Interesting choice of image in a Flying Magazine article..

[a2capt]

.. the chosen image caught my eye on this article, faster than anything else.


The title speaking how how to lessen the cost .. if it's like any of the CAP aircraft that I've come across that were sold, they all needed a ton of loot spent on the interior.




http://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/ownership/how-lower-cost-airplane-ownership

[SunDog]

 

Somewhere in CAP there is a reg that the seats have to be crushed by tightening the seat-belts till the seat cushions looks like prunes. Every Cessna seat in CAP is gacked within 30 milliseconds of purchase. . .

The 172s can be pretty O.K., with the 180 HP conversion. Good performer, and once the other junk is removed (survival kit, DF, tie down kit, useless/redundant binder) it's probably even better.  The 172 audio panel is a rat's nest, not well thought out, but the rest of the stack can be O.K. Except the ones without a IFR GPS.

Set aside for a used IFR GPS, and a wing leveler/single axis autopilot, and it could be a decent IFR airplane.

The absolute worse one I've seen came to us from NY Wing; GPS DB  years out of date, no working panel lights, duct tape covering the vents, some Larry Lightbulb strip lighting GLUED under the glare shield, DF antennas swinging in the wind, etc.  Almost no one flew it more than once.  It was literally useless for anything except day VFR.  I heard recently that it was cleaned up by another wing and doing good service.

[NIN]

The absolute worse one I've seen came to us from NY Wing; GPS DB  years out of date, no working panel lights, duct tape covering the vents, some Larry Lightbulb strip lighting GLUED under the glare shield, DF antennas swinging in the wind, etc.  Almost no one flew it more than once.  It was literally useless for anything except day VFR.  I heard recently that it was cleaned up by another wing and doing good service.

Every unit has to have a hangar queen

[RiverAux]

Well, when you fly the planes twice as much as normal general aviation planes are flown, they're going to get worn faster than you might otherwise expect.

(statistic based on our planes flying around 200 hours a year and a hazy memory of seeing something about most planes being flown 100 hours a year). 

[LSThiker]

Kind of a terrible picture really.  First, I think I would have shot it from the right of the aircraft.  The left seems to be more interesting than a barbed-wire fence and a fuel truckbus.  Second, I think they relied too heavily on the "grunge" appearance when editing the photo.  In doing so, they seem to have lost the artistic quality of the photo.  Third, they oversaturated the white.  The clouds near the horizon and to the right of the aircraft (picture left) are too hot.  Fourth, while I do not think they did HDR photography, but I think they tried to make it look like it was HDR. 

Overall, terrible photo.  However, it is ironic given the subject of the article.

[NIN]

And then we find out it was a cellphone that they scarfed off facebook

[LSThiker]

And then we find out it was a cellphone that they scarfed off facebook

Unfortunately, that is probably true.

[NIN]

Cell phone picture, I meant. Darn proofreading

[Eclipse]

And then we find out it was a cellphone that they scarfed off facebook

Unfortunately, that is probably true.

Seriously, this instagram nonsense is the dumbest thing to happen to photos in probably ever.
Let's take our beautiful 15Mp photos and squish them down to look like they were taken
with a Polaroid 20 years ago and then left on the back of someone's rear car deck.

It's not "interesting", it's not original, it's just dumb.

[NIN]

To quote my 12 year old son " dad, Instagram is not about photo sharing. Instagram is social media."

[LSThiker]

To quote my 12 year old son " dad, Instagram is not about photo sharing. Instagram is social media."

Hence the reason why my photography is posted on Flickr.

[SunDog]

I like the CAP paint scheme - wish the ENTIRE top of the wing was red in the winter, of course. But for me, it has a modern and appealing layout.  I wouldn't ever buy a 172 or 182, but if I did buy a used CAP airplane, I think I'd keep the scheme.  We had six of them lined up on a military base a while back, and they looked good - better than their scruffy crews, I'm sure. . .

IRT the NY plane - I figure they were just getting rid of a dog, and good riddance.  Not sure how all that stuff got past a 100 hour, but maybe it all met the letter of the law.  My club has a used CAP plane, and it flys a LOT more than 200 hours a year - more like 100 hours every six weeks or so.  The stuff that moves dods get beat up - PTT, seats, etc.  But the manager is also the A&P, so it generally is in as good (or better) shape than the CAP airplanes.

