FlyDave

Well, I think that's somewhere in Egypt...is it not?

Jerry, I agree with the assertion that a "Dive and Drive" approachs are more dangerous than an approach that provides "glideslope like" guidance. Both approaches are non precision (LP is non-precision). The DVO approach doesn't list WAAS so I don't see how WAAS plays into the construction of this approach. I also didn't think you could have a glideslope without WAAS (Was I wrong again?). Both approaches list step downs but the STS approach shows a step down that, if you are on the glideslope DEPTICTED on the approach plate (shown as a 3 degree angle/gliedslope) you should reach MDA before hitting the MAP - - could this have something to do with this issue. If so, why couldn't they flatten the "glideslope" to provide glideslope like guidance to an MDA (DA?) - just as on the DVO RWY 13 GPS approach. I've had 2 glasses of wine (maybe 3.....) so I may be making sense to myself but no one else...Regardless - I don't think we're at the bottom of this TERPS conundrum!). Dave Dave

Yesterday morning I went out with my friend Jerry (jerry-N5911Q) to get some IFR practice in actual conditions. We get a marine layer early morning this time of year that is usually no more than 500' thick so there is some actual to be had. I fly out of Petaluma, o69, and there are a couple of airports fairly close where we regularly do approaches - Sanata Rosa KSTS and Novato KDVO. Santa Rosa has an ILS to runway 32 and the marine layer was starting to thin out to the north so I got my clearance and did the ODP at Petaluma witch took us to Skaggs Island VOR (SGD) then vectors to an approach into KSTS. I listened to ATIS at STS and it said the ILS was OTS but didn't list which approach was in use. I asked ATC and they said to expect the RNAV runway 02. So I pull up the approach and brief it and load it into the 530. This approach is WAAS and under minima shows "LP MDA", "LNAV MDA" and "CIRCLING". If you look at the approach plate for the GPS rwy 13 at KDVO, it is not WAAS and under minnima only lists S-13 or circling. When you fly this approach with a WAAS GPS you get a glideslope when you cross EYEJI (FAF). So I get set up for the RNAV (GPS) Rwy 02 at STS and, since we get a glideslope on the RNAV GPS 13 approach into KDVO, crossing the FAF I'm expecting a glidslope. Guess what - NO GLIDESLOPE. Looking at the approach subsequently and finding MDA I should have planned on stepdowns and no glideslope - but that wasn't my reality. So I quickly realize I don't have a glideslope and start down for the next stepdown. I'm a little bit of assholes and elbows at this point trying to make up for lost descent distance and time. I finally get down to a little under 600' (almost 100' still above MDA of 500') but I've just passed the MAP and don't have the ground in sight, so we go missed. We're above the layer in about 15 seconds and get vectored back for the LPV approach into Petaluma where the marine layer is burning off and we get home without an issue. I'm posting this to point out a couple of things about my flight yesterday: Since I was going to do "the usual approaches" we do, I didn't brief anything ahead of time. Had I looked at the NOTAMs I would have known that the ILS was OTS - along with any other NOTAMS. Had I known that the ILS was OTS I <<should>> have briefed the other possible approaches and understood what to expect. This was good practice for me as it opened my eyes to the importance of flight planning (including checking NOTAMs and looking over the available approaches) - even in my local area where I "know the airports". A question for the group; Look at these two approaches: RNAV (GPS) RWY 12 at KSTS lists WAAS GPS RWY 13 at KDVO doesn't list WAAS Why do we get a glideslope on the non-WAAS approach and no glideslope on the WAAS approach? Dave KSTS RNAV (GPS) RWY 02.PDF KDVO GPS RWY 13.PDF

I typically stay away from political discussions because they can cause major rifts in what should be friendships. But..... This "Little Timmy" thing is supposed to "tug at your heart strings". What a bunch of bullshit. The world is changing - it always has and it always will. The United States can either be an active part of this change and try to maintain our status and influence or bury our heads in the sand and be relegated to a lesser existence as so many countries have throughout history. During one of our formation clinics here in California, another Mooney driver in his 60's said "All these guys want to do is sit around and bitch about politics". I have to agree with him. I've known too many people (it seems 40+ is the age this starts to happen) that just sit around and bitch, moan and complain - BUT THEY NEVER TAKE ANY ACTION TO EFFECT CHANGE. If you feel so strongly about whats happening in this country then surely you get involved, right? Work on a campaign or for the RNC or DNC, working for organizations that stand and fight for what you believe in or even running for elected office. I'm not trying to limit free speech. I'm just saying that if you just sit around and bitch, moan and complain without doing anything to try to effect change, then as far as I'm concerned, your opinion doesn't really matter. This country was built on the ACTIONS OF PEOPLE AND THEIR BELIEFS - not by a bunch of old codgers with nothing better to do than sit around and bitch, moan and complain!

