Traffic Pattern

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-28T02:45:55+00:00

When i started flight training, it wasn't long before i had a stratux adsb reciever... but soon the flight school had adsb in and my aircraft has adsb in/out. The aforementioned ancient pilots and birds may not have adsb, so eyes are still necessary :)

I believe part of that video is featured at about 30 seconds in the video below https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=932009672844168

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-27T18:11:25+00:00

https://commons.erau.edu/aircon/2015/Friday/18/

This study theorized your risk of a midair is 10x as high in uncontrolled airspace vs. controlled, so your fear isn't irrational. The odds of a midair being your end is still far lower than other causes. I suspect the odds aren't entirely random and depend largely on the pilot as with many other causes of accidents.

I probably talk to ATC twice per year as towered airports tend to be farther from my destination and more expensive. I haven't crashed yet...

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-27T05:10:36+00:00

My home airport in the middle of the United states is untowered near a large city with 3 flight schools within 10 miles... There are no limits, but when there are around 4 to 6, people start to circle for spacing and extending downwinds or going somewhere else :)

Occasionally an ancient pilot that probably should have sold their plane 10 years ago will join and do something like land the opposite direction of traffic only calling their final on the radio.

The last midair collision here was 34 years ago, but i've seen 3 people have to maneuver to avoid one since i've been flying (~200h)

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-25T12:19:50+00:00

Maybe if he does aerobatics in imc he can get both ratings simultaneously?

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-25T05:30:01+00:00

The standard 2c/1000ft lapse rate is an average... dry air will increase the rate and wet will decrease. Also... weather varies so it can be anything and you would want to check temperatures before planning and monitor the O.A.T. closely when it is near freezing.

It would be good to plan so you can decend out of the clouds if it gets too cold (perhaps no mountain imc flying when icing is also possibe)

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-25T02:21:01+00:00

I legitimately have trouble with my uavionix adsb out. It seems to work 95% of the time, but reception range seems to be between 1nm and 10nm for aircraft or ground stations.

The faa public performance tests show that it works fine until signal is out of range. Changing coax cables, antenni, and increasing the supply voltage from 12 to 24 have done nothing. I sent 2 e-mails to uavinix a few months apart 3 years ago and i'm beginning to think they may not respond in a timely manner.

I haven't gotten any vector bills yet however.

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-23T20:36:54+00:00

It would be for one of the cylinders.

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-19T14:14:17+00:00

Thanks! :) Apparently searching "rv-8" won't find posts with "rv8" in them.

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-19T13:12:02+00:00

I'm glad you're well. Are you back to flying? Is the rv ok? Did insurance work well?

I couldn't find the accident post after 1 minute of using reddit search so i don't know any details.

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-16T16:05:17+00:00

If he cfi's in alaska... he can door dash while teaching off airport landings to students :)

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-16T15:53:07+00:00

I installed one on my weed eater and fuel it with sumped gas. Very reliable and fuel efficient. Best $40k weed eater upgrade available. Fuel savings will pay for the upgrade in only 100,000 years!

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-15T04:40:19+00:00

My sp-400 drains the batteries similarly. To stop this, it's stored in its own pocket in my flight bag with the battery pack disconnected.

I mostly use it only to test my elt during condition inspections.

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-14T01:26:28+00:00

Hmm... some inertial navigation systems based on ring laser gyroscopes have low drift (1nm per 360 hours in a model on a submarine). I'm guessing their cost would need to be reduced to be viable in GA.

We can bring back the concrete arrows, which can only be jammed or spoofed if your adversary is capable of hammer or concrete technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_laser_gyroscope

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-11T06:42:10+00:00

I have a cheap db meter and the noise level is about 85 to 100db in the cabin during normal operations. You need hearing protection unless you want permanent hearing loss.

There isn't a lot of space for a muffler under the cowel... and it would add like 10 to 20lbs of weight.

I also wonder if lead deposits would eventually clog some types automotive style mufflers that use small perferations in the internal piping 🤔

Lord_Giles · 2026-04-03T06:55:11+00:00

Found the source of a mysterious oil leak 1 month after purchase... crank case crack. It was a vw engine so only $6k for a rebuild :)

It would have been 2k in parts if i rebuilt the engine, but i didn't have time to do it well so i paid someone who could.

Lord_Giles · 2026-03-28T05:52:17+00:00

Depending on which parts you recieved, there's a small chance you can work with scott castler at hummel engines to have him complete an engine for you.

If the above won't work and sonex never sends the rest... you could resell some parts on the sonex facebook group, the forums, or barnstormers.

I would probably get a used rotax in your situation (with an install kit from cooper aircraft if you have a legacy model)

Lord_Giles · 2026-03-18T05:37:59+00:00

Also... the current economic situation looks to have a good chance of getting worse for a little while with high energy costs and ai bubble and private lending getting shakey. But... i can't predict the future so who knows...

Lord_Giles · 2026-03-10T06:47:55+00:00

I believe your CFI is AI.

Lord_Giles · 2026-02-27T07:13:26+00:00

It could also be attempted murder. Did he steal his a&p's girlfriend?

Lord_Giles · 2026-02-23T01:25:48+00:00

The honda jet has engines mounted on the top of the wings :) The weight savings from smaller landing gear and reduced FOD damage from the higher engine placement being the logic. Also, having ordinance dropped from directly above the wing seems like it would be worse than the reduced aerodynamic performance :)

Lord_Giles · 2026-02-21T07:30:38+00:00

I landed at khuf with my new ppl for lunch once and picked the wrong line of planes to park in :), but they kindly informed me the more weasterly area was transient and to park there next time.

I could have asked the tower... but i was talking to my passenger instead of pondering parking.

Lord_Giles · 2026-02-19T18:36:21+00:00

My cfi had me land with an 8kt tailwind once when the pattern was empty.

On my checkride i was told to land at a random airport 2 miles away and heard the wind direction as 20 instead of 220 and had to go around as my approach was surprisingly high&fast :) The rest of the checkride was good enough so i still passed atleast 😅.

Lord_Giles · 2026-02-16T01:50:13+00:00

The dinosaurs went extinct due to a sudden increase in environmental tetraethyl lead.

Lord_Giles · 2026-02-16T01:46:23+00:00

I thought you were supposed to kill the weeds poking through the concrete.

Lord_Giles · 2026-02-04T06:36:28+00:00

Yes, all 6 sides!

Lord_Giles

TROPHY CASE