Recent content by Martin Pauly

That's correct. Once you think of it as a stall speed, this makes more sense. The wings will stall before they can produce so much lift as to exceed the limit load factor, e.g. 3.8g for a normal category airplane. Here's a video with more background on this topic (including the VG Diagram which...

I use the more basic entry-level model from Sensorcom, the Inspector (CO) INS2-CO-01. It does all I want, and the alerting threshold is useful for cockpit needs. From time to time, they run a discount. - Martin

"Unexpected package volume"? No such thing. They know where the packages are. Efficiency in this business is anticipating the demand with high accuracy and then optimizing the infrastructure accordingly. It's not expecting the unexpected. - Martin

You're welcome! ;) - Martin

I want to emphasize how important it is to measure the blood oxygen saturation level. You can't go by feel on this; you have to measure it. A pulse oximeter is a cheap, accurate and easy-to-use tool to do that. Take a reading every few minutes; it may be your only indication if something is...

If by "best economy" you mean "most nautical miles per gallon of fuel burned", then running at peak EGT will not be best economy. You get more miles per gallon if you lean past peak EGT, to the lean side of peak. This will also result in cooler cylinders. If you run at peak EGT at 75% power...

Great questions! “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler” - well, here (leaning) we have a topic where in my opinion a lot of pilots are happy with recipes which are a bit too simple. If one leans purely based on fuel flow, then you are not accounting for altitude or...

I've used such "secret" waypoints successfully here and there, but in general it makes things easier if your flight plan fixes are well-known to the typical controller. That includes VORs, of course, but also a number of five-letter fixes which are often assigned to route aircraft around busy or...

That's mathematically correct. But airplanes don't jump around in space randomly. With a known approximate starting position and Kalman filter etc., navigating while in contact with two DME stations works just fine in FMS-equipped airplanes. - Martin

That's actually how business jets and airliners used to navigate before GPS - by using two DME stations (DME/DME NAV). That was not that long ago, and it still exists as a backup in pretty much every FMS today. Works great for enroute and terminal, not so much for approaches or oceanic, of...

The most painful check I ever wrote for my Bonanza was to the Iowa DOT for the use tax after I bought the airplane. The $35/year since then are more of a nuisance; that amount doesn't hurt me much financially but it's easy to imagine it costs the State of Iowa more to process my transaction than...

Yes: do nothing, move on. There is no realistic scenario where the lack of an inner marker beacon receiver has any bearing on the outcome of your flights. Heck, in 25 years of IFR flying I have not once needed any marker beacon, let alone the inner marker. - Martin

I like the name - but I can’t join this time.

I last visited this past summer. You can zip through it in a day, but if you really want to see things in detail, you'd need multiple days - or focus on a portion of the museum. Very much worth a visit! - Martin

Brian, What type of airplane are you thinking of when you say the difference between a windmilling prop and idle engine is so small? In a high-performance airplane the difference in rate of descent can be several hundred feet per minute at the same airspeed. I agree with your recommendation...