cliffy

That is basically the OPP route with them YOU take a part in designing the cable via their paperwork I did mine that way. They then make it using their APPROVED manufacturing procedures. YOU have to sign the log book that you took part in the design of the part (saving the order form) and then your A&P can install it a sign it off.

The Type design DRAWINGS are protected Univair bought type designs from the old manufactures in many cases and could make parts to those drawings. That is why you can't just "make a part" that qualifies to the approved type design unless you have the drawing. Even if you hold a PMA On OPP you have to show some kind of reference to an approved drawing or reverse engineer the part (DER). The FAA can't release the drawings as they are controlled by the Type Design Holder. You can't just "make" a short body elevator spring bungee without reference to the drawing that Mooney made it to- unless you get a DER to sign off on a reengineered bungee design (just a case in point). As to PMAs- They only allow someone to manufacture aviation parts - NOT a specific part unless it comes from someone's approved drawing. A PMA and Approved Parts are two different animals. In the case of a dead manufacturer you can in some cases petition the FAA to release the protected drawings.

To add to the GA Cash Cow mantra one only has to look at the proliferation of RAMP FEES. When one or two operators take over an entire airport (at the sponsors approval) we have no choice but to "pay up" at the point of a virtual gun. Until regulations change it will remain so BUT - there is a reason why GA certified Standard category aircraft have a better safety record than Experimental Regulation change (or loosening) is a two edged sword, do you accept the inevitable increase in accident rate or don't you? The two are concomitant with each other By being locked into a "Type Design" where every part down to the smallest screw is called out for in that APPROVED Type Certificate and that design is a protected product for life (maybe a sunset law on how long a type design is protected -much like the life of a patent) we are stuck with what we have. Question= Why is Type Design protected more than a patent?

Thank you

Just as an aside note- The Capt of that Valuet was a very close friend of mine. I gave her eulogy. She was a good pilot an a great person to know. Just one of several friends that are no longer here because of various accidents in this game we call "flying" It is the main reason why I sometimes become pedantic in my postings trying to stress safety and following the rules in aviation. It saves lives! Sorry for the drift

No different than the guy who "reserved" all the short N numbers and now sells them online One of those "why didn't I think of that" moments

Using the Dynon built in non-WASS GPS Don't need WASS and GPSS steering for my flying I learned a long time ago the shortest distance between two places is a straight line- "Direct To" works good for me. I've done all the ice, 200 & 1/2s and CAT IIIs I ever want to do. SE IMC holds nothing for me at this juncture in my life. The next day is always clear skies. What part of RETIRED don't you understand :-) I do a lot of flying at 1500 AGL Like Sun n Fun to Santa Fe NM 2 years ago. The next owner can install something if he wants as I left room just for that occasion.

When I did my Dynon flush I was able to negotiate it at 90 hrs. They told me they wouldn't go that low again. They did the removal of ALL the old equipment and the complete install - HDX 10", comm., xponder, ADSB, Audio panel, STBY Horz, EMS system and retain Comm #2, everything! Just the initial programming will take a few hours.

NO the GPS LPV is as good as the ILS ever was ! :-) Even a CAT I ILS (200 & 1/2) can be hand flown to 50 feet (CAT III mins) easily with practice- just in case. We all do remember that CAT III ILSs are actually electronically different than CAT Is Correct?

The failure mode of the spring was one of the "ears" breaking off due to minute cracks in the bend area in a production run of springs. It had something to do with the heat treatment. The new springs SEEM to be exact clones of the historical design. Once the failure mode was determined subsequent production runs didn't seem to have any failures IIRC. Historically, as noted, very few springs failed but if it does you have a real problem in flight.

Yes But I actually flew one approach on the old AN Range system! :-) In a Cessna 140 to boot- With a hood on! They also got tired of listening to 'GANDER GANDER POSITION REPORT GANDER GANDER" all night long before SECAL Keeping the head clamps on and hearing the HF hash all night long got tiring But it was always interesting at night WAY out over the water FAR beyond land based transmitters to look down at the transponder and see it being interrogated by SOMEONE down there on the water :-) Did you ever get the feeling you was being watched? :-)

Some owners are required to comply with every SB published by regulation. If yours breaks and you don't wreck your airplane on landing how much is a spring worth to you now if your airplane is now just a big paper weight without it? Part it out? Have any of you priced parts new from Cessna or Beech lately? Parts are not priced on production costs but are valued in relation to what the new airplane costs NOW not 40 or 50 years ago. What does a new 4 place airplane cost today? $900,000? As an example - just the minerals that have to be mined that go into making wind generators have gone up @90 percent in the last year or so. I find it interesting that here on this forum we talk constantly of spending $25,000 to $50,000 dollars to flush our panel and install the newest and fanciest avionics with nary a complaint on the price and yet $3K for a landing gear part seems to raise the hackles on many. And yet in many instances the same equipment meant for the experimental market is priced at 20% of the certified stuff with no similar complaint on pricing, The price is what the price is. You buy it or you don't. Its a cost of entry to the world of aviation. CB need not apply. This flying game isn't for the faint of heart. Many owners waste 3 times that much on buying a new airplane acquisition in their first annual because they didn't heed the warning about a proper pre-buy. Seems to me the cost of this part is minor if the airplane is a boat anchor without it. $3000 vs. $80,000 Hmmmmm.

