Becca

Please don't give my husband any ideas about us taking this trip.

Deleted.

Based on my albeit limited experience, they will actually take back an engine that does not meet these conditions, but they dramatically reduce the value of the core from its full value.

Follow up trip report: Just wanted to make a follow up report. We decided to go to hill country. Landed at New Branfuels, which is hardly an hour flight from Houston. Within an hour we were tubing on the Comal which was a remarkably peaceful experience given the "party" reputation of tubing in Texas. There were certainly other people there, but we weren't shoulder to shoulder with other tubes and there was no general spring break style craziness, and it was nice and refreshing change from the heat. We picked the Comal over the Guadaloupe mainly because every time we called a Guadaloupe tube operator and asked them the difference between tubing the two rivers, the response was "you can still bring your jello shots to the Guadaloupe!" Yeah, no thank you. Since we have been tubing on the Guadaloupe before, that one has a bit more natural beauty while the Comal is in the middle of town. On the other hand, the Comal makes up for that with tube chutes and because of its "civilized" nature less likelihood of water mocasins, something that made the husband very happy. Also, having done this from Houston, this would totally be achievable in a normal length "day trip". Get in your at a normal morning time, get to KBAZ by 11, have an early lunch, on the river by 12:30 pm, off the river by 5 pm, you could be home in Houston before a summer sunset. We may be doing exactly this in the future. After that, we drove about 45 minutes to stay here: http://www.innaboveonioncreek.com/ Which is in Kyle, Texas, near Wimberly, TX (which is a hill country area known for its B&B's). If we were just going there, the San Marcos airport would have been closer. It was a pretty romantic B&B. We spent the next 24 hrs walking around on its trails, its gardens, and swimming in its lovely pool. They provide dinner and breakfast with your stay, both of which were fantastic. They were simple, but you could tell everything was fresh and homemade - from the hollaindaise sauce to the apple pie. They had a large garden, and the vegetables and side dishes clearly came from whatever was being harvested. We staying in the Nance Suite, because of this awesome bathtub: http://www.innaboveonioncreek.com/images/romantic-inn-05.jpg A few notes on the KBAZ airport. We arranged an Enterprise rental car that met us at the airport. The new terminal building is quite nice. Self serve fuel is on the opposite side of the field from the terminal, which is a pain in the neck. Its near the run down restaurant that you may have been too. The guy at the terminal said the city was looking to make the place nicer and have a restaurant that was open regularly and tasty rather than on-again-off-again. $5 overnight fee (waived with fuel).

The post I made in question that is apparently not harmonious is here: So please, deconstruct for me, what part of this post was rude, began a fight with anyone, or did anything besides state my honest opinion that is not a good thing to use sex appeal to inspire young women? This is apparently where: "Becca took her PC/feminist and attacked Hooters girls .." Please explain? Recall I posted this following two pages of innuendo about GG's sex appeal which apparently didn't merit any thoughts on rudeness, etc. I didn't realize feminism - or just the honest opinion of someone who was actually a woman - is out of place in a discussion on how to inspire women to fly, my mistake. I guess feminism is out of place in a thread of a bunch of male pilots making dirty jokes about a hot woman pilot under the heading of "inspiring new pilots". The reply I got to my post was: In other words, this was: Post 45 Scott reminded us of Beccas feminist agenda (often pushed and clear to all) and obviously offended her husband who then got rude and nasty.) and Scott used humor. What's the joke in this that I missed? Hahahaa, this was just something funny to defuse the situation? I know I always get a good chuckle when someone calls me butt-ugly and manly. It is right that such comments obviously offended my husband. If someone said these things about your wife, mother, or daughter, would they offend you? In order to stay civil, I did not reply to this or any of the later posts on the GG thread until at the very end, when someone called me out for my behavior, when I made a short post to remind that person they were confusing me with Byron because our icons have the same tail number. Apparently this second post or my lack of posting can be described as: Becca JUST GOT NASTY. In case you are wondering, here's how "nasty" I got in my second of two total posts on the thread: Yet somehow I am being dragged into this discussion on civility. Or is this one of those cases of "your skirt is too short so you deserve it"? Somehow my even being involved on a thread created misbehavior? I certainly silently took the attack this time on the GG thread. But I won't sit silently here and be blamed for whatever machismo match went on over there. My husband didn't sit silently, I am sure his reaction, actually what I believe was an overreaction, was to these continuous attacks on me, I try to avoid devoting an ounce of outrage to jerks on the internet as a general rule. But in answer to the original question, I think that we could use more active moderation and the banning of users or even a temporary time out when these things bust open. Or at minimum, some more self-policing than we are doing now. In the meantime, I will add this to one additional pilot group I will caution my few female pilot friends to exercise extreme caution before involving themselves in.

