jax88

I've used US Aviation in Denton for oil changes, wash/wax and always had great service. Can't attest to their mechanics, but they do maintain a varied fleet of training aircraft for the flight school they operate in conjunction with. If you can get to Don Maxwell, I'd certainly recommend doing so.

I've flown the Houston class B several times, always with VFR flight following. I always get routed to the "I-10 corridor" at uncontrolled altitudes. Being on controller radar with the VFR flight following keeps me aware of traffic, but a vigilant eye will be useful. Have a look at the FLY chart for Houston (you can find one at skyvector.com) and try to pick a route that is already designated for VFR traffic. There may already be a recommended procedure for VFR arrivals to KHOU on the chart or in the procedures for KHOU. Have fun, and keep those eyes open.

No, they are expensive (as others point out). I'm milking all I can out of my current interior before giving them my money.

Aero Comfort in San Antonio.

We've flown into both, Henderson multiple times, and just from an FBO standpoint I'd choose Henderson without question. In fact, we'll never go back to North Vegas. Only time there we waited at least an hour for the rental car that had been pre-arranged and waited another hour for fuel when we went to depart EVEN THOUGH we asked upon arrival (for a 5 day stay) to have the tanks topped as soon as possible. Nice enough people, but severe lack of attention to detail.

No, no GDL-88.

I get traffic announcements from my 650, haven't flown near enough to terrain to find out if I get them. My panel has the GTN650 with a GTS330ES.

I'm with a previous poster, if any of you are interested in unloading your Chinese piece of junk, let me know. I wouldn't mind having an Ovation or Bravo.

They were definitely working hard. The whole process seemed to go really well. I was in and out in less than an hour, including the survey time and the 5 aircraft wait to take off.

How do I remove photos from my gallery?

What is the preferred method of flying through the Florida panhandle, through the Eglin Terminal Area on east/west headings?

I've got a Century 41 in my '75 M20F, integrated with a new Garmin 650. I am sometimes caught off guard by the course corrections, but otherwise I am very happy with it. With the gps integration it will follow my flight plan, hold altitude, fly holding patterns, approaches, etc. I often use it on climb out and descent using the attitude feature. As you can see from the flight tracking on flightaware.com for my aircraft, it holds a heading and altitude very well (disregarding the most recent flight from Kimball County to Stinson - the turbulence was constant all the way from Silver City, NM to San Antonio).

Probably not going to do this trip in the Mooney. As indicated above and by some of my former instructors who now fly corporate all over central/south America, the fees are likey high enough that it makes more sense to go commercial. If we were planning on hopping around the region I might do it, but we are house hunting on Ambergris only.

I'm a positive and consistent rate of climb vote as well. Just lumped that into the "comfortable" option.

Haven't been to Charleston Exec in 3 years, but fuel was high and one of the runways was somewhat rough. No other experience in the immediate Charleston area. I did some Mooney transition there and found Beaufort to be a nice place, if it's in range for your trip you may want to consider it.