I can't even open a popcan because of this nail biting experience.

Its annual inspection time..........booourns. For those of you who arent in the know an Annual Inspection is just that, its an inspection carried out once a year on the entire aircraft to make sure that if for somereason you plummet from the sky, its more or less your fault as the pilot then the aircrafts fault.

Generally speaking an annual inspection isn't described in hours or work done, it's described in money. For instance. My last annual didnt take 50 man hours to complete, it took $1300 to complete. Annuals are a scary time for owners as they bring about the unknown. $1300 is good as that coveres the labour and some material (gasket & seat rail, fluids, etc.), so UBC is basically a healthy little airplane. However the reason the annual inspection is so nerve wrecking for most owners is because this brings out the unknown issues, along with their unknown costs. Planes arent like cars, they cant usually be safely operated with an "Ill get to it later attitude", sometimes things need your attention and your wallet right away. The Annual Inspection is carried out in accordance with CARS 625 and takes (if all goes well) about a week and around $1000 - $1500. Fortunately I have a partnership, so my partner and I bear the costs equally.

This season we are putting new tires on it as they are getting quite worn, and have a few cracks. I would rather spend the $300 - $500 on replacing the tires, then replacing what ever needs to be replaced because they blew on landing.

Ill keep you posted on how the annual goes, and hopefully tomorrow I will take some more pictures of the naked interior.

Oh, and it should be worth noting that this isnt a cost that I choose to do, this isnt an upgrade or anything, this is a simple cost of operation, the annual must be done, whether the aircraft flew or not.

Cheers,

Niss "I cant scratch anymore" Feiner

Nothing To See Here People! Except Some Pretty Pictures!

Not much to post. I finally flew again. Nothing too exiting, just a reintro flight, stalls, steep turns, slow flight, spiral dives, etc. I am going to suppliment this lame post with some aviation porn.

Unfortunatley I still have yet to get myself a regular instructor. My friend Mike who was my instructor here in Barrie, got a job up north, leaving me wanting for another.

Jaki was kind enough to get me a flight with Canadian Flyers at

Lake Simcoe Regional, in the hopes that I would gain a connection with an instructor. Thats why she is great. She knows exactly what I need.

I am trying to avoid the flight school as I really do not want to pay that much and have my instructor get so little. Mike and I had a mutually beneficial agreement, and I would like a freelance instructor who would benefit as much from me as I would from them. If anyone knows anyone who is a Class 3 instructor and looking to do some more teaching on the side please let me know.

As it is nearing the beginning of the flying season I would like to wish everyone a happy and safe time. Airplanes are fun, I like watching them, fly.....stay alive so I can watch airplanes fly.

Cheers,

Niss