Ned Gravel

Dang!! I won't make it out of Wichita until the Saturday. We only leave on our trip on Thursday the 26th, and could not make it to Yuma before the 28th if we really pushed it. Oh well. I will just have to wait until we get our own organized here in Ottawa/Gatineau.

Mine is parked at a tie down spot. I never take them off. Only Clarence does when the annual is being done.

Lacee: Thanks - got it all. PM received and returned.

I would, but I want to replace the old stuff, and for that, I need the "certified as primary" version.

How well do Concorde's work? I deployed to Central Asia and a bunch of other places in October and got to fly only once after the 17th of December when I got back. Aircraft snuggled up and covered up, but outside in a Canadian winter. I left again in early January and got back on the 17th of February. I dug it out of its snowbank last week and was worried about the battery. I put on my trickle charger for a couple of hours and its little green light said everything was OK. After warming everything up, I turned on my JPI and it read 11.7 volts. Hmmmmmm...... Grabbed a coffee with some of the old codgers (like I am far from being that myself?) in the club house and they said I would have to take it home, warm it up for three days, then charge it back up, and then it might work. Oh......... Alternatively, just turn on the landing light to start the battery thinking, and then crank and see what happens. So I unplugged everything, did a walkaround, and cranked. It started in five blades. Love my Concorde.

Anybody know if Chewy was involved?

My thanks to all who have responded and, with your advice, we have created our plan. Like all good plans, not really surviving first contact with adversities, we have built in some slush. So here is the current plan. Mar 26 Fly to KPCW Port Clinton OH 13:00 clear US Customs and lunch with Cruiser (Tom K) Fly to KDAY Dayton OH Use ASI FBO. Possibly meet Patrick (Mooneyman), Comfort Suites Wright Patterson Mar 27 Wright Patterson Airforce Museum Mar 28 Fly to KCPS St. Louis MO gas stop & lunch Fly to KICT Wichita KS Dave Marten, Phil, Wojo, Pepper, Hotel Wichita Inn Airport (shuttle) Mar 29 Fly to KGRK Killeen TX Hotel Candlewood Suites Mar 30 1st Cavalry Museum, buy a cavalry hat. Mar 31 Fly to KELP El Paso TX Rocketman (Elton), Hawthorne Suites Wyndham Apr 1 Fly to KBLD Boulder City (Las Vegas) NV Apr 2 Grand Canyon/Vegas/Hoover Dam etc Apr 3 Apr 4 Apr 5 Fly to KELP El Paso TX Just for overnight. Hawthorne Suites Wyndham Apr 6 Fly to KERV Kerrville TX Mooney Factory tour, Hampton Inn Apr 7 Fly to KSAT San Antonio TX Visit the Alamo. Hampton Inn San Antonio Apr 8 Fly to KMEM Memphis TN Just for overnight. Hampton Inn Apr 9 Fly to CYQG Windsor ON Clear customs & overnight, Ramada Inn Apr 10 Fly to CYRO Rockcliffe ON Home 3 more days allowed for contingencies. California will be in two years time when we have less to visit on the way. If I have messed something up here, do not be afraid to tell me. (Who am I kidding, right? This is Mooneyspace after all - where no one is afraid to let loose.)

My exact setup too! Ned Gravel Lucky steward of C-FSWR, a '65 E model at Rockcliffe, Ontario, (CYRO) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

+ 1 from me too. Ned Gravel Lucky steward of C-FSWR, a '65 E model at Rockcliffe, Ontario, (CYRO) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just saw this ad today in my AOPA Aviation Brief. Don't know what he is selling, but he is sitting in an early C model (62 to 64 I think). http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gzbeDKvaoMmPxavkfDandkfCldfb

SORRQMQLAD? Got me beat on that one. I know the Q codes and the Z codes but this one looks more like ROTFALMAO or TANSTAAFL.

Hey!! Clean it up! This is supposed to be a family site. (retired Signal Corps)

I agree. (Just tryin' to be neighbourly.)

Shhhh!!!

