Gary's Flight Journal - Our Flying Adventures
The realization of a boyhood dream... Private Pilot July 17, 2006 - Instrument Rating August 19, 2010
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Thursday, March 28, 2024
For Sale PS Engineering 8000B
I recently replaced my PS Engineering 8000B with a blue tooth unit so I am putting this unit up for sale. My 8000B was working perfectly when removed. Tray and connectors are included.
Asking $800 for the unit, plus shipping.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Gear Service
I just returned from the shop and I have to say this one is a real head scratcher. First, a fluid level check on the pump, it was good. Next with the use of an extended mirror we found no leaks, however the one AN connection needed about a quarter turn. We did find some residue but it was negligible, considering the amount of 5606 I had added to the system the day before. OK, where did it all go?The shop cycled the gear multiple times and maybe the first two we could hear air in the system. By the third cycle everything seemed normal. We left the gear up and shut everything down to see if there was any leak down.
Pressure Switches |
Check Valve |
Monday, March 18, 2024
Vero Beach Vacation and Gear Issue
The Weather Watch
Some of my go to weather pages have changed or gone away but I have been working on some new to me weather tools for my cross country flight planning. I always use Foreflights Imagery and MOS on the weather selection along with Windy, Aviation Weather Center, Weather Underground.
Sunday 3.10 Pre-Flight
It's the day before departure and I am going to complete my preflight and fuel sump. Total fuel on board for our flight south is 55 gallons. 3 Tango Charlie is ready to go and I'll turn on the preheats overnight for our planned departure of 8am.
Monday 3.11 Departure Day
Rise and shine we're on vacation! Well, almost. Bags were packed yesterday and the SUV is ready to go. Mary and I will make a breakfast stop at the local eatery, Abi's Diner. We have a few snacks and water packed for the flight.
Todays routing will be Ocean City (KOXB) to Mt. Pleasant SC (KLRO)for a fuel and go.There were no cameras today, I just didn’t feel up for it.
We departed Ocean City in very strong gusty winds and pointed for Snow Hill VOR. As we reached the mid peninsula we were rocked by strong wind gusts between 40 and 49 knots at six thousand five hundred. I believe the gust actually pulled the gear door open which triggered a gear warning light. I canceled flight following with Potomac approach and diverted to Accomack.I needed to loose altitude so I circled around and worked my way down to a safe altitude and activated the auto pilot for heading and altitude to perform the emergency gear dump just to be safe. I heard and felt all three gear drop with the nose gear needing a bit of a shake. Finally three green confirmed.
I contacted Accomack (KMFV) operations to ask for a gear check as I made a low pass with a visual confirmation. The gear was down, now I hope it indeed was locked. Mary and I talked about what if situations when she asked if the gear isn’t locked then what. Awkward pause, then we’re done flying because it will belly in. I felt her anxiety with just her look. My bride said, trying to ease tension, I’m done flying if that happens, me too.
It seemed like a long flight back to OCMD. I tried multiple times to have OC Ops give me one more confirmation but nobody answered. Did I mention the gusty winds? It was a serious ride em’ cowboy landing. I held off and somehow gently rolled the mains on followed by a nice wheelie, gently letting the nose gear touch. We were still rolling on three good gear.
Tuesday 3.12
Not exactly an early start but we did manage some sleep. A must stop at the Lemon Tree for breakfast and then a few errands. I needed to fill the tank on the GLC 300 and clean the hundreds of bugs off the windshield and grill. Really gross!
We made a stop to surprise Mary’s friend Jen at her new location. Her store is beautiful and she was surprised to see us. We’ll catch up later this week. Next we’re off to the super market for water and P&J Crustables for beach snacks. Mary also had to shop for a new bathing suit since her brand new one was still at home. We both forget the most simple things. The rest of the day will be relaxing on the balcony listening to the crashing waves while Mary reads her book and I work on this blog post.
We decided on an early dinner at the Edgewood eatery. Wow, once again this place did not disappoint. I had the Bolognese that was awesome and Mary had the roasted chicken over polenta, spinach and chicken-Dijon jus which she said was tremendous. Sorry, the food looked too good not to dig in, so no pictures.
Wednesday 3.13
The plan was to get up early, do breakfast, then some much needed beach time. Mary and I are going to meet my brother and his wife for lunch at 1pm in Fort Pierce. Instead, we slept in, I really needed the down time. My bride said I was out by 8pm and I woke up around 7:30.
We were both slow moving but did manage to make breakfast at 9am. Good eats and service at the lemon tree.
With full tummies we headed west back across the Indian river Merrill Barber bridge to look at property. We liked the complex we checked out but they are not taking applications at this time because the waiting list is full. Why do I think this will be like the hangar wait list.
The ride back to the hotel is twenty minutes. We freshened up and then headed south to Crabby’s Dockside to meet up with my brother. Lunch was excellent! Mary had scallops and I had the coconut shrimp. My bride also had two mojitos which made for a sooner then I hoped departure for the hotel. Lately it’s been a once a year visit with my brother so I was really looking forward to spending more time together. I plan on heading back down solo when Mary and our friend Susan, from Newport News, heads off to Rhode Island on a bus trip. We returned to the hotel and I worked on the blog while the princess slept.Thursday 3.14
Friday 3.15
Rise and shine! What a beautiful start to the day.