I do. I am tempted to go with out him. Single pilot operations into Osh are hard though. Bet I could find a hitchhiker to ride along though.

If you have no fishing equipment and no experience fishing in southern rivers, what else is there to do at Gastons? (It looks beautiful...) Hiking? Swimming? Tubing? (And by no fishing.. I actually mean my husband is afraid of fish and last time he insisted I filet a fish for him, he proceeded to tell me how cruel I was for killing the fish, so this isn't really an activity for us..)

So husband's work schedule might interfere with our ability to leave for Oshkosh with enough time to enjoy ourselves (e.g. spend more than 1 full day there). We won't know until the last minute - but I am trying to create a back up plan. But I still have some vacation time in front of me and he will be home with enough time to still have a long weekend, so I am soliciting destination ideas that we can go somewhere instead. Constraints: (1) must be within 500 nmi of Houston (e.g. 1 tank of gas) (2) must be cooler than Houston in August or at least refreshing weather (no desserts, south padre, etc. in August, but if its as warm as Houston must have something like a lake for swimming) (3) Moderately civilized (we'll camp or stay in a nice hotel, either or, but husband isn't quite an outdoorsman, so if we camp, must have nearby groceries + showers). If we do this, we'll have two full days wherever we go and two travel days on either end (so 4 days total) Suggestions?

A WWII Aviation story most people haven't heard much about - featured on the radio this morning: http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2896.htm

Go read the AOPA's web site on flights into Canada. Set up your eAPIS account Order yourself a CBP Decal (can take 6 weeks to process, though I undertand most ports of entry will accept a receipt if it doesn't arrive). Then read the rules about filing flight plans, squawk codes, eAPIS for both arrival and departure, and notifying your arrival airport of when you are coming and going (which I think has to be done between 2-24 hrs of arrival). Note most smaller airports of entry have limited hours so be alert to the hours of operation. Check to make sure your aircraft insurance is valid in Canada. Technically you need a Radio Operator's License and station permit for your plane, I've never heard of these things being checked. If you have time, become a CANPASS member, that will give you more options regarding arriving at different airports in Canada.

We will also be there the second weekend, Thursday through Monday (around Aug 1). I know most of the mass arrivals come earlier in the week, but there's still fun to be had in the air show. We should have a second-weekend gathering at Friar Tucks or something.

The tent thing is really funny. All I had was a small lightweight two person backpacking tent, which we took to Osh a couple years ago. Byron isn't much of a camper so has never been stuck out in a tent in inclement weather, and we had great weather and didn't really spend any time in the tent and it was fine. However, knowing we had a few flying camping trips ahead, I bought a slightly upgraded four person tent from REI that's taller (e.g. you can stand up in it) and has room to put your bags and such, and a little covered awning enterance. It stows up in abou tdouble the size of my backpacking tent and is a little heavier. But its really still quite a modest car-camping style tent. But I feel like if we had a rainy morning or something, we'd be grateful for the space. He ranted, raved, and complained about how I was "expanding" what we needed to take too much.

Our packing: backseat fits large cooler, case of beer, pillows, plastic bag with snack fooda, plus everything we need in flight. Luggage area fits two large duffles, air mattress, tent, folding chairs, tools, tie down kit, etc. Byron also complained his wife isn't a light packer. My approach is to fill the volume available. We ended up going to my dads place after osh and then ferrying my brother somewhere so when we had a human in that seat the cooler got left behind..

Didn't realize there were any Mooneys based in Kingston. We have a family cottage near there, flew to Kingston after Oshkosh in 2011, and did peak around the field and didn't see any funny shaped tails. We were going to do the same thing in 2012 but had an unexpected overhaul (had to go commercial, yuck) and work won't permit it this year, but maybe (definitely!) next year as we owe my family aerial tours of "our" lake... Anyway, we should definitely meet up.