Our CAP maintenance was extraordinarily good for a long while, until they went to centralized maintenance; we had a CAP MO who also ran the club and was a superb mechanic. The planes are still maintained more-or-less O.K., but not nearly to the level he kept them. He was actually less expensive, but the firm of Hassle, Bureaucracy, and Nonsense showed up, asking for duplicate copies of the authority to make triplicate copies of documents with no audience, and he demured.

I think CAP planes are in better shape than most (not all) FBO aircraft of similiar age.  It looks like the corrosion control has worked, as far as I can see, too.

[Luis R. Ramos]

I like the photo. While the chain link/barbed wire fence is not interesting, it leads the viewer line of vision to the airplane. The airplane paint scheme/colors are not very obvious so maybe I would have found another way to make it obvious it was a CAP plane. And the open sky beyond the airplane? Potential. I find the message "We came back from the sky, and are going home. Another successful mission."

[EMT-83]

SunDog, that sounds like a Maule we received from another Wing that wasn't airworthy. It was grounded immediately upon delivery and sat there for several months until repairs were authorized and completed.

Even worse, because we already had a plane assigned to us we had a heck of a time getting our hands on one that actually flew.

[LSThiker]

I like the photo. While the chain link/barbed wire fence is not interesting, it leads the viewer line of vision to the airplane. The airplane paint scheme/colors are not very obvious so maybe I would have found another way to make it obvious it was a CAP plane. And the open sky beyond the airplane? Potential. I find the message "We came back from the sky, and are going home. Another successful mission."

Luis, the use of leading lines is an effective artistic tool in photography if used properly.  However, in this case, the fence as a leading line is not an effective use.  Furthermore, it makes the area look "old" and "unkept", especially with the water on the ground.  The sky was interesting and it has a lot of potential in the photo, I just think they blew by blowing out the white.  Furthermore, the fact that there is no citation for the photo makes me believe the writer or a staff photographer found an "interesting plane" and took a photo.  The writer or the photographer is not trying to make it obvious that the plane is a former CAP plane.  We recognize it as a CAP plane because we know the paint scheme, but even a GA pilot may never recognize that.  So while we may feel a message of "we came back from the sky, and are going home.  Another successful mission." that is probably due to our bias in knowledge.  The photo had a lot of potential to be great, I think they missed though.  YMMV.   

[Luis R. Ramos]

That is true. Agree with your comments in general. However sometimes a photographer cannot be in control of all the elements. In fact, I was not aware of the fence until you posted it. I still like the photo, though. Have seen worse as an advertisement from a professional??? photographer. A 3 by 4 feet enlargement. A wedding party sitting on a lawn, with New York City behind and skyscape. A river, either East River or The Hudson between the lawn and the cityscape. The wedding party was too far away, the sky overshadowed the city, the grass, and the party. It looked out of balance. The wedding party should have come closer to the camera, and less of the skyscape.

[SunDog]

Ewwww....scary - how'd they get it there?  I had one flight in a Maule (not CAP) long ago, and it seemed like a fun airplane. . .

Yep, scheduling can get touchy - my sqdn "lost" our airplane, and I'm shameless now; I schedule whatever is open in the scheduler. Sometimes the "owning" squadron feels like they have first dibs.  We usually work it out, but sometimes feelings are hurt. . .

Phone rings Friday night: "We were planning to fly cadets this weekend in OUR airplane!"  Yeah , so were we, in YOUR airplane, and we put it in the scheduler six weeks  ago.  We try to work it out, change dates, etc. We try to be flexible, but they are Wing aircraft, not the squadron's property.  If you have 6 or 8 families already committed, the Friday night caller is out of luck.

Some sqdns just block 'em all day on weekends, whether they intend to fly or not. Those are the ones that get relocated in July/August, in a desperate bid for hours.  I used to call and ask if they were gonna use the airplane, or could release the reservation? But now I mostly I blow it off and go fly with the club. . .

It is a bit of a raw deal for them in some ways, since they have to do all the paper chase, etc., for maintenance and such. On the other hand, if you're a MP in a sqdn without an airplane, you are usually out of luck for real missions, unless you're in the GOBN.

[Huey Driver]

Interesting choice of image in an FAA post...

and in their current publication of FAA Safety Briefing.

Thanks, FAA.

[THRAWN]

Interesting choice of image in an FAA post...

and in their current publication of FAA Safety Briefing.

Thanks, FAA.

You're welcome, Cape May.