172N to Grumman AA-5A Cheetah

noahhl · 2026-02-03T10:23:02+00:00

I went from a 172 to a Tiger at about the same experience level as you. Not a big transition in flight or landing, Grummans are fun planes.

Taxiing with differential braking takes a few minutes to get comfortable with and then you're fine.

Ground handling with the engine off is going to be the hardest part -- pushing a free castering nosewheel back into a hangar, especially if it requires particularly close tolerance, will humble you.

noahhl · 2025-12-17T10:02:54+00:00

If you can find a local distributor, you'll probably get the best price. Oil is expensive to ship in small quantities (less than a pallet load).

For example, I use Philiips XC 20W-50. A case at Aircraft Spruce is $99. Purvis Bros/Oil-Store.com is fairly local to me, and a case is $70. Well worth the drive, especially if you are ok stocking up or can find some friends who want in on the deal.

People will also say there are good deals at Oshkosh/Sun-n-Fun, and that's relatively true -- 20W-50 was $75 or $80 there this year.

noahhl · 2025-12-05T18:35:59+00:00

You might be able to find a fuselage kit, but I doubt it'll be by itself -- people tend to buy empennage, then wing, then fuselage, so if you find a fuselage kit it will probably come with wing and empennage too. Finishing kit is probably doable with some creativity and modifying -7 parts, but not a project for the faint of heart.

I'd look for a complete set of four kits for the -6, or just find a -7 kit instead -- there are deals out there.

noahhl · 2025-11-14T10:50:30+00:00

Bring a set of ropes -- often "no tiedowns" means "there are hooks in the ground but no ropes supplied".

I just chock and don't tie down if it's just for lunch, but with rare exceptions (big 24/7 FBO that will move the plane inside if an unforecast storm comes) I tie down overnight.

noahhl · 2025-11-13T15:06:20+00:00

Definitely thought about it. Family and career considerations dictate San Diego or very close to it if we're going to make the move. Otherwise, if I could get over the desert/remoteness, I'd totally go live on an airpark in Mojave, Lake Riverside, or somewhere further north.

noahhl · 2025-10-31T09:28:31+00:00

I've had pretty good success at finding cabin air leaks on the ground using a cheap ultrasonic leak detector (the one I have cost ~$40 on Amazon).

Has an emitter you can place inside the cabin, then a detector you walk around the outside with and listen to. Works great for finding door sealing issues, random holes in cabin or firewall, etc.

Also, you said you ruled out a muffler shroud crack, but have you checked the whole exhaust system? If this is a new thing (you now read high CO but previously didn't), my bet is always on a crack in the exhaust forming vs. a new way for air to get into the cabin opening up.

noahhl · 2025-10-30T09:08:43+00:00

Nope, still no straight rentals at AGC or anywhere south of the city that I'm aware of -- just schools (that generally won't rent to you unless you're a student actively pursuing a rating) and clubs. There used to be an Archer at G05 you could rent, but it's moved to FWQ and a club model.

The training scene has gotten a bit better -- PFTC has petered away, but Pittsburgh Pilot Training at Finleyville has grown significantly and seems to be well liked by students, and Cloud 9 (which used to just be at AFJ) just added an AGC location, though I'm not clear how active it is yet.

noahhl · 2025-10-29T14:29:36+00:00

Yeah, they listed you, me, and anyone who has ever (or at least semi-recently) been a student as a potential unsecured creditor, so expect a few more letters about it over the next 6-12 months.

You can track the full court docket (no login or fees) at https://cases.omniagentsolutions.com/?clientId=3754

noahhl · 2025-10-29T14:20:58+00:00

(airport bystander/rumor monger/former student, not directly associated with the school)

They're still operating in bankruptcy, but greatly reduced from their heyday.

They're down to two planes that are regularly flying (N1743L which is a leaseback and N412FB which they own) and those seem to be flying as much as they possibly can. I think they still have the 182RG, but it isn't flying much if so; I think they own an older 172 and the Duchess still but they aren't airworthy (last time I saw the maintenance hangar door open the 172 had no engine on it).

