Aviation BS and Photo Thread

See if you can get a friend or another pilot to fly with you while you troubleshoot the headset. Makes it a little safer with another set of eyes looking outside or on the controls while you’re playing games with your headset.

 

It’s worth a try. If you’re wearing glasses or sunglasses, try with them off. Do you have any avionics tech buddies? Or a shop you trust. Might just be a quick solder job. Bose might have some ideas for you, but are more likely to recommend overhaul or replacement over repair. In the meantime, there’s nothing wrong with running your passives in a light aircraft. I still run my DC 10-20’s in the Champ. If you want some extra sound deadening, install an Oregon aero kit. No batteries to worry about. No electronics to fail.

 

1977 Cessna 177B.


This is what I can come up with at the present moment.
Likes:
No fighting over scheduling
Go where I want whenever I want
Don't have to bother with rental offices forgetting to leave out the keys if you want to depart after hours
No other renters jacking with the volumes, seats, leaving items, or smudging the screens with fingerprints
No renters who are going to ground the plane on a Friday and cancel your weekend trip
CAN be cheaper than renting based on how much you plan to fly a year, and what you would be renting

Dislikes:
Airframe is older than something that could be rented
Keeping on top of maintenance
Paying for the maintenance/parts
Constant growing wish list of mods and avionics
Worrying about having the plane outside during storm season
Keeping up with GPS updates for IFR
Did I mention paying for maintenance and parts?

MX costs can be stupid expensive, but it varies dramatically between where you go. It is best to have one go-to place because that allows the mechanics to get to know the plane and be comfortable with it's individual quirks. I have a good relationship with a mechanic who lets me do a ton of owner-assisted work which significantly lowers the cost of work done to the plane. I believe a general rule of thumb is that the simpler the airplane, the cheaper and less maintenance you should need. (Think fixed gear, fixed prop vs retractable gear, turbocharged and constant speed prop). Also remember that the fewer the cylinders, the less gas you'll need, the less time and money it will take for a nice engine monitor and the less an overhaul will cost...all while giving up speed and carrying capacity. Are you looking to purchase a bug buster?

I already tested with and without a hat and sunglasses and each made no difference. Unfortunately I don't know any avionics grurus and figured Bose would just want me to send them in for a refurb. I'll do some more testing later this week and see what I can discover. I will continue to use my passive headset if these aren't repairable. I just wanted an ANR because the passive ones clamp my head like a vice and hurt after 2 hours

 

Thats exactly what i was looking for information wise. I started looking for a two seat for just me. Then i realised my kids might want to fly with me. So then it became a 4 seater. Then i realised the other pilot in my family might want to travel with us and then a 4 became a 6 seater. If i had the money i would have two a Globe swift for me and a cherokee 6 for the family. Since a 6 seat helicopter is well out of my price range.

 

Before you look at planes, you have to figure out what your mission is. 6 seat is going to be more expensive in nearly every way than a 4 seater. Haha

 

I don't own any personally but my company owns 9 aircraft and I manage them. Mx costs suck... but so does building reserves for prop/engine/turbo overhauls. The majority of our variable costs are rolled up in covering reserves per flight hour. (engine, turbo, prop, nav data, annuals, 100 hrs, 50 hrs, etc.)

Our planes:

1. Kingair E90
2. P210
3. P206T
4. T206H
5. T182T
6. SR20
7. SR22T
8. Cherokee 180
9. Piper Meridian

Most economical plane we owned with a bit of speed was an old Mooney M20C Ranger. Relatively quick and I planned at 9GPH. On the utility side, you can't beat a 206 but prepare yourself for higher fuel burns and more expensive engine mx - esp if the turbo needs work.

For slow, don't care how long it takes us to get somewhere with a stupid amazing unbelievable useful load, the Cherokee 180 is pretty amazing.

My favorite plane out of the bunch is the P210 - but I'm sure if I got behind the Kingair or Meridian my mind would change.

