[Rhodes22-list] Mike Cheung flying into Edenton, NC ...

[Mike Cheung]

Brad,

Yeah, I really use the XM NEXRAD.  It's good enough to get through a not too
tightly packed T storm line.  My rule is 25 nm clearance from dots on the
Strikefinder (I prefer 50 nm if I can do it) and level 2 or less on the
NEXRAD.  Seems to work.  I fly a fair number of 3 - 4 hour legs (and a few
6-ish hour ones) so it's nice to have the weather info.  Plus, I use the
plane for some "gotta go if it's not crazy" missions (consulting business
and Angel Flight).  The NEXRAD is about 6 minutes old by the time it reaches
my tablet PC (which is what is hooked to the XM and to a Holux "hockey puck"
GPS so I've got moving map in my lap).  The 530 has terrain on it, but so
does the tablet.  Gotta admit I don't use that part often.  I prefer to be
above FL 110 and so does the 231.  I can run 50 dF LOP below about FL 150
and true out at 165 - 175 kts on 10.5 gph.  Hard to beat.  That works out to
18+ statue miles per gallon; they're folks cars that don't get that.  

I've played with the partial panel feature on the tablet (would probably be
the same on on the 495) and "I don't think so".  I backed up my gyro horizon
with an electric some time ago.  Now it looks like you can get cool electric
horizons that replace your TC and have battery backup.  How cool is that?

BTW - I run Flightprep on my tablet instead of carrying any paper charts. 
You might think about a tablet PC + Flightprep + gps hockey puck instead of
a 495.  Bet the cost is not that different (I ebayed my tablet for ~$1k and
the gps was <$100; the Flightprep software is like $0.5k/y) and your cockpit
will be a little neater w/o the charts.  That and having the moving map in
the lap is kinda nice; though I have to admit it's now kind of overkill in
my cockpit with the 530's moving map going also.  I figure the tablet PC +
gps is my emergency nav system since it'll run for about 2.5 hours on the
PC's battery if I lost power.  There are a lot of places to land, usually,
within a 2.5 hour cruise in the 231.  

Mike


Mike,

Now that Garmin has introduced the 495 - same as the 496 without the XM
radio - I'm thinking about springing for it.  My Garmin 250XL already has a
moving map, the 495 would just be redundancy.  What I really want is the
terrain warnings and the partial panel function.  Do you really use the XM
weather or is it fluff.  My legs in the Bo are usually 2 hours and I can
look at a map of the convective activity just prior to departure on the
internet.  I figure if there's some doubt, I'll stay at the hangar and drink
beer, er, sweep the floor.

Brad

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