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Furnace Creek?

dentate

dentate

New member
El Monte, CA
Aircraft Year
2000/2006
Aircraft Type
Super Commander
Reg Number
N115CE
Serial Number
14667
Anyone interested in a SoCal fly-in to L06 (Furnace Creek?) It is an interesting place to fly into, 210 feet below sea level, and there is a very nice resort that is walking distance from the airport. We would probably need to make reservations there though. I was thinking maybe Sunday Feb. 15 but I am open to suggestions. This is the time of year to do it!
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

dentate said:
Anyone interested in a SoCal fly-in to L06 (Furnace Creek?) It is an interesting place to fly into, 210 feet below sea level, and there is a very nice resort that is walking distance from the airport. We would probably need to make reservations there though. I was thinking maybe Sunday Feb. 15 but I am open to suggestions. This is the time of year to do it!
Click to expand...
Jeff,

Sounds great, but that weekend is shot for me.

Regards,
Neal
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

dentate said:
Anyone interested in a SoCal fly-in to L06 (Furnace Creek?) It is an interesting place to fly into, 210 feet below sea level, and there is a very nice resort that is walking distance from the airport. We would probably need to make reservations there though. I was thinking maybe Sunday Feb. 15 but I am open to suggestions. This is the time of year to do it!
Click to expand...

Jeff,

I'm down for maintenance at the moment, but should be up by then. I'm good for anytime in Feb. after that.
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

I would be interested if this comes together. Is there any risk that Sunday of President's day weekend may make it a bad time to visit an airport with a resort nearby (I have never been to Furnace Creek, so I don't know the scope).

Michael Reznick
1977 114 N4897W
SMO
310 766-7683
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

I am flexible on the date, if the following weekend would work better, or even the Saturday, but I think February is the time to do it. Incidentally, Vince, I just got my plane back from annual with Robin. Robin is a great guy for avionics, and I did the annual with him because of a few things that needed to be done with those. But it reconfirmed my decision not to do any more with him. He leaves this stuff to the underlings, and I got the plane back with some stuff not done and with scratches and gouges in the paint about which I have complained to him. Not to mention the biggest bill I have ever received for a routine annual. Oh well, now I feel better, thanks for listening.
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

dentate said:
I am flexible on the date, if the following weekend would work better, or even the Saturday, but I think February is the time to do it. Incidentally, Vince, I just got my plane back from annual with Robin. Robin is a great guy for avionics, and I did the annual with him because of a few things that needed to be done with those. But it reconfirmed my decision not to do any more with him. He leaves this stuff to the underlings, and I got the plane back with some stuff not done and with scratches and gouges in the paint about which I have complained to him. Not to mention the biggest bill I have ever received for a routine annual. Oh well, now I feel better, thanks for listening.
Click to expand...
Following weekend works.

-Neal-
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

dentate said:
I am flexible on the date, if the following weekend would work better, or even the Saturday, but I think February is the time to do it. Incidentally, Vince, I just got my plane back from annual with Robin. Robin is a great guy for avionics, and I did the annual with him because of a few things that needed to be done with those. But it reconfirmed my decision not to do any more with him. He leaves this stuff to the underlings, and I got the plane back with some stuff not done and with scratches and gouges in the paint about which I have complained to him. Not to mention the biggest bill I have ever received for a routine annual. Oh well, now I feel better, thanks for listening.
Click to expand...

Jeff,

Saw 5CE at Robin's a few days ago. I concur, he's one of the best around for avionics and a nice guy, but for the reasons you mentioned, I don't have them do any maintenance on mine, unless it's a quick fix and I can be there watching. They're more interested in volume business.

I may have told you that my A&P/IA who ran the small shop at Rialto (Art Scholl Aviation) recently retired and Judy Scholl closed the shop. He maintained 37W for over 15 years; no complaints. This was a big loss for me. He was trustworthy and really took care of the plane while he had it. On a recommendation from Paul Barnum (43W), I'm going to try ProCraft Aviation at AJO for my annual in May. I had them repair my left gear actuator a few days ago, and they have experience maintaining several Commanders. I'll let you know how they work out.