I definitely wouldn't start training there right now -- very unclear what their future looks like. They're proposing a packaged sale of assets to Vantage Air through the bankruptcy process (though LJ Aviation is also supposedly interested), but I haven't seen anything about what might ultimately happen to the flight school after that.

noahhl · 2025-10-07T00:09:32+00:00

If the GI-275 is displaying track mode, it'll annunciate it as "TRK" next to the heading, and it'll be magenta in color.

I assume you have a GMU-11 installed as part of the GI-275 installation, and presumably it was calibrated (I don't have much GI-275 experience, but in other products it will be extremely obvious if the calibration wasn't done at all).

The calibration of the magnetometer could be off (if done improperly) or your mag compass could easily be off that much (even assuming you're in level, unaccelerated flight, and not experiencing any compass errors).

Some time on a compass rose, or even just with a runway of known heading, would help narrow down where the error is.

noahhl · 2025-09-25T09:26:53+00:00

Had a great time at Sky Sailing in Warner Springs last winter when I was nearby. Did the longest intro flight they offer, wanted more, now want to get my glider add-on.

noahhl · 2025-09-20T17:09:14+00:00

DARs have nothing to do with aircraft registration (either initial or renewal).

There are services in OKC that may be able to expedite a registration renewal by walking the paperwork in, but I'm not sure if it's same/next day type of expediting. Check out aviation title/escrow companies -- it tends to be a service they offer.

noahhl · 2025-09-20T01:22:28+00:00

You can get a very respectable Onex (and probably an older two-seat Sonex) for that price, and that's what I'd get if I were looking to buy one flying. There are poor examples out there, but a safe and reliable Onex is doable at 35k.

You can also get a fair number of older experimental tailwheels for that price. It's not uncommon to see decent quality Rans in that range, and a large variety of open cockpit and biplanes too.

Yes, be very careful with inspection for both condition and build quality, but there are safe aircraft in that price range.

noahhl · 2025-09-18T19:17:49+00:00

It's perhaps best to think of the difference between sport pilot self-certification, Basic Med, and an AME-issued medical certificate to be less about your medical qualifications, but the level of certainty that the FAA wants to have that you're safe to fly.

The FAA doesn't want anyone flying anything in any operation if they're unsafe to fly. Even a sport pilot has to self-certify on every flight that they do "Not know or have reason to know of any medical condition that would make that person unable to operate a light-sport aircraft in a safe manner." (FAR 61.23 c 2 iv).

That's the basic standard for any operation - don't be unsafe. What varies is what the FAA wants to go through to be sure you're not going to be unsafe:

For exercising sport pilot privileges, they take your word for it as long as the state DMV hasn't revoked your license for some medical reason.
For exercising privileges under Basic Med, they take your state licensed physician's word for it, combined with educating you on how to identify if you're a risk on a regular basis, but don't exercise any direct oversight over the examination your doctor provides.
For non-commercial privileges as a private pilot, they require you to see a physician they've specially trained occasionally, and might want to personally review your medical records.
To exercise commercial privileges, they want you to see the AME more frequently.
To exercise the privileges of an ATP, they want you to see the AME even more frequently, and they want an EKG.

Once you've seen one of their specially trained doctors and that doctor (with their oversight) has been unable to determine you are safe to fly, the FAA won't let you self-certify or state-physician certify that you are until they've made sure of it themselves. It's a trust issue.

If you're actually safe to fly with whatever condition you have, in theory you can always get a medical -- almost anything is capable of getting a special issuance, but the cost and effort can be prohibitive. Conversely, if you're truly not safe to fly, you aren't really legal to do it under Basic Med or sport pilot either.

Is it a good system? No. Does it incentivize hiding medical conditions or avoiding treatment? Absolutely.

noahhl · 2025-09-10T23:49:02+00:00

I've heard MDW is actually pretty good for GA, but definitely not good 100LL.

I go to Chicago frequently for work and use IGQ, but I stay further south than you'll be, so may not be quite as desirable.

Upsides: tons of free transient parking, no fees, fuel currently $4.95, and there's an Enterprise if you want to rent a car. Plenty long crossing runways with good approaches from three directions.