It was time to change things up for breakfast so we crossed the Indian river and headed over to Beach Bum Bagels. A busy little place that was very good as far as customer service and the food was also very good.We headed to the beach and the umbrella/chair set ups were all reserved. The young man working this morning said we needed a special pass from the hotel. Hmmm, typically we pay cash or credit and we’re good to go. The new hotel policy requires a pass to rent the set up.
Mary walked over to the office to find out if we need the pass as guests, yep, we did, and there are none left. I kept chatting with the young man and eventually he rented us the set up since I convinced him we would be three hours max. He then could re-rent our set up for another full day charge, since we would not return once we left. Cha-Ching! He took my $30.
Once showered and ready to find lunch we headed over to look at a few more properties. We found one apartment complex we really liked but would need to furnish. Mary and I also revisited some communities that are land lease, which seems to be the norm. We found one home, just a thousand SF, 2br/2bath.
After meeting with the agent it was confirmed the roof and A/C are 17 years old. Most of the kitchen appliances will need to be replaced, and the big red flag is the bedrooms back up to a busy roadway. It was a super clean cute place that would be perfect for us, but I think it’s a pass. One good point was a new Wawa just up the street. One not so good was me twisting my already messed up right knee stepping out of the SUV on to the uneven yard.
We’ll keep up the search but for now we are going to find a late lunch early dinner destination.
Station 49 was our choice. We hit this place every year and we order the same thing. Mary gets the Carbonara and I ordered Paradelle with Bolognese. I also had a side of two Advil's, it helped eased the knee pain.Saturday 3.16
Wednesday, March 06, 2024
Audio Panel Update
FEATURES
IntelliVox® automatic VOX system with individually gated microphones
6 - Place hi-fi stereo intercom with Soft Mute™
Monitor Mode allows automatic muting of non-primary radio
4 - music mute modes: Mute On, Mute Off, Radio Mute, Intercom Mute
Dedicated front panel music volume control
Built-in Marker Beacon Receiver
Cellular telephone input with "DuTel™" telephone distribution
Easy front panel control for telephone side tone on/off
Digital aircraft radio recorder (IRS™)
Front panel utility jack for phone, iPod, or unswitched audio warnings
Split mode for dual audio panel capability
2 - Differential, hi-fidelity stereo music source inputs (no ground loop noise)
3 - Isolation modes - Pilot Isolate, All, and Crew
5 - unswitched inputs, with front panel unswitched input
Selectable music distribution for passengers
Selectable intercom mode with special "Alternate Intercom Mode"
RAM (Radio Active Mute) eliminates constant back ground noise from radio static
PMA8000BT Audio Panel with Marker, Stereo Intercom, and Bluetooth connectivity
Monday, February 26, 2024
IFR Currency in my Commander!
The plan for today was flying to Delaware Coastal(GED)and knocking out the RNAV GPS 22 and RNAV GPS 4 approaches with the Stec 60-2 autopilot. We would then head back to Ocean City (OXB)and I would fly the RNAV GPS 14, 32, 2 and the newish Localizer 32. I can't remember the last Localizer approach I shot.
I had activated the pre-heats when I got up this morning since we planed to fly at 1pm. 3 Tango Charlie was toasty as I completed my pre-flight and sumpped the tanks. I only hooked up the tail tie down camera and one inside the cockpit camera, I really wasn't feeling the need today. What a slacker.
Once in the air and headed towards HUVOX, the Initial Approach Fix (IAF) for the GPS 22, we transferred controls. I wanted Anita to become familiar with the Commander.
Approach one would be with the autopilot. Buttonology is key and I know I had some rust to shed. Actually the work with the 480 sim helped and the button pushing was very good. My approach plate briefs flowed but I didn’t verify the CTAF frequency. I usually read the plate and verify on the GPS/Com. I did not. Instead I knew the setting and continued on. My bad.
I let the autopilot fly the missed and did my typical cram, climb, clean, communicate. Forgot the cool.
The hold for the missed is the same IAF waypoint for the GPS 4 approach. I did my lap at ZARVI and then flew the approach, autopilot still engaged. There was traffic landing on two-two so I broke off early and pointed south towards Ocean City. Two in the books and now for the rapid fire fun.I went missed once reaching five hundred feet now pointing off shore for the GPS 32 approach, IAF GOBYO. I decide to save time and instead flew to intercept the GOBYO FEMOD leg. I made another nice approach then once again broke off early for pattern traffic. This time I cleared the area to the north to reposition for the Localizer 32 approach.
Since I was tracking the VOR I decided to knock out a VOR check, flying the Waterloo 171 degree radial to the IAF FEMOD. Next I identified the localizer I-OXB and continued. I flowed through this approach feeling pretty good about my performance, at least so far. Once inbound I could descend to 1600’ but did not verify my altitude bug. Anita gave me the heads up on my call out of 1600 when I was bugged at 2600. Yikes, that was a bust. I pulled power and recovered, but again broke it off and headed south away from the airport.
I reset the the Garmin 480 for the GPS 2 approach now pointing south over Assateague and dialed in for the IAF CIRAN. With the approach activated the autopilot helped finish out the day. I once again broke off early and joined the left downwind for runway 20 making an ok landing, dropping it on instead of rolling it on.A big thanks to Anita for her safety pilot time, it was very much appreciated. I look forward to returning the favor.