What's on YOUR Christmas list?

But I'm VFR by choice anyway. I won't risk my life behind ANY vacuum
instruments, period.

Does this mean you elect not to fly IFR or not to pursue your IR, or both?

For the moment, both.

When I can afford a more capable panel, and have more time to invest in
staying proficient, I may elect to fly in the clouds.

For now, we're content to fly beneath them! :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:3h4Eb.577851$Tr4.1552685@attbi_s03...
Secondary flight instruments, clocks, tachometers, temp gauges, etc.,
are
not important... Take a hammer to em for all I care... But attitude
gyros,
asi, altimeter, compass, are your life...

Well, Denny, I have been assured by people who know the business that a
rebuilt gyro instrument is in many ways better than new. All the "wear
parts" are brand new, and everything inside is "tweaked" to precision by
the
technician who rebuilds it. In many cases, the only thing not replaced is
the housing.

But I'm VFR by choice anyway. I won't risk my life behind ANY vacuum
instruments, period.
--

Isn't your turn coordinator electric?

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:nL9Eb.575064$HS4.4323333@attbi_s01...
But I'm VFR by choice anyway. I won't risk my life behind ANY vacuum
instruments, period.

I didn't realize that anyone flying with vacuum instruments were risking
their life, well live and learn.

Dashi

Does this mean you elect not to fly IFR or not to pursue your IR, or
both?

For the moment, both.

When I can afford a more capable panel, and have more time to invest in
staying proficient, I may elect to fly in the clouds.

For now, we're content to fly beneath them! :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Dashi" writes:

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:nL9Eb.575064$HS4.4323333@attbi_s01...
But I'm VFR by choice anyway. I won't risk my life behind ANY vacuum
instruments, period.

I didn't realize that anyone flying with vacuum instruments were risking
their life, well live and learn.

Of course we are, and the accident rate when the vacuum instruments
fail is fairly dismal.

This is one of the reasons for which I chose an S-Tec autopilot for
my Skylane, it does not rely on any vacuum instruments to keep the
shiny side up.

-jav

What are you hoping to find in YOUR stocking on Christmas morn?

Ummm. How about World Peace?

Ok....a little more reasonable:

How about perfect weather for flying whenever I'm available?

Maybe 99 cent AvGas?

Airport management that understands GA?

Silly me.

On a more realistic note :-)

I'm asking for an ICOM A-22 and the Sporty's instrument DVD course.
Also some accessories for my Ipaq 5555.






On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 03:12:38 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Ho, ho, ho....!

Me, I'm asking Santa for a new, solid-state transponder -- which is about as
dull as socks & underwear, but the third digit on mine keeps going wacky
once in while. I *hate* it when ATC thinks I've set my squawk code
wrong...

What are you hoping to find in YOUR stocking on Christmas morn?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Me, I'm asking Santa for a new, solid-state transponder -- which is about
as
dull as socks & underwear, but the third digit on mine keeps going wacky
once in while. I *hate* it when ATC thinks I've set my squawk code
wrong...

On a more realistic note :-)

Heh. Well, I couldn't risk that "naughty or nice" routine, what with our
danged Narco 50AT transponder going on the fritz all last week. So, I
managed to score a used (it was in a plane exactly ONE day!) Garmin GTX-327
transponder on Ebay, for a fair price...

Who needs this Santa dude, anyway? :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I didn't realize that anyone flying with vacuum instruments were risking
their life, well live and learn.

Apparently you haven't been paying attention here for long.

I had both vacuum instruments fail in the space of two months. (6 weeks
apart, actually.) If those instruments had failed while I was in the
clouds, would I have survived? If my autopilot, which is slaved to those
instruments, had been engaged when the AI slowly leaned over, would the
autopilot have followed it right into the ground?

Could I have flown my plane safely out of the clouds, partial panel, flying
as seldom in actual instrument conditions as I no-doubt would be flying?

The answer to those questions is doubtful. Therefore, with my two kids
relying on me for the next decade or so, I think flying VFR is a pretty good
safety compromise, for now.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

I had both vacuum instruments fail in the space of two months.


Yeah, but your Lightspeeds break, too gd&r sorry, couldn't help
myself

I am quite happy that we have an S-TEC autopilot, which is independent
of vacuum.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Yeah, but your Lightspeeds break, too gd&r sorry, couldn't help
myself

Actually, the brand new pair (Twenty 3Gs), obtained at OSH '03, have been
perfect. This is the finest headset I've ever used, period.

However, the older 20XL has developed another intermittent problem with the
left ear again. But the two 15s seem to be fine for now, after multiple
repairs.

Moral of the story: Don't buy any old LightSpeeds on Ebay.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"