We never had auto-throttles in the 727s I flew I guess I didn't realize I really needed them I had a new copilot in the 757 once from JFK to LAS We had all the A/Ps INOP'd by MEL (back before RVSM) I flew the first 45 mins and gave it to him. He flew 30 mins and gave it back to me saying he was not going to fly it again in this condition. I asked him what he was going to do if he was CAPT and he got another MEL'd A/P airplane? He said he'd refuse to fly it. We got rid of him on IOE. I flew the rest of the way back home. We had Prima Donnas back then also.

IIRC Australian airplanes have to comply with factory service bulletins

This should interest Mooney owners down in Australia as they are on the ground once the time limit is reached for the NB spring from what I understand.

Question- Why do buyers always look for an airframe that hasn't sat in a coastal area or even one that has no Florida residency in its history? Maybe a year won't hurt it but then maybe a year there might impact the sales price later on.

I like the double flash synchronized at night the best.

If you read the Lycoming manual for the 4 cyl engines it says min safe oil level is 2 qts and the consumption can be 0.8 quarts per hour for the O-360 and 0.89 quarts per hour for the IO engines. This was even published by Mooney in one version of their Service and Maintenance Manual Way lower and way more than most think and still be considered OK by Lycoming. Don't have the 6 cyl numbers handy

I may have missed the Dynon A/P as I am talking Aerocruze 100 Reading late at night after along day has its problems with comprehension :-) Reading English is a skill easily lost! Sorry But for those thinking of the BK 100 my thoughts ring true For so long we had nothing and now we are flooded with possibilities- so confusing :-) OH well back to the drawing board!

I will venture a guess that the airplanes that have worn gears or suffer an actual gear collapse have not been maintained properly for years. If the gears have been cleaned and regreased with the proper grease on schedule they will, in all, probability last as long as the airplane does. Running them dry is what causes the wear we see.

The programing is actually easy once you realize that both pitch and roll have to be set up before any taxi checks. It is all contained in very detailed sheets (2) One for roll and one for pitch. Should read it through first to get familiar with the terminology You will also have to set up the TX ports (NEMA and 2 429s) on what ever GPS you are using so the Aero 100 can read what is being sent to it. 429s only needed if you want GPSS for IFR approaches. ALL the install info comes to you on a few engineering drawings. DON'T expect detailed photos like with the Cessnas installation. Little bits of install info are scattered about on the engineering drawings for each servo. READ the drawings and take notes several times before you start the install. You might have to adjust the roll servo connection to the aileron arm to get clearance so that it rotates about the ball joints The angle of connection is tight so bolt length and washers may need to be adjusted to get a good fit. (all allowed by reference on the drawings), The control head will be the easiest part to install. Buy a very good quality insertion/removal tool for the pins and do yourself a favor and buy 10 or 12 extra ones as you will screw up a few, Pay heed to my warning of buying GOOD wire strippers for 22 ga wires. The install will take you longer than you think as you have to think about every move before you do it. For instance the lateral placement of the roll servo although called out as a dimension at only one place on the drawing will leave you pondering just how to verify that dimension once in the wing. You will need a small angle drill for the roll servo bracket holes too boot. Getting the vertical placement of the roll servo mount hole in the span- wise stringers in the wing is an exercise in frustration to do it correct. You need to drill the servo bracket holes undersize first and then match drill the backing plate holes undersize and then install the bracket in the wing and match drill one hole in the stringer, cleco it to the stringer and then drill the other end of the backing plate holes. cleco that and then redrill all the holes to the correct size for matched hole drilling. Then you install the nut plates on the backing plates (again redrilled to the correct size for the screw clearance). This is the kind of stuff not called out on the engineering drawings which you will have to figure out for yourself. Location of the holes in the servo mount is the critical dimension. This is not a quick assembly LEGGO kit but it is possible to do IF you have the determination and skill set. You can download all the info on the BK website and read ahead before you order. Get very familiar with the paper work before you order if you want to install it yourself or with your A&P.

Look at the numbers made today and compare that to the numbers wrecked every year. Its a shrinking field.

Well I'm 78 and still able to crawl into the cockpit. I have a personal limit of Day VFR and that's after retiring from 121 ops and doing all the CAT IIIs I care to do. As Dirty Harry said, "A man's got to know his limitations" and far too many of us don't know where their personal edge is. My airplane is 60 years old and EVERYTING works as it should. EVERYTHING! How many on this site who own an airplane can say that EVERYTHING in their airplane works as it should right now? That is the way it is suppose to be but all too often its not. I invested in Dynon 3 years ago and didn't look back But mine is the exception on this airport (as far as this segment is concerned) I was just at a meeting last weekend where pilots were talking about their airplanes and relaying info on how their oil pressure gage drops to zero in flight and has been for years. One guy was saying his airspeed indicator gets stuck after landing at 40 kts and yet he keeps flying it. This is the attitude that is killing our segment of aviation- trying to keep antique airplanes in the air without proper maintenance. Once the "items" become to numerous the airplane sits and rots away then becoming too expensive to resurrect.

Not saying that piston engine aviation is going away only that our segment (Cessna Piper Mooney, Beech) airframes that came about in the 50s and 60s and 70s are going away due to attrition. Its a constantly shrinking segment of GA aviation as more and more airframes go into the grave. Go to any airport a just look around at the numbers of derelict airplanes tied down. My own airport has over 20 of them. We own an fly Mooneys They ain't making them anymore, they are going away Same with Beech and the Bonanza line Same with Piper They are going away, and it goes on and on. Now Light Sport and the dark side (Cirrus) are doing well (plastic airplanes). Experimental is doing well but- our niche - old metal airplanes- is going away

What would be the cost to hire a DER to approve a gear design? That's all that's needed Then you could go OPP