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LA to NY. And back.

Adam,

Nice report and pictures. I do have one question, what is VLOC mode on your GNS430 used for? :)

KUZA, United States

> Now we just need the European equivalent>

Galway, or London, to Istanbul or Moscow?

Malta to Tromso?

I suspect the South to North trip might be logistically easier.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

> I do have one question, what is VLOC mode on your GNS430 used for? :)

Would you believe me if I said I have no clue? I’m probably the only person in the flying world who’s never used a 430 before. I click to VLOC at start of every flight, so that GPS doesn’t run the autopilot. I figured that one out the hard way when it started flying weird stuff. Then I steer with the OBS manually, mainly relying on my iPad in HDG mode on the A/P. The 430 is only a radio, a teller of GS and as a general situational awareness tool for me. Oh, I do like the Nexrad weather on it, but haven’t got a clue if this will continue to work on a subscription basis (and will one day stop working), or if it is “free”. Besides, the database is out of order, so I shouldn’t rely on it anyway.

I’m actually very uninterested in technology and it’s going to take herculean effort for me to ever learn how to do GPS approaches with that thing. I do not look forward to that day when I have to start reading that manual. Hopefully by then a GNS 650, that even a dummy can load an approach into by dragging things around, will be installed. Truth is, when I get IR, I will probably end up shooting approaches manually until I give up flying;)

Adam, forget about approaches, wouldn’t the 430 just make navigation easier?

EGTK Oxford

No, I do use it as a backup. But after all, this is at least 10 year old technology by now and doesn’t hold a candle compared to Foreflight on the iPad.

I feel you are missing a trick here Adam,

Despite their age, the GNS units are still a very useful single pilot resource, certified to be linked into the aircraft rather than the IPad which has several potential single points of failure, and is a stand alone unit.

Although it may seem quirky at first, there is actually a sound logic to operating the GNS. Certainly dated on the visuals, but I actually found it more intuitive to operte than it’s bigger brother the G1000, and I think you would pick it up fairly quickly. The aviation database, and navigation modes are only two functions of many.

They are especially usefull for IFR flying, why not plan to master it as part of your new resolve to obtain the IR! :-)

E

eal
Lovin' it
VTCY VTCC VTBD

I’ll try to do that, for sure. Just not looking forward to it;)

Adam, next time in L.A. I’ll give you a private tutorial on the 430 ;-)

Meanwhile, may I suggest you get the – free – 430 sim? Unfortunately runs on Windoze only, but works well in Parallels on the Mac.

Do that!

Here’s the complete report. It’s been a while since I completed this return trip, just haven’t had time. But I thought I’d get it down on paper before my ever worsening amnesia gets..well, what’s the word?

After a cab ride from Manhattan (cheaper than just one nights parking at Teterboro!), I preflighted and got ready. WX was VFR, with some scattered clouds, but nothing I couldn’t get over or around. Fuel prices around NY are of the highway robbery kind, so I opted to fly on for a bit and refuel in Hagerstown, MD, where they wouldn’t fleece you to the same degree. Off we went.

I land at Hagerstown and pull up to the fuel pump. As I start refuelling I can see a pool of[b] red liquid[/b] under one of the wings. Goddamit – what’s going on now? Bloody airplanes, always something. Sure enough, it’s a leaking main gear actuator. Looks like on of the O-rings is leaking. I call the gurus. They say I’m safe to continue to the next stop where I had some maintenance scheduled anyway. There’s enough red liquid in the reservoir to last for days at this drip rate.


The offending party.

I land in Tulsa, OK, 5.2hrs later. It had been perfect VFR all the way, but I was a little nervous when I extended the gear – could the fluid have leaked out faster, would they lock in place properly? 3 greens – no worries. I was cutting it pretty tight with fuel, so I was eager to get her on the ground by this point. 6.6hrs is the absolute maximum endurance at the power setting I was using, incl. reserves, so I was cutting it a little closer than I like to do. I’m a nervous reserve flier.

The reason I’m here in Tulsa is I’d arranged to buy a newly overhauled set of props from an aircraft that’s getting transformed into an experimental turboprop. A crazy old gentleman named Oscar Taylor had previously done a a conversion of an Aerostar into a single engine turboprop. Hung a 850 shp Garrett TPE331 in the front and called it the Speedstar 850. Damn thing did 320kts. But now he wanted to make something even faster, and decided to make a 4 seater with a 1000 shp up front instead. Maniac.


Madman Oscar Taylor’s custom built Speedstar 850, built on a base of an Aerostar.

Anyway, his donor plane, N78PA, was a pretty down on its luck old 601P with corroded engines. But it had newly overhauled props. And since Oscar was throwing away the engines and the props, he would sell them to me for a reasonable price.