I recently met Mike Passwater, an A&P from EMT. He comes highly recommended from a hangar neighbor with a twin Commanche. Don't know his experience with Commanders. Do you know him?
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

Vince,

I know Mike Passwater very well. He is a great guy. Always helpful. I use him for all kinds of routine stuff and he had done all my annuals 2001-2006. Honestly, what happened there is that when Jim Richards did the upgrade on my plane in 2006, he found all kinds of things that appeared to have been missed previously. You and I have discussed some of this before as to who found what when, who might be responsible, and whose reports were reliable; but with this and a few other things I was a little nervous. I then got an annual by Robin in 2007 and did not feel he was very thorough either, but got a decent price. By far my best experience was with Brian Gallagher at French Valley, in 2008, but he does not do avionics, so this time around I went to Robin again. After paying an arm and a leg, I am probably going to have to pay Brian to redo some things and re-inspect others. I depend on Robin enough that I do not want to offend him, but I am going to send him some photos of what I found and let him respond. If the work looks slipshod on the outside, how can I have confidence on what was done inside?

Ideally I would get the annual done at the Cape, but the logistics are totally impractical for me. And there is no Sven in California, unfortunately.

So, back to the matter at hand: is Feb. 22 a better date for everyone for the Furnace Creek flyin?
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

dentate said:
Vince,

I know Mike Passwater very well. He is a great guy. Always helpful. I use him for all kinds of routine stuff and he had done all my annuals 2001-2006. Honestly, what happened there is that when Jim Richards did the upgrade on my plane in 2006, he found all kinds of things that appeared to have been missed previously. You and I have discussed some of this before as to who found what when, who might be responsible, and whose reports were reliable; but with this and a few other things I was a little nervous. I then got an annual by Robin in 2007 and did not feel he was very thorough either, but got a decent price. By far my best experience was with Brian Gallagher at French Valley, in 2008, but he does not do avionics, so this time around I went to Robin again. After paying an arm and a leg, I am probably going to have to pay Brian to redo some things and re-inspect others. I depend on Robin enough that I do not want to offend him, but I am going to send him some photos of what I found and let him respond. If the work looks slipshod on the outside, how can I have confidence on what was done inside?

Ideally I would get the annual done at the Cape, but the logistics are totally impractical for me. And there is no Sven in California, unfortunately.

So, back to the matter at hand: is Feb. 22 a better date for everyone for the Furnace Creek flyin?
Click to expand...


I totally understand, Jeff. I too depend on Robin for avionics. Best to keep peace in the family.

And, I'm good to go for Feb. 22nd.
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

So February 22 seems to work for me, Vince, and Neal. How about you, Mike? Anyone else?
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

dentate said:
So February 22 seems to work for me, Vince, and Neal. How about you, Mike? Anyone else?
Click to expand...


Jeff,

Why don't we include our friends from AZ and call it a South West Fly-In :)
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

Are you guy's just going in for lunch or staying the night?
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

I think that's up to the participants, but I would just be going for lunch. That is, if I am not in the shop again! Vince, the more the merrier.
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

Where would lunch be? At the Ranch or the Inn?
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

Looks to me like Sunday brunch at the Inn would be the thing to do. If all agree, we need to make reservations. Probably late morning.
 
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Re: Furnace Creek?

Mike,
Nice to hear from you. It's been a while.

Pete,
Are you out there?
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

Add me and Charyn to the list. I booked a room for Sunday night.
Based on weather I will make a final go or no go decision that week.
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

Fantastic. Joel, since you seem to know something about the place, do we need to make reservations for the Sunday brunch?
 
Re: Furnace Creek?

Jeff
Actually not familiar with Furnace Creek. It has been on the list of places to go for a while. What I know is from two sources
#1 is the attached link which might be helpful.
#2 is what I got when I called to make a reservation.
It appears that the brunch at the Inn is pretty popular and reservations are a must.
We are staying at the ranch and I still have to figure out how to get from one to the other since they are about a mile apart.

http://160knots.com/death%20valley.htm
 
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