News
With temperatures still picking up here and there and hot weather still ahead, at least for a couple of days, please keep in mind the CHT and oil temperature limitations.
I myself follow this procedure in hot weather conditions to get the best balance between climb performance and engine cooling:
- taking off with 50% flaps and climbing at Vx (85kts) to CAPS altitude (500AGL)
- retracting flaps and pitching for Vy (95kts) to pattern altitude
- pitching for 105kts for further (step) climbs and leveling off to ensure operation below 420F on the hottest cylinder
Also, keep an eye on the oil temperature. Extended operation on the ground may result in high oil temps.
New operating base (KMYF)
After completing the annual inspection, the aircraft will be moving to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego, CA. It will be located on the Gibbs Flying Service ramp and parked in tie-down spot #162.
If you have an existing schedule, it will remain valid on ScheduleMaster, but the location of the plane will now be KMYF. If you don’t plan on flying out of the new location, please cancel your schedules to make the plane available to other pilots and avoid the no-show penalties.
There are no special badge access requirements for the ramp in KMYF.
Maintenance update
We had a bit of a rough stretch again. It’s not clear if a single pilot or a group of them are to blame for the requirement of nose landing gear (NLG) replacement. We found severe structural landing gear damage that required replacement of the entire NLG strut assembly. So that’s a repair neither I or the IDP program were planning (or keeping a budget) for. I don’t know what else to say other than:
- Please own your mistakes
- Please conduct thorough pre-/post-flight inspections and either open a squawk or notify me with discrepancies
- There is no penalty for finding damage that you didn’t cause
- The hourly rate is not provisioned for any repairs resulting from hard landings or other operation outside of the OEM’s limitations
The MFD has gone ‘garbled’ on some recent flights. It has been removed and will undergo shop inspection and repair. I expect it back in the first half of November. The MFD is not required for VFR/IFR day/night flights and all other avionics are performing well.
Here is your reminder to always book a standby schedule, even if your plans are not firm yet and may change. Lots of schedules get cancelled or rebooked. The odds are always in your favor.
Book your schedule today! Thanks for flying N173CD!
Happy Landings!
Phillip