The donor plane with her run out engines but newly o/h props, soon to be on my plane. She looks a little deflated here, almost as if she knows the end is near.

Kenny, the president of the Aerostar Club resides here and immediately goes to work on my plane, getting the old props off. Fortunately, he also has the tools needed to change the O-ring on that gear actuator, thank god. Before I know it, the props are off and Oscars props are trucked over from nearby hangar….


Props coming off….


….and new props getting ready to be put on.


Kenny fixing the gear actuator after O-ring change.

Ken is a marvel of efficiency and he and his mechanic don’t waste any time. I stay the night at a nearby hotel and go to dinner with him and Oscar. Next day Oscar shows me around his Speedstar and the day after I’m ready for my trip back home! I wish visits to the shop were this efficient always….


The Speedstars panel is very nicely laid out and modern.


Oscar is still going strong. Over 70 years of age and just about to embark on another turboprop conversion. I hope I can have the same energy as he has at that age.


Morning after, she’s ready for departure.

Me and Kenny take her up for a spin that afternoon. The left prop doesn’t come up to rpm immediately on takeoff – it takes a little while for it to creep up. Probably needed to shift some oil into the hub we think. Everything else checks out. I stay the night and prepare for an early start the morning after. Weather is looking decent, but with some TX over New Mexico and Arizona.

Day after as I take off alone the left prop is still sluggish. It catches me off guard and I contemplate aborting, but then I remembered it took a little while for the rpm to come up. Sure enough, it comes up. Fly to a nearby field, called Pogue, that has the unbeatable fuel price of $4.5/gal! Fill her to the brim. The aim is to make California by late afternoon and it’s going to be a long day of flying.


Finally enroute to California and I do my best impersonation of a sun starved Swede/Brit….

We climb to FL145 and it starts to get pretty nasty over New Mexico. Thunderstorms around, but thankfully my Nexrad is working on the 430, so I can pick my way through or above them. It’s pretty tiring work, and there is one point where I realise that if one engine were to quit now, I’d be in pretty deep doo-doo. This particular model of the Aerostar has a single engine ceiling of 9600ft.


FL145. Nice with pressurisation.


The WX gets nastier as I approach New Mexico.

I stop for fuel and food at Winslow-Lindbergh field in Arizona (KINW). It’s hot and high – field elevation is at 5000ft and it’s the high desert. A passing King Air calls me up and wants to know if I landed safely – Albaquerque Center asked them to relay and make sure. Nice that they worry about you. Weather is good as I taxi up to the little desolate diner on the field. It’s me and one native indian in there eating, nothing else. It’s like a scene from some Jim Jarmusch movie or something. Food is decent and the people who run it are very friendly. As I finish my food the bad weather catches up again, and I have to refuel in a light drizzle of rain.


Only in America can you pull up right outside the airport diner. Place is deserted. It’s like being in some kind of Jim Jarmusch or David Lynch movie.

When I take off again, I can feel these old engines struggle. They’re almost 400hrs over TBO at this point, and with the full fuel and the elevation the climb isn’t very impressive. It takes forever to get back up to altitude. It’s also raining and I can see two different thunderstorm closing in front of me. I have enough to squeeze by between them, but had I left 5 minute later I wouldn’t have made the gap. It’s very bumpy and dark and the clouds suck up all the light.

This goes on for some time, but as I hit the California border, the weather improves and the clouds get smaller. Good old California – it just has the best weather in the world. Almost always sunny.


iPad suction mount is mounted on the side window, as the front window is too curved. This is a little bit painful as I can’t use the mount when passengers ride in the right seat. Trying to find a better solution for this.

Finally, the last stretch into LA is ahead of me. I’m pretty tired by now after 6.3hrs of flying. On final, a Diamondstar from the local flight school doesn’t turn off in time, and I have to do a go around. The Aerostar is fast on approaches, so I need to re-learn how to space myself. Haven’t nailed that quite yet. The Commander could be slowed down like a Cessna 172, but this one won’t play that game. It’s 120kts all the way until final, when you can get down to about 100kts before you drop the last 40 degree of flap. Then she’ll literally stop flying. With gear out and full flap, it almost takes full power to keep level flight – they’re very effective. I try to deploy them as late as possible, so I’m not dragging myself in behind the power curve. Not a good place to be if one should fail.

All in all a pretty good trip with no real surprises. The left prop kept being sluggish and we never could figure out why and a month later she was pretty much turned over to the mechanics for the engine overhauls, so I haven’t flown her since late fall. I’m confident the prop problem will go away with the new engines.


We made it. Home base, KEMT.

Last Edited by AdamFrisch at 04 Feb 09:27
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