Marauder

This help a little until John posts his?

Not only is there no poll but he also them out of order. It's food, then MHC, then bathroom. What is he thinking?!

That reminds me of a funny story. A friend of mine had an Uncle who flew B24s in WWII. After his Uncle passed, he had a wish that his ashes were spread over Lake Erie. My buddy knew nothing about how to accomplish this and took his Uncle's ashes over Lake Erie in a Cessna 172 and released them out the window. I asked him how it went and he said "My Uncle will always be with me". Not to mention his 172. Apparently companies that do this use some sort of venturi to release them.

Man that is an expensive switch! And I thought our Klixon switches were expensive.

Now leave your wife out of this! Back at Ya!

We talking about this switch? http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/trimSwitches.php?clickkey=5126 They were supposed to get direct replacement approval and I thought they had. But it still shows pending. Is this what you have on the KFC 200?

The problem I encountered with the MHC is that the amount of onboard "turbulence" I create causes the AP to disconnect...

You got to start with defining "Mile High Club". Are we talking about the Bill Clinton version or something else? "I did not have sexual relations with that passenger"

Hey! You started life wearing diapers and you certainly are going to finish life with diapers on! So why not enjoy them throughout your life? Like I said -- I tried them a few times. It was after I tried the Little John, only to find out I was a BIG John and that warm feeling I felt wasn't heated seats.

Mike -- when we met I shared part of my Mooney spin experience with you and Alan. I agree with many of the comments here, especially Ward's & John's comments that resonated with me. I went through a 141 school for my private, back when stall/spin training was required to a much deeper level and before the FAA started using the word "awareness". After my private, I rented a bunch of different planes to find out more about them and to determine what suited my mission -- weekend vacations with some distance. A person at work owned a J and after riding with him, I settled on the Mooney. Before I bought my F model I checked with insurance companies and they all required dual in a Mooney before they would insure me. I signed up with the only local school that had a Mooney and went on to fly with a CFI in a J model. After a couple of familiarity flights, the CFI told me he wanted to demonstrate a Mooney stall. He played around with the power to set up a power off stall and then started pulling back on the yoke. I noticed the slip indicator was starting to slide out but didn't say anything (and to this day because of that, it is something I incorporate into my scan -- especailly when in the pattern). There was a very short buffet and then all hell broke loose. The left wing dropped sharply and in what felt like a fraction of a second, we were entering a spin. We are all told to decide who will be PIC and stick with it. But when you are faced with one of those "I'm gonna die" moments, you react. Although the instructor had begun pushing forward on the yoke, I had to force the ailerons neutral since he was trying to correct with them. And we both ended up stomping on the correct rudder. We were very fortunate that day. Not because of our superior skills, because the moron was demonstrating stalls in a Mooney at 2000 feet AGL and because we ended up flying low enough to be a weed whacker by the time we were done. I learned a few valuable lessons on that flight. One being, don't trust a CFI (sorry CFIs) to know more than you do. I found out later that the CFI who was instructing me only had 20 some hours in the Mooney he was instructing me in. The rest of his complex time was in an Arrow. The unfortunate outcome of all this was an unhealthy fear of stalls in my Mooney. In fact the next couple of BFRs I did in Cessnas and not in my own Mooney. Over the past 15 years, the unhealthy fear has migrated to a healthy respect. In part because I only do BFRs with CFIs who have Mooney experience. And in part because they have the same healthy respect I do.

I don't think I ever saw a prop painted like that. Pretty cool looking.

Come to think about it, maybe it was a Freudian slip. Seems to be a lot of debating and discussing going on lately.

Yeah, as Bob knows, stupid is as stupid says... It was late, I was tired, the smell of Mustang exhaust was permeating through my clothes...

You my friend, are one sick individual Where I think the window of chance with airbags increases is the types of accidents like Bennett describes. There are a number of things that can be improved from a safety perspective. Like crash worthy seats. I had a friend who broke his back and the passenger's too after his prop broke and he pancake landed on an upslope.

Wow Mike! You are certainly covering all of the topics. Next thing you will want to know if we are members of the Mile High Club! I used to fly with Little John's until I realized that I was actually a Big John. Have done the Travel John's, even the Depends a few times -- when flying by myself on business. In mixed company, I try to plan rest stops but still do carry the contingency plans (Travel Johns).

a portfolio of topics, I took my plane for a flight. As I was taxiing out, I heard a plane announce departure. There is a replica of one of these on my field, so that's what I thought it was. I was a little surprised to see it was the real version going down the runway. And not only that, he was giving people rides! When I got back he was wrapping up for the day.

