976 squawk list

[James Carlson]

I have a little over 60 hours in 61976 over the past 18 months or so.
Here are the things I know about it:

  - Interior (cloth seating) is brand new; just redone last fall.  The
    rest of the interior shows some age.

  - Shoulder belts for pilot and co-pilot are a sketchy affair (and
    common for 172s).  That tab seems unlikely to hold in place in a
    real emergency.

  - Logs were lost.  No "official" owner's manual is present, though
    there is (of course) a replica in the plane.  (The latter was
    picked up during my checkride.  Don let me go on the condition
    that I report that problem to Tim.  It's possible that sale of the
    aircraft would be difficult.)

  - The transponder (a Narco AT-50A; cost roughly $750 used) is flaky.
    It has at least three known problems:

	+ It often does not appear on ATC display at all.  It seems to
	  be an intermittent problem, as turning it off and on or
	  rocking the unit back and forth in the panel (it's not
	  completely nailed down) will sometimes bring it back.

	+ It sometimes produces ghosting.  LWM's tower has told me
	  that they see multiple targets from 976.

	+ It has been known to be off on altitude.  On a flight back
	  from Concord last year, Boston Approach asked me to stop
	  squawking altitude because I was reporting several hundred
	  feet off (after verifying by altimeter).  This cleared up as
	  I got closer to LWM, but with no explanation.

    It's an older unit, so the code selection is by mechanical rotary
    knobs (no VFR or emergency buttons).

  - The ELT, of course, is one of the old 121.5MHz jobs.  Not a
    concern for me, as I'm most often flying in controlled air space,
    but could be a concern otherwise.

  - Radios are a Bendix/King KY-97A ($1500 new, $950 used), and a
    Narco MK-12D (cost around $1600).  Both are digital.

    The top radio is the Bendix.  It's the "good one," and is usually
    the one I use for primary communication (with the Narco for
    ATIS).

    One of the VOR/glide slope indicators runs off of the Narco.  That
    radio has four displays; active and standby for both
    communications and for navigation.  I usually use the Narco's
    navigation for radials across my track to figure position for
    reporting.

  - There's a separate self-contained VOR/glide-slope.  This has a
    mechanical tuning knob, which makes changing frequency more
    troublesome, so I usually set this for my primary navigation.  The
    volume control for identification (and instrument on/off control)
    is very worn, and it can be hard to tell if you've turned it on or
    off.

  - It has a King KR-85 ADF (cost about $700).  Works well as an AM
    radio, but there's unfortunately nothing good on AM anymore.  ;-}

  - The plane has a four-station intercom, and the switch panel for
    the intercom has level controls for pilot/crew/passengers.  The
    control panel also has the marker beacon display.  (I've only done
    a couple of practice approaches with Tim; I don't know whether or
    not the beacon works.  I've never seen the lights on.)

  - It has a so-called "auto pilot."  It's supposed to be a simple
    wing leveler, but if it works, it's news to me.  I've experimented
    with it a few times, and it seems approximately as effective as
    just letting go of the yoke.

  - The panel trim is loose.  They've fixed it a bit, but it still
    sometimes causes trouble with the instruments.

  - The DG adjustment used to stick.  It's annoying when it happened,
    because I normally don't notice until I'm starting my turn after
    departure, and then I'm both climbing and trying to get to some
    particular heading -- tough to do with just a compass working.
    (Tim had the maintenance guys look at it and lubricate, and it
    seems ok now, but given the loose panel, it could happen again.)

  - Engine is solid.  Never had a problem with cold starts or with
    power output.

  - Current tires are in need of replacement.  Someone seems to land
    often with brakes locked up.

  - Nose strut needs air.  All the time.  On the plus side, the damper
    seems to be in good shape; it doesn't complain when slowing down
    to taxi speed as some of the other planes (notably 081) tend to
    do.

  - Unlike 081 (at least the last time I flew it), you don't smell
    avgas when slipping.  I wear a CO monitor, and I've never seen
    more than about 14 PPM in the winter.

Those seem like the main items.  There's probably another more general
set ("having DME would be nice, as would GPS, and 976 has neither"),
but probably not appropriate for this list.

-- 
James Carlson         42.703N 71.076W         <carlsonj at workingcode.com>