CTMI

Follow up question: when was the last time you’ve had your carbs rebuilt and all new gaskets put in?

Had this happen to me last summer, including the extremely perplexing and frustrating return to normality on the ground. It was gunk in the carb bowl. It returned to normality because the idle speed released the gunk from the jet. occams razor: the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. I also proposed in my mind it was a bad batch of gas as well as some other “exotic” possibilities. In the end it was just some gunk in the bowl. keep in mind also that poor fuel quality is going to cause issues at all RPMs, and low octane is going to cause problems with predetonation, not impose an “RPM governor” at the highest rpm range as you’re experiencing.

Tom it's funny you say that because I was concerned about exactly that. I ended up mounting the controller on the crossbeam overhead with a bit of double sided tape just to avoid any chance of bumping it inadvertently. I cannot imagine watching my plane get split in half by a door; that must have been a horrible experience for that person.

Just installed a wireless Hagar door opener from GAMA electronics. Install time was under 30 minutes. One controller in my car, one in the plane. It's pretty great. https://www.gamainc.com/product/pb3-remote/

Oh! That's great news and much easier. I'll go look at it and try that. Thankyou!!!

I would identify that the sight tubes did not corroborate what the dynon or my watch said, and I would act under the assumption that the worst indicator was the correct one and land my plane. I would hope that's what anyone would do, even if the roles were reversed (sight tube says 10 but watch/dynon says 1. Agreed, it was just an illustration. I'm just saying there are limitations to the sight tube functionality as a tool for total quantity. They CAN absolutely be accurate. Im just saying they rely on alot of variables being in control to be accurate. Didnt say that. wowsers. Hey who here uses the AOA function on their Dynon EFIS?

To be clear, i do use the sight tubes to corroborate what the dynon says. I agree that the BEST fuel guage is stopwatch, which, by the way, is all that the dynon really is. It just also does the simple multiplication for you. Even with the Dynon, i use a stopwatch (flight timer on the dynon) and mental math to verify the dynon, in case the fuel flow rate is erroneous. The tools for determining fuel levels and distribution are: 1. the stick 2. the dynon 3. the tubes 4. the watch i use all of them in one capacity or another, i just happen to prefer to use specific ones as my primary, "at a glance" tool. just to play devils advocate, how would you determine how much fuel you had if: amount of fuel > 21 gallons? How do you determine whether you have 22 gallons or 32 gallons? If you had a headwind you didn't anticipate, and had a long stretch in front of you with no airports, knowing if you have 22 or 32 gallons could be the difference between landing on a runway or in a forest. The tubes wont tell you. That's not a great primary fuel gauge. To continue that scenario, if your destination is in the GPS the dynon will tell you how much you'll have left when you get there. That's a pretty valuable resource. Maybe its just a personal preference or a generational thing (under 30 here) but i'd rather use a precise instrument (computers are precise) to gather precise numbers, and use the rough tool (cuz hey, you aren't getting down to the decimal point with the fuel tubes) to get a rough verification, rather than vice versa. i really don't want to do a bunch of mental math while staring at the tubes to determine what the mean point that the fuel is bouncing above and below is to figure out how much gas i got. i'd rather get the number off the screen and just check if the tubes are consistent enough with that to rule out a computer malfunction. Then when i'm looking at them i'm just primarily (not solely) concerned with whether they are roughly EQUAL. the only reason i brought this up actually is because this thread is peppered with statements like "the tube said i had 8 gallons" and i just want to highlight that the fuel amount that the tube indicates is highly conditional. The dynon is much less conditional. (still fallible however) i also would note that Buckaroo had to put his plane down in a field because of fuel starvation and he was NOT using the fuel management computer that his plane is equipped with. He is clearly an OUTSTANDING pilot and his ability to fly his plane is beyond phenomenal, but that doesn't mean he, and other pilots, shouldn't be aware of and have every tool available to him/them at their disposal. Would Buckaroo have had a different result if he had had his fuel levels presented to him down to the decimal point, available at a glance throughout his flight? Would he have refueled? Or perhaps would the decreased workload, (no staring at the tubes and doing mental math) allowed him to focus on coordination of the plane for the sake of fuel distribution? Who knows. What i do know is that i just cant justify NOT using this resource. To use the fuel computer hit one of the 3 center soft keys on the EMS, navigate to fuel, and use the selections to ZERO out your fuel amount and ADD fuel to the total as needed, the amount you add you gather from dipping the tanks. Enter waypoint on the GPS to see how much fuel you'll have when you get there at your given burn rate.

