Jeff_S

Here's one I added to my repertoire after the commuter jet crash at Lexington KY. After I've got my flight plan dialed in, I turn the HSI to the heading of the first leg, but turn the heading bug to the departure runway heading. This isn't a huge deal when departing out of the home drome, but when leaving from an unfamiliar airport it's just another check that I'm at the right runway before I pour on the coals.

Why remove them? I think they look COOL! Plus they get a lot of questions that allow you to sound really hip when you answer them.

Yes, I have a similar thing. So far my plane hasn't fallen out of the sky and it's passed every annual. I attribute it to "one of those things."

This is an untrue statement. Garmin still provides support for the device, although admittedly it comes in fits and starts. You can get maintenance on them and they are even contemplating one final release of software to support some bug fixes, improved ADS-B support, etc. If you join the GNS 480 users group on Yahoo message boards you will get tapped into a lot of people (including myself) who love the device. I have mine set up with an MX-20 and a King HSI and S-TEC 55 autopilot, and I love it. It will fly a fully automated approach, even picking out which hold pattern entry to use. It makes life in the clouds a non-event. I have futzed with the GTN simulators and I do think Garmin brought some of the best 480 features into those products, but from a functional standpoint there is nothing those products can do that my current setup won't.

Folks, like it or not, politics plays a very big part in our ability to continue to fly as we enjoy it. So I see nothing wrong in healthy political discourse around topics related to aviation. It's true that sometimes people get their feathers ruffled, go off on tangents, get all emotional and spew abuse...so we're just like members of every congress or political body in the democratic world. It's very easy in this forum to skip over content you don't like, don't agree with, etc. As long as the general rules of civil discourse are obeyed I don't see anything wrong with the occasional foray into political discussion. Frankly, I can only read so many times about LOP/ROP, how to pre-heat an engine in the winter, etc. Let's not be afraid to spice it up a bit!

Anthony, that's an easy trip. I've done the day trip from Atlanta two or three times, and if you get good weather you are treated to a beautiful sunrise on the way there and a great sunset on the way home. You should just fly right in Lakeland, as has been noted in this thread it's really not as challenging and scary as some people make it out to be. Just read the NOTAM and follow it and you'll be fine. Have a printed sign that says GAP (General Aircraft Parking) and you will be directed to your parking area once you land. It is really easy and a lot of fun. Too bad the Thunderbirds have canceled their shows...but that's another thread (that I started!).

Wow, I'd like to see the regs that allow this. Since Class G is uncontrolled, there is technically NO instrument flight rules allowed as by definition IFR requires an IFR clearance, which you are not going to get. So the VFR cloud clearance rules would seem to be the only legal method to me: Below 1200 feet AGL: 1 mile and clear of clouds 1200 AGL and higher: 1 mile and 500' below, 1000' above and 2000' laterally clear of clouds But I'm willing to be persuaded. Not that I would ever do it!

Well, yes, I do admit that sometimes these political threads can get out of hand. But in fairness, this is the Miscellaneous Aviation Talk forum and I would say that talking about budget cuts and airshows would certainly qualify. I also realized that I hadn't fully made my point in my first post. By saying they would resume shows "when the sequester is rescinded" the Air Force is explicitly pinning blame on this one event, which is assinine. Who says the sequester will ever be "rescinded"? More likely Congress will just come up with more flexible ways to allocate the spending cuts. But I try to put myself in the shoes of whoever MADE this decision, and whoever WENT ALONG with it. At least the Navy was willing to play it by ear and do as much as they could. I can only speculate, but I can't imagine that the Thunderbirds make up such a significant portion of the overal AF budget that they should get entirely canceled.

I just learned that the Thunderbirds have canceled all air shows starting April 1 as a result of the sequester. Blue Angels are taking a wait and see approach but selectively canceling their events as well. The air force press release even goes so far as to say that they are keeping their skills sharp so they can resume air show events as soon as "the sequester is rescinded." Well, is it just me, or does this smell like a political decision, akin to canceling the White House tours? Surely there are other ways to find and cut wasteful spending in the military, rather than killing one of their primary outreach activities. I'm on record as supporting the sequester since the nabobs in Congress couldn't cut spending any other way, but I see some very poor decisions being made as to how to effect it. I hope that people will come to their senses soon.

You can certainly concentrate on small dogs that would only be in a crate, but I've found that the empty baggage compartment with both rear seatbacks up makes a nice enclosure. You can tie a larger dog down to one of the seat-belt posts. I think I wrote in a long ago post how I had one boisterous chocolate lab who ate through the leash that I had used to tie him down, and came into the rear seat area because he wanted to be part of the action. I hadn't yet learned to keep both seat backs up at this point. It wasn't a big deal, but it did cause me to implement the seat-back up policy to help provide another measure of safety.

Also bear in mind that this is the weekend of SnF so many folks will be down there.

Currently planning to come in on Thursday the 11th and leave on Sat the 13th. Got a hotel in Lakeland...this old bod just doesn't like the camping thing anymore! Hope to see some folks.

Same here...must have been a temporary glitch.

Not sure what this has to do with a How To video, but I'll third the motion for Wash-Wax All. I've been using it for years and it keeps the plane all nice and shiny. No plane of mine has ever seen a water hose. I will say that when I had my Warrior tied down outside, I would once per year go over it with a layer of Glare, which gave it some added protection against the sun. With the Mooney in a hangar I've not felt the need to do this, as the Wash-Wax All provides both cleaning and protection.

