larryb

North east vs south west

My Encore sees a headwind on 75% of its flights.

I scanned all of my logbooks when I bought the plane and store them in Dropbox. Every year after annual I scan the pages since the last annual. No way am I going to take the risk of losing that data. It really wasn't a huge job to do the scanning, probably under 2 hours.

In the iPad world, GPS and cellular go together. You don't get a GPS chip if you don't buy the cellular connectivity option. In the case where I lost panel mount GPS and the iPad kept working I don't really know why. Perhaps it used a different constellation, but it doesn't tell you what it's using. Perhaps it has a better GPS receiver. I didn't check my phone.

I have no shortage of TSO'd GPS receivers. 2 GTN 650's and 2 Aspens with their backup GPS receivers. I also have two portables, a 796 and my trusty iPad. One day I"m on a trip from CA to MT and all of my expensive panel mounted and IFR legal GPS receivers go off line somewhere in Nevada or Oregon. Not a big surprise because I'd been hearing aircraft ahead of me complaining about the same problem to ATC. And it was VFR. I suppose it was military testing. The one GPS that never lost signal, the iPad.

The event likely happens so fast that you will never see anything on the ammeter or engine monitor. You would need a digital oscilloscope to see a glitch like this. When the field CB trips it is either the field wire contacting ground, or it is an overvoltage scenario where the voltage regulator intentionally grounds the field in order to trip the CB and end the overvoltage condition. If this problem is indeed related to the transmitter, then the voltage regulator is seeing a phantom voltage spike and tripping the CB intentionally.

So that splitter in the bottom of the pic, the one with one port open, what radio does it go to? What is the label for that open port? It is generally a bad idea to leave a splitter port un-terminated. Strange reflections can result. So the first thing I would do for this strange problem is terminate that port. The part in the link below would do nicely. If that didn't do it, I'd un-screw the regulator and zip tie it somewhere else, away from those RF cables. Back in 1992 I had a new Ford Explorer. I installed a vhf/uhf ham radio and any time I transmitted the cruise control would drop out. On a whim, I found the cruise control module, removed it, and opened it up. I found the circuit board had a nice ground plane design, but manufacturing hadn't bothered to solder all of the components on both sides of the board. In other words, the ground plane wasn't grounded. I soldered all of the component ground wires on the top of the board and the module never dropped out on transmission again. The designers had made a good design, but manufacturing took a shortcut and caused a hard to find problem. Larry https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mini-Circuits/BTRM-50%2b?qs=xZ%2FP%2Ba9zWqacVsew%2FI1UMw%3D%3D

I learned right here on MS that these can come loose and replacement was expensive. So every flight I check them. Sure enough one day one was loose, so I ordered the proper adhesive, and re-glued it. A total non-event due to learning from others.

On the J it is possible to change the oil without dropping the cowl. I had a quick drain, and when I completed the flight before the change I would connect the tube and activate the quick drain. A day or two later, as EricJ says above, all of the oil will have drained, including the oil in the filter itself. But yes, if you change the oil immediately after flight there will be a ton of oil all over the place. That said, it is always a good idea to inspect everything during the oil change. So I do recommend knowing how to drop the cowl. I would tie a 1/4" cord from one camlock hole, across the top, to the matching camlock hole on the other side. Then loosen all of the other camlocks. Put a 5 gallon bucket below the cowl in front of the nose gear. Once all the fasteners are un-done, untie the cord from one side and gently lower onto the bucket, holding the cowl on your side, and lowering the other side with the cord. Now that I have an Encore with the carbon fiber cowl, I no longer need the cord trick. It's light enough that I can un-do all of the camlocks and then stand in front and below the prop, wiggle it loose, and lower it on to the bucket.

I also bought the Alpha jacks. I bought them when I needed to change my own tire. I am sure I could have rigged up something cheaper, but in this case the cost of a failure so very high I didn't want to take any chances.

