I have never tried formation flight, but have taken nice pictures passing Champs and 172s from 1000' above and ½ mile or more offset.

Oh, the benefits of modern engineering! You can get 100% power at sea level and 2700, if you can find the elusive 30.2" MP. My tables show only 28.0", and at 2700 that yields 99.5% power and 169 MPH at gross. No ram air, either. You now have an official excuse to visit the beach. Take off and have someone watch the MP gage while you open & close the ram air door in level flight over the water, as low as you feel comfortable and safe. Report back your findings. Enjoy fresh seafood and ocean breezes for the rest of us.

So if the picture below is an accurate although VERY simplified picture of a spinning vacuum gyro, if it is still spinning after the pump dies, which everyone agrees on, how does the air flow change direction? Or does the backflow start due to pressure differential somewhere after the rotation stops? [Quickly draw in the vacuum pump] Or since the pump craps out, does it stop spinning, or slow down a lot, causing a pressure rise in the lines between the still-spinning gyro and the failed pump, and THAT is what pushes 'carbon dust' toward the spinning cups which then scatter it through the guts of the instrument? This actually sounds plausible. Vacuum pump stops pumping, restricting air flow through the former pump. Gyro continues to spin, pushing air towards the restricted pump, pressure rises and in time [a couple of minutes?] rises enough to stop the spinning gyro and push it backwards as the higher pressure air escapes back out the way it came in. Drawing v.4 seems to have it at last.

Quote: N4352H . . . and impotent at that.

It's the new "nano technology" version of all the different pills, pellets and magnets to put in your car and boost the mileage. You know, the ones that the auto mfr's and oil companies are suppressing to uphold their profits? Note the extensive list of things that can cause variation in its effect--he lists everything except "this does nothing." But how can you not trust something that was "developed by the military"? Wonder what testing was done? He says it was tested, but not how or to what standards. The MSDS section just says it is safe to ship; most reputable manufacturers will put the actual MSDS form there . . . If I use this for the plane, and buy Dr. Carter's Cure-All Liver Pills, can I then just skip over things like engine overhaul and medical exams? Or should I dose myself and the plane with MMO, just to be safe?

Full service will spoil me . . . As long as you've got something to eat, it will work. Just because you're in the flat part of the state doesn't mean it's not scenic--doesn't it always look better from ~1500 agl? MLJ is on the lake, but fuel is high and I can't eat the view; I'm stopping there southbound so I don't have to leave here at 0500 to arrive at FXE by noon, and my overnight is free. Coming home, the time is all mine. We need more airports with restaurants. That means more planes need to fly more often. So take your friends up and get the process started!

Wait a minute--doesn't "BBQ" in Texas mean beef? Where I come from [further south than WV], "BBQ" by definition is "pork." Your stuff is called "BBQ beef," but it can be very tasty when properly done. But what part of "Cowboy Steak House" made you think "barbecue"???? Wish I was gonna be there . . . And yes, Scott, there's a good discount to get as "slocitated" as you want in the bar--it's half price if you buy a hundred bucks' worth of wine, which should be enough for some friends, too. I guess--European beer is about as fancy as I drink.

Your gas price looks good, and I'll be ready to stand up and walk around. Current plans are for Friday, 18 Nov., time TBD. Twice-a-week airlines are better than none, but are not always the most convenient; the coming Thanksgiving Holiday, when I need to fly the wife around, changed their schedule, too! With my fresh discovery of el-cheapo tickets, I may have to visit Fort L. again in January, when it's really disgusting here.