NotarPilot

What the H! 40 hours to install 3 servos???!!! I have a difficult time believing it takes 13 hours to install one servo.

I’ll likely be selling my S-TEC 30 once Dynon gets their AP approved. What are used S-TEC 30 systems going for nowadays?

I don’t know which one you’re being more optimistic about. That the AP will be available first quarter 2021 or that there will be an Oshkosh in 2021.

I use a couple of short bungee cords from Harbor Freight slung around the yoke handles in a similar manner to keep the ailerons from flapping in the wind when the plan it outside. It has worked for years and I park it outside a lot on a ramp with helicopters when she takes me to work.

I can’t imagine that the Seneca market surpasses in the number of units they could sell over Mooneys. Even the Baron’s numbers are a little more than half (6,884) of the number of Mooneys produced (11,000+). Dynon must really think we’re a bunch of cheap bastards.

I just watched him on the news. Great story and a true inspiration. What is better then seeing a vet flying a Mooney on veteran’s day?

I also sent mine to Aero Comfort about 4 years ago and could not be happier. They’re not cheap but quality comes at a price. Definitely worth the money. Looking at my invoice from May 2016 I paid $850 for the custom leather wrapped yokes with black and gray leather. I also had the glare shield done for $400. They really did a great job.

That’s great to hear. I took my J to Crown in 2016 and would not go back to them. I didn’t care for their billing practices. They really nickel and dimed me to pad the bill. They Bill ended up being the most expensive in my experience owning an airplane at $6,000 and they didn’t really do anything special to the plane. It was generally a minor annual where they found a few minor squawks and changed the tires for me. Then I get slapped with a $6k bill with things like .25 hour for oil sample and .5 hour to replace cotter pins in the seat rails. I was not happy. I would never go back to Crown. I truly hope Coast Air Center is better.

Art-Craft in Santa Maria, CA (KSMX) Notice I put the name next to the airport code, people. I’ve had a N number reserved for about 8 years that’s going on the plane. Great point!

I know we’re all supposed to do it when the engine is inactive that long but are people really pickling their engines when they’re in the paint shop for 3 months? I’m scheduled for avionics, tank reseal and paint early next year and even the thought of 6 weeks without the engine running makes me cringe a little. And the quote I got, just to add to the discussion, was about $18.5k for the paint and that’s including a pearl white base with two metallic trims. I settled on about $23k with having the windows replaced too. I also employed Scheme Designers to help me with the design. I had an idea of a design I saw on a helicopter that I really liked and they were able to apply that to my 201 and I’m really happy with the way it came out. I’m very excited for 2021.

Wow! That’s a good chunk of weight.

I’m going to put the Dynon Skyview system in my plane. I’m going to do two screens, 10” and 7”. Can I ask now much weight in useful load was gained once the ripped but the old instruments and put in the Skyview?

I plan to 86 my keyed ignition and install an Electroair push button system to engage the starter but had some concerns about not having a key needed to start the engine. I looked for an economical throttle lock but couldn’t find one so I made my own using some aluminum tubing that I cut (about $12 for both tubes), a hinge from Home Depot (About $1.79 for a pair) and some pop rivets using a rivet tool. I had the spare lock in my junk drawer. I realize anything can be defeated but it would definitely slow someone down. It actually came out pretty good. I cut the bare aluminum to fit inside the red anodized aluminum to “hug” the throttle rod better and give it more “thickness.” The rest is basically just drilling and riveting. Sorry the photos came out sideways, that’s not how I took them.

This reminds me of the scene in Commando where Arnold Schwarzenegger gets in that little car and tears the front seat out first so he can sit on the rear seat and have enough room to drive.

I’m a CFI and would be happy to help you out as well. I’m based out of Long Beach (KLGB) PM me if you’re interested and I’ll send you my number.

Thanks for the responses. I’m going to get it.

I’m scheduled to have a full panel upgrade in a few months and considering installing the Electroair Ignition switch in place of the turn key ignition switch. This is similar to a system I’ve seen in late model Piper Warriors and Archers. One of my concerns is the lack of a key needed to start the engine and the potential facilitation of aircraft theft this could create. This can be mitigated by other security features like a prop lock, aileron lock, etc, as we know the door lock could be easily picked. Any opinions about this product? Anyone have it?

Survey submitted. Go Dynon!!! I need a new AP! #FirstWorldProblems

I’m ready to upgrade my panel and I’m simply waiting on a rumored D10A replacement to be released.

