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DUNEFLYER

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If you fly GA please feel free to show us your plane(s) and maybe some general info. Fuel flows, speeds, temps, altitudes, ect.. in normal cruise. This could be informational to those looking to get into this really bad habit..
Normal altitudes for me from French Valley to Havi= 9500', heading back to CA. = 8500'. Takes me aprox 36gals of fuel to round trip.
 

DaveH

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View attachment 1003565
It’s even better getting paid and someone else is buying the gas....
or do it without ANY fuel

IMG_5744.jpg
 

Deano

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This is my old girl. I previously owned an A36 that I loved. (think we talked in Havasu a few times)
The reason I sold my Bonanza and bought this plane was for the STOL (short take off and Landing) capabilities and the huge
landing gear/tires. It will take off and land almost as short as a small Cessna 172 on a pretty rough dirt strip. I fly her to Baja and like the
redundancy of the twin engines. Not many airports or mechanics down South.
It's hard to put this airplane into a VMC roll with that huge rudder counter acting, but you still have to be on your game.
It seats six, hauls 2k pounds, and burns about 28 gallons an hour.
2.jpg
 

wallnutz

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My dad owned a couple of different planes when I was 16 to 18 yrs old. First plane I flew was a Tri-Pacer, it was a slow and steady pos. But a perfect plane to learn in, even emergency landings lol. But my favorite one he had was his Cessna Cardinal. It had a high performance wing, retractable gear and was “fixed” for the cg problems that plagued the Cardinals. Had about 70 hrs total between the two when he sold them. That’s when I pretty much quit flying. It got to expensive when I had twins on the way and a new to us house.
I have flown a few times with friends. Was actually going to work on getting updated on everything again since I had use of a plane again. But have not had time to do it.
 

thmterry

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My friend just built this RV14A with a Lycoming 10390 engine. Took 5 years in his garage to build. 14,000 rivets, $50k in instrumentation and the inspector who signed off on the plane said it was the cleanest build he had ever seen. It is getting painted right now then flying it to to Oshkosh for the show.
20210403_135853_resized_resized.jpg
 

mobldj

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planes are definately cool,but i watch air disasters all the time on smithonian channel,shit goes bad its bad.lol
 

DanG

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Great thread. @DUNEFLYER your plan is gorgeous.

My son just signed up for ground school. He is 24 and got his A&P mechanic license a couple years ago. He's currently working on planes at Threshhold at Chino airport. His goal is to eventually go back to UPS once he has enough experience (worked there as ramp worker before getting A&P). He also plans to become an inspector and wants to fly.

This kid didn't care for school, but always found it easy. Had no idea what he wanted to do for a career, but was dropping transmissions and building engines in my garage as a teenager. The kid even put himself on Craigslist as an electrician (learned on youtube) at age 15 and was wiring peoples cars in my garage (had to put a stop to that once I found out). Anyway, Mom and I did some research for a decent career with his skills and talked him into going to school for A&P. Once he started that school he was hooked and was all in on planes.

Proud dad and excited for his future.....and getting to fly with him someday.
 

Badchoices03

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Nice insight and even nicer plane....my 10yo is absolutely fascinated with planes, we have spent time at many airports just watching take-offs and landings, he is starting to figure our different brands and models...says hes gonna own a classic Cessna 172 when he gets older, not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing? LOL

Any way, didn't know French Valley airport was so close to us, we may have to go check out some landings/take-offs there.
 

paradise

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T206H - Cruise at 10k usually (we make full power to 17.5k), 27", 2300RPM, 17GPH, 142KTAS

I'm a bigger guy so unfortunately I don't fit in any of the Bonanzas I've tried. I'm all legs and the yoke gets caught on my knees :)

This was a trip to Roosevelt Lake for an overnight campout with my wife

plane 1.jpg


Plane 2.jpg

Plane 3.jpg
 
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paradise

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This is my old girl. I previously owned an A36 that I loved. (think we talked in Havasu a few times)
The reason I sold my Bonanza and bought this plane was for the STOL (short take off and Landing) capabilities and the huge
landing gear/tires. It will take off and land almost as short as a small Cessna 172 on a pretty rough dirt strip. I fly her to Baja and like the
redundancy of the twin engines. Not many airports or mechanics down South.
It's hard to put this airplane into a VMC roll with that huge rudder counter acting, but you still have to be on your game.
It seats six, hauls 2k pounds, and burns about 28 gallons an hour.
View attachment 1003662
Nice, I've always liked the look of these and the MU2. The gear on these cracks me up though with the belly of the plane so low. I think you could roll over things with the gear that would scrape the belly :D
 

DaveH

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The best flight I ever had, fuel or no fuel...
sadly Soaring NV has been bought by another flying operation and they sold all the rental assets (Duo Discus) but kept the tow planes and at least still have tows.
 

