When I bought N131JF, it came equipped with a Garmin 95XL GPS. This is a fine little unit, but Garmin stopped updating the database in July 2003, claiming that it had become too big to fit in the unit (the cynic in me prefers to believe that this was really part of a planned obsolescence of the unit, which was close to 1o years old). However, it has been way past time to replace the unit. Lacking any significant money to buy a next-gen GPS like a Garmin 396 (salivate, salivate), Jesse offered to sell me a Lowrance GPS that he removed from his Cozy because it did not really add enough to his panel (he already had a Garmin panel mount GPS installed).
So...I flew the plane down to Cleburne last weekend, and Jesse and I (OK, mostly Jesse, with me holding the odd wire, whistling a merry tune etc.) replaced the Garmin GPS with the Lowrance. There were no real issues with this process. The Lowrance is actually almost dimensionally identical to the Garmin, the only issue being that the data cable to the Lowrance enters the panel only just above the existing boat anch...er, radio/VOR. We adjusted an aluminum mount for the Lowrance to fit the Long-EZ. The Garmin GPS aerial was mounted on the right-hand side of the front seat headrest. This was removed, because the Lowrance cable is incompatible with the Garmin cable (when will all of these corporations actually agree a common connector standard? Hold on, there goes that pig....). The Lowrance antenna was fixed to the inboard side of the F22 bulkhead.
The GPS works fine, although I now need to spend a couple of hours really understanding how to use it. The unit velcroes to the mounting bracket, and there is enough slack in the power and antenna cables to allow me to remove it from the bracket and either prop it up in a different place on the panel, or even put it in my lap. This will make using it in bright sunlight a lot easier.
I still need to buy an update to bring the database fully up to date. This is really an interim GPS solution until I can afford a new-generation GPS. Dear Santa Claus....can I have a Garmin 396 please?

Link: http://www.generalaviationnews.com/editorial/column.lasso?-token.author=Ben%20Visser

A number of interesting articles about engine operation and maintenance. This is also a link on the right hand side of the blog page.

As many of you know, Ratheon/Beech has been quietly retiring all of the flying examples of the Beech Starship. Most of the retired planes are being stored in Pinal Air Park, Arizona. Here is a photo of the remaining airframes at Pinal...
I remember Dick Rutan making a comment 2 years ago in Mojave along the lines of "buy me a couple of beers and I'll tell you the real story about the Starship". From what I have since learned, it appears that the major issue with the Starship was that the original 90% scale prototype, built by Scaled, was transformed into an overweight, poorly-performing 100% production aircraft, mostly over Burt Rutan's objections.
Burt famously has a saying about how to decide whether to add something to your plane. You pick up whatever it is you are thinking of adding and throw it up in the air. If it comes down, it's too heavy...It seems that this rule was violated many times, mainly to obey fear-driven directives from regulatory bodies such as the FAA.
Robert Scherer wrote a FAQ about the Starship which explains some of the reasons why only 50+ examples were manufactured, and also why the aircraft did not sell well and acquired a reputation as a maintenance "hog".
Today only a small number of Starships are flying. The best-known is NC-51, owned by Robert Scherer, which was leased to Scaled and used as the high-altitude chase plane for the Spaceship One program.

I flew to Lufkin, Texas on Saturday 10th December for the monthly EAA Chapter fly-in.
When I arrived over the airport, the wind was at 90 degrees to the designated (North-South) runway, with gusts causing the windsock to stand out straight. There followed a series of failed approaches to the active runway, the East-West runway being out of service for repairs (it it had been available, landing would have been a snip).
The approach attempts were predictable - I would fly downwind watching the windsock, which would be showing a crosswind of 6-10 knots. "Aha, now's my chance" I would conclude. I would turn base to final...and the darned windsock would be standing out straight, and I couldn't keep the plane straight long enough to get it on the ground. Often the wind dies away close to the ground, but this wasn't the case here - it actually got worse.
Eventually, at the fifth attempt, I managed to get the plane straight long enough to drop it (almost literally) on the runway. This was the worst landing I have ever made in this plane. Embarrassing. The ground crews directed me to park next to Bob Sudderth's plane on the ramp. He had been heard to say "You can do it" to me over the radio on about my third attempt at a landing.
The whole EAA crew and associated pilots were very friendly to me, despite my appalling landing skills display. They serve a fajita lunch for a suggested donation of $5.00 (a bargain) and also have a Young Eagles ride offering (I decided not to volunteer for that deal, since I didn't want to make further embarrassing landings with a passenger, plus my intercom is not working properly).
I left at around 2.30 pm and flew back to Lancaster.

I will be installing a photo album capability on the blog for the start of 2006. I have a lot of photos taken on canard trips over the last 5 years, and also (for the maintenance geeks) I have a lot of photos taken at various times during maintenance of the plane.

In the meantime here is a picture of the plane at Mojave, CA in June 2003 on the occasion of Burt Rutan's 60th birthday party...

...and another picture at Sedona, AZ in June 2003