bd32322

thanks for the responses - i'll try to calibrate it myself - i'll just start with a full tank and only fly on that tank. Use the JPI to tell me how much fuel i have used from that one tank and then calibrate with a dipstick - I am a bit apprehensive about running a tank dry in the air <grin>

Has anyone measured the fuel present in the tank on a dipstick for a J model (66 gal 64 useable tank) ? If so can you please post the numbers here? Although I have a fuel totalizer, it would be nice to know how much fuel I have per tank at the start of a flight to help with refueling etc and to know how long to run on each tank. Or maybe someone will have a calibrated dipstick for sale somewhere... Thanks

Quote: fantom

Quote: fantom At 100 ROP and 2500 PRM, maybe 22 MP, and 8000 ft, I easily see at least 162 KTAS. At 20 LOP, with the same set up, I'm at about 154 KTAS.

These were taken on a colder than standard day - OAT at 8500 was -15C in Massachusetts. The day had super smooth air - which is why I took the readings then. THe aircraft is a 1987 M201-LM - it might be called M205 I think. Measured speeds in the 4 directions using GPS and took the average to get a TAS. At 8500 feet throttle fully open, 2500 RPM, full fuel, 2 passengers (260 lbs total in front seats), 30 lb baggage in baggage compartment, 100 deg ROP I was getting 158 KTAS at 10.7 gph. This was approx 70% power from the charts that I created based on my data collection. At 75% power at 8500 feet, 23.6 MP, 2700 RPM, 100 deg ROP (book specified values), I got 161 KTAS at 11.4 gph.

Quote: fantom Isn't Aspen supposed to have an engine monitor option released soon?

so far no issues with anything in-cockpit with the ipad - i keep it on the lap though on the kneeboard.

here is the full link: http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/wireless-inspection-camera-with-35-inch-color-monitor-dvr/

Hospitals have surplus endoscopes that work great as borescopes - and they can be had for a bargain - look on ebay. There are also some websites that will sell cheap borescopes made in china - if you dont mind buying such things. I cannot attest to the quality but here is the site if you are interested: www.chinavision.com

Quote: Shadrach I think I'd just ask him if he thought it was safe and why... Why all the need to find and inform a perceived authority figure? Is it codified in the regs as illegal? What recourse would said perceived authority figure have? I have departed my plane for short times while it was idling on a few occasions, and it's always a been a non issue... Twice during solo jump starts and the one and only time I forgot to latch the baggage door. The procedure is is quite simple. 1) throttle to idle (about 800RPM is lowest I'll idle a lyc 4cyl) 2) Depress and lock parking brake 3) Throttle back up to test the parking brake. If it holds at >= 1700rpm then proceed to step 4, if not then you've additional issues... 4) Throttle back to idle 5) Take care of whatever it is that needs to be attended to quickly. 6) All people always stay behind the wing. I do not think that the FAA would say boo about this unless there was an incident/accident, and then as with almost all things aviation, we know were the responsibility lies.

Quote: sleepingsquirrel I heard of a pilot known to tie his airplanes down with tire casings, forget one tied to the tail . Took off realizing something was not right but broke ground .This strip is one of those where you are committed shortly after opening the throttle. He told me how scared he was when he looked back and saw that tire casing trailing behind his 172 . Said he made the slowest , most gentle turn. Had no trouble getting the thing down with exceptional short field performance. Very little ground run. There was no need to explain just how stupid that trick was, he already knew. He has passed away , and I learned many good things from this man, he was a great, grass roots pilot.

Quote: Cris If you feel compelled to bring this to the pilots attention when I teach, I like to use a "story" to make the point in a non offensive way. Consider the next time you see this guy you say. "Hey the other day I saw you hop out of your plane to get your headset while the engine was running. Did'nt think anything of it at the time but coincidently I just read about a guy that did that exact same thing & the A/C moved while he was out of it & ran into .... Hope you did'nt rush on my account"

PM sent - dont expect anything in response - but if he comes up with a big screen aspen unit for installation on fresh panels - that will be a dream come true Quote: N4352H Hey Partner (bd32322)....PM Peter Lyons re: above. Craig...My SVT goes in next week. Can't wait to see how busy that screen is gonna be.

I financed through Dorr aviation and got a 6.5% rate - the best I could find. For comparison BoA through AOPA wanted 8.xy% For small amounts its hard to find good interest rates - you have fewer lenders competing. The nice thing about Dorr Aviation was that they had a closing cost of $500 which included escrow, title search, paperwork etc. Also they were local to me in Massachusetts - altho all the correspondence was remote - so your mileage will be the same. I lucked out with the pre-buy. It was already annual time for the aircraft as I was about to buy - so the seller decided to get the annual done by his field mechanic and also allow unfettered access to the MSC technicians while the aircraft was open. So the annual was paid for by the seller - but I paid for an MSC inspection while the aircraft was undergoing the annual (about $700) - and the seller fixed any minor issues. Considering the aircraft had a 7k annual from Maxwell the previous year - it turned out to have few issues.