I flew with a guy from Mooneyspace in his E model in Aspen, CO. We departed and climbed into a large bowl NW of Aspen and I found wave. We climbed to 16-17K at 400-500 fpm with the engine throttled back. He had no idea that could be done. My only regret is that we didn't have o2 . I remember reading on the soaring newsgroup about an airline pilot flying over the Sierra's when suddenly the auto-throttles started pulling back. He knew what was going on (mountain wave) because he was a glider pilot. Mountain wave is something you really should understand before you end up in it. The turbulence it creates can overstress an airframe in the blink of an eye, or worse.

If I were you I'd spend some time taxing the airplane around the airport (or a couple of different airports) to get practice and a feel for the brakes. You can even do a high speed taxi down the runway (request from tower if controlled) to get a better feel for things. If they are too touchy then there may be an adjustment for that, but I'm not aware of what that adjustment is. I'm not sure if the K has a vernier throttle but the vernier throttle on my Bravo has to be twisted to fully close the throttle. Until I realized this I was carrying power into the flare and taxi.

I did the same thing in my J about a month after getting it. I was landing at North Las Vegas and, for some reason that escaped me then and now, pushed on the left brake too hard. The tower called me and said "Hey 60N, you're plane is smoking. Is everything OK?". "Yeah" I said like a dog licking his wound after being kicked. Not to bring up another contentious thread but, do you think this would have happened if you had dumped the flaps? (Hey now - somebody had to bring it up....)

Don Kaye teaches using an over-the-fence approach reference speed and reducing that by 5 KIAS for each 300 lbs. under gross. He doesn't list a reference for the C but for the E it's 78 KIAS & J it's 72 KIAS. I use 80 KIAS in the M and reduce accordingly and it works pretty well. But I still dump the flaps after touchdown and roll out a few exits. I think a lot of braking puts a fair amount of unnecessary stresses on entire airframe. Also, I don't like changing tires and brakes every 75 hours.

I don't know if I have a favorite but here's a few: When I first open the hangar doors and my plane is sitting there asking me to go flying When I sit in the left seat and start to get myself situated Starting from cold in 2 blades (if I prime it appropriately for the OAT) Throttling up on takeoff - the power is awesome! Consistent ROC up to (so far) FL210 200 KTAS on 16.5 GPH at FL210 with power to spare Departing from a high altitude airport and not having a major concern about density altitude Stability on a precision approach Landing at night with landing, taxi and recognition lights on (one guy at the airport said he thought I was flying a Pilatus PC12 )

Spoken by a man that's just starting his annual

My first power instructor asked me early on when we started flying were I would put it down if I had to right now (heavily populated area with no good places). I looked at him and said "I dunno". He said he would put it down in that field right there and let the fence at the end do it's job...sounded good to me then, sounds good to me now.

I've always had the same level of service from Lightspeed - EXCELLENT!

I departed South Lake Tahoe (KTVL) about a month ago late on a warm afternoon. A guy in an A36 Bonanza loaded his 2 daughters, a couple of dogs and a bunch of bags. I taxied out before him and while I was doing my run-up he taxied past me to the hold bars (told me on the radio that he did his run-up in tiedown area), announced his intentions and started his roll, and kept rolling, and kept rolling...... KTVL has an 8,000' runway and I swear he used 5,000' of it. Watching him I found myself saying "wait until she flies.....rotate....rotate..". He finally got off with a slow climb out over the lake. I guess he knew his airplane - at least I hope he did with his little girls in the back!

My hangar has a bit of a lip when traversing from the pavement in front of the hangar to to inside. Also, the tracks that the doors ride on are about 1" high. In addition, my hangar has a stop (piece of steel bolted to the cement) preventing my neighbor from sliding his door past the point of no return when I'm not there (see picture). I can't remove the door stop so I just have to go around it. I'm not going to try to push the nosewheel over the top of it. I'm currently putting 3 pieces of plywood down on each tire track - kind of hacky.....I have a powertow and am darn glad I do. Pushing the Bravo by hand is a bitch! I'm wondering if anyone else has build a ramp of sorts for your plane's wheels to ride over something like this. If so, how long has it lasted and what is the design/materials used? Do you have a picture? Thanks, Dave

Thanks for the comparison rocketman. I'll wait until Lightspeed posts the trade-in program and get the PFX and post my own review after flying with it.

