Peter wrote:
presumably your local Piper dealer?
764-048 is a typical Piper part number so I also suggest to ask the next Piper dealer. The cost of the kit is one thing, its installation another. It should contain POH pages but besides that probably plackards need to be changed, not sure you have to make those yourself or not. Finally at least in Germany a new callsign needs to be requested and painted on the plane. Depending on the country more or less registration paperwork will have to be changed.
Why paint a new callsign, if not changed?
One would use stickers, not paint, nowadays
Peter wrote:
Why paint a new callsign, if not changed?
Because you have to change it, because you switch from one range to another:
D-GAAA to D-GZZZ for multi-engine aircraft up to 2 t MTOW
D-IAAA to D-IZZZ for multi-engine aircraft from 2–5.7 t MTOW
lionel wrote:
Peter wrote: Why paint a new callsign, if not changed?Because you have to change it, because you switch from one range to another:
D-GAAA to D-GZZZ for multi-engine aircraft up to 2 t MTOW
D-IAAA to D-IZZZ for multi-engine aircraft from 2–5.7 t MTOW
Is there a rule like that in Germany?!
Wow…
Wait, what ?? So in Germany if you switch between the two weight regimes, you change your registration? Back and forth? Insane….
172driver wrote:
Wait, what ?? So in Germany if you switch between the two weight regimes, you change your registration? Back and forth? Insane….
I think the idea of switching MTOW was not taken into account when this was introduced. The advantage of the German system is that once you hear the callsign you have an idea of what kind of aircraft to expect. If D-Mxxx (ultralight) reports on final is a different story than D-Cxxx reporting the same (above 5,7t). If you are behind a D-Axxx better watch out for wake turbulence and D-Hxxx will always be a helicopter etc.
In the US pilots will add the type of aircraft to their radio transmissions, which is unusual in Europe, to get a similar result.
The downside is that MTOW changes can be complex (if they occur to get above or below 2000kg, the others probably do not matter). Also the MTOW is written in the actual CAA certificate of airworthiness which then also needs changing, grounding the plane for a few days while doing such a change.
But as a pilot you also have to see the advantage of the European system. Some aircraft with low MTOW but complex systems are treated much better over here. In the US you fly a tiny plane with a turbine and they make you pay the turbine ramp fee. Over here only MTOW matters.
But as a pilot you also have to see the advantage of the European system. Some aircraft with low MTOW but complex systems are treated much better over here. In the US you fly a tiny plane with a turbine and they make you pay the turbine ramp fee.
In the US you generally have the option of parking the aircraft in public parking for something like $5/night, or free if you’re only refueling. There is no “they” unless you choose to do business with a particular FBO and there is no need to be “treated” in any way by anybody. If the airport has no such facility, you land somewhere else.
If you need fuel with a jet you call the truck on the public ramp, wait ten minutes for him to show up and pay the driver with a credit card. Similarly, a few weekends ago I watched a guy with a King Air pull up to the self-serve Avgas pump, odd I thought, then wait for the Jet-A truck to pull up. It was just a convenient, unmanned place to park for which nobody was going to charge him 
I noticed the elegant looking Mexican lady in the back seemed to find her way across the ramp to the bathroom and back without trouble and they were on their way again.
Sebastian_G wrote:
Some aircraft with low MTOW but complex systems are treated much better over here. In the US you fly a tiny plane with a turbine and they make you pay the turbine ramp fee.
Exception, at Guernsey EGJB one also pays turbine price (for mandatory handling).
Sebastian_G wrote:
In the US pilots will add the type of aircraft to their radio transmissions, (…) to get a similar result.
I thought they added only the brand, leading to “Cessna” being anything from a C152 to a Citation Longitude (MTOW 39500lb,a pprox 18t)?
I thought they added only the brand, leading to “Cessna” being anything from a C152 to a Citation Longitude (MTOW 39500lb,a pprox 18t)?
For Cessna its: skyhawk, skylane, centurion, citation
For Diamond 20, 40 and 42 we used Diamond, diamondstar and twinstar