Kenny D

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I have 2010 Piper mirage on longer trips I fly at 25000 and 24000 ....shorter trips 17500 and 16500.....fuel burn is about 25 gallons an hour the book says 22 an hour, but to keep cylinder head temps under 400.... I burn at 25 gallons an hour..the plane has Garmin 1000 avionics ,there is a learning curve for the system, but after that flying is easier and safer.... it is a great IFR airplane.The plane is rated for known icing.... B59A9261-6B62-44D1-8633-0E168E728F94.jpeg
B59A9261-6B62-44D1-8633-0E168E728F94.jpeg
EF13844E-BAB8-4630-9CCB-61F764DE67C8.JPG
EF13844E-BAB8-4630-9CCB-61F764DE67C8.JPG
At 25000 ft we cruise at 212 to 215 knots at 30 inches manifold pressure ....some people will run at 32 inches manifold and get more speed.....but it shortens engine life .The plane is pressurized....it holds sea level cabin pressure till about 13500....the engine is an 0540 twin turbo 350 HP.....we maintain 350 HP till 20500 and at higher altitude the Horse power begins to fall off....I have the longer ranges tanks .....we carry 140 gallons....I have been very happy with the airplane
B59A9261-6B62-44D1-8633-0E168E728F94.jpeg
EF13844E-BAB8-4630-9CCB-61F764DE67C8.JPG

\\\to
 

paradise

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I have 2010 Piper mirage on longer trips I fly at 25000 and 24000 ....shorter trips 17500 and 16500.....fuel burn is about 25 gallons an hour the book says 22 an hour, but to keep cylinder head temps under 400.... I burn at 25 gallons an hour..the plane has Garmin 1000 avionics ,there is a learning curve for the system, but after that flying is easier and safer.... it is a great IFR airplane.The plane is rated for known icing.... View attachment 1003696 View attachment 1003696 View attachment 1003697 View attachment 1003697 At 25000 ft we cruise at 212 to 215 knots at 30 inches manifold pressure ....some people will run at 32 inches manifold and get more speed.....but it shortens engine life .The plane is pressurized....it holds sea level cabin pressure till about 13500....the engine is an 0540 twin turbo 350 HP.....we maintain 350 HP till 20500 and at higher altitude the Horse power begins to fall off....I have the longer ranges tanks .....we carry 140 gallons....I have been very happy with the airplane View attachment 1003696 View attachment 1003697
\\\to
Nice bird! I have always liked the Malibu but have the size issue listed above. I've folded myself into the front seats a couple times but that's enough LOL.
 

Dkahnjob

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My Baron is a 1967 C-55. It has 6 seats, but is about a foot shorter than the model 36 or Bonanza and the 58 Baron. It has two Continental IO-520's 285 H.P. each and I cruise at 190 Knots (218 MPH) usually around 10K' and burn about 26 GPH in cruise. I fly lean of peak which costs me about 10 knots but also saves about 8 GPH. My plane has a usfull load of about 1850 pounds (that includes fuel, oil, and cabin load) That equates to about 1200 payload in the cabin. I have a few pictures below. That picture of the panel is old and the radio gear has been upgraded since the picture was taken. Baron (2).JPG Baron.JPG IMG_0008.JPG IMG_0116.JPG IMG_0195.JPG
 

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Dkahnjob

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I built a Pitts Special S1S from plans many years ago (started in 1969 and finished it in 1974), then sold it in 1986. With the experience I got in building the Pitts I got my
A & P license so I can work on my own plane. I do the easy stuff and pay for the harder jobs to be done by others.
IMG_1631.JPG
 

MeCasa16

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This is my old girl. I previously owned an A36 that I loved. (think we talked in Havasu a few times)
The reason I sold my Bonanza and bought this plane was for the STOL (short take off and Landing) capabilities and the huge
landing gear/tires. It will take off and land almost as short as a small Cessna 172 on a pretty rough dirt strip. I fly her to Baja and like the
redundancy of the twin engines. Not many airports or mechanics down South.
It's hard to put this airplane into a VMC roll with that huge rudder counter acting, but you still have to be on your game.
It seats six, hauls 2k pounds, and burns about 28 gallons an hour.
View attachment 1003662
Sweet islander. When I was a flight instructor, the company I worked for had 2 they used to fly out to the Channel Islands. Such great planes for short dirt strips..
 

Deano

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I think you’re right. It probably is an aero commander. I never flew either, sweet planes though.
It's an aero commander. Pretty close to an islander but the wheels come up. I flew right seat in an islander while I was on vacation in Fiji. The guy let me fly and land it on a grass strip on Yasawa island. Thanked me for letting him get paperwork done. My pleasure. Commercial flying is a little different over there. lol
 

lIQUIDATEDdAMAGES

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I don’t have my pilots license due mostly to a lack of time but have been around it quite a bit growing up. My Grandpa has had a hanger at Chino for as long as I can remember. He owned the green L19 Bird Dog shown below for many years and only gave it up for fear of losing his flight physical when he was diagnosed with throat cancer about ten years ago.