Thanks Elton: Wasn't going to stay at GCN - just land to say we had. Good info on the Glass Walk. That was on the list, but getting there by some other means. BVU has been recommended, and for us it has access to Vegas and the Hoover Dam. We are looking at Fodor's Grand Canyon Travel Guide, but I do not think we will be able to spend more than a day actually in the Canyon itself. The other two days are for Vegas and Hoover Dam/Lake Mead. One more question. Given my druthers to fly IFR, but also given the MEAs for this area (won't get to Vegas at less than 10,000' from El Paso - even if I go via Phoenix) what are the chances of MOAs being hot while I am trying to transition? Specifically the ones between Deming and Phoenix?

Bonal: Those are arrival procedures only - not approach procedures. Their counterparts for departures are SIDs (Standard Instrument Departures). SIDs will take you from the runway to the your planned route. STARs - "Standard Terminal Arrival Routes," are different from published approaches and are designed to take you to from your planned rout to an area where you may encounter your Initial Approach Fix (IAF). Normally one would follow a published STAR (if that was ATCs wish) and at some point (prior to the IAF presumably) transition to the approach desired or directed by ATC. If you want to see the difference, look up KHND in Foreflight and you will see both. Since BVU has no published approaches, I would normally request (from ATC) a "contact" approach in Canada to transition to VFR and make a visual approach to the field. VFR conditions must be present on the field at the time of the request. Perhaps one of our IFR gurus can explain this better than I for the US. This OK?

Patrick: Good advice indeed. Only difficulty I ever had was with Cdn customs because of inability to revise my CANPASS arrival time in flight. ATC will not pass messages to them. Haven't missed a CBP timing yet. Old signal corps saying...."prior preparation and planning prevents p__s poor performance." By the way, our own CBSA is looking at their own EAPIS too.

Thanks Bob and Elton: I have downloaded all the Grand Canyon SFRA procedures/charts and I do not see a problem with them. I would like to actually fly into the Grand Canyon Nat'l Park Airport (KGCN) which is long enough and wide enough (9000' X 150') for a much bigger aircraft, but at 6600' elev, I may need to use quite a bit of that to get airborne on a high DA day. Got my Koch Chart ready (what else do you expect from a guy whose nickname is Flanders?). My original plan was to make use of one or two of the corridors for an overflight at a higher altitude (see farther and panorama) and then take one of the helicopter tours for my girl who wishes to see it a little closer. Mind you, using any of the corridors will require both of our necks on swivels to keep a lookout for traffic. Any other ideas?

Sardot: OK good. That would put Wichita on our official visit list between the Ohios and Texas. Dayton to Wichita with a bio and fuel break in St Louis. If it is a quiet evening, that is OK too. Not a lot of beer for me on the night before a flight. We appreciate your offer of accommodation. We are OK with a hotel near whatever airport you suggest. Allows us the flexibility to do our own thing the following morning.

OK, then......... Must be nice. Boulder City it is.

Patrick: Thanks for this. I will take your advice on the FBOs at KDAY. We will probably clear customs in Port Clinton because I can time the arrival to meet the promise I make on EAPIS better. We are looking for a hotel probably close to Wright Patterson to make it easy on the day we spend in town. This sound reasonable?

Thanks Yves: Borger is a bit north of my route (by about 70 miles) and has me facing 13,000 peaks to Las Vegas. (love the profile facility in Foreflight)

Tom: Done. Around noon on the day we fly. Clear customs and lunch. Thanks for the invitation.

Bonal: Thanks for this. Good idea on going as far as the Pacific. It is only another 90 Mooney minutes away from Vegas. I have looked at the Boulder City airport and there does not appear to be any published approaches - so if things are VFR - OK. If not then HND or VGT?

Elton: Thanks for this. We were not planning on making a stop in El Paso for more than gas on the way to Las Vegas from Killeen on the way west, and only for gas on the way from Los Vegas to Kerrville on the way east. As we get closer to the days, we may be able to simply take an extra day in El Paso, if you are around.