yvesg

I think they have found it... look at this: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-georesonance-wreckage-of-a-commercial-airliner-found/ They claim these patterns appeared somewhen between March 5th and March 10th. Yves

Might be dead weight in the tail too... check for bird or rat nests in the tail cone. I found the start of a nest there yesterday before a flight. I did put some foam plugs to prevent access but the raskals did chip it away. Yves

Mine were inspected last annual and my mechanic replaced some parts in one of them. He then fine tuned the timing after install and I noticed an increase in power after that. If I recall right, it was 2 hours extra labor for the annual and the parts... not expensive. Yves

I had my step boot overhauled by Brittain about a year ago. It took a while to get it back (3-4 months I believe). Brittain mentionned issues getting their subcontractor providing the part... looks like this is still an issue. I had my mechanic secure the step in the "up" position all that time. The wife complained quite a bit about the high step to get in but she managed. She was happy when it got fixed right. Yves

I know of one who is based in Gatineau. Maybe he would know of one in your area. One of Mooney Space members is also based at Mascouche. Perhaps he would know of one. He is sometimes posting here under the user ChristianGodin. Please send me an email at yvesg@semo.ca with your info if you want me to forward it to the Gatineau instructor and/or his contacts. Yves

Due to the current exchange rate, Canadian aircraft would cost less in US dollars. This difference would definitely compensate for the incurred extra fees. Yves

N201MKTurbo, soon I am going to knock at your door. As soon as possible I am moving to Arizona. Yves

Still winter here ... -9 degrees... what about you Erik? OTTAWA/MACDONALD-CARTIER INTL/ON METAR CYOW 161000Z 29010KT 15SM FEW015 FEW025 M09/M14 A3026 RMK SC1SC1 SC TR PRESRR SLP254= METAR CYOW 160900Z 31009KT 15SM FEW020 M09/M14 A3019 RMK SC1 SC TR SLP231= METAR CYOW 160800Z 31010G15KT 15SM SKC M09/M13 A3015 RMK SLP217= Yves

Aaron, are you going to join the caravan for OSH? Yves

Here is some more stretch of imagination: Why don't we get dolphins trained for finding blackboxes? These fantastic creatures would definitely be able to help pinpoint where they rest in much less time than what we are seeing now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dolphin Yves

Sorry to replay the same tune... but here it is: My work is software testing. Most development teams I have worked with do a risk approach regression testing cycle. They do not re-test everything. Because of that I always wait before upgrading to the latest and greatest software for my personal stuff. This is specifically true when a software version changes the major version number ex: from 5.1.9 to 6.0.0 You can also take a risk approach to your upgrade decision: If the last digit only changes, the risk of a problem is low... the middle number, medium and first number is high. Since the first number changed, I deem it as high. Someone having paper charts as a backup could possibly afford upgrading but souls like me without cannot. I will wait a few weeks before upgrading to the version 6.X.X Yves

Yes the survey answered right. We are All a bunch of FANATICs Yves

The one closest to you I would recommend is Eric Fauteux from Gestion Aerofax in Lachute He did some work on my Mooney and he maintains several. Tell him you were sent by me Yves Grenier :-) he is not an MSC but I trust his judgement. Yves http://www.aero-fax.com

My work is software testing. I always wait a few weeks (or months) before getting the latest and greatest software for my personal stuff. Few software teams go into the trouble of re-testing everything after they add new stuff in order to find any regressions. Most use a risk based approach. Yves

Ned, I am sure Andrew would be up to it however there are many variables that need to be set right. When are you coming back home? Yves

Chris (the Canadian aircraft pilot) is actually the group president. He was training others I guess. zyves

Lacee, are you bringing it to Oshkosh? Yves

Congratulation Lacee. Formation flying does challenge aircraft handling skills. This kind of training will make you a better pilot. I have noticed you are registered to the caravan. It will be very fun to meet again when we all go to Madison. Did Billie decide to go with you? Yves

IFR conditions with icing in clouds here today however I was able to fly yesterday from Gatineau to Lachute and back: I had an appointment with the avionics guy to fix a minor snag with my recent installation. If anyone need any avionics work I highly recommend him and he is actually charging less than most shops around without any issues with quality. Not too many shops would agree to do some work like this on the week-ends. My initial plan was to visit my brother who lives near the next small airport after and comeback at night however after checking NOTAMS I found out that a large area of airspace was closed due to Bombardier C series flight testing between the two airports and at the destination airport the runway lights are U/S! So we went back home and postponed thay visit. Always check NOTAMs! Yves

If this is what happened, it must have been terrible for the passengers... knowing that they were going to die very soon. You are right about the armor down side. Yves

+1 C of course. Canada is metric... Yves

Flight went well but we are a bit depressed about the weather: This is almost exactly what happend at home this last week-end: Yves

Dave, I don't know the level of sophistication the 777 autopilot has but I would assume that it could fly a heading? Perhaps when the emergency came about the pilot told the first officer: We have a fire on board, turn around towards Kota Bharu and descend to 12000 feet while I attempt to put out the fire...the pilot got incapacitated by smoke, the first officer quickly set the aircraft autopilot in heading mode and left his seat to go help the pilot and / or passed out after these events. For the emergency field: With the transponder U/S there is a good chance they would not see him coming. It is possible they did not fly over it but a few miles off since the heading mode would not provide accurate navigation. A few fisherman in that area did report seeing the aircraft. Yves

Ok José... now we know this: after the aircraft turned, it descended to 12000 feet. I looked at the ground tracks available on Internet and it appears, after it turned, it was heading towards what happens to be the closest airport from the aircraft position. This airport is near the city of Kota Bharu where the Boeing could land. In case of an emergency where the aircraft would still fly, this is what I would do. I am convinced now that this was an inflight emergency. The only thing that would allow the aircraft to fly for a while would be crew incapacitation but even if this is the case, at 12000 I dont think it would end up south-west of Australia. I could be wrong but I think the aircraft crashed much closer (or ditched, this would explain why they would still receive the ACARS pings as the aircraft (or parts of it) floated. Some witnesses (fisherman) saw low flying aircraft that night... unless they are clowns, I would definitely send some boats that can re ceive the pings where they believe the aircraft went. Yves

I wanted to ask this for a while: Why don't the US military send some U2s (Now called TR-1). These could probably do a better job than the satellites right to survey the possible crash areas? Yves