wiguy

The Concorde people have their own recommended battery charger/maintainer. You could check their site for a link. I use a more common 12 volt 'sulfator/charger/maintainer, it's cheaper too. I have pigtails on my plane, ATV, 2 motorbikes, and a 4-stroke snowmobile. I hook the plane up about once every 2 months, bring it to a 'green light'. Mine is of the Optimate series of chargers, no adverse issues.

Cool video, looks like the parrot travels well.

That does sound a little crazy. I had a GREAT experience at the Brandon Flying Club, Southish of Winnepeg, as we landed for the night due to weather. This was just over a year ago. The winds were 40 kts+, they were ready to tie us down as we taxied in. Before I knew it I had the keys to the 'courtesy type' vehicle & directions on where to go. I think I had a few Labatts to wash the trail dust after that flight. The next day the weather was fine for the flight to the U.S..

That would be hard to do, flying by KOSH and not stopping for the day.

Sounds like you beat the rain that is moving in today.

It looks like the airlines are done flying anywhere close to this area now.

Yep, one meets the friendliest people around an airport. It usually starts with some conversation.

Nice picture, all the best for his recovery.

They'll be covering the whole USA before long.

Yes, you can get a building cauliflower type cloud that is rapidly building but not releasing moisture yet. Even at this stage it can be rather turbulent inside, I'd avoid those types. You will hear pilots asking to deviate, when others are not, for the same weather along the route. I'd take note what others do, but it's also an individual decision, with aircraft type and experience factoring in. Do what YOU need to do, error on the side of caution. I don't like those 'there I was' stories. They often point to a shortfall with decision making. JMHO of course.

Yes, as above. Having a 'window' that's open for adjustment is very important. You may want to leave Thursday morning, but you may need to adjust some either direction for it to work. Don't try to force a schedule. Some type of cockpit weather is very helpful. Timely use of an airborne divert is another biggie. You really don't HAVE to be anywhere at anytime when flying your plane. If you do make other arrangements, or leave a few days early. Some felt they had to be somewhere, and ended up 6' under, permanently. A local pleasure flight is even easier, don't go. If you are in need of a 'fix', go to the airport and wash the plane. Just doing my best to one day be an old pilot.

I did the same, Champion to Tempest massives. My Champions only had maybe 300 hours, or even less. I sold them on ebay with the exact hours noted. One plug guy at Airventure seemed to think I shouldn't feel the NEED to go to fine wires, with the added cost. I've had my Tempest massives for one year and they are smooth as silk.

I found that screw in the Champion plug to be rather tight, hard to take out. The slot is shallow and they may freeze in place over time. I just went with new Tempest 'massive' electrode plugs. They are working just fine.

It probably just wore out & needed to be replaced. The total hours would give an idea.

Yes, breifings are good. I also like the backup with XM weather, puts the TFR's on my 696 in case I miss one.

Hopefully he recovers. Sounds like he was out of fuel, from another report.

I had a wingtip off my PA-28 doing a light change. I did the complete inside of the outer wing with Corrosion-X. I just felt since I had it apart I would give it some protection. I used the last of the aresol can on the inside, rear of the tail. I concintrated on the seams and along joints. For the cost & all it can't(shouldn't) hurt. I am in a hangar with a mid time airframe.

FWIW, I bought a used Castleberry electric gyro about 1.5 years ago from an avionics shop. It has worked fine until it started to tumble uncontrollably a few weeks ago. I grew to like it and explored options. I ended up removing it myself and exchanging with Castleberry for a factory overhauled unit, $1100 as posted. The new one went in easier than out and is working great. Now that I know the history, if this one fails I may go a different direction.

2020 deadline or not, I'm not all worried about it. By the looks of it I'd just have to adjust my flying very little. I seldom go above 10k and avoid class 'B' airspace anyway. It's still a ways off too.

If you haven't already, keep an eye on the Airventure 'ride share' site. Put up an ad if it suits you. Since I missed Sun & Fun, I'll be more than ready when Airventure rolls around. http://www.airventure.org/rideshare/

Just skimming through, but from what I read there were no batteries or other Haz-Mat on the plane. If there had been the lithium batteries on board it would be front & center by now. I do agree, the flight crew could easily be totally innocent of any wrong doing.

If the plane is going to sit for periods I would get a battery minder of some type. I have one & only plug it in occasionally, works great.

I plan to try to get her on some time. Our German Shepherd pup, 13 weeks or so. Right now she doesn't care for anything with an engine.

You really don't have to do any formation flying yourself. You would just fly along with gentile maneuvering & the photo ship would be flying formation off you. So you mainly just need to have the other pilot versed in formation. It's the same way when a plane gets intercepted by a military jet. The intercepted plane isn't the one doing the 'formation flying'. Yes, it's best to have things thought out. There is room for error if to little planning is involved.

I flew the other day, it was -5 or so when I cranked. This was after a night of engine preheat & later a cockpit space heater, parked in an unheated hangar. The rest was clear & cold, no precip. Don't know what happened here, but the wx doesn't seem terrible. One would think the pilot would peek at the wings & make sure they were clear & clean before taking off. Just a mile or so beyond the airport isn't very far. If they left the ground clean, I doubt if inflight icing had time to manifest itself. The next may be engine & fuel issues, seems they didn't get to a cloud yet. Anyway, sad, sorry to hear.