FullyArticulate

For what it's worth, Greg and Ed (Advanced Aircraft in Troutdale) just finished a complete strip and re-seal on my 252. They did a great job, and are good people.

parker woodruff posting

Google turns up lots of hits for official sources of the general aviation accident rate. (1.14 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours in general aviation in 2010) Segmenting that number is more difficult, but might help your case. A company I worked for made me purchase key man life insurance. Although, they were more worried about losing me than being sued. In another case, the company wanted plausible deniability. Threatening to fire you if you fly makes it awefully hard for your family to sue them claiming they forced you to fly as part of your job. How do you submit expenses? Do they buy refundable tickets for you which you can refund and then fly yourself? If you buy tickets on your own behalf and submit receipts, it's going to be hard to keep the fact you're flying from them.

Quote: docket I am diligent to touch up each rivet as it exposes itself but it is starting to get out of hand.

Quote: DrBill Anyone deal with AIRMARK in Lexington KY ? They are listing a 20E I'm really interested in but out of 5 emails I sent them they have only replied to the first. To me, that's not a good start.

The Museum of Flight (which you can park in front of if you give them a call in advance, so no need for a rental/courtesy car) also has a cafe that's got fairly typical museum food. The museum is great--I've flown from Portland a few times just to visit.

Quote: Piloto Fortunately, Sporty's has a year-long guarantee, so I can return the XRX. I'd looked at the Monroy as well--the ability to mount an external antenna is compelling, but Aviation Consumer just did a review and swore the XRX was better. Just the simple fact that the ATD-300 is FAA approved and the XRX is not would tell which one is better.

Sporty's graciously accepted my return of the Zaon for a full refund. I then had a TAS-620 (actually, I bought a 605, but they gave me a 620 for "free" because Avidyne was sold out) installed by Pacific Coast Avionics last week. Some observations after three flights with it so far (one long-distance, two short)... PCA had to play a fair amount of "musical antennae" to get my various COM and GPS antennas far enough away from the top traffic antenna. In two cases, they ended up building an aluminum tripler to reinforce the thin skin on the roof of my 252. I wish the triplers were invisible, but they are somewhat noticeable. The quantity of traffic discovered is absolutely shocking. Looking out the window and the PCAS didn't even remotely prepare me for the amount of traffic in and around Portland. Arrival at Hillsboro airport on Friday had 8 aircraft in and entering/leaving the pattern. I read a similar comment from someone else on this thread about how they were surprised how much traffic their Avidyne displayed, and I can't do enough to emphasize that. Wow. Yesterday, I flew straight up the Columbia river, something I would have been nervous to do on a beautiful day given the high volume of traffic over such a relatively narrow canyon. The Avidyne spotted traffic I never did see, or when I did was exactly where it pegged it. The only complaint I have so far is there's a fairly significant shadow straight in front of the aircraft. While leaving Portland, an aircraft was in the opposite direction, absolutely head-on. I got a traffic alert from the tower at the same time the Avidyne announced "Traffic Alert, 1 mile, unknown bearing". My first reaction was to look down at the Avidyne to see where the aircraft was displayed. It was confused and showed it 2600' below me at my 7 o'clock (and jumping around). It was dead on about the distance though. (Why an aircraft was level at 3500' westbound is beyond me). It's possible I had the settings incorrect. The GNS-530 has a confusing traffic page. You set the indicator in the upper-left to "normal", then hit menu and find it's in approach mode. I have no idea which mode it's actually in when that happens. Later in the day, an aircraft pretty much straight ahead of me (but about 7 miles) was missed until I closed to within 6 miles. No big deal, and I can live with that. The TAS gives me exactly what I had been looking for--an extra set of eyes, no false positives, and very few false negatives. If ADS-B were available closer to the ground (<1500'), and a certified UAT wasn't exorbitently expensive, I might have gone that way to get weather as well. Otherwise, I'd install a TAS again in a second. Beware on the Mooney for the need for doublers/triplers. The skin on the roof is very thin. Also, beware of potential shadowing issues when picking antenna installation spots. I'll post an update as I get more experience.

Quote: jerry-N5911Q I also believe it pays to file IFR even in VMC because then ATC should maintain separation and offer earlier traffic warnings.

A cross country back in January between Billings and Spokane was -20' C. I was between layers, but occasionally would go through a cloud for a few seconds. By the time I landed, I had 1/2" on the leading edge of rime. It came off in long strips that were fun to play with on the ground. I was taught -20 was too low for icing, but I definitely collected it. If I weren't in between layers, there's no way I could have completed that flight (or gone for more than 15 miles or so).

The MRX doesn't have direction, right? Maybe that's the part that causes the XRX to get confused. I'm surprised you have a fondness for your MRX. The amount of variability in the announced traffic on the XRX (even ignoring the direction), and the outright miss of traffic (even with a clear line-of-sight to it) is terrible. "It's 3 miles away. No, .5! No, not in range at all. No, .1 miles!" It's missed airliners (MD80?), a Cirrus, a helicopter, a BE1900, and a Cessna, all passing within a mile or less. I'm not talking about getting the distance or direction wrong, just plain misses 'em. You'd think some of those aircraft would have strong transponders. Maybe I got a dud, given your comments about your MRX.

Just a follow-up.. I gave it another week, tried a different position, and messed with the settings a bit. Still not a good experience. In the most obviously bad case, a life-flight helicopter passed within a mile with nary a notice. Working the pattern with another airplane was just a great example of how confused it was--several times it thought the other guy was flying circles around me. Oh well, I had high hopes. It's in a box back to Sportys today. I've not gotten a quote for the GTS-800 yet, but I'm leaning in that direction. My annual is the end of this month, so I'll likely have it (or the Avidyne) installed then.

Quote: jlunseth But Victor airways are pretty much pointless, at least in my part of the country (west of the Miss.).

Quote: N513ZM I have had TAS-610 in my Ovation for 5 years. I shudder when I think of flying without it. Accurate, and you would be horrified at how much traffic is out there that you don't see or that doesn't get called.

Hello! I've been using a Zaon XRX in my Mooney for about 3 weeks now (it sits on the dash of my 252, just to the right of the center "bump"). I've got it perfectly leveled, have calibrated it, and all the rest. I'm pretty disappointed. In two cases, airplanes passed within a mile at the same altitude and the box didn't show a thing--one was on an instrument flight plan in controlled airspace, so I know his transponder was on. The IFR airplane was a good test case--it took off from an airport beneath me, climbed past me, turned in front, and flew on. I could understand if he was out of antenna "view" beneath me, but straight in front of me? At or above my altitude? In cases where it does find traffic, it generally is clueless as to the direction and distance. Opposite direction traffic directly in front of me was called behind and to my right. Eventually, it got the direction right, but thought the distance was <.5 mile, which is definitely not right. Does anyone have experience with active traffic systems? Avidyne TAS-600? Garmin GTS-800? Please share your experiences on accuracy, false negatives, and false positives. The Zaon is doing more harm than good-it gives me a false sense of security when it's not showing anything, and causes unnecessary anxiety when it insists (incorrectly) a target is right on top of me. Thanks!