IMG_1263.jpg



Sure as shit he beat the cancer and got the physical back. By that time he had sold the Bird Dog and picked up an Aeronca Champ which didn’t require the physical. This is him and the current plane below.

IMG_1264.jpg


At 84 he still flies several days a week. Both planes have made multiple trips from SoCal to Oshkosh and Sun and Fun in Florida. Probably ten or more in total.

A former army helicopter and LASD pilot he’s one tough old SOB. My favorite story is a few years back when he was ferrying the Bell 47 from the opening scene of Mash from Texas to Florida to join the new owner’s collection. He lost throttle control over a peanut field in Louisiana and auto rotated to the ground without injury to him or the copter. The farmer took him to his shop to find a replacement cotter key that somehow came out. They installed it and he took off and kept going. When he got home he couldn’t stop talking about how he excited he was to actually use what he had been practicing all these years. The family was all scared shitless.

One day I know we will unfortunately lose him but I’d bet almost everything I have that it won’t be from a plane crash. The old man would land that thing then go. Too prideful for that!

The only thing I really want when he goes are two signs in his garage to remember him by. One says:

“If you ain’t a pilot you ain’t shit!”

The other is the pilot’s prayer:

“God give me the eyes of an eagle, the radar of a bat and the balls of an army helicopter pilot”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SnoC653

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I don’t have my pilots license due mostly to a lack of time but have been around it quite a bit growing up. My Grandpa has had a hanger at Chino for as long as I can remember. He owned the green L19 Bird Dog shown below for many years and only gave it up for fear of losing his flight physical when he was diagnosed with throat cancer about ten years ago.

View attachment 1004012


Sure as shit he beat the cancer and got the physical back. By that time he had sold the Bird Dog and picked up an Aeronca Champ which didn’t require the physical. This is him and the current plane below.

View attachment 1004016

At 84 he still flies several days a week. Both planes have made multiple trips from SoCal to Oshkosh and Sun and Fun in Florida. Probably ten or more in total.

A former army helicopter and LASD pilot he’s one tough old SOB. My favorite story is a few years back when he was ferrying the Bell 47 from the opening scene of Mash from Texas to Florida to join the new owner’s collection. He lost throttle control over a peanut field in Louisiana and auto rotated to the ground without injury to him or the copter. The farmer took him to his shop to find a replacement cotter key that somehow came out. They installed it and he took off and kept going. When he got home he couldn’t stop talking about how he excited he was to actually use what he had been practicing all these years. The family was all scared shitless.

One day I know we will unfortunately lose him but I’d bet almost everything I have that it won’t be from a plane crash. The old man would land that thing then go. Too prideful for that!

The only thing I really want when he goes are two signs in his garage to remember him by. One says:

“If you ain’t a pilot you ain’t shit!”

The other is the pilot’s prayer:

“God give me the eyes of an eagle, the radar of a bat and the balls of an army helicopter pilot”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Love that last sign. We always joke that planes want to fly. It takes an Aviator to Make a helicopter fly. Is that your Grandpa in the foreground? If so, where was he stationed in the 80s and early 90s?
 

nameisbond

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My dad had a hangar and two planes. A Beach Sundowner and Piper Saratoga. He kept the Sundowner more for my older brother, he got his private before his drivers license at 16. He could use the Sundowner anytime he wanted. I was more into boats and boating. My dad was put on heart meds that made it so he couldn't pass his physical. So he gave up flying and sold the planes. He was going to buy a TBM 700 in 1998 new. But decided he didn't want to hire a pilot to use it. Looking back I should have got my private license too. Did take lessons and soloed, but as a teenager just wasn't that interested.
 

DUNEFLYER

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"ALL IN" is very close to 250.00hr. That is if you own the plane.
And worth every penny. Took my kid 6+hrs to drive home yesterday, I had a bit of a headwind flying home and it added about 6 mins to my flight. :)
 

c_land

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"ALL IN" is very close to 250.00hr. That is if you own the plane.
And worth every penny. Took my kid 6+hrs to drive home yesterday, I had a bit of a headwind flying home and it added about 6 mins to my flight. :)
That has to be not significantly more than the all in cost of driving the round trip in a pickup truck. $95 fill up in CA and $75 in Havasu to come home plus all maintenance and consumables.
 

Just Ducky

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Have a buddy whose dad had a shop at the Compton airport. He did mostly restoration work on older tube and fabric planes, pipers, aeroncas ect. Worked mornings there for a couple years. Learned fabric work and a bunch of other stuff. Got to ride in some cool planes too. The best was a t-6 with engine and prop mods.
 
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