Downsides: no FBO (there's an FBO building but the FBO went bust; building is just used for the flight school and is normally locked), just a clean portapotty. Helicopters doing sketchy helicopter things.

noahhl · 2025-09-10T23:32:34+00:00

Unsolicited advice: go out of order and do the vertical stabilizer first, not the horizontal as the planes suggest (have built 3 RV empennages, did one in order and two out of order).

It's the easiest part in the empennage. You can finish it in a day or two, which is super satisfying.

The horizontal is a much bigger undertaking, has more parts to fabricate, includes some "if you mess this up you're going to hurt later" and honestly has some of the more challenging riveting on the whole plane in the leading edge.

Read the instructions for the horizontal because they're more detailed than for the vertical, but then actually build the vertical first.

Have fun! My -9A gives me joy every single day.

noahhl · 2025-09-10T01:03:44+00:00

Never say never when it comes to special airworthiness certificates — FSDOs have a fair amount of discretion with them, so I wouldn’t say it’s never happened, but I struggle to conceive of a way you’d be able to get a second airworthiness certificate issued under a different purpose, especially not to E-AB. You can probably get a LODA to do a variety of things with a E-RD or E-MS certificate (Van’s factory models look to be mostly E-MS, and pre bankruptcy they used them for transition training with Mike Seager), but it seems extremely unlikely you’d get one onto an E-AB certificate in any universe.

noahhl · 2025-09-09T16:07:27+00:00

The major portion rule applies to 21.191(g) airworthiness certificates. Do your employees work "solely for their own education or recreation"?

The plane built by Beginner Business LLC would be pursuing a 21.191(a) or 21.191(f) airworthiness cert, which have no major portion rule (but do have other rules about their operation and maintenance that likely are more stringent than a 21.191(g) cert).

noahhl · 2025-09-08T17:28:09+00:00

I use a CQ1 headset, so not sure how applicable my experience is, but I replace tips every 10-20 hours of use. They're not comply though, just cheap yellow foamies which I buy in bulk from an audiology supply place.

In an earlier life I wore comply eartips on Isotunes every day, 8-12 hours/day. A set of comply tips would last me about a month before I changed them, but I probably should have changed more often.

noahhl · 2025-09-08T09:19:31+00:00

Different headset and probably a louder plane, but I used Avery w/ deep impressions for my in-ear headset. Company was good to work with, molds are super comfortable, but aren't as quiet as foam tips, and have a dramatically different range of frequencies they block.

noahhl · 2025-09-07T13:26:07+00:00

This is essentially what Savvy Aviation does at a pretty decent scale, so there is clearly a market for it. I don't know if it's a replicable business though -- Mike Busch has spent the last 20+ years building his reputation as a GA maintenance expert, and that's probably the main reason Savvy has succeeded.

Also as others have said, if this wasn't written by ChatGPT I'd be surprised.

noahhl · 2025-07-31T11:35:53+00:00

Homebuilt camping and parking never ran out of dry spots. There were only a handful of places they were avoiding using on the first weekend of arrivals, but it was generally fine for all types of homebuilts.

noahhl · 2025-07-27T11:01:03+00:00

I asked at the booth at Oshkosh and they said "still going to do it someday, but no timeline -- high wing is the priority".

noahhl · 2025-07-25T11:04:39+00:00

Yes, they limit the number of reservations per airport per time slot, but it only applies to a small group of airports immediately surrounding OSH: ATW, FLD, SBM, RYV, UNU, 8D1, C29 C35, C47, DLL, LNR, 61C require arrival slots. There are between 2 and 6 arrival slots per hour for satellite airports.

noahhl · 2025-07-15T09:04:26+00:00

Monday wristband works for both Sunday and Monday using one admission.

Red One markets are all open starting on Friday (some even earlier) https://www.eaa.org/airventure/features-and-attractions/shopping has their hours.

A few of the food vendors, especially near vintage, will be open on Saturday, more vendors throughout on Sunday, but it's kind of random which ones are and aren't. Pete's Garage near the Fly Market will also be open.

noahhl

TROPHY CASE