pilotdave 0 #26 December 1, 2004 Nuttin/nowhere. Haven't flown in right around a year now. I'm still paying gobs and gobs of money to a flying club every month, but just haven't gotten around to getting current. Was jumping too much all summer to fly on weekends, and started grad school which takes up a couple of evenings every week. Pretty much leaves me with monday and wednesday nights to fly, and only if I don't have homework to do. BFR expired about a month ago too, but my medical is current. My club has 7 grummans...tigers, cheetahs, and a traveler. Plus 2 moonies. I either need to get my ass to the airport one of these days or drop out of the club... costs a fortune. I don't wanna drop out of the club though, cause those payments are my biggest motivation to get current again. Stupid jumping takes all my time then leaves me with nothing to do all winter! Month and a half till I go to florida for a week though! Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mountainman 0 #27 December 1, 2004 That sounds like an awesome club! The only club around me is a "Piper club" with an Archer and an Arrow. For the price, I'll definetely NOT be joining. I have actually been pondering buying a Tiger. I just had lunch today with a guy who owns a Cheetah. I'm going to go up and safety pilot with him and then log some PIC so I can fly his plane. Well, good luck with flying! I hope to get my commercial before the end of 2005.http://www.brandonandlaura.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilotdave 0 #28 December 1, 2004 I was flying 172s before the tigers. Tigers are awesome. Don't think I ever got around to flying a cheetah, but it's the same thing minus 30 hp. MUCH lighter on the controls than a Cessna. The traveler was a little weird... had an upgraded 160 horse engine and would redline at full power in level flight so ya had to throttle back before leveling off. And I couldn't get that thing to hold one altitude no matter how much I tried. Took constant trim adjustment. The cheetah fixed that problem with a new tail section design. The big difference between the grummans and most other singles is the nose gear design. The #1 insurance claim on grummans is prop strikes due to porpoising. Hit the nosewheel hard and you will hit your prop on the ground. My club has a rule that you just can't put the nose down at all below 10 feet. That meant I'd often float down the runway for 1000 feet before touching down. No problem where I fly but I'd want a lot more short field practice before trying a real short runway. Grass is also out of the question cause of the low prop clearance. They don't slow down like a cessna either. Very ineffective, tiny little plain flaps, unlinke a cessna's big slotted fowler flaps. But man, they're fun. I'm getting the urge to fly just by writing this... Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mountainman 0 #29 December 2, 2004 Hi Dave, I have been pretty lucky in the past couple weeks. Today I had lunch with that guy who owns the Cheetah with the 160HP conversion plane. He wants me to get some time in his plane so I can fly it. He has a Garmin 430 in it. Another guy I know at my airport (AOH) has a Traveler. Another guy at my airport has a Tiger and is willing to take me up in it. Those planes seem very cool with their slick exterior and powerful engines (180HP) for such a small plane. I can't wait!!! :)http://www.brandonandlaura.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LearningTOfly 0 #30 December 2, 2004 The 430 is a very cool gadget... I did my IFR rating on a Dutchess equipped with one. Flying is as hard as following the little blue line after that. I have a pair of DC ANRs, which work great, even without the noise cancelling turned on. On thing, though, when you are using the noise cancelling on the ground, keep extra aware... I've had fuel trucks sneak up on me before... crafty buggers they are. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pilotmonkey 0 #31 December 2, 2004 Hey- There is one thing i dislike about ANR headsets, They seperate you from the sounds the airplane is making. Cabin noise accelerates fatigue and mental awareness over a long trip but most headsets filter or soften the sound of most airplanes to acceptable levels. I have had a few airplanes make some strange LITTLE noises that upon closer inspection revealed a loose exaust and a deteriorating motor mount(seperate occasions). The 13.4 DC's are very nice headsets..they are a bit thin on the plastic(to get them light) and i have seen a few crack at the seam when roughly handled. One set cracked when a weathered-in frustrated pilot clumped them down on the table. Served him right for abusing his headsets but also