kilobravo3

Another vote for Phil. He's been taking care of my airplane for several years now. PJ is about an hour's flight time from my base in GNV, but I wouldn't dream of taking my plane anywhere else. Just dropped her off yesterday for annual.

I have an Stec 50, and the Alt hold indicator light has stopped working. The altitude hold is working properly, it is just the indicator light that isn't functioning. I spoke with my local avionics shop, and they said S-tec (or whoever they are now), stated there is nothing to field repair and that the unit must be sent back to S-tec for repair. The worst part was when they told me S-tec was going to charge $800. I realize airplanes are expensive (having just replaced my engine), but $800 to replace a light bulb is just insane. Do I have any other options here? I am not paying $800 for a lightbulb, so if I don't have any other choices, I'll just fly the airplane without the indicator.

Thanks for the help. I was able to reach PJ this morning and get the ball rolling on my annual.

Thanks! I was unable to get him today, but I will give him a try tomorrow!

I'm due for annual at the end of this month, and was going to take my airplane to PJ in Avon Park. I have tried calling the number listed for PJ Aviation as well as the number for the FBO and have not been able to reach anyone. Has he closed up shop?

Hi gang, I don't post here very often, but I do read the forums almost daily. I'm a programmer (although not an expert web programmer), and deal primarily with migrating data between medical device systems, and would be happy to donate my time to try the migration. I don't know exactly what is involved, but would be happy to examine both systems to see if I can come up with a reasonable migration plan and then execute it. Craig, let me know if you want to talk offline about the details.

Hank, Just a quick follow up, must have been one of those pesky Gremlins that snuck into my plane. I flew today, didn't change anything, and the gear warning horn functioned as it was supposed to. Gotta love these vintage airplanes!

Thanks Hank. I'll head out to the airport this weekend and give that a shot.

Hi gang, As I was descending into the local pattern last week, my gear warning horn starting blaring at me. It seems like mine has always gone off at a relatively high MP indication, but it isn't the end of the world as I usually just push the throttle in a fraction of an inch to silence the horn. However, on this particualar trip, even pushing the throttle back almost all the way in would not silence the horn. Of course, when the gear was lowered the horn silenced as it should, but still I need to check into why the warning is going off when the throttle is advanced. Is there something simple I can check, or do I just need to send it down to the maintenance hangar?

Parker...I think your roomate should probably start with a new bed before worrying about the paint

Hi gang, I don't post here much, but I browse fairly often. When my son was born, we decided to do an airplane theme for him, and since I own a Mooney, I asked my wife to paint one for his room. This is what she came up with, and I think it looks great on his wall. I hope that isn't anyone's tail number, she just used his birthday and initials for the tail #. For some reason, the picture is a bit grainy, but it should give you the idea. It looks incredible in his room.

Lood...it will be interesting to hear if your new engine/prop make a difference....keep us posted.

Shadrach, Thanks for the response. I'm typically running WOT and 2500 RPM (verified with a SureTach digital tachometer), and usally 75-100 ROP (I don't have an engine monitor yet to run LOP). According to the logs, the rigging was checked about 3 years ago, but that was before I owned the airplane so I'm not sure how it was done. The engine has about 1200 SMOH, and the prop (3 blade Hartzell) was put on about 10 years and 700 hours ago. I have not physically looked at the gear doors, and I am also going to check to make sure my step is properly retracting.

Gary...I'm interested in your comment. I recently purchased a 67F, and I'm only seeing true airspeeds in the 140-145 range. I do have the modified cowl (I believe by SWTA). I'm starting to wonder if I'm having a problem. She just came out of annual with a clean bill of health. I do have the 3-bladed prop which I know costs me a couple of knots, but certainly not 10-15.

Hi Gang, I hadn't flown my 'F' for about 4 weeks (weather + traveling prevented it). I went to the airport earlier this week for a flight and had something strange happen that I've never seen before. As I was going through my start procedure, I turned on the electric boost pump and waited for pressure to come up before pushing the mixture in for 5 seconds. However, the fuel pressure never came up. The pump was running, but it was not supplying fuel. I let the pump run for about 15 seconds with no change. I then decided to try and start the engine in case it was just a gauge issue, and the engine did not fire. However, after the start attempt, the fuel pressure came up, and then I was able to prime and start as usual. It concerned me a bit since this is the first time I've ever had something like this happen in any airplane I've flown. I did verify that after engine start turning on the boost pump did in fact increase pressure, so the pump seems to be working fine (I just installed a rebuilt fuel pump about 2 months ago). Does this sound like anything I should be concerned about moving forward, or was there just some strange air lock in the fuel line before the pump?

I'm in a similar situation and have been doing some research myself. I'll throw this link out and see what people have to say about it. From reading this mileage reimbursement page from the GSA, it would seem that you could deduct the plane mileage in a similar fashion to a car, only at a rate of $1.29/statute mile. Thoughts? http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/100715

Hi Fantom, I believe the identifier for Williston is X60. Just want to make sure nobody goes to the wrong place. I'm based just a few miles away at GNV, so hopefully I can make that trip my first one.