CTSW Bob

I had to laugh at “pee practice proficiency!” I suppose we should all do a “dry run” in the hangar before we need to do an actual emergency pee procedure in air. In the 182, I turned to the side facing my door and straightened out (my whole body) like a stick. That allowed a drip free experience. I envision the same technique in the CT, but have not done any field testing.

Oh yeah, and a good noise canceling head set makes all the difference. If you don’t have a set I highly recommend you treat yourself and your passenger to a set. My Zulu 3’s allow blue tooth for music or phone calls, but I’ve never used it. My son did music and Netflix through his on part of our trip.

Great ideas on the seat. As I age, I had to sell the Prius we owned because it hurt my back on long drives. Never used to do that and we did some long trips as a family in that car. Any other car you could plan your bathroom or food breaks around gas stops, but in a Prius you’d starve and wet yourself before you burned through a tank of gas. So far, I have found my CTSW very comfortable and haven’t had to modify the seat. I did make an in flight bathroom break once in the 182. Without a good auto pilot and my wife taking the controls it was interesting to say the least... she kept telling me to hurry up while we were in a slight bank and losing altitude. I had a hard time relaxing... I was even called out by the controller for the erratic flying. I said I was finishing up some business and would return to straight and level soon. They were laughing in the background. I still carry an empty Gatorade bottle in the floor storage if the need shall arise again. With a good auto pilot and the already relaxed position it should be much easier to turn to the side and accomplish the mission!

I use the smallest CTEK chargers on all my toys, from planes to cars to the riding mower. They are great. I don’t use them to charge big car batteries, but to simply keep them topped off. If you follow high end cars, many of the high end vehicles (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche) use the CTEK chargers with their own badging and charge big bucks for them. I’ve seen it as high as $1500! Crazy when you can get the small ones shipped for roughly $50.

Just got back a week or so ago from a nice XC with my son in my 2007 CTSW. We flew from KDNN to KFYM (Fayetteville, AR) with a stop for bladders and leg stretching in Covington, TN (M04). Until this trip, my longest XC was about a 2 hour and 20 minute flight to the beach and back with my wife. I just wanted to report to anyone trying to learn more about these, that the Flight Designs are very capable planes. Since my son is a good 230 pounds of all muscle, weight was going to be the number one factor in my planning. I am light, so I still opted for 24 gallons of fuel, even though each leg would burn no more than 12 gallons. This gave me a more than comfortable 2+ hours of reserve fuel. Being guys, we packed light and brought our own lunches for the mid-way stop. On the way there, it was get up to cruising altitude, trim the plane, and set the GPS driven autopilot. Coming from a 182P, but with only a crappy antique "wing-leveler," the advancements in these Flight Designs are so far ahead of the dinosaur Cessnas it's not even funny. The safety of full-digital engine monitoring and situational awareness of the primary display, along with my Garmin Aera 660 looking ahead for obstacles and terrain is unparallel. It really takes the stress out of the gauge scan, because as soon as a parameter is out of range, an immediate visual and audio alert is sent compared to looking over at an old analog gauge and wondering "how long has that been reading zero?" Coupled with the AP flying the plane, this frees your focus to OUTSIDE the plane where I could focus on my surroundings, looking for traffic, and places to land in the advent of an engine failure. The parachute just ads to the wide margin of safety I feel when flying my CTSW compared to my previous planes. The trip was non-eventful both ways, but I was concerned about high temperatures, my weight, and the density altitude at our Covington stop on the way out there. Even at near max gross weight, 93 degree temps, and a higher density altitude, it was no problem for my little CT. My altitude shot up to 8500' to clear clouds and as low as 1400' on the way back. I used flight following as much as I could and knocked out a very long trip in comfort, economy, and speed. It was roughly 4.5 hours out there and less than 4 hours back with a nice tail-wind. In fact, my first leg back had a ground speed of 142 knots with a wicked tailwind. That's the fastest my little plane had flown. The ride was stable, and I even knocked off a XC landing of gusts up to 15-17 as a non-event. I know our CTSW's have a reputation of being "sporty," but it really is just a matter of getting used to it. Coming from an extremely sluggish and heavy 182P into an LSA only magnified the differences, but I MUCH prefer the CT any day. Also, the more you load up these CT's the more stable they are. If I were to go on a flight with heavy forecasted winds, I would get as close to max weight as I could, as it really does make a difference. On calm days, if I'm solo and light on fuel, these planes are a blast. I can usually get up to pattern altitude (1000' agl) by the end of my runway. So, if you are contemplating the CT series, rest assured they are not only great fun for burning holes in the sky, but also quite capable cross-country machines. Flight Design really did do a great job of making such a great small plane. Here we are, my son waited about 15 minutes before he requested the inflight snack service. Co-pilot napping from the smooth ride @ 8500'. Parked in Fayetteville, AR. The covers worked great! Ground-speed greatly enhanced by a pretty wicked storm off my left wing about 25 miles away. Putting down the power (*for an LSA...) to get ahead of this storm. Bob

