201er

Well his E's no J

Thanks Chris for inviting us, it was a wonderful event. And thanks Alan for taking me in the Mooney and not cramming me into a bonanza.

Yeah. At least that much. It's not uncommon for the fronts to be under 290 and the back over 360. I wonder if people ever "rotate" cylinders like they do with car tires to even the wear?

I dunno. I have an analog one. But my guess would be that X number of dots is Vx, Y number of dots is Vy, and Z number of dots is Vso. What you gotta do is fly some known weights/configurations that are close to book value and see what your AOA shows. Then calibrate your interpretation to those indications when you are at alternate weights/configurations/etc and don't know the absolute values. I didn't just start flying my AOA. In fact at first I didn't appreciate it and just flew speeds. But I started to see correlations and learn how the two compare. Thus I learned to make the most of the AOA and realized that it is more telling than the AOA when you are flying slow or in complicated configurations. As suggested, I'm going to try to shoot a video showing my AOA indicator while doing a pattern. I'm just not sure how to show the gauge and outside at the same time without the gauge being too small or cutting out the outside view since it is on the bottom of my panel.

I think you demonstrated well enough today how the one you have is barely sufficient for you to get by If we have to hear it, then you're already doing something wrong.

Some Bonanza guy had a mirror installed on his wing so that he could visually make sure his nosewheel was down after 2 gear up landings. Didn't stop him from making a 3rd. Just saying.

Since you guys have been bugging me for a new video I quickly through this one together on my last xcountry flight from Linden to Michigan and back in one day. Some IFR flying and a tour of some of the gadgets.

Terrible shame. I'm not going to get into what I think is statistically superior for improving survival. But what I will point out is that traffic systems are crappy. I have the pcas Monroy ATD300 and recently got a dual band Clarity-SV ADS-B receiver. I don't have out, but in the vicinity of my home airport I can nearly always catch someone else's traffic. The Monroy with traffic antenna is just outright inadequate. It misses a ton of traffic and often doesn't report till after I've seen it and it has passed. The Clarity displayed on my IPAD with wingx is better (when it gets the updates obviously). But you know what, I've had plenty of traffic reports not far away, I knew exactly where they were in relation to me, and I still couldn't spot them with my eyes. I figured the ADSB traffic is the same as ATC telling you (except it continues tracking it and giving you a better picture of where to look). Sometimes this helps me find the traffic but many times, I'm perplexed how I can be unable to see something 1-2 miles away. So from my experience, this traffic situation is tough and the gadgets barely help. The amount they assist you is no more than the amount they distract you. Perhaps airline level TCAS is better, but the stuff available to us isn't that good and worse yet even with the info we can't find the traffic. I hear the jets saying they don't have a visual but are following on TCAS all the time. Scary.

Comparing the stall horn to an AOA indicator is like comparing the gear warning to an ASI. Yes, the stall warning operates on the same principle but it's only giving you a last resort warning (in the event of an aggressive or banking stall it's probably too late). On departure, if the stall warning is going off, your climb rate is going to be terrible. Usually the time the stall warning goes off on departure is when you're desperate for that climb (hot/heavy/short) but putting yourself in the place where the stall warning goes off means you're not going to get that climb you seek. By glancing at an AOA, you can aim for the pitch attitude that will give you that ideal climb without regard to weight, temperature, cg, bank angle, flaps, etc. So while the warning is good to have, it's not giving you the useful information that an AOA gives you to prevent getting to that point in the first place.

I'd rather see antique planes. BTW my schedule cleared up, so if Alan picks me up, I'm there.

Be sure to post pics.

I just scanned my books. I see nothing wrong with that. I just left the scanner door open and pressed them up to the glass to scan. I have scans of all my books and poh just in case.

Larry, clock is required for IFR.

Can you make them calibrate it for you?

I don't think EGT or OAT are required equipment though. So there is no "primary" or not. I didn't see it listed on the TCDS or in the POH. Nor it is required equipment for VFR/IFR operations. Same goes for ammeter. What you may be confusing this with is the cluster gauges. For example the factory Oil Temp gauge is primary and cannot be replaced by the 830 as it is advisory only. Yet the factory fuel pressure and cht gauge can be placarded inop as they are not required instruments. Who can validate this?

I'm pretty sure the EGT/OT is not required. It's even less useful than the ammeter because you have the exact same information but better coming from the 830. That's why I had the factory EGT/OT removed to make room for a Century IIb mode selector knob. By moving my clock over to the EGT/OT space, I was able to get the Century IIb selector away from under the copilot side of panel (horrible placement before). I'd definitely dump the factory EGT/OT before the ammeter. But that would be next on the list to go if there was something more useful to put in its place.