demonstrated that lighter sometimes means LESS DURABLE. If you are going to buy ANR buy GOOD reputable ANR 'sets. There are hundreds of "affordable" ANR headsets out there but they all seem to compare themselves to Bose. Those are amazing-but SILENCE is very spooky to me. Oilcanning, engine sputters, carb icing, cowlings loosening....If your lucky enough to be flying extremely well maintained aircraft-very cool. If you are flying airplanes that you dont know the history of or havent flown one of that perticular make and model. All these make different little warning noises that if heard by the pilot EARLY can be diagnosed before the problem worsens. Be suspicious of EVERY airplane. Thier machines and sometimes fail...SOOO long winded way to say BUY SIMPLE. No need to have things fail on you while your 400 miles away from your home airport with three tower controled airspaces between here and there and you trying desperatly to give good communications with the handheld or internal speaker of the airplane. That headset is your LINK TO THE REST OF US OUT THERE. David Clarks are by far the best headset you can get for the price. Bose is the highest end and have a great track record for the technology. DC10-60s check those out. Batteries, little electric pieces all are affected by cold in different ways. Batteries die faster or immediate discharge due to little ice crystals. Diodes and resistors do funny things in moist wet climates. Dont rely on ANR stuff unless you are in mild weather environs. I have seen lots of pilots on there way back to their cars or asking around for spare batteries. I just walk to the plane and plug in. No batteries to leave me scrambling around at the last minute. RELIABILITY. Go that route. Thinkin about chainsaws....... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mountainman 0 #32 December 2, 2004 I've got 2 sets of the H10-13.4's on the way. I'm hoping to have them today as I'm taking my wife up for the first time today. :)http://www.brandonandlaura.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pilotmonkey 0 #33 December 2, 2004 Hey, You didnt go wrong with those 13.4's I depend on mine and they havent ever let me down. I do recommend the Gel ear seals, cotton covers and the Bigger headpad.This stuff is pretty affordable and make a world of difference. Comfort is key. Those cotton covers wick away sweat and make the ear pads 10 times less itchy on hot days. The larger head pad supports the headsets more uniformly. Dont forget the headsets are framed with METAL and everyones noggin is a bit different. You can bend and tweak the band A LITTLE to loosen or change the way they pressure your ears. Take some time with the adjusting. I recommend loosening the slider bolts just a bit to allow you to position the ear cups and headpad where you want/need them and not have them slip when you remove the 'set from your head to tighten them down the rest of the way. With the accessories and adjustments on your 13.4s you should be quite pleased. Have a good flight and CONGRATS on the low hour Private rating! The national average for getting a Private Pilots certificate is 70 hours tt-NICE JOB! Thinkin about chainsaws....... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mountainman 0 #34 December 2, 2004 Hi Pilotmonkey! Thanks for the info. I'll certainly look into getting those mods for the headsets. I know someone else mentioned those cotton covers. The gel pads come with, so I'll be putting those on straight away. I did adjust the Softcomm headsets at the FBO so they fit me real well. No one else figured out how to do it apparently since they always fit me great. LOL I look forward to getting them. Also, thanks for the congrats on the PP. I didn't do my training in a short amount of time (a little more than 7 months), but I feel that I was very efficient. I never had to repeat stuff or keep going over certain aspects of my training. My CFI was pretty confident in me. The day before my checkride I only had 39.0 TT. I got one last lesson in and showed up to the DE with 40.4 TT. Close! Have a good one... BWhttp://www.brandonandlaura.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilotdave 0 #35 December 2, 2004 Geez. My private took me 6 years/100 hours. Course I was 17 when I got it. Soloed at 16 with 50 hours. And they'll come with the Gel ear seals installed. Getting the fit right is a little pain since you need a wrench to adjust the size. That's one thing they improved on some of the later models like the H20-10. BTW, mine hasn't seen very heavy use, but after nearly 10 years it's pretty much in like-new condition. No probs at all with cracking or anything. Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