I did this-

BTW, that was a “GOOD” landing.

Glad you are both ok. Looking at all that field I would have landed there too. If you pulled the chute, you know the plane is a write off. With all that landing area it was a smart move. Unfortunately, the outcome is the same as the plane is totaled. plane shopping is fun though. Let’s see what we can salvage...engine...nope. Airframe...nope. Avionics....probably. Chute and rocket....yep!

They probably sell the same $10 tire from eBay, just mark it up. Same with the crappy “aircraft grade” overpriced innertubes. Seriously, eBay is probably your friend.

Hi Glenn - Thanks for the inquiry. I did, but no joy. Still swinging around in flight. Stable on the ground. Still getting the best of me.

I will. I hope to play with it this weekend. Thanks for the tip and education.

I think you’ll do well. In my opinion, the experimental 912 market does run ethanol too, so I can’t imagine that would be an issue. I do run non-ethanol gas in my plane because it runs better and smoother. Even better than on av gas. Maybe it’s just in my head.

Interesting. Could it be that simple? Everything else runs smooth, just the oil temp. I will give it a shot as I have nothing to loose but a half hour of my time and everything to gain!

The floats are such garbage, but yet priced like gold. For a while another company was making replacement floats out of a composite or epoxy. You may want to look into them. Rotax floats are shipped in a plain brown bag (last ones I bought from a certified Rotax dealer) as if they were pulled from a 5 gallon bucket from Mexico or China at 50 cents a piece. It just annoys me when a manufacture marks up a faulty cheap item 20,000%. Rant over...

P.S. Upgrade did NOT fix my erroneous oil temp readings. They are all over the place with wild 100 degree swings or better every second. I have replaced the sensor, replaced the connector, replaced the wire going to the harness, and even played with the sensor type in the setup menu on my D120. I thought I had it solved when all the software updates included corrections for "fluctuating oil temperature readings." No luck

So this week I decided to update my engine monitor (Dynon D120). I hooked up a battery charger capable of up to 15 amps to my plane and ran the old laptop off the power cord. The update took roughly 45 minutes and if anything were to shut down during the process the screen would have to be sent back to Dynon for the fix. I figure that would cost me another month with the shipping times. I had a few glitches getting the software to download onto the laptop until I gave up, downloaded it from my home computer onto a flash drive, and then from the flash drive to the laptop. Should have done that move first. Second, I did not get the right driver downloaded for the USB to 9 pin male adapter. Once I figured that out it was smooth, but nerve-racking sailing. On our CT's (at least mine), I could leave all the "avionics" off by only turning on the breaker for power. You only want the part you are upgrading to be on, which for me, was my D120 engine monitor. I pulled out the Dynon to unplug and access the 9 pin connector at the harness. During the software upgrade, wear good walking shoes as I was pacing like an expectant father in a waiting room. I did NOT want my plane to be down another month. I think I walked at least 2 miles around the airport as I would have lost my mind in anticipation staring at the computer screen. Once all was done, simply power down, unplug the cable, plug back in the factory connection, and button up the dash. I was happy to see all the information from my PFD and my EMS share back and forth. Phew!

If you do send in for repair, send both displays as Dynon will upgrade the software on both for free. If you don’t have the latest software n both displays they will not communicate with each other.

Where did your amps go?

