What is your life hack for general aviation?

I’ve replaced/upgraded just about everything in my plane. First was an LED landing light to replace the dim 19 hour incandescent light after almost landing on a herd of javelina. Second was replacing the nasty glare shield with one that looks like upholstered leather. Looking at the old one every flight was just depressing. Got rid of the vacuum system and installed dual G5s. ANR headsets.

There is much more to mention but you get the idea. I have an autopilot in the box ready to install sometime this year
 
MauleSkinner said:
Anybody know how much of your avionics can be run on your cordless drill battery, and for how long?
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My iFly 740b & AV30E are said to be worth ~30 minutes each as they have internal batteries. No idea with regards to a drill battery ...
 
wilkersk said:
No boring flights! I refuse to spend money just to drone around the local area in a 50 year old trainer. Every flight has a mission or a purpose. If I have access to an airplane and no mission, I make one up.
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I'm the same. I need to either go somewhere or train for a specific purpose. Just going up and boring holes in the sky is boring to me. It was fun for like 20 hours after getting my license but after that I always needed a definite mission.
 
Daleandee said:
My iFly 740b & AV30E are said to be worth ~30 minutes each as they have internal batteries. No idea with regards to a drill battery ...
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I had an airplane with a power port for a PED, and it happened to be on the avionics bus. Cool part is, power could flow either way through the wires. ;)
 
rickdrey said:
What are the things that you added to your plane that made your flights more enjoyable?
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AV-30 as a back-up to pretty much every other primary instrument.
Stratux for ADS-B in, not just for the traffic, but WX information is great to have. Watch it 100nm ahead of you and you can see the WX conditions deteriorating well before they become a problem.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
I'm the same. I need to either go somewhere or train for a specific purpose. Just going up and boring holes in the sky is boring to me. It was fun for like 20 hours after getting my license but after that I always needed a definite mission.
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Taking a Kiwi through a mountain pass in a small high-wing airplane for their 1st time is a fun mission, as is trying to catch a ridge thermal in something like a Cessna 150, or trying to make it to a runway power off from 4 miles away and 4,000' agl. There's all kinds of "missions". And, I can always think of something! Launching into the blue and flying straight and level, doing nothing new or challenging, or at least introducing someone else to the joy of flight in little airplanes ought to be against the rules.
 
A nice comfy ANR headset, a good plane you enjoy flying, and a water bottle holder in the plane.

And air conditioning.
 
wilkersk said:
No boring flights! I refuse to spend money just to drone around the local area in a 50 year old trainer. Every flight has a mission or a purpose. If I have access to an airplane and no mission, I make one up.
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no flight is boring. Every flight is magic.

Count me as someone who doesn't need to make flying more enjoyable.
 
Bob Noel said:
no flight is boring. Every flight is magic.

Count me as someone who doesn't need to make flying more enjoyable.
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The point of my post was (in answering the OP's question) my "hack" for making GA more enjoyable is to avoid flying the same flight over and over again. Flying is an expensive hobby. I want to get my money's worth. Whether its flying a different type of aircraft, going somewhere I've never been before, working on aerobatic manuevers, or trying to perfect my spot landings, I've always got a purpose beyond the basic "shear joy of flight". The $100 hamburger flight to the same old place doesn't interest me. Neither does flying the same old route, shooting the same old approach, or doing a bazillion ok touch & goes to a 5,000 foot runway in CAVU weather.
 
Maybe I'm weird, but for me flying IS the life hack. The first time I went up with an instructor and flew on my own, I had a kind of kid in a candy store feeling. "I'm flying an aircraft!" Still get that. I'm not one to be wondering around looking at all the natural beauty, but flying up around here looking at the hills, rivers, landscape, it's just beautiful. In the winter, in the summer, anytime.

So to OP, if you're someplace where it's pool table flat, maybe try flying someplace else. Not for the challenge, but for the sights. The other nice thing is noise cancelling headphones. Next is I try to get someone a discovery flight as a gift every year or two. In the grand scheme of things that's not much, but it makes me feel better and usually brings a bit of happiness to somebody.
 
donjohnston said:
How do you "add" no electrical system to an airplane?

For reference, here's the original post:

What are the things that you added to your plane that made your flights more enjoyable?
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I rented an airplane to take lessons, then I added an airplane without an electrical system. Actually, it was even easier. Because it was only part of an airplane without an electrical system. (And to be clear, none of the airplane has an electrical system, not even the part I didn't buy. :cool: )
 
rickdrey said:
The more people I meet, the more I hear of people having one or two things that made general aviation a lot more enjoyable for them. Static cling sun shades to block the sun, removable cupholders, Bluetooth music adapters, etc.

What are the things that you added to your plane that made your flights more enjoyable?
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Installing my KLN89B to the inside of a trashcan. And replacing it with all new Garmin goodies.
 
"What are the things that you added to your plane that made your flights more enjoyable?"

Young adults taking their first flight as a Young Eagle ...
 
Rene said:
I rented an airplane to take lessons, then I added an airplane without an electrical system. Actually, it was even easier. Because it was only part of an airplane without an electrical system. (And to be clear, none of the airplane has an electrical system, not even the part I didn't buy. :cool: )
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Which means you did not add it to your airplane.
 
Rene said:
Clean goggles?
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No goggles. I have a pair and I've flown with them a couple of times, but I really don't see why people bother with them. They cause tunnelvision and there's not that much wind behind the windscreen anyway. The silk scarf, OTOH, was functional for the old time aviators and is still functional for me today.
 
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