Quote: co2bruce I'm sorry to hear all these horror stories. I just purchased a 99 Mooney Eagle from a broker (Premier Aircraft Sales in Ft Lauderdale) and I could not be happier with their performance. I feel they they went out of their way to find me the plane I was looking for (at a very fair price), took me though the pre buy, and even offered to help on the insurance and financing if I needed. I worked with Mike Fabianiac, and I would highly recommend these guys.

mooniac - with reference to the big screens from Garmin - maybe there is a market for what appears to be bigger or wider displays from Aspen. I know Aspen wanted the screens to fit in the existing panel - which is a great idea for upgrading piecemeal - but it leaves a lot of bezel room in between each aspen display (not a deal breaker in my opinion). But for the clean slate upgraders - they dont need to fit the aspens into existing instrument holes. A wider bigger screen will look better aesthetically - and satisfy a larger section of the pilot population. Once you put hard numbers on how many people will buy the bigger wider display - maybe it wont make sense - I dont know.

and we also need standardization - no Garmin memory card programmable by 200$ garmin programmer only and Jeppesen memory card programmable by Jeppesen card programmer only. Thats the simplest example - but you could carry the philosophy to any part of the device really.

garmin needs competition - pure and simple - and aspen brings it to them at a cheaper price point. I dont care if its made in China/ India /Mexico - as long as it performs the same way. Allsmiles you belong to another era - the world is global and my money goes to the better product - be it Garmin or Aspen. And definitely Garmin being the only leader - helps no one - they are exorbitantly priced - they definitely need competition - and competition is good for GA - not garmin. When was the last time you opened a garmin box up and identified all the parts that came from which country/ state/ company. I opened up my handheld to fix it - because its screen went blank after a year of usage (yay Garmin) - and it had off the shelf parts from everywhere costing a few dollars and then a stamp on the box for "Made in USA" - the board prolly came from Taiwan - there were AMDs chips in there which are made by global foundries owned in the middle east - I could go on.

mooniac - great choice on the aspens - I just like the company's attitude to their product development and resonable prices - along with the other points you mentioned. The 50lb weight gain does seem bogus - I would have expected you to save some weight - but I have no experience in this - hence I was asking around. I eventually want to switch to the aspens after I save enough for a clean redesign of the panel - not going to do it piecemeal. Also let the technology settle down a bit (e.g. UAT, ADSB etc)

mooniac - do you know if you saved any weight after you got rid of your steam gauges - if so how much did you save? thanks

thats the best panel I have seen - i like how uncluttered and clean it is...

Theres an outfit at KPYM Massachusetts (Siai Marchettti SF-260) that uses these for aerobatics training. Definitely very exciting. Actually for the longest time I had my eye on this (M26 Airwolf) but its probably going to be cost prohibitive to maintain because of its 300 hp engine and Czech made parts (this one is on sale here http://www.flightlab.net/Flightlab.net/Air_Wolf_photo,_specs.html)

good info ksmooniac - did these changes make it back into the ES kit - if not - any idea why not? aviatorweb - the wikipedia lists ntsb as the source - and NTSB shows 7or 8 IV and IV-P crashes - not 19. Wikipedia is usually not to be trusted since anyone can put up anything there especially for pages that not many people visit.

ksmooniac - the ntsb database lists aircraft as Joe Schmoe Lancair IV-P - the make of the aircraft is still listed as lancair IV-P and not whatever name the builder gives to it. So I am not so sure I agree with you that its hard to search for experimental aircraft in the ntsb database. As for the cessna being a clean sheet design - I dont recall hearing anything like that - but I dont know for sure. I did read in AOPA that they changed the rudder design as compared to the certified columbia - maybe just to put a cessna stamp on the design. But the Columbia 300/350 were supposed to be very similar to the ES according to Lancair (but you cant trust the manufacturer I suppose). Regardless of the clean sheet design or not - I took a demo ride in the ES because I was looking at building one and its stall was as benign as anything else and this is borne out by other aviation reviewers. I forget if that aircraft can be spun or not - but then our Mooneys also have "atrocious" spin qualities and terrible secondary stall characteristics and are prohibited from spins. Doesnt stop us from buying one either. If I were gifted an ES I would take it immediately - if gifted a Lancair IV-P - I would look at whether I could land at my favorite airports with short runways. Anyway all this talk about bad handling characteristics reminds me of cessna drivers telling me how hard it is to land a Mooney - lol.

aviatorweb - i looked up the ntsb database again - for a 10 year and 40 year period back from now - I see 7 lancair IV-P accidents and 1 Lancair IV accident - 3 of them were non-fatal. There are none for the Lanciar ES - which is now the certified cessna 400 and former columbia 300/350 and has a much lower stall speed than the IV-P. You can check the data here: http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/index.aspx So really the only reasons I did not go with Lancair is: 1) money 2) too lazy to build a plane for 5-7 years 3) I am wary of buying a homebuilt that is built by another person - you dont know who has used what technique in building it.