DaV8or

Quote: jpusser Can we tell the controller we want to taxi to public or free parking. What can they do if you refuse to pay $25 to drop off passengers.

Don't know about landing fees, but ramp fees are reasonable. FBOs lease the building and ramp with tie downs from the airport authority and as such they can charge or not charge as much as they want. Transient parking that belongs to the airport charges over nights as a way of raising money for the airport. It costs a lot of money to keep an airport running and the various governments only pay a fraction of what is needed to keep the place open. As to the legality of it, well, you've seen a parking meter before, right? Just because it's public doesn't me we don't have to pay to use it. Most airports I've been to are very fair about it. They usually only charge if you stay over night and then it seems to be about $3-10 a night. Stopping in for luch costs nothing. If you buy gas, many FBOs will wave this fee. I agree though, that fees like these are going no where but up and we need to keep an eye on it.

DP

Mmmm... I have an Android phone and an iPad. Not thrilled with the Google OS. I would stick with the iPad unless the Xoom offers some huge technological advance. I will soon be ditching my Android and going to iPhone now that they are available on Vorizon.

Quote: GeorgePerry The FAA should have baseline safety standard, just like automakers, and if manufacturers can meet these standards, the FAA should stay the heck out of the way...Set entrepreneurs free to build, set businesses free to innovate, and set the public free to demand the product. In short, let the free market dictate supply / demand and perceived value...similar to what automakers enjoy. To aviators and aircraft owners this bold new world of "loosely regulated" manufacturing innovation may sound unimaginable. But to put it in perspective, just a few hundred years ago, popular opinion said the world was flat. Columbus didn't fall of the edge of the earth and loosening the certification stangle hold the FAA imposes on GA won't cause airplanes to start falling from the sky either.

I'd also like to point out that there is sort of a middle ground option too. The electric tach. It's not digital, but is fully electric and so does away with all the problems associated with the mechanical tach. Asthetically, it matches your MP guage much better. Here is one from UMA- UMA Electric Tachometer

As long as everything is working OK... then ditch the nav/com without glideslope, add a GNS 430W and a JPI 830 or simailar and you are done.

Quote: Urs_Wildermuth Dave, that would maybe work in the US but NOT elsewhere. Experimentals are one way to overcome the certification dilemma and bring aviation into the 21st century in many cases, but Europe for a start limits Experimentals to VFR. No IFR at all allowed. What good does that do? If you have the c of a's expire after 20 years, it would give authorities the basis of grounding and scrapping those airplanes! They are expired, like the pint of milk from the 7-11, so it must be destroyed. That is how they would think.

Quote: sleepingsquirrel Ever seen an EXPERIMENTAL Mooney, an EXPERIMENAL Cessna? There may have to be a lot more of them.

Jeez Jose! You've been all over the place in Mooneys! All this white icy stuff is a long way off from your normal Caribbean exploits.

I hope somebody figures this out. I went flying today, and there were some "spirited" winds out today and I found myself thinking once again that another 1 1/2" would really be more comfortable.

Read about half of the article, but when he started to make comparisons to automobiles, he lost me. First guy to compare planes to cars in an argument loses in my book. No comparison in any way except they both move people and use gasoline.

Quote: danb35 Still don't have mine installed--temperatures have been too cold here for optimum adhesion. Here's a pic of it taped in place.

Which AirGizmo mount are you thinking? I don't believe that the Gizmo mounts require any FAA approvals. They only hold hand held, portable GPS's and are considered the same as a yoke mount.

Quote: Mitch Hi Dave. Have you tried Frank and Sterling Avionics in Concord?

Quote: thinwing airborne electronics at ksac,if they oo busy,executive autopilots....kpc

Quote: ElectronicsInt Dave- I'd be happy to recommended some shops, where in California? Southern, Central, or Northern? Matt

Quote: DaV8or

Quote: flight2000 Dave, Wow, I never had a refusal for a bid on the panel upgrade when I was looking. I even went out of state for bids. The shop that is installing my EI stuff told me it would be better for me to buy it online and drop ship it to them for the install. When I was there before I left, there was a C182 that was in for work from California, so apparently you're not the only one having trouble. Brian

Quote: N6936V I'll buy mine as soon as I return from Asia in March.

Hi Matt, Do you have a shop in California that you would recommend for installing your products? I'm having a problem finding a shop that is very interested in my panel job. I'm new to airplane ownership, so I'm kind of shocked that I'm soliciting bids for a panel redo that will no doubt cost me over $10,000 and I'm getting the cold shoulder from nearly everyone. Is it because I have a vintage Mooney? Is it because I have already purchased much of the equipment I need? Do shops really make that much off selling gear?

Quote: mooneygirl Lord knows I know what he is going through. I sent Tracy an email and hope that many will do the same. With my 2003 crash now in the AOPA training circuit, I know that there are lots of armchair quarterbacks. I did hear something that made me chuckle. Came out of the AOPA seminar in Santa Rosa, CA I believe. A fellow said I should have throttled back, aborted take off, and hit the spectators slowly. Yeah, getting hit by an airplane slowly, that's the ticket. HA. All in all, we do the best we can. The media usually doesn't help us much, and again I speak from firsthand experience. Kudos to you Tracy. You didn't hit anything of real value, and you walked out. I do believe in the strength of our airframe and it certainly led to a good outcome here and in my situation. As my father said, "There are no funerals being planned today. And it was a piece of metal, and metal can be replaced." Jolie, what my friend heard was they were not second guessing that you should throttle back. They were wondering why a pilot with about 7hrs in a Mooney would be flying 4 adults off a 3000' runway in August.

Quote: maropers looking at high wires and then floating over a bunch of school buses just prior to the threshold would be distracting enough...

Quote: KSMooniac The MT 3-blade prop is the only one that has a smaller diameter than all of the other metal 2- and 3-blade props that are approved for our planes. Other airframes have 3-blade options that are shorter than 2-blade options, but not our Mooneys.

You can watch "Ice Pilots" by setting your Proxy Server to a Canadian Server, unless they have plugged that hole.