Here’s an update: It took a month (2 weeks of that was shipping there and back), but I got my display back. It was 70 degrees yesterday when I installed it and went flying, so I don’t know if the cold weather problem was solved, but Dynon did acknowledge a hardware issue and replaced whatever they replaced. Here are some tips I learned after the fact: 1. They updated the software, which is fine, but now it won’t talk to my Dynon D120 engine monitor. They can both be run independently, but I can’t transfer the engine data to my PFD or flight info to the right side. I have to update the software on my D120 now. In order to do this, you need a Windows based computer, a RS232 to USB adapter, and back up power for your plane and make sure you have 120 volts for the laptop too as it can take a lot of power and time and you should not rely on the batteries. If one shuts down during the upgrade it can lock down your displays requiring them to be sent back to Dynon to be repaired. The good: The software update is free. The Better: Dynon would have updated my D120 for FREE if I had sent it in at the same time as my D100. Had I known this, I would have chosen this route 100%. Now I am awaiting a new power cord for my wife’s old laptop and an RS232 to USB cable from eBay. 2. Looking at the software update notes, there are several updates that pertain to the erratic oil temp readings that I and others on here are experiencing. Sounds like the demon I have been chasing since I’ve owned this plane is a software issue. Go figure. I will report back when I get this all done. Bob

I was quoted $450, just as their website, and roughly a 10 day turn around from when it is received. I put in for the return authorization and will report back. While I would love the latest and greatest in my plane, and would upgrade if I only had to do one screen, I can’t justify dropping the funds for two screens when I only fly VFR and my Garmin Aera 660 drives my auto pilot and ForeFlight does the traffic and weather. $450 is easier to swallow and Dynon should be commended for standing behind their older avionics and repairing them for a reasonable fee.

Thanks for the reply. I’ll call Dynon today and see what is involved with an upgrade or repair. At over 13 years old I’d imagine there’s been some substantial advances in technology.

Hello- in my 2007 CTSW, my primary flight display Dynon D100 on my left side does not like to come on when cold. The right side engine monitor comes on within seconds when cold. I’m talking about 40 degree weather and below. The left side PFD will not come on for sometimes over 10 minutes or longer. When it finally comes on, it is black and white for the first few seconds, then the color comes in, dim, and then within 60 seconds all is good and normal. Any ideas? Not sure if I want to drop in a new HDX display, as I believe you are supposed to do both displays at once. I could see it topping $9-$10k pretty fast. Obviously won’t be a problem when the weather warms up, but I’m thinking it is sending me warning flares.. Bob

I had the same set up when I bought my CTSW. I kept touching the screen on the 496 expecting it to do something! You can very easily and inexpensively change out the 496 to the Aera 660 with a panel mount. It will talk to your auto pilot too! I did all of it myself and I’m much happier with the setup. I too toss around the HDX upgrade. I could do both my panels and related gear for maybe under $10k? In the certified world a panel upgrade can easily surpass $100k. My panel is original, at now 14 years old. Still works perfect, but it owes me nothing. I’d leave the Aera 660 to drive the autopilot. I’m already ADSB compliant. Our planes are an investment in fun and freedom, and you can’t always justify upgrades other than the smile on your face. Just like a vacation, you can drop a wheel barrow of money in a week on a good one, and if you do it right, it’s worth it. Our planes, when taken care of, will hold their value as new ones keep costing more. I made significant profit on the last two planes I sold.

I would never remove the fuel pump, but I was curious why it was there on my carbureted engine when it appears it may never be needed in the first place. Just seems like another failure point. If the pickup was in the right location, in the back of the tank aka Cessna 172/182, it should always have fuel except in a dive. Then again, if you run it that low would a fuel pump make any difference if the fuel can’t get out of the tank and into the fuel line? Does a carb need fuel pressure to fill a float bowl more than gravity feed? Our fuel systems, if my memory is correct, are designed to flow 150% of needed fuel by gravity alone. This is part of the annual inspection. You measure the flow into a bucket from the sump area by taking loose a line. As long as the floats are full on a carb, the carb takes what it needs. Fuel pressure has nothing to do with that once the fuel is in the float bowl. I may be all wrong. I do understand fuel injection is a whole different beast that needs pressure. Thank you for your responses.

Thanks for the reply Tom. So, in essence, one could remove the fuel pump and the engine carbs should still have plenty of fuel and run fine with our high wing configuration?