Ken Ibold
Final Approach
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2005
- Messages
- 5,888
- Location
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Display Name
Display name:
Ken Ibold
The last couple of times I've flown, ATC has complained about my mode C readout being waaaaaaay off. Last flight I was in the pattern at 950 feet when the tower said I was squawking 3,400 feet. So today it was off to Bragg Aviation Electronics at my base field in Jacksonville to have things checked out. First we pulled the encoder, and they bench checked it. Meanwhile the tech, learning my airplane is on an experimental certificate, explained to me how to adjust the altimeter (the front one has been reading about 200 feet low; the back one used for solo flight is better) and gave me a primer on why certain errors show up in altitude squawks, including wiring problems.
The encoder checked good, so back to the airplane and the tech supervised me reinstalling it, except we plugged the static line into a tester instead of the airplane. The transponder was acting hinky, so we pulled that and put it on the bench. Another tech went through all of the tests with me, going so far as to hook up a known good transponder and showing me how mine was supposed to look and how it was looking on the various test gear.
Being a Terra, it has to go to Lakeland for repair. So the owner of the shop called them for the address, found a box, tagged and wrapped my unit, wrote out an address label, gave me directions to the post office and then even offered to drive me there. Meanwhile, he gave me instructions on how to reinstall it after it's repaired and told me to come back and ask if I needed help. Total bill was not worth mentioning.
This family-owned shop has been in business for 43 years. Treating people like that, I can see why!!
The encoder checked good, so back to the airplane and the tech supervised me reinstalling it, except we plugged the static line into a tester instead of the airplane. The transponder was acting hinky, so we pulled that and put it on the bench. Another tech went through all of the tests with me, going so far as to hook up a known good transponder and showing me how mine was supposed to look and how it was looking on the various test gear.
Being a Terra, it has to go to Lakeland for repair. So the owner of the shop called them for the address, found a box, tagged and wrapped my unit, wrote out an address label, gave me directions to the post office and then even offered to drive me there. Meanwhile, he gave me instructions on how to reinstall it after it's repaired and told me to come back and ask if I needed help. Total bill was not worth mentioning.
This family-owned shop has been in business for 43 years. Treating people like that, I can see why!!