We have talked about the re-skin option, based on everything we've seen, its not a subsitute for replacement in terms of quality. Apparently Tejas is now re-skinning elevators too, which I think is even more difficult than the ailerons.

We are calling this week to order ailerons, I am expecting minimum 6 weeks. Every time we've checked MAC won't sell you elevators for any price, period

When we bought our airplane (ironically just before factory shut down!), one of the trades we were making in terms of long term ownership cost was more reasonably priced parts than a Beech. I think right now the whole thing is a wash. The factory certainly has some parts, though some are long lead time (which could result in a long grounding) and some just don't exist (elevators). As for something like rudder pedal extensions, you'd have to have your own made. Salvage fills part of this gap. You should ask yourself what kind of person you are -- will you spend time to scour the intertubes looking for parts, if so, you'll probably be fine. If you are the kind that wants to hire a mechanic who calls an 800-number and asks for Part X, you could find things hard going. And I think over time, there will be enough demand for some parts that there will be a bustling after market, there are certainly enough Mooneys flying to support that kind of business, its just too soon. I hate to speculate on the status of the factory, I think they'd like to start producing airframes again, I think that's a losing proposition, but they could term themselves into quite a profitable parts business, but that doesn't discount the possibility of them raising prices to keep that business model going. Frankly, I'd consider lack/expense of airframe parts a disadvantage to buying a Mooney at least for the near term, but not a deal killing disadvantage. In our two years of ownership, the only serious issue we've had is replacing hail damaged elevators, but we were able to find two (we've talked to other mooney's with hail damage who just flipped their elevators over, etc.). (Obviously, no problem on engine parts, Lycoming isn't an issue )...

We did this - arrived a few hours after the caravans. We were parked reasonably close to them. The Mooney caravan lets you buy a BBQ dinner with them even if you didn't arrive via caravan so you can joing them for the evening party. Even though the show doesn't officially start Sunday, lots of vendor activity and just watching the planes come and go would entertain you all day. Yeah, totally go. If you can't find beer, there's always Friar Tucks.

We used a camp stove. Guys across from us had a kitchen quality camp stove and made steaks. There are options...

We aren't doing the caravan but will most likely be at Oshkosh the final weekend (Aug 1-4). Does anyone want to plan a grilling + beer event at one of our airplanes for the last weekend?

Wow, someone else to block. Loving being able to separate the wheat from the chaffe like this, definitely reduces my reading material. I'll let mom and dad know you don't approve of the free choice they made in naming me, they will love to hear your opinion I'm sure, should I call my elderly mom or dad silly first, how is this done, is there a protocol? Hm, I wonder if I should send in for a new pilots license that reads Mrs. Byron Rodgers, you know a gal is not "really" married until she ceases to be a person and just becomes an extension of her husband, how did I miss that part of my vows?! Obviously my name invalidates anything I have to say since it makes me all uppity and stuff. But, that same dad is a small business owner and he made record profits this year despite additional taxes (the taking off of the income limits on medicare tax really does cost people who make lots of money... ), and the S&P 500 is up 15% since the new year, so the evidence I see in both the statistics and personal experience is that business is improving coming out of the recession and despite the increased tax burden. Perhaps its just that you should take some individual responsibility for your business decisions and the associated failures and consider another line of work? Also if your plane hasn't sold in two years, you obviously have it unrealistically priced and/or are failing to advertise, a good businessman usually understands the market well enough to resolve issues like that.

Sent in PM. There's really no way to block a user so I never have to see a post from him again?

X. Happy to discuss with people who don't call me "hon", "whiney" or insult the name my parents chose for me over beer. Otherwise, sorry to the otherwise normal Mooneyspacers for such a train wreck thread.

Can any one advice me on how to hide posts by a user?

You're missing the point. That argument could be extended to all federal policy, programs, budget and taxes. They took aim at entitlement programs this week -- however, if AOPA extends its political interests to anything that effects the future of the federal government because the "bigger picture" impacts aviation, it becomes highly partisan. You might personally agree with Craig Fuller's opinion on entitlement stance on entitlement programs, you might not, it is out of the scope of AOPA's mission and going in the wrong direction for a general aviation advocacy org.