The previous owner of my plane didn't cancel his XM subscription for a few months after I bought the plane so I had both XM and ADS-B weather during that time. I found the weather on both very comparable - maybe not as pretty on ADS-B as XM but it certainly told me where the returns were and their intensity with the same basic picture. One day on my way from Los Angeles to the San Francisco area I could not get radar coverage on XM but I could on ADS-B. At the same time I could not get winds aloft on ADS-B but I could on XM. Neither system is perfect.

I have a GDL-39 (portable ADS-B receiver) and it's connected to a Garmin 696 which displays traffic from the GDL-39. Right now I only get traffic in my local area when another plane in the area has ADS-B out. But when I get it, the 696 shows it with traffic trend and it is quite nice. I have a GTX-330 and will get it upgraded in the next month to ES (I think it's somewhere in the area of $1,000). Since I got the Bravo with the 696 in the panel, I have continued to be impressed with the 696. It is a GREAT unit and, as far as I'm concerned, is about as much of a MFD as I've seen. Flightplans are crossfilled from the 530W to the 696, ADS-B weather and traffic, geo referenced approach plates, nice sized Garnin panel, BIG screen overall. This combo (GDL-39/GTX-330ES/696) will take me into 2020 compliance just fine and cost effectively! But don't forget, we're OVER 5 YEARS from the compliance requirement - there will be a lot more options between now and 2020. If you're thinking about the 796, maybe Don Kaye can chime in here. I don't think he's been as happy with the 796 as he was with the 696.

Bernd, If you tried to a20, Sennheiser S1 and a Zulu 2, certainly you tried the PFX. How did the a20 and the PFX compare?

Many times I've heard someone on the radio stating "Cessna XXXXX over the field at 3,500 feet simulated engine out emergency". I think a better way to practice is to get 10 miles from the airport and an altitude you know you can glide to the airport from, pull the throttle to idle and see how you can get yourself set up and land from there. I bet it would be an eye opening experience. Doing this from directly over the field will give you some experience but nothing like judging distances from further out.

Ahhh.....but you cheated this time - you flew your JetProp!

I always brief passengers that I'll tell them to crack the door open short final in an emergency landing. Another aspect I've thought about a lot is gear up vs. gear down. In a situation where you probably need to stop in the shortest distance possible, landing gear up would probably help. I do like the idea of a safety belt cutter.

Have you used the Bose a20 and can you compare the two?

If anyone else has purchased a PFX and can compare it to the Bose or Lightspeed Zulu/Zulu 2 I'd like to hear what you have to say about it. I have a few Lightspeed headsets (original Zulu, Twenty 3G and QXR). Recently I bought my wife a Bose a20 and it's by far the quietest and most comfortable headset I've ever used. I want to trade the Twenty 3G in on a PFX but they won't have the trade-in plan available until they fulfill all their pre-orders for this unit in September. So I'm waiting to see what their trade-in program is for the PFX. A couple of differences about the Lightspeed vs. Bose solutions: Lightspeed: I've been very happy with the quality of my Lightspeed headsets. I've sent 2 different headset to them 4 years after purchase and 500 hours of flying and they completely rebuilt the electronics. The only thing I paid for was new earcups and they replaced them at the same time. Customer service at Lightspeed is excellent! PFX has both of the wires going into the control box going in the top. All the others I've seen are in through the bottom and out the top. I like the idea of both in through the top so I can put the control unit in the side pocket at my feet and not bend/break the input wire. Bose: So far the quality of the Bose headset is comparable to the Lightspeed. I've heard bad things about Bose customer service but have not had to deal with them. With the Bose headsets you can switch the jack end of the cable out between the standard 2 jack microphone/speaker setup to the Nema powered (Bose) jack. Lightspeed is a fixed configuration from the factory. If you fly different airplanes this is a nice feature. If anyone has anything to add to this I'd like to hear your thoughts and experiences as well. Dave

If I remember correctly, the person that looked at it said the face that seals against the block was slightly warn or distorted. I think they still have it and if so I'll take a picture and post it.

Last year in my J my oil temp started creeping up. When it finally hit an average of 215-220 dF I replaced the vernatherm and poof - right back down to 185 in cruise.