I don't shoot for 96 as my target, but no problems getting into the 94-95 range. I use the lowest setting for up to 12,500 and up two clicks for flights higher up to 18,000. I use the MH OxyArm on my Bose headset. I found the tape mounting inadequate so used JB weld to attach the ball to the headset. That will last at least 2-3 years before I have to reattach it. For me it's not so much the cost of the O2 fills as it is the convenience. I can go a year on my built-in tank with every single flight using O2. I'll never have to fill away from home.

I always just bring my laptop. But if the reason you didn't bring yours is it's big and heavy and expensive, consider an educational laptop. They are made for kids in school. I bought one last year on sale for $150. They are cheap, small, light, and durable. If you lose it or it's stolen, you aren't out much. You can toss it in your bag without a case. Performance is not great, but adequate for this use. Lenovo is always putting them on sale, so just watch their site for a few weeks and you are guaranteed to find a good deal. https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad11e/thinkpad-yoga-11e-(5th-gen)/20lms09v00

3M Dual Lock https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Reclosable-Fastener-SJ3550-Black/dp/B07STXS463/ref=asc_df_B07STXS463/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=344024262602&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2244750348005263521&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1014208&hvtargid=pla-774142944186&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=70729705873&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=344024262602&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2244750348005263521&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1014208&hvtargid=pla-774142944186

I’ve posted this before. Here is how I solved the clutter problem. I bought some extra tubing and push connectors on eBay and routed the tubes behind the panel. Tube to the tank runs behind the pilot side wall. I used short piece of spiral wrap to attach the tube to the headset cord.

It happens. My MSC is 20 minute flight away but I have worked with a local mechanic here and there if there is problem where you can’t fly to your main shop. It’s all about building good working relationships.

For 4 people on a regular basis you need a 6 seat airplane.

My first airplane after my PPL in the mid 80's was a Grumman Yankee. It had the 150 HP STC'd IO320 installed, so it had very good performance. The downside was it only had 22 gallons fuel, so no long legs. I had it about 5 years and 500 hours. A Tiger would have been nice, but just starting out back then the Yankee was what I could afford.

I turn off the field before shutdown and turn it on after startup. The reason I do it is to preserve as much battery power for the starter as possible. Before start the voltage regulator sees a lower voltage than it wants. Therefore it commands full field current in an attempt to bring up the voltage. It has no idea the engine is not running. This field current is around 5 amps. 10 amps if you have dual alternators. Since airplane batteries are very small, I'd like to save all possible current for the engine start and not waste it.

At least a few years ago these weren’t that expensive. My shop just replaced one that was cloudy.

The first question to ask is "Do I need it?" Most modern avionics have internal fans and do not need a blower anymore. That happened to me, after an avionics upgrade the installed avionics blower was still there but all the hoses were stuffed in the console and not connected to any equipment. Once I discovered that I had it removed. And I still have it in the hangar if somebody needs a 28V avionics blower.

When I had my J model I had the 796 XM puck under the glare shield and it worked perfectly, always a strong signal. When I got my Encore I tried the same and it never worked. Weak signal, dropouts in turns, etc. Tried to find a place on top of the glare shield and that didn't work either. Tried a couple different pucks, no improvement. I figured there must have been some interference source in the panel area that was messing with the signal. Eventually I transitioned to a GDL52-R mounted in the tail and hard-wired to the 796 and the audio panel for music. I already had an XM antenna mounted on the top of the cabin from the legacy GDL69 and I had a 2nd ADSB-in antenna installed under the belly pan. This gave me solid signal strength for XM, a 2nd ADSB-in receiver, and no visible wiring.

In my experience the problem has always been the flap relay. There are several versions. A skilled mechanic or avionics shop could do a component level repair and replace the relays even if they are soldered to the board.

My mid time IO 360 used a quart every 4 to 5 hours during the 5 years I owned it. More during IFR training and less during my normal cross country usage.

I print in PETG for almost everything. I’ll print in ABS if I really need the higher temperature rating. I did the wingtip light project in ABS because of the heat. ABS requires a heated enclosure to avoid warpage.

Well it has the carbon fiber cowl to offset the heavier interior. So light!