The foolish buyer trick I've seen more often than others is the "It comes with a fresh annual, I don't need a pre-purchase inspection." approach to airplane buying. Aargh. We had an estate auction in this area recently where 4 vintage aircraft were sold. Unfortunately (for the buyers), the...

I think I've logged about four days of hanger rat duty over the past two weeks. Still have a long way to go in terms of accommodations (chairs, table, shelves, etc...but having your own hanger sure makes it more fun (and, IMHO, justifiable) to hang around the airport. Yesterday's mission: bug...

I recently made an inquiry to Garmin regarding their new requirement that GNS 430/530 owners pre-order the WAAS upgrade prior to November 2005 to guarantee the $1500 price their marketing department has been stating for the past 2 years... Keeping in mind the WAAS upgrade for these boxes are...

Went to Mobile Downtown Airport this morning to fly my airplane out of harm's way, and ended up leaving it there. I saw the line guys putting the bizjets in their hangars and, with minimal begging and pleading, got them to stuff '87D in there with the Citations and Lears. The building is supposed...

I've put over 1,000 of the 1,100 hours on this new O-360-C4f. Changed the oil religiously. I didn't baby the engine but didn't abuse it either. Always hangered etc. My last oil analysis showed a doubling of iron 47.9ppm to 101.0ppm with 36 hours on the oil. Everything else normal. We did the...

We were grounded last week, after discovering a cracked exhaust pipe and rotted muffler baffles during routine maintenance. Amazingly, we discovered that Dawley Aviation (*the* exhaust repair station in the Midwest, and the place my A&P recommended) is located in Burlington, WI -- literally on the...

("Jim Burns" wrote) Wednesday afternoon and evening, after the airshow North 40 airplane parking/camping Jay & Mary Honeck's camping spot N56993 Entry is free but a 6 pack of good beer is appreciated. Stop by early if you want, we'll be there setting up and grilling. in message

Any recommendations (positive or negative) for engine analyzers. To be installed in a Beech Sierra, IO360-A1B6 engine. What features are most useful, which less so. Is fuel flow per cylinder important? My mechanic likes the JPI. Any specific feedback on them would be helpful. We would install...

I have a Cherokee 180, with the short hershey bar wing. While I love the plane, I always wish it could go a bit faster, or use a bit less fuel to get to my destination. I have followed the composite homebuilding movement for many years, and am amazed at the sleekness of a composite wing. The...

Are Garmin shipping the GNS430 with WAAS yet ? -- Roy N5804F - PA28-181

Please read this. This is what's killing GA and we ought to do something about it. http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/02/08/news/news04.prt and this http://www.news4jax.com/news/4269212/detail.html#

On 29 Aug 2003 01:15 PM, Dick posted the following: Staring at my empty instrument panel while considering which instruments and their placement, I got wondering how old time Mail pilots flew if caught in IFR conditions. Mostly, they flew into the...

Hello Im trying to figure out the Tach on our clubs Archer is screwing us. I just flew down to the Centenial of Flight FFA from Planville CT. Round trip with all diversions and ATC rerouts was 975nm. The tach said 12.4 hr. I never checked the Hobbs but I do know that for this plane the...

For the last 200 hours I've recorded all the data from my engine analyzer which makes it easy to look at such things. Anyway a week ago I was flying along steady at 12 thousand feet when I noticed an unusual shift in the engine bar graph display. Looking at the recorded data I see that all flight...

There's an auto upholstery shop in town that is very well regarded and while talking with him regarding my car I got to wondering if I could pull out my Cherokee seats and have him leatherize them. FAR 43.100 states pilots can: (11) Repair upholstery and decorative furnishings of the cabin,...

Does anybody have an idea on how to make a tiny little vacuum pump on the order of an aquarium pump or so that will draw just a few inches of water? Preferably 110, but I can rig up a 12 volt supply if necessary. The reason I say this is that I'm getting ready to pack a fairly large number...

Finally got to take a fairly long trip in my 175B this weekend. went from HGR (Hagerstown, Md) to TTA (Sanford, Nc) Sure was better than driving, uaually takes around 6-1/2 hours to drive (no accidents holding us up), three pee stops (kids), 2 stop at McDonalds etc... Instead is was 2 hours, 24...

My '66 Cherokee 180C currently has a T12C ADF. Even though it has analog tuning, the previous owner installed a Davitron digital frequency read out so it's not as bad to tune as you'd think. Anyway, it now longer points to the NDB (actually the needle never moves) but can successfully tune am...

I saw the thread earlier about the Tiger as I was about to type this, but it didn't answer any of my questions, so here goes. I keep seeing the Tiger for sale between $65k and $110k. I always thought these planes were highly desirable. This seems a little cheap compared to other planes the same...

Hello, How safe is Eclipse Aviaion's decision to expose the wheel on jet that cruises at 41,000 feet? Has this been done before? On what airplane?