201er

Pretty soon it will be like the 80s and you’ll just take your 430 with you.

You coming tomorrow?

You find yourself a non-equity partner, preferably someone who values building time, give them the keys and let them take care of it for you.

For the younger folks here, here's a more accessible explanation in cloud networking terms

Any updates about the new plane?

Alan's not messing around. He'll have the wings and tail off by dinner time if he doesn't catch a whiff of the scent of money.

You guys know Alan Fox right? Grim Reaper? Well he got hold of this 1975 M20F. Heard something about the owner losing his marbles so his wife's making him hang it up or something. Anyway, the Lycoming I0-360-A1A has low compression on one jug but with around 600 hours on the engine is totally fine. Well you guessed it, the Reaper is just after the goodies and would rather part the whole thing out than replace one cylinder and get it back in the air. Alan told me this morning that unless someone offers him at least $25,000, he'll make more money selling the engine core and radios. This M20F is in pretty good shape, not too beat up. Has new interior, completely redone panel a couple years ago, original paint, low time engine. Dual Aspen's, GTN650, JPI930, ADSB, it's got the works. And you know Alan can't wait to get his hands on Chris's goodies. So if anyone's looking for a nice F and is willing to offer over $25k, leave a comment below and we'll see if we can save this plane from the hands of the Grim Reaper!

Ever since @Marauder introduced us to his friends, they don’t stop showing up in the ads!

Mooneys can slow down or descend. Just not at the same time.

My SOP is to burn out the less full tank in cruise when I’m getting that low and save the last 20 gallons to be single tank operation. This ensures that when I’m most concerned, busy, and nervous (go around, destination airport gets closed, need to divert, very little fuel left), switching tanks is the one thing I no longer need to remember to do.

The bigger Signature gets, not only the higher the prices, but the crappier the service! Almost without fail, the more expensive an FBO is, the crappier the service.

I find the word learner to be offensive! It is exclusive of individuals who are fricken dumbasses and can't seem to learn anything! Isn't aviation by definition not inclusive? You have to take a bunch of tests and spend a ton of money. Why not just do away with the tests if you don't want people to be students?

Well Part 61 still calls it a Student Pilot and a Student. Is it possible that they added the word learner to differentiate a rank prior to student. Student Pilot is an actual term from the regs meaning someone who received a Student Pilot Certificate and with an instructor sign off is allowed to fly solo. Maybe a “learner” is the bottom of the barrel of incapability, beneath Student Pilot. A man, or a woman or anything else he wants to call himself, that has not applied for a medical/Student Pilot Certificate but engages in the act of learning to fly an airplane. The learner has yet to become a Student Pilot. FAA seems pretty clear about what a Student Pilot is: https://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/student_cert/

Let’s rename passengers, transportees while we’re at it.

@Parker_Woodruff, so how does insurance see it? Does insurance see confidence as a negative feature for pilots? What about 5, 10 or 20 years experience? How do they see a 30 year old with 10 years experience vs a 60 year old with 10 years experience and equal hours?

Does that imply that confidence is the antithesis to safety? Confidence doesn’t look all to helpful in that comparison.

Thanks a lot…. Now Amazon is sending me emails recommending seat belt extenders! I wouldn’t be surprised if @Marauder gets emails like this all the time! @Marauder, do you have to double up on the extenders for your dates? Is that even possible?

Before you blame the bulb, be sure to check the power supply. That’s what went bad on mine. Lucky I replaced that and not the bulb cause it’s still good a decade since.

Dan Bass is a folk hero. He's done the circuit, TV, AOPA, Mooney Summit. There's videos of him talking about it on youtube as well. But, nothing like hearing it straight from him in person.

Started in gliders at 18, airplanes 20, Mooney 24. Looking back at my logbook, I had 23 flights in a Piper Arrow before getting my 201, 21 in a Skyhawk, but my goodness I felt like I had mastered those planes. I don't know if they were just that much easier to fly or it was a novice attitude (haven't been back up in them since having a Mooney to find out). But nowadays I can fly that many flights in a couple trips or a few months. I log enough time to make minimums from Private Pilot every time I change my oil! I dunno, flying was a lot easier and more confident back then.

Is it just me? The more I've been flying the less sense of confidence I carry. Reflecting back on over 17 years of aviating, I've been realizing that I had less concern and felt more adept at carrying out a flight the further I go back. Now I don't know if it is more attributable to age or flying experience. Inevitably both progress forward together. Past a certain point in my flying history, I have been seeing a gradual but downward trend in confidence. In the beginning, it is all up up up. You learn something new, you solo, you earn a certificate... you get all these milestones and accomplishments that say "you know what you're doing." However, past a certain point, it seems like it's only the opposite. Something breaks, I have a bad flight, screw something up, lose a friend, read about an accident... Here's a rough sketch of how I feel my overall flying confidence level has progressed over time. Most of the peaks are represented by milestone accomplishments, dips are scares, and a steady overall downward trend ever since. With time it seems that more and more I discover how much I don't know and how much I am capable of screwing up. Now in the beginning, this is something you are entirely unaware of. But, with experience, I discover naive thinking or unknowing mistakes of times past. Carrying this greater amount of awareness is burdensome. It also makes me comprehend slightly better how much I don't know or have the potential to screw up than back then. Or perhaps the skills are fading with time? Back at just a few hundred hours flying time, I was ready to launch in any weather, land on the shortest runways. And I was sharp. Or at least it seemed that way. It always seemed like I could do it, no problem. With time, I'm more and more reluctant testing the edge of my envelope. And it's not for lack of instruction or ratings. I still get regular flight reviews, IPC's, added a rating. Doesn't seem to make a difference. My 10th flight lesson, I probably learned more than in my last 10 flight reviews (or IPC)! Does this happen to everyone? Does anyone actually get more confident as they get older or gain a lot of flight time? I'm not really sure if I have a specific question or a point I'm trying to make. Just an observation. Not sure if it's better to be blissfully unaware or to be burdened with progressively greater awareness that erodes at confidence. Is there an antidote and would I even want one?

When do you change your oil? Do you do it based on hours or months?

While I was in the Phoenix area recently, I met up with the Fly With The Guys Guy, Carl. We had a chance to chat about aviation over lunch and shoot a few videos together. Likely, you're not aware of his channel because his content is mainly geared toward beginners and pre-certificated pilots. However, he does a great job explaining things in simple terms so it's a great way to help the community. My wife particularly enjoys his videos as we watch them over lunch. She says that he explains basic concepts better than I do. You can find Carl's Fly With The Guys channel here: https://www.youtube.com/flywiththeguys

What if he didn't crash it in the first 10 hours... Got over 10 hours solo successfully and then crashed it at some later point? However, he still has not logged 10 hours dual as required per insurance. @Parker_Woodruff, would this void his insurance for a future accident, even years later?