wishboneash

Shouldn't your anger first be vented at the dbag who has something personal against you? The FAA is doing its "job", akin to the cops coming to investigate based on someone providing a tip. Moreover, how did they enter your aircraft? There must be more to this story.

I use the fuel dip stick before and after every flight and record it. When below around 20g, the tank is dry as far as the fuel stick measurement is concerned. I know exactly how much fuel I have and can make short flights under this condition. Along with the EDM-700 (FF option) and gauges, one should not run out of fuel.

Based on the article, which I feel is very plausible as well, the aircraft might have flown over the Maldives, perhaps seen on Sri Lankan radar and down into the ocean near Seychelles. Also, the US should have something radar data from Diego Garcia which is highly militarized.

Seems like a good theory. Radar coverage is probably spotty over the Indian ocean and with the passengers incapacitated, no texts, no calls. If the plane ran out of fuel, it's probably somewhere off the E African coast. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

It seems the intent was to steal the plane for nefarious purposes. The passengers might have been rendered unconscious or even killed by depressurization at very high altitude. Then pilot delivers aircraft to some terrorist organization in one of these central Asian countries. The lead pilot was a simulator nut and may know about radar locations and holes in coverage in those regions. He could have evaded Chinese and Indian radar north of the Himalayan region. Just a WAG! Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

I used to have Champion massives (came with the plane when I bought it). The resistance on some of the plugs were over 20k ohms.. I switched to Tempest massives a year ago. Much more consistent resistance under 4k ohms.

"Metam" for Android. Weather app, metars etc. Allows you to specify a route and it will pick up all the METARs of airports found along the route.

All well and good. One is also not supposed to run out of fuel, land gear up or the countless other stupid, dumb things intelligent, smart pilots tend to do. I am approaching this issue in a cautious manner since I have been flying for 20+ years without this instrument and have done just fine. Having this instrument will provide additional non-redundant information at a very low cost and tell me visually/confirm what I already know (but with better accuracy and little need for interpolation during a high workload situation).

Tim Congratulations on the purchase. You will find out soon enough about the state of the plane. Flying it from TN to CA was a good test for the engine. Please PM me if you want to get to know more about the J. It was good to see the bird in person yesterday.

Knowing the power settings and if the altimeter is not moving you know you are at constant airspeed. Reduce power and you are going to descend at the same airspeed. Increase power and you climb at the same airspeed. If the VSI is working that is a bonus. So altimeter is probably most critical. With the AI working you can adjust airspeed as well with a certain pitch up or pitch down attitude. an AoA indicator would be even better.

DaV8or, I don't agree with you (even though I would like to believe what you said!). Non ADS-B out aircraft, but with Mode C/S will be detected by my GDL-88 if and only if that aircraft is in ATC radar coverage and my aircraft is in ADS-B ground station coverage. It's a good point that MB65E brings up. There could be several possibilities and I am making WAGs here! (1) ADS-B is a different system from the primary/secondary radar and if not fully integrated into his display he might not have seen this separation issue (unlikely). (2) He might have been busy - lots of jets going in and out of SFO (likely) (3) Since the other plane was also fairly low, he might have not had it on his radar for very long to have noticed it (also quite likely). (4) The other plane also had an UAT or 1090 ADS-B out (plausible, but unlikely given it was a C152/C172). (5) He figured it was VMC and so it becomes pilot's responsibility to see and avoid (see - 2). In any case, it worked out. I would not have been happy with the Skyguard solution (no direct display on the GPS) since I am sure I would have missed the warning, if I got one, to alert me the way this one did! The way I understand it is that, the GDL-88 triggers the ground receivers (encoding and rebroadcasting my mode C txpdr info plus other info like position etc). The ADS-B signal is received by the GDL-88 and GDL-39 and displayed on various devices in the cockpit. If the other aircraft only had ADS-B in, but not seeing the ADS-B ground receivers, I don't believe my ADS-B out would have helped either party.

The ADS-B out probably saved me today from a possible mid-air. I was on an IFR flight plan into Half Moon Bay, CA airport and on the GPS Z RWY 30 approach between WOHLI and the rwy threshold. I got an annunciation (voice & flashing display on the GTN-650) of an aircraft a mile away and at 12 'o clock on my descent to the MDA (I was probably around 1500-2000 ft MSL then). Apparently ATC had lost radar coverage and didn't say anything. Since it was VMC, I deviated 10 deg to the right. A few seconds later, I saw a Cessna 152/172 pass on my left about 500-1000 ft away. I told ATC I had avoided an aircraft and at that time they told me I was not in radar coverage. Since the field was coming out of IMC, there weren't any aircraft in the pattern. With the wind blowing over 10kts from 330, I was surprised that an aircraft would be flying out on the opposite runway heading (120) right at arriving traffic inbound for rwy 30. I was prepared to do an overhead approach to enter the pattern but it turned out it wasn't necessary. I am glad with the GDL-88 driving the GTN-650, I get pertinent visual and audio traffic alerts and don't have to depend on an iPad or similar which doesn't really do anything unless one is actively monitoring the traffic.

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsid=15714

600+, 180+ in Mooneys (E, J)

My altimeter is off by about 40 ft when on the ground (field level is 400ft). At 8,000 to 10,000 ft it is off by 150-200ft. I usually fly at 100 ft below ATC assigned altitude which puts me reasonably close to the correct assigned altitude.

Interesting thing is that there is a Century IIIB autopilot which is not mentioned in the ad.

Now to find a sucker who will buy a 1 year old GDL-39 without AHRS.

+1

I could come up with something stronger than this... I would probably get banned.

The assumption is that these automated systems still function when there is as catastrophic failure and they still operate in a crippled state. A pilot has intelligence far beyond than any system, and when the chips are down has far greater instincts to preserve life in the plane and those on the ground. I agree when things are working well automated systems are far more precise and accurate in their control of the plane. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

I would like to see how a pilotless plane would handle the United Airlines Sioux City landing in 1989.

I have Xavion on an iPhone, except that it can't get ADS-B wx info from the GDL-39 which would make it even more powerful in an emergency. Perhaps they should give us an upgrade path from the GDL-39 to the 3D version.

Actually I do say that, but would also like to tell ATC I know where the traffic is and therefore can take evasive action if needed. Perhaps reduce his/her workload. I guess "I got him on the fish-finder" is not done! Magic box, traffic box, traffic display all sound reasonable alternatives.