 

Aeronca S7EC Champ on PK1800 floats, and possibly going on Federal 1500 skis for the winter. I’ve always had a thing for these old tandem seating tube and fabric airplanes. Very basic airplane, worlds apart from the one I fly to pay the bills. Lower price point than a similar condition Piper, and having flown both, I appreciate the wider cabin of the Aeronca, how much lighter it feels in roll, and what in my opinion is a superior trim system. It’s got a 125hp O290 under the cowl that burns 6gal/ph. Mogas though, so that offsets fuel cost somewhat. We do run a tank of avgas through it every 50hrs to keep the valves nice and slippery. The O290 is a known oil consumer too. Goes through a quart ever 3.5-5 hours depending on how hard you run it. It’s not being spit out though. The belly is spotless. Flown it about 130hrs since we bought it. It’s cost us about $2000 CDN (includes oil, but not fuel). Some of that was chasing snags from it sitting unflown for 2 years. A good chunk of it was parts and materials for mods, like the droop tips and vortex generators, and the cost difference trading the prop it came with for a borer prop. A Catto would be nice, and a lot lighter, but about twice the price of the borer. Might be a 160hp O320 going in it before spring as well. That will be the biggest expense. The cost would be very low overall if we weren’t trying to make a good plane better, Lol! Can’t leave we’ll enough alone. Being in the owner maintenance category and us doing the work ourselves helps control cost a bit though. Can’t think of anything I don’t love about this plane. The fuel system was screwed up when we bought it. The header tank had been removed, and replaced with 2 14gal wing tanks, which is great, but instead of having an on/ off selector, the guy who rebuilt it went with a left/ right system. After having it burp a few times in turns, we did some re-plumbing to have both tanks feeding. Zero problems since. All in all, it does everything I need a plane to do. It puts a big smile on my face, and gets me in and out of some potholes of lakes (where the fishing is best) that a bigger airplane couldn’t, and it fulfills my inner bush pilot. In summary, it’s cheap, it’s simple, it’s more fun than should be allowed, and best of all, it’s parked on the beach 200 feet outside my back door, which has me airborne within 10 minutes of pulling on my boots.

 

^^Love it!

 

Me too! Cheaper to buy than a nice Lund fishing boat. Takes me to way better fishing holes.

 

There’s so many different styles of flying. I want to do them all!

 

Awesome that sounds like an great airplane to fly and own. I would absolutly love a sea plane if i didnt live in the desert! If i ever move to alaska I for sure want one.

 

I would love to fly some of those! Ive been eyeing a 180 so many options out there im sure i will be undecided for a while.

 

Was flying so i couldnt get wtite back until jist now. Mainly the mission would be for fun and possibly to commute to work with in reason. I will probably settle on a 4 seat so i can take both my kids up with me.

 

I’ve often thought an early C-180 would make a nice personal plane. An A or B model. Four seats that you can use, floats, wheels (the bigger the better) and ski capability. Pponk mod would be nice. If you’ve got the time, the know how, tools , and the space, the Bearhawk would be my kitplane of choice. The Bushmaster is a good compromise between the two.

 

Yeah, I stumbled across the bearhawks. Im not to sure how I would fair building one im sure with a hanger that was big enough and some time it would be possible. What is a Pponk mod? Ill sure have to check out the 180's.

 

I think a set of big, low pressure tires would do nicely in the desert. The next best thing to floats. Like this...

Looks like it’s got one of those Catto props I mentioned earlier. They just look menacing.

 

It basically turns your O-470 into a 520. Ups your horsepower without having to change mounts, exhaust, or baffling. Doesn’t add a whole bunch of weight, and being light is a desirable trait of the early 180’s.

Interestingly, our 290 can be made into a 150hp O-320, but would cost almost as much as buying a mid time 320. And the nice thing about the 320 is we can go high compression and electronic ignition, wringing 170-180hp out of it. Ridiculous! Champs never left the factory with more than 90hp.

 

That thing is nice. You might have just sold me on that big tire beast hahaha! Thats pretty neat about the gear box.

 

I've got a "bigger tire" P206T... although the tires aren't THAT big... it's a bitch to land... bounce for days

Pic from recent flight from TUS to SAF

@BlueHeli where in AZ are you?

 

Anyone know of a good instructor in the Vancouver wa/ Portland Oregon area?