DrBill

If my 430 was not WAAS, I would surely spend the $3k to upgrade it. Make sure his quote includes the new antenna and install. BILL

Thanks Turbo, I'll take it apart next week and I have a supply of 1/8 ball bearings. BILL

Looks like either the sensor died or the wire to the sensor is open. The sensor is wheel that turns when fuel flows. That wheel generates a signal (pulse) that equals a certain amount of fuel (the actual amount depends on the sensor model). Your gauge simply counts pulses per unit of time and indicates according to a table built into the unit. There should be troubleshooting available in the service manual for the model you have. BILL

John, The problem with my cable is the center locking system is toast. BILL

The center "push to release" came out of my Ram air cable. It now moves freely back and forth manually. The mechanic says I need a new cable but he could not find one that would work with the RAM AIR light. Any ideas how to repair/replace this antique? BILL

Most cell phone antennas are VERY directional and are set with a down beam of at LEAST 5 degrees from a 200-300 ft tower. Each cell is usually dividen into 6 subcells. I find that analog cell access is decent up to about 2000 AGL. Over that it gets spotty. Each cell is about 3 mi in diameter MAX so at 120MPH, You are switching towers every 1.5 mins, given 3 cells in that tower (from say East to North to West), you're switching cells every 30 seconds. Lots' of opportunity for a dropped call. i did my PhD thesis on Survivability of Wireless (cellphone) networks. Google heybruck thesis. .It was fun times... BILL Oh.. regarding the 9/11 calls, they used the AIRPHONES in the aircraft not their personal cellphones as the media would like you to believe.

I print off a copy of the PDF and leave it at the airport pilot lounge. A week later it is well worn ! BILL

In my E model, the 25 ohm reostat is in series with the dash bulbs (unknown draw) and the two "map"lights which are 0.6A at 13.5V. let's just consider the two map lights. With the reostat at "0" (full bright) the battery will deliver 1.2A at 13.5 volts which is equivalent to a load of 11.25 ohms. Now is we turn the reostat to 1/2 bright (12.5 ohms) th total resistance is 23.75 ohms and the current will drop to 0.57A. Thus, the reostat dimmer does in fact reduce the load on the battery . Some models may use an electronic dimmer (like your home dimmer) which turns the bulb on and off at various rates to control brightness. These also reduce the bulb load to the battery. The reason the reostat gets hot is that over time, more bulbs are added to the dash circuit which decreases the net resistance of the bulbs. The reostat is designed for a given maximum load. at full dim. 7.3 watts in this case (25 ohms, 13.5 v). At half bright (12.5 ohms) that power would be exceeded (over heat) with a load of 0.8A or roughly the equivalent of 4 map light bulbs. I think my panel has about 10 bulbs plus the 2 map lights and although the dash bulbs are smaller and use less than the map lights, it is easy to see that tha reostat would be overloaded at 1/2 bright or less. I'll be glad to share the technical detail with anyone if interested. BILL

That's where my tank is when in use. When not in use, or planned, I have it in the baggage compartment. Have a good trip ! BILL

I just assisted a Cherokee driver in solving his battery issue earlier this week. The battery(Gill sealed) was 1 year old, so we put it on charge overnight and really did not suspect it as bad. We disconnected the battery negative lead and measured absolutely no drain on the battery with the master off. We reconnected the battery and measured the voltage at 12.9. The next morning we checked the voltage and it had dropped to 12.3. That told me the battery was toast. The engine barely started and the voltage dropped to under 10 during cranking and the voltage jumped up to 13.9 after the engine started and while charging. That told me the alternator was charging properly. The owner ordered a new .Concorde sealed battery and installed it yesterday. After 24 hours, the battery voltage remains over 13 with the master off. The owner was suspicious of the battery but he was using a Battery Minder when not flying (aircraft model) and he found that at times, the plane was hard to crank. Good Luck, hope this helps. BILL

You may be getting some interference from another device. A few years ago, I worked on a special miniature hard disk drive for GPS applications. We gave Garmin about 50 pre-production models and they worked great. When I replaced them with production, the GPS would not acquire. Turns out in their great wisdom, the development team changed the clock frequency in the drive and the new clock was an exact multiple of the GPS carriers. The new HDDs were causing a de-sense in the GPS and it could not "hear" any satellites. Your symptoms sound exactly like that. Same thing if you had an intermittant coax connection. BILL

