After traveling for the holidays, I managed to get one last flight in for 2025 on New Year's Eve. It was a flight with a purpose, as the test I had submitted on the tailBeacon had resulted in a failed NIC which is a measure of the accuracy of the GPS. That was for a low level flight to BQ1, so I wanted to try it in Class C airspace, and with my phone set to airplane mode as I suspect that maybe the cell signal is overpowering the tailBeacon's efforts to communicate with my transponder. The RDU flight was a success in that the tailBeacon PAR report passed with flying colors, but also a bit humbling because I got a bit of grief from RDU Approach for being a bit more rusty in my controlled procedures than I realized. First I had repeated back an instruction not for me due to a similar call sign. Then I thought the controller cleared me to RDU and turned that way, only to be scolded and asked if I could handle being in the airspace. Ouch! Lesson learned - I need to go back to planning for these flights like I was a 50 hour pilot again.
Over the holiday I was able to visit Air Salvage of Dallas, which had dozens of 150/152s laying around. I was mostly looking for the dimmer knob for my panel/radio lights, and they apparently had several. $50 for a part I couldn't find easily online, and then for no less than $200. I installed it upon my return and it looks great!
Since getting the plane back in early December I managed to fly seven times, mostly from the right seat, and I'm starting to feel it getting more comfortable. Big surprise given how awkward it felt the first several times. I did noticed a line of rivets on the cowl that helps me align with the runway on landing, and I seem to be over the panic ballooning I was doing, so now I feel comfortable landing on a decent sized runway from that side.
So how would I grade my aircraft ownership experience at the end of the first prorated calendar year? I'd say a "D+" though I'm cautiously optimistic about 2026.
So far I've spent about $18k in maintenance on 4TV, and that accounts for the grade. I was hoping for $5K to get things squared away, or at least under $10k, and I've well overshot that. Most of that was on account of the fraud committed by the A&P that did the annual and the shoddy pre-buy, as previously described. I'm expecting a $5k annual in May, but that should resolve all of the initial items. Still, I flew the plane 17 hours since having it, and with all ownership costs, including MX, ownership, operating and upgrades, my hourly cost came out to about $1,300. Good times.
On the plus side, the operating cost when just accounting for fuel and oil averaged $32, which means the more MX free flying I can do, the more I'll bring that hourly rate down. Although it's a drop in the bucket, my cost to operate my aircraft for CFI instruction is considerably less than renting an airplane, so that helps take some of the bite out.
Weather permitting, I'm finally able to do just go fly, and it's been a lot of fun. We've had some beautiful clear sky afternoons this month, and since you can never really plan on those, having your own plane does make it nice. And if my kid gets his license and it helps him in some meaningful way, it'll all be worth it. Hopefully.
Next up in updates is to replace that pilot side window. I also want to spray paint the bottom instrument cluster that looks like garbage and appl the decals I ordered to make them legible. A temporary solution until I can afford aluminum panels, but one I think might really help. That one main tire is still emitting a noise like rubbing, and through troubleshooting I've determined that the COM interference is coming from the alternator - not the beacon. Having a noise capacitor installed at the next oil change to see if that solves it.
Onward to a safe and uptime filled 2026!
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