I have a portable system primarily for when I flew at night. I was always amazed at what an improvement it made in my night vision. I think each of us have different physiological requirements and I do know as Alan points out above, that if I am flying higher altitudes O2 also helps with fatigue. I guess I should get me one of them oxygen meters...

Hi Bennett. I think most of us look at the safety device discussion as a risk versus reward discussion. I had the unfortunate experience of being at an airport that had a aircraft recovery service. These were the guys sent out to pick up what was left after an accident. I say "unfortunate" because I got to see the remnants of many fatal accidents. I got to know the guys who did the recoveries pretty well and they shared their experiences. What they told me was enough to make me stop flying, but I didn't. When I look at the types of aircraft accidents, I think they fall into 3 categories; incidents, survivable and not survivable. Incidents are the gear ups, clipping a wing, etc. Survivable are those where the plane is put down in some sort of controlled manner and there is a survivable impact or safe landing. The not survivables are the loss of control, running into the side of a mountain or a controlled landing but you hit something that makes it not survivable. Taking the incidents out of the conversation, then you are looking at the benefits of what an air bag will do for survivable accidents and more importantly the not survivable. For survivable accidents, there is some benefit if the bag helps in a high G unloading situation. In other words, you successfully put it down in a field and roll into a swale and stopped suddenly. No doubt an airbag will help minimize facial and blunt force trauma. In not survivable accidents, the likelihood of an airbag making a difference is much lower. I have seen the aftermath of these accidents. The compromise to the cabin is so great and the forces so strong that the integrity of the plane is gone and with it the seat belts, airbags and whatever else might be in it. And that is where the risk versus reward part comes in. Would l like airbags, yes. Would I like a parachute, yes. The question comes down to deciding whether the risk mitigation is worth the reward. The obvious answer is yes. But now you move into the cost versus benefit discussion. And I think that is where most people get hung up. For those that bought the Cirrus, it is clear to them that benefit outweighs the cost -- even if they never need to pull the big red handle and do incur $10k repacking costs every 10 years.

If your oxygen level is below a level needed to feed your respiratory system, I could see your heart rate being elevated to increase blood/oxygen flow due to the lowered oxygen adsorption level. I don't know what is normal, but my guess is your O2 level should be above 90%, probably closer to 95% if the oxygen system is working correctly.

Hi Stefan! You are laying out a good chunk of change and I think you should shop around a bit once you understand what you want. A local shop would be easier for doing upgrades, but based on the numbers you have provided, they seem to be on the high side, not to mention I don't think they are giving you all of the options available. I flew IFR for 20 years using the hardware you have currently. I think what you are doing is the right thing by looking to upgrade. I was always limited where I could fly because if it didn't have an ILS, VOR or NDB approach and it was IMC, I couldn't go there. I thought I had done a ton of research prior to my upgrade but still learned additional things as it was going on (like the flight director option). Where you need to start is to know exactly how much money are you willing to invest. If it is deep, i would try to get as much upgraded now since opening up the panel will cost you again for installation later. At a minimum, I would look at a GTN. Which one depends on again on how much you want to spend now. I looked hard at the 750 and found that a second Aspen made more sense for the future when I upgraded for ADSB compliance. I want to be looking at traffic and weather directly in front of me, instead of glancing over to the navigator. Quite honestly, with the 650 in the panel, I only look at it to modify the flight plan, change frequencies or hit the CDI or OBS buttons. Don't under estimate the value of the GPSS either. As a few of us mentioned, it really changed the dynamics of how your autopilot will work. And as I mentioned, we are coming into rebate season. Last year, I think Garmin offered $750 on each GTN and Aspen had a $1,000 rebate on each unit. It adds up...

Nice. I got to go look in your gallery to see if there are other photos of your paint job. looks pretty cool.

Won't hear any laughter from me! You only live once! Stefan -- there are a number of us who went though this process, just let us know where you're headed and we'll help as much as we can.

I would also ask about GPSS autopilot functionality. The GTN is capable of sending out data to be used for GPSS. Are you familiar with how GPSS works?

I see what they are doing Stefan. The Nav switch will allow you to move autopilot control over from the GTN to the KX165 or vice versa. The warning about the second CDI is telling you that if you switched your autopilot over to Nav 2 you will not have a glide slope control. In other words, your KX165 is capable of doing an ILS but your CDI doesn't have that function.

Stefan - I just picked up something from your quote. What CDI or HSI would the 750 drive? It looks like the note on the second item is saying that you don't have a glide slope capable CDI. Can you list out the hardware you have in your plane or post a picture of your panel? The 750 will need to drive something. I am assuming your later model Mooney has an King HSI in it. Trying to figure out what the shop is doing with the Nav switch.