I've purchased my two aircraft without escrow. Since I have the money, I wrote the purchase agreement. I included t's and c's relative to the prebuy. All airworthy items are to be covered by the seller. The seller may elect to cancel the agreement at prebuy by paying for the prebuy inspection. I'd go and see the plane, take it for a ride, and give the purchase agreement and a $1000 deposit after we argeed on price. . We would then arrange the prebuy (place already decided during the negotiation) and basically the agreement says that upon successful prebuy inspection, I give the seller a cashiers check for the balance and he provides the FAA transfer paperwork (that I got from the local FSDO). I would prearrange for insurance as of the day of prebuy inspection and would call them to activate if all went well. If I cancelled the sale, I pay the prebuy and seller keeps the deposit. During the ride, I would check ALL avionics for operation. I also got my own title search prior to the agreement (AOPA). Bill

PNP flight today Salisbury NC to Fredericksburg VA. Smooth flight both ways about 1 hr IMC each way. "Happy" is a lucky dog to be placed there. BILL

I installed Avare on my Vizio and it is GREAT. Used it today on my PNP flight (5.4 hrs) VERY responsive and no problems at all. BILL

I get instructions like that a LOT from Raleigh tower. Taking off to the west, they ask that I turn to 300 INSIDE THE TOWER ! So as soon as I lift off, gear up, I'm in a standard rate turn to 300 (or whatever they ask for). It's always been on a VFR day and I always file IFR departures. I've landed there in IMC but not departed. BILL

Here's what I've learned about starting after my last annual. Due to an un-documented AD verification, we had to pull the left mag and inspect some parts to verify they had been replaced (they were). So the A&P had a friend do this for him who was familart with Bendix mags and gave it back. He put it in and the plane was hard to start hot or cold. Would only start when I let the key off. So we pulled the left mag and found that: A: the left mag contains 2 sets of points. One start, one run. The start set is retarded to almost TDC to ease starting. The run set is set at about 20 deg Before TDC. The start set in my case was not opening. Hence, my starter was cranking and no spart until I let the key off and then the run set took over. We pulled the mag, adjusted the start set, reinstalled and verified the timing and VOILA.. all was as good as new. SO.. I suspect your start set is mal adjusted and once you get it straight you'll be AOK. Of course I too have a skytec starter and I don't think I could have gotten it started at all with the old prestolite.

When I found a plug out of spec, I changed the 4 highest. The next annual, I changed the other 4. Spread the cost over a year and now I have some "good" spares. Courtesy of my A&P I have some really bad ones. I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post here. It's amazing how egg shaped the electrode can get. So, besides a high ohm reading, and oblong electrode is what my A&P looks for. Oh yea, I use Tempest Massives since I don't have a fouling issue. BILL

I have an STEC 30 with Alt Hold and GPSS with the 430W. AWESOME. I'd get your system fixed and upgraded with Alt Hold.

When I tested my "old" plugs, I found it very difficult to get a good connection on each surface. Had to "scratch" both probes to get any reading. Had the issue even with the new plugs. BILL

I find that over 8000 ft I'm at WOT (wide open throttle) trying to get to 24in at 2400 rpm. I think around 11K, i'm down to around 20 inches (maybe less). Fuel flow is 8gph. TAS about 140kts. with 54 gal tanks, 10 gal reserve, that's 44 gal would give you 5 hrs cruise (4 gal for the climb). 5 hr at 130 (conservative) is 650nm range. How much range do you need ? BILL

To really troubleshoot the problem you need to measure the current draw of the switch/breaker. The easy way is to measure the total battery current in the back of the plane near the master relay or battery. Measure total current with master on, then measure again with the switch in question on. Typically a 10 amp breaker/switch should run with 8 amps all day and all night. If your load is over 8-9 amps, I suspect a load issue. Note this 8-9amps is the DIFFERENCE between the normal main current and the additional current with your collision lights on. I would suspect your typical current is about 3-5 amps for the beacon and same for the strobes. I have an old rotating beacon I can measure if that helps. BILL

Last night I gassed up the plane for a flight Monday morning. I used the new LED light on the way back to the hangar. I have to adjust it. WAY TOO HIGH. I'd say about 5degrees up. Nice bright spot on the middle of the trees on the other side of the runway !! BILL

Now I know why I love my Mooney so much. BILL

I just ordered the book.. THanks BILL

You will not go wrong with the Concorde. I replaced mine after 5 years of service and now it is used to start my home generator. This way I can keep an eye on it with a battery minder more often than in the hangar. BILL