Plane and Pilot

MARCH 25, 2025

She walked me through the foyer to the spotless, freshly painted hangar. The GameBird is right at home on the grass, pavement, or TacAeros clean hangar. A steam gauge airspeed indicator, Garmin G3X, autopilot, Garmin G5, transponder, fuel selector, accelerometer, and steam gauge altimeter were centered directly in front of me.

Knot 111

Knot Airplanes Runway Rudder 111

Northstar VFR

AUGUST 25, 2024

These checks take a full working day, so the aircraft is usually parked inside of a hangar. These checks require many more man hours, tools, hangar space, and aircraft downtime. T: TRANSPONDER INSPECTION (FAR 91.413) The transponder also must be inspected every 24 calendar months, even for flight under VFR (visual flight rules).

Annual Inspection 64

Annual Inspection VOR Instrument Flight Rules Altimeter 64

Air Facts

AUGUST 5, 2024

It has a mid-time engine (O-320-D3G rated at 160 hp), fairly recent annual inspection and 24 month pitot-ptatic/transponder test. A friend reminds you of a couple additional nuggets of due diligence to be reckoned with—a hangar and insurance. It’s equipped with ADS-B Out (GTX335), a WAAS enabled GNS 430, along with a KX-155.

Density Altitude 98

Density Altitude Ceiling Runway Weather 98

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 10, 2024

Added to the mix are a variety of aftermarket GPS, ADS-B-compliant transponders, flat-screen navigators, iPads, and new or legacy autopilots. Better to write it down sitting in your hangar on a rainy day than try to figure it out at 6,000 feet over the Okefenokee Swamp at midnight. One common remedy is the ubiquitous iPad/tablet.

Cockpit 107

Cockpit Transponder Pilot Ceiling 107