Yes, unaided hovering in IMC is impossible. I’ve never heard of someone being able to do it. Hovering is possible by having exterior visual references to keep the aircraft level. Also, most helicopters have a slightly tilted mast to the left on American (counterclockwise rotating rotor system) helicopters and to the right on French (clockwise) helicopters to counteract something called translating tendency, which is to counteract the force of the tail rotor trust pushing the entire aircraft to the left or right. They usually slightly tilt the mast, in the design of the helicopter, to counteract this. Some helicopters may have their controls rigged to counteract this but don’t ask me which, I think most have tilted masts. Point being is that in a hover the helicopter slightly leans to the left or right. I’ve sometimes closed my eyes while allowing another pilot to fly and try to sense the turns and let me tell you it is VERY difficult to feel what the helicopter is doing without exterior references. Helicopters ARE inherently unstable, you are correct. Here you can see the helicopter slightly leaning left.

Just the opinion of the little guy. Glad I could help. Having started flying when I was 15, long before I even liked airplanes, I learned that people who only fly one category of aircraft tend not to fully understand the other. Fixed wing guys tend to fly high up at several thousand feet while helicopter drivers tend to fly at several hundred feet, almost always in VFR, so when you start throwing around terms like TAWS and flight following you need to put that into the context of how most helicopters are operated.

The edit button seems to be missing. I want to add that I further believe TAWS would not have helped much being that the pilot, to my knowledge, learned to fly and spent most of his flying career in the LA area and was likely very familiar with the area. Especially if he had been ferrying Kobe on this route between Orange County and his Mumba academy in Thousand Oaks. That further makes me believe any TAWS warnings would likely have been disabled long before he reached the area near the accident, especially if he already knew the terrain like most of us do. I personally have flown that route in both FW and RW aircraft. The likely route would have been to follow the 101 freeway through the rising terrain and stay directly over the freeway (turnpike for you east coasters). Evidently the rising terrain pushed him up into the clouds and he wasn’t prepared for that.

I agree that the PMA 450C needs to have an LCD color screen. Maybe even touchscreen.

I have a little over 6,000 hours of SE turbine time and some newer helicopters do have the ability to auto hover on AP. The USCG helicopters have it as well as the AW139s that LA City Fire has (Not sure if that’s a standard feature or an option) but this is a somewhat newer technology on newer designs. Truth is Kobe went cheap and was flying in a 29 year old helicopter that although was IFR capable, was not IFR certified either by lack of equipment but definitely by lack of authorization on their 135 certificate. Bristow, PHI, EMS operators all operate similar for smaller helicopters under IFR on their 135 operating certificates but for whatever reason Island Express did not have this authorization quite possibly due to expense, if I had to guess. I highly doubt this helicopter had this magic honor button you speak of. Hell the company didn’t even seem to spring for a 530 with TAWS in the helicopter from what it sounds like. Also, we keep having this argument about flight following, TAWS, and what not, yet I’m still failing to understand what those things would have done to save them. Let me explain.... 1. Flight following - Generally provides assistance for calling out traffic and weather such as rain or convective weather. ATC cannot see clouds and has to rely on surface weather reporting stations or PIREPS to get an idea on what visibility looks like in a particular area. The pilot didn’t need to be told that the weather was shitty. He was in it and continued to press on. I spoke with line people from a local FBO who dealt with Kobe and they said the guy treated people very poorly. Did his pilot feel pressure to continue flying in poor weather because he felt otherwise he might not still have that job tomorrow if he didn’t complete the mission? Yes, I know, the PIC has the final authority but that’s easy to say coming from a majority of guys who own their own aircraft and don’t have to make hard “go, no go” decisions like that. We can only speculate whether he felt his job was on the line but based on information we have about Kobe it needs to be considered if we want to do an honest discussion about all the contributors to this accident. 2. What would TAWS have really done but alert them that they were about to hit the ground in 10 seconds. Let me explain again, I fly a helicopters equipped with a 530W and the other with a 650. Both have these pretty Garmin G500s that show synthetic vision and even give aural alerts when we get close to terrain. We fly in VFR and sometimes at low altitudes below 1,000 feet and even below 500 feet. As soon as we get close to terrain we just about always inhibit the aural warnings on the G500 because we really don’t need them and all they do is announce “Terrain, terrain” which we can already see. We’re in VFR and the only way we would impact terrain is if we had an engine failure at a really bad location or we intentionally kamakazied into a hillside. Point being is that at the altitude he was flying he probably would have disabled his TAWS aural alerts probably near the LA Zoo, which has some terrain in that vicinity, if not earlier. It seems he was set on completing the mission No matter what and the only equipment onboard that could have said their lives was a different pilot who made better decisions. Sorry, that’s the facts as I see them. This landed squarely on the PIC and maybe to some extent anyone applying “external pressures” on him. I get what the lawyers are trying to do here, there’s a tremendous amount of money at stake but really this is about trying to shift responsibility and not accepting responsibility which is one thing that has always bothered me about society in general. Sorry if they seem harsh but it’s the truth as I see it.

And sometimes they talk too much...