February 2007 - American Bonanza Society

Spinner backing plateI read the comments concerning thecracked spinner backing plate (pp.980 1-9802, September ABS Magazine)and was reminded of an issue I hadabout 12 years ago.McCauley had a new spinner andbacking plate combination that couldnot be used with the older spinners. Youhad to buy both to keep from crackingthe backing plate. It might be worthwhileto see if the same problem isoccurring with this spinner.As T recall, my IA found referencein an obscure note on microfiche andca lled McCauley who then proceeded totell him the whole story. We wentthrough three spinner backing platesbefore we found the problem.Years ago, I talked at great lengthto then ABS Technical Consultant NormColvin about it and I thought from ourconversati on that he was going to makesure Beech put it out as a service note. Ithink it was written up in the ABSNews/eller in '94-95.-Ernie Ganas. Ncwoto, CaliforniaSimCom trainingIn response to the editor's note afterthe "Baron training" letter in theNovember 2006 ABS Magazine, let meoffer the fOllow ing:I have owned and flown a 58P forthe last 10 years, accumulating morethan 2,000 hours of mostly joyful flying.I went to the BPPP for a couple ofyears and found it excellent training.But after serving on the board of directorsof CAE, the company that producesmost of the world's flight simulators, Idecided to try SimCom for my annualtraining. I have been with them eversince.My reasoning is very simple: I canexperience very realistic, life-threateningsituations and when handled poorly,ali that is hurt is my feelings. Also, it ismuch easier on my Baron. No engineshutdowns, restarts after extended cooling,high-speed descents after pressurizationfailure , gear stress duringextreme crosswind landings, etc. I treatmy engines like babies, and babies arenot treated like engines in fli ght training.A few examples:• My instructor doubted that I couldsurvive attempting to climb from anengine fai lure at liftoff into a 50 ft. ceilingeven when he warned me he wasgoing to do it. He was right. My personalminimums and engine failuretechnique before gear retraction havechanged dramatically.• [ got to experience gear failure(IMC) and a subsequent gear-up landingafter trying ali the tricks to get the geardown. After a nervous passenger briefingand ali the anxiety of knowing that Iwas going to bend tin, [ put the woundedbird on the runway.• Ever tried landing a plane whenthe windshield was com pletely icedover except for the little heated plate inthe windshield? [ did an lLS to minimumsin icing conditions and then gotto land leaning to the right trying to seethe runway out of the little bitty patch ofclear windshield. [ promise you, it ismuch harder than you think. Eventhough my plane is certified for knownicing, I am much more cautious now,because [ have experienced bad icingand lived to tell about it.• After countless engine failures,my diabolical instructor gave me a splitflapcondition and, sure enough, I startedto shut down a perfectly good enginebecause what [ expected was not whatwas going on.• During a full NDB approach, myinstrument air failed and the instructortimed me on how long it took me to discoverit. [ discovered it in less than avery long minute, but it was amazingwhat I went through before I finallyrealized what was going on and stuck aPost-it over the offending instruments.My reward was getti ng to make a partial-panelNDB approach to minimumswi th my failed pneumatic system andone engine out.The simulator is an actual Baroncockpit, exactly like my airplane. Everyyear when [ return, [ swear I will bemore competent. I find that while [ ammuch more experienced, my competencedoes not return to my satisfactionuntil about halfway through the course.This leaves in question how good I waswhen [ walked in the door.I have not extolied the virtues of thesystems training I receive at SimCom,but the BPPP course does an excelientjob as weli, so it is truly not a distinguiShing characteristic. But SimCom isvery, very good.-George Petty, San luis Obispo. CaliforniaIS YOUR ASS RECORD UP TO DATE? The 2007 Membership Oireclory &Buyer's Guide will be developed over Ihe nexl couple 01 monlhs, so check your dOlo bose record 10 make sureiI's complele and correcl. The direclory will include your name. cily/slale. airplane model and lail number. and _il you 'opl in" - your lelephone number and/or e·mail address. We encourage you 10 opl in becouse il promolesgrealer member-Io-member communicalion. Check your record in Ihe online membership direclory,members-only seclion - www.bononzo .org . Or cali for a record check - 316-945-1700.