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April 16, 2005
Passed!
My first flight student just passed his checkride. The ride itself was apparently anti-climactic, but there were airplane problems. In fact, the airplane used for the checkride ended up grounded, and a different rental had to be found. Poor guy, he called me twice... also, I didn't realize that the log book entries of the flights required by FAR 61.109 were not sufficent and that an endorsement mentioning 61.109 had to be made.
Anyway, congratulations!
In spite of everything I may have written about K here, I must have been extremely lucky to have had such a diligent student. The examiner complimented me on the preparation, and I had to say "what preparation?". He was diligent in the homework and always showed up well prepared for flight. Other CFIs tell me this is not normal - well, I guess I'll find out when I meet my next student, hopefully soon - it was a lot of fun.
Good luck K, and remember: License to learn!
Posted by Christian Goetze at 07:18 PM | Comments (1197)
April 13, 2005
Panel Upgrade Done
After 8 weeks of down time I finally got to pick up my airplane from Advantage Avionics in Chino. The upgrade consisted of replacing a Narco radio and Rnav unit and the audio panel with a GNS430, a Garmin 330 audio panel, an EDM 701 engine monitor with fuel flow and an stec 30 autopilot.
Most of the stuff actually worked, amazingly enough. Especially the autopilot impressed with rock solid flying even in light turbulence.
Not everything worked, though. The GPS steering unit had a faulty heading mode, the fuel flow was exagerating the consumption, claiming the flight used 35.7 gallons when only 33.7 fit into the tank on arrival, and there seems to be a weird ticking noice in the background from the audio panel. Also, my additional request for a cigarette lighter (to be used only as a power source) somehow got lost.
There also remains some paperwork to be done for the IFR certification of the GNS430. I need to fly to 5 known points - VORs mainly and read off the position indicated by the GPS and compare it to the actual positions. I probably can't fly precisely enough to get within the GPS error margin, but such are the rules... and yes, the database on the unit was from last year, and the manuals are hidden someplace in the shop - at least I have all the official FAA paperwork and log stickers.
The guy in charge at Advantage Avionics promised to fly himself up with a replacement GPSS unit and some other goodies, which would really be excellent service if it happens. I sure hope so, snagging rides to SoCal isn't easy - I was very lucky to have Gal Bar Or fly me down, comforting me with his avionics shop horror stories.
Considering the cost of all this, the visible effect of the upgrade is rather deceiving. The only real eye candy is the moving map from the GNS 430. Nothing else is really apparent - yes, there are two extra switches on the left yoke, and there are some new switches on the panel, but that's it.
Now I'm looking forward to velcro-ing a CD player or an XM receiver onto the right side and feeding it into the audio panel for in flight entertainement.
Posted by Christian Goetze at 12:28 AM | Comments (828)