And if there's no turbulence, and if your ball is mounted level, and if your mushroom is mounted level, and if the fuel in the tanks is not sloshing back and forth. That's 9 "ifs." That's a lot of ifs. i do not rely on the sight tubes to tell me how much fuel I have onboard, I just use them to tell me WHERE the fuel is. The dynon, with simple arithmetic as a backup is a far more precise instrument. It's worth noting however that mr baker knows about 1000 times more than I do about these planes. But I do have fresh experience with being new to this, and the reduction of variables affecting my accurate understanding of fuel quantity and management reduces my workload and increases accuracy and my safety. Preference only

I had to drill into my head that the site tubes are not fuel gauges. Again, the site tubes are not fuel gauges. they couldn't be fuel gauges because depending on the attitude of the aircraft they can read anything between zero and 10 gallons and doesn't tell me if there's more than 10 gallons. What fuel gauge do you know of that's wildly inaccurate and only works when the tank is 1/2 empty or less? The site tubes are not fuel gauges, they are "fuel distribution indicators." Their job isn't to tell you WHAT is in your tank, they just tell you WHERE it is. The most accurate fuel gauge, to tell us what fuel remains is the dynon fuel computer since it uses real fuel burn data and presents how much is left. If the plane doesn't have dynons then use a watch and a calculated hourly fuel burn rate. Of course that requires a starting number to subtract from, and that means using the stick before every flight. Stick tells me how much I started with Dynon tells me how much is left sight tubes tell me where it is When I look at the site tubes all I care about is that there's an equal amount shown in each. I don't rely on arbitrary lines and even more arbitrary levels based on plane attitude to determine how much fuel I have left. I have a computer for that. An expensive one. As for moving the fuel, the best thing I've heard is "the fuel follows the ball." I'll add one more thing to that, "you move the fuel with your feet not your hands"

The black trim around the edge of the baggage compartment of my plane is falling off from time to time. I'd like to epoxy it back but want to be sensitive of the composite structure. I have some west system epoxy, but that seems slightly overkill. Any recommended adhesives that are composite and foam core friendly?

Now here I thought I had most of it covered. Thank-you very much for the suggestions. It's worth noting that one of the reasons I decided on a CT was the huge forum support. I'm looking forward to being part of the community.

This is my first post here at ctflier. I am set to take delivery of a CTSW within the next 9-12 days, and am finalizing the list of the things i will need to buy. This will be the my first airplane, and i am a new pilot. I live in Michigan, and will need to equip this plane for the frigid temperatures we deal with up here. Below is the list of items i am planning to purchase so as to be properly equipped to take possession of the plane. I have no children, and this plane will be filling that role for the time being! i want to be certain i have everything covered to keep it tip-top. · Cockpit o Headset (2) · Cleaning o Composiclean: § Wax § Bucket wash o Oil Eater o 210 plexi cleaner o Microfiber Rags · Engine o Cold weather related: § Tanis block heater § Metal Tape § Tanis battery heater? § Cetek 3300? o Sport Aero 4 o spark plugs o Dexcool 50-50 o Oil filters · Preflight o GATS fuel tester with sump o Fuel tank level dipstick o Digital tire pressure gauge o Collapsible foot stool · Miscellaneous o Flight design t-shirt and hat Did I miss anything? Secondly, I was wondering if anyone had any insight as to the things i can expect to be mildly to wildly different from a sportcruiser, which is the plane i got my license in, and have done all my flying in thus far. Flight characteristics etc. thanks in advance!