Wow. Winds that strong seems like a recipe for low level wind shear that could make the bottom drop out from under you pretty quickly. It will be interesting to read a more studied analysis of the probable cause.

When I first started flying I found this site: http://www.ourairports.com. It allows you to log every airport you've been to and helps keep a record of it. The site hasn't been used very much and I have no idea who maintains it, but it still works and I dutifully log every new airport I land at just for fun. It shows them to you on a map...here's mine:

Decided to go out yesterday and practice some wind technique, pick up a friend and shoot some approaches. As typical with a high pressure coming down in the spring, winds were quite sporting out of the northwest. Lots of nice runways pointing just that direction for this very reason. On initial takeoff with just me on board, on RWY 34 out of PDK and winds 310 15G25, I commenced ground roll. Those of you familiar with the runway know there's a bump a few hundred feet past the threshold. I hit that bump at about 50 KIAS and the plane just leaped into the sky and immediately started climbing like a homesick angel. Cold temps helped too I suppose. But I thought that was as close as I'll get to feeling what it's like to take off in a VSTOL machine. Pretty fun!

I flew with the new ForeFlight yesterday. The track-up features works as advertised. These were short, local trips to shoot some approaches, so I wasn't spending too much time on the maps page, but I played around with the new features and they seem to work fine. FWIW, I also have never had a problem with North up in ForeFlight. To me, it's a bit more intuitive, because I use it essentially as a map substitute and I have a full panel with GNS480 an MX20 moving maps that satisfy my track-up needs. I think if you are using ForeFlight (or any iPad app) in a docked situation to take the place of a panel moving map, track-up probably makes more sense.

I don't interpret Fuller's departure the same as what happened with Rod Hightower at EAA. From what I've read, Hightower was not well liked and had a leadership style that grated on many employees, so his departure was somewhat forced. From what I've seen and read with Fuller, he said he made a five-year commitment, he's in his fifth year, and he wants to do something else. At the same time, he remains in his position to support the search and transition and seems to have done a lot of good things to move AOPA in the right direction. I do think at age 62, you have the right to move on in life if there's something else that really calls you. I hope I am lucky enough at that age to do the same. (Heck, sometimes I hope I just MAKE IT to that age!)

I need to see an Ovation panel. In a J, there is absolutely no way to confuse the flap and gear switches, they are in such different places. I'd always heard your advice applying to other aircraft, notably the Bonanza where I believe the two switches are so close. Anyway, thanks for sharing your mishap with the crowd. Humility can sometimes be painful but is always good medicine.

Is that Dustin Lebowski? I suspect many folks may have missed the reference in your screen name and obvious avatar pic!

I've had a Sporty's hand-held nav/com since I started flying. Only time I actually needed it was one time immediately upon landing at KPDK (towered field) I was having a trouble getting ground control...all staticky. But through all the static I could barely hear that other people were having the same problem. Turns out I WAS the problem, as my mic had stuck. Once I figured that out I switched to an unused frequency and then got the handheld out and plugged in the headset adapter. Was still getting horrible connection but I managed to communicate well enough to get taxi instructions. Once back at the hangar I figured out that the plugs on the headset adapter had gotten corroded due to general exposure to Atlanta air, so cleaning them off solved that problem. Moral of the story, if you have the headset adapter clean those plugs every few months to avoid further embarrassment!

Bruce's has been great to work with. I've had three covers from them and they fit snug and are very sturdy. Great customer service as well...one of the covers I got from them I inherited with the plane (my old Warrior), and it was starting to come apart at the seams (after 5 years). Even though I was not the original purchaser they took it back and resewed it without any question or charge.

No flaps in the Mooney does (at least) three things that I can think of. As you know, it means less drag and and therefore likely higher speeds. It also increases the stall speed. And it puts the airplane in a higher nose-up attitude for any given airspeed. So I theorize that you in fact were flying it too close to the edge (of stall) in your landing configuration, and any slight loss of wind speed or drop-off in airspeed could lead to the bottom dropping out. You might try the same exercise with half-flaps and crossing the threshold at 75 KIAS maximum. That would naturally lower the nose, increase drag to lower speed, and give you more stall margin.

Of course, anyone who has knowingly done this on purpose wouldn't be stupid enough to admit such a thing in a public forum, where one's identity and tail number are easily discovered by any FAA lurkers. I do recall being on one trip (I wasn't the one flying nor was it my airplane) where we were escaping out the trailing edge of a cold front that had brought clouds and rain to Atlanta. We were headed to Alabama and it was VFR or MVFR all along the route, and even though we are both IFR rated we didn't want to fly in those clouds or deal with Hartsfield diversions so we just took off. We legitimately dodged clouds and tried to stay the required 500 feet below them, but found ourselves at one point in a vaporous "box canyon" where we didn't want to go any lower. With moving map terrain avoidance and PCAS traffic detection, the PIC decided to plow ahead because he suspected it would only last for a mile or two and he was right...we broke out into clear skies. Not the smartest thing, for sure, but a calculated risk with suitable equipment and knowledge/experience flying in the clouds. Don't know whether or not he ever filed an ASRS report.