I guess I fly heavy into many short fields so I'm partial to AOA. I forget that some of you fly from runways 3x longer. No excuse to stall there. Since I fly to shorter airports, I'm practicing short landing tecnique on every landing.

In case you guys didn't already guess where I was going with the stormscope poll, I am perplexed why pilots prioritize having a stormscope over an AOA indicator. 35 out of 45 respondents have a stormscope onboard their Mooney (77%) Yet only 10 out of 66 (15%)respondents have or prioritize having an AOA indicator. 56 out of 66 (85%) either don't want one or are in no hurry to get one. I have both (mine came with an AOA and I added a WX500). But if my plane flipped on its tiedown tomorrow and I got a check for a new plane, AOA would be the first thing I would put in and not stormscope (although I'd like one too if I could). Why? Because according to 2009 stats thunderstorms accounted for 6 fatal accidents, stalls accounted for 110 fatal accidents. That leads me to believe that an AOA is 18 times a better investment than a stormscope? And before some smartass points that the prevalence of stormscopes/technology is the reason for better thunderstorm avoidance, first off I don't think this is true of all GA aircraft - seems like most skyhawks and other popular planes don't typically have them, but if it is true that the tool is help reduce accident rates, then it is an especially good case for AOA indicators in GA planes. So please, someone prove to me why a stormscope is a better use of panel space than an AOA indicator?

^ Thanks

So if what you guys are saying is true, that the primary advantages of commercial ops are having multiple pilots onboard, better machinery, and additional people involved, then us private GA guys don't stand a chance of improving the safety record? Obviously we can't be expanding our crew and such. So is the GA safety record doomed to remain as abysmal as it is? Or is there stuff we can learn from what it takes 2 people to do, in order for us to do that on our own?

Sorry, mine is in for annual or I might have gone (bad date for me either way though).

I think our dentist friend will take more than just a kick in the pants to see the light

I added wx500 just a few months ago. It helps you distinguish if the picture you see on radar is convective or not.

That simply isn't true. All mechanical accounts for 10% of GA fatalities, and vfr into imc accounts for 5%. Based on 2009 stats, of 233 fatal accidents, 24 were mechanical and 12 were vfr into imc. 147 were deemed pilot error. 111 of those fatal accidents involved a stall (60 in the landing phase). In other words 48% of GA fatalities are stall related! (Some of you should think again before criticizing AOA indicators). Based on the same report, if you exclude crop dusting, there are practically no fatal accidents in commercial GA. What are they doing right that we are doing wrong? Why do they tend not to stall but we do? BTW the answer may not have so much to do with hours and ratings cause when ATP and Commercial pilots get behind the wheel of a private GA aircraft, they perform by only a few percent safer than the inexperienced private guy. What's that all about? What's the secret to commercial safety then? Does it really come down to company rules?

This is the best justification for HAVING an AOA indicator. Rather than reacting to the stall horn or making all these weight, cg, bank angle, speed assessments (even if you're not sitting there with a calculator it's a lot to think about in a moment's notice), you can simply fly the plane and validate that with the AOA. In my typical pattern, of course I use the ASI. I use the ASI as an approximation of where I want to be. I fly the pitch attitude and validate with the ASI. My typically only reads below 100 knots so I don't reference it till base leg. I fly the speeds till then because they are good enough and leave plenty of margin. But as I begin those pattern turns, I'll glance at the AOA and not the ASI because knowing my speed in the turn is irrelevant. It's the AOA that is critical. Then on final, I mainly look outside and fly the plane, validate this with AOA and make adjustments if necessary, and only ocassionaly glance at the ASI as a cross reference to get a better idea of what speed the AOA puts me for that condition. Can I fly a good pattern without the AOA? Especially with all the data points I've learned having it, absolutely. Can I safely fly the pattern without the AOA or ASI? I'm pretty sure. But if you can justify that an ASI is beneficial to necessary for safely flying the pattern, then it's a good justification for the AOA cause it's actually the right tool for the job. Using the ASI for stall safety and performance climbs is like using a mop to wash carpet. It may work but it's not the right tool for the job. Because the stall horn is only reactive. It only warns you when you've already screwed up. The AOA indicator gives you a visual read out of your angle of attack and helps you learn to fly (in all phases of the pattern) in the optimal configuration. In that steepening base/final turn scenario, the AOA will show you to stop increasing bank angle rather than the stall warning which is only going to give you a moments notice to try to recover. Also the AOA indicator helps you fly the right AOA to maintain 1.3Vso in any configuration, it helps you maintain Vx/Vy for a performance climb. You don't have to take all other variables (weight, cg, flaps, bank angle) into account because the indication is always valid regardless of configuration.