Recent content by Jim K

Great stories! Dad was born in the mid 40s and learned to drive in a Model A. He bought one a few years ago. It's interesting, but doesn't do much for me. It kind of blew my mind seeing its contemporaries. One data point I found fascinating, you could've had a Ford model A for about $800, a...

Digging into Lycoming's history a bit more, I found it interesting that they didn't start producing aero engines until Cord took control of the company. He was an airplane enthusiast (as were most rich people in the 20's i suppose). If not for his influence, I probably wouldn't fly behind a...

No way wood is energy dense enough. I'd recommend coal.

Generally speaking, the fewer legs, the scarier.

Believe me, there are FARRR worse things in illinois.

So bees will just live in a different hive if you put them there? I always assumed they were "loyal" for lack of a better term, to their queen (mother) and sisters.

Hard to tell from that picture. It's definitely been worked, so we'll be somewhat soft. Hard to tell if that pond is wet or just the lack of plant residue making it look darker. In general everywhere has been at wet this year, and yes dark soils like that can be a bottomless pit when wet. If...

Just got home from a short trip that was so awesome I had to share: Auburn, IN is home to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg museum. E.L. Cord bought the Auburn car company, and during his tenure bought Duesenberg and introduced the Cord line. Some of the most beautiful cars ever created, and I was...

If you look at the altitude, it also starts very small oscillations about the same time the lateral track started to wobble. I too wonder about an autopilot failure. Add in a climb and vmc-imc transition into a little cell with lots of lift, I could see someone getting behind and losing control.

So I was departing JWN right as this happened. Heard approach giving several directions with no audible response, and finally "radar contact lost". Shortly afterwards they switched me to center, which turned out to be the wrong frequency; an understandable mistake given the circumstances. I...

These comments are the best, everyone agrees. I walked in here and said, "wow these comments!". Big, beautiful comments.

My second nav/comm (kx155) has been having issues, so this is top of mind. I want some kind of backup navigation. I don't care a lot if its GPS or vhf, my main concern is being able to fly an ils or lpv approach. The viable options are a gnc215 for about $5k or a gnc 355, which is about $7k. I...

Funny, they don't look as ugly from that angle

Damn, sorry to hear that. That photo was at 9000. We came back north at 6000, departing about noon. Weather was pretty benign at that time. There was some nasty stuff to the east, but it was a ways away and moving that direction.

Last minute Lifeline flight to John Tune this morning. Lots of beautiful cloud viewing and a couple instrument approaches. My first time to JWN, man that place is busy, especially for how small it is. Probably the most GA traffic I've seen at an airport, about half piston and half turbine.