We discovered on the first cross country that the 530WAAS had a receiver problem. We were able to transmit and were heard but had a difficult time to hear ATC. I reported this to the avionics shop and the 530W is replaced with a loaner while the receiver is bench tested. I have also prepared a jumper cable for my Yaesu handheld and will plan to test the emergency antenna on the trip today. It is cold outside and my friend's new Columbia was pulled out of the hangar. I am doing the preflight in a warm hangar while he is clearing the frost off his plane just outside. It was only outside for half an hour.
This is my neighbor inside the hangar. I guess I am keeping pretty good company! When I showed this photo to my wife, she wanted to know "Is that a Boeing? Remember, I'm not Going if it isn't a Boeing!" I'm hoping to get a ride someday. It will probably be a long wait.
Prior to the preflight, I was talking to one of my instructors who did not have good photo of advection fog. Along the trip today, I spotted another example. I did not get a wider photo, but this area included a linear band of lake fog for miles with just a slight spread to land. This is really an interesting photo. In general the whole area today was covered with low valley fog and this limited the photo opportunities.
Just to the North of the lake, later in the day, I shot this of some nearby canals. Actually, it is interesting how the leaves have changed suddenly in the last week. Anyway, the handheld radio works well. The loaner 530W seems to hear find compared to my original radio. Now the best news, I refuel at my destination and calculate the fuel burn. I require just shy of 34 gallons for 420mi, two climbouts and 3.7 hours. This is going to be less than 10 gallons per hour, while maintaining a solid 150kts groundspeed. Nothing like a Mooney for speed and efficiency. The only way I could top this is a diesel conversion. Maybe someday?
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