• PiperForum.com is a vibrant community of Piper owners and pilots. Our over 1,500+ active members use Piper Forum to swap technical knowledge, plan meetups and sell planes/parts. We host technical knowledge of general aviation topics and specific topics on J3-Cubs, Cherokees, Comanches, Pacers and more. In addition to an instant community of pilots for you, PiperForum.com is a library of technical topics, airplane builds, images, technical manuals, technical documents and more.

    Access to PiperForum.com is subscription based. Subscriptions are only $49.99/year or $6.99/month to gain access to this great community and unmatched library of Piper knowledge.

    Click Here to Become a Subscribing Member and Access PiperForum.com in Full!

Landing Height System is now FAA Certified for all Pipers

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I’ve seen such wonderful reviews about Saint Aviation. My question is (& I don’t think I’m in a tiny minority of aircraft owners, & hope I’m not being overly naive):

How do you (in general) arrange to get to and from his - or other long distance - shop(s) when your home base is at least several flight-hours away? Particularly if one isn’t socially interactive with other aircraft owners who might follow and then fly you to pick up your plane? Obviously, the arrangement takes at least 2 individual transportation methods, unless you live within an hour’s drive of the shop. Just wondering…
If people don't have a friend who can follow them down to take them home, we have had some customers rent a car to drive home if it's in the nearby SE US. Most get airline tickets out of Orlando, Tampa or Gainesville. We often, but not always, can help with a ride to and/or from the airport. Uber is there in case we aren't able. Some will rent a one-way car from the airport when they come back. We also have a number of AirBnB's close by, and have a Corvette (usually) as a crew car if someone needs to be able to get around a little bit while they are here.
 
If people don't have a friend who can follow them down to take them home, we have had some customers rent a car to drive home if it's in the nearby SE US. Most get airline tickets out of Orlando, Tampa or Gainesville. We often, but not always, can help with a ride to and/or from the airport. Uber is there in case we aren't able. Some will rent a one-way car from the airport when they come back. We also have a number of AirBnB's close by, and have a Corvette (usually) as a crew car if someone needs to be able to get around a little bit while they are here.
Thank you for that very helpful information! (…including the Corvette thing! I’ve never been in one, let alone driven one🤩).
 
Thank you for that very helpful information! (…including the Corvette thing! I’ve never been in one, let alone driven one🤩).
Well, there you go! You can get avionics work done and drive a Corvette at the same time. What's there not to love? 😁
 
I will likely get a lot of flack for being a nay-sayer or anti-technology, but I do have a bit of a concern about a system like this. What happens after flying with this for a period of time and getting used to flaring in accordance to the height announcements and then one day there is no announcement? I expect at first everyone will still be looking out the window and judging height visually and using the announcement simply as confirmation, but as there is more comfort and trust developed with the system (as with all automation) will the visual judgement degrade and/or disappear? Especially at night where many people don't fly that much anyway, what happens when suddenly the magic little voice isn't there and you're very close to the ground waiting for it?

Hopefully pilots with this system who are reporting improved landings are working ardently to notice the relative sight pictures corresponding with the announcements and diligently building them into their improvements. And hopefully they make flights regularly with the system turned off so good visual judgement has to be maintained.
Its simply another safety tool in the toolbox. I fly other aircraft without this device and amazingly I can still land the aircraft. 🤣
 
I’ve seen such wonderful reviews about Saint Aviation. My question is (& I don’t think I’m in a tiny minority of aircraft owners, & hope I’m not being overly naive):

How do you (in general) arrange to get to and from his - or other long distance - shop(s) when your home base is at least several flight-hours away? Particularly if one isn’t socially interactive with other aircraft owners who might follow and then fly you to pick up your plane? Obviously, the arrangement takes at least 2 individual transportation methods, unless you live within an hour’s drive of the shop. Just wondering…
I have flown from Texas to Saint Aviation several times. The quality and cost of their work is worth a little inconvenience. I have 100% confidence in their work. The work is done quickly and affordable. I have stayed using the AirBnB and drove the corvette! Also stayed in Ocala while the work was done and once flew in and out of Tampa, renting a car one way. BTW, pretty good golf courses close by.
 
I purchased one of these a few years ago when it came out. The intent was for use it for glassy water landings, especially in the dark when determining where the surface is simply a matter of waiting... Unfortunately it doesn't work with water, so it's still sitting on the corner of my desk. Maybe I'll stick it in the Skybolt where below 100 all you see is your nose, might shave a bit of distance off the typical landing. Of course more practice would accomplish the same thing!

I am in the camp that if a gadget that talks you down in the planes typically discussed here truly increase the safety of your flying, your money and time would be better spent on gas and go practice. Sure there are times when judging height above the runway is more difficult such as rain and dark, but even then you need to learn for to deal with limited visual cues. Just like glassy water landings, set the power and speed for a modest descent rate and wait. It really is that simple.

Another concern I would have is getting accustomed to trusting a gadget of unknown reliability and accuracy. Now don't get me wrong I like gadgets as much as the next person, I've just learned to not entirely trust them. When AOA's came on the market I bought 4 different models from 3 different manufactures, after the dubious accuracy they all provided I still have one in the box on the shelf. The others I simply turned off the audio warnings, they were more of a distraction than a help. I guess there is a reason the real AOA units cost a magnitude more. For light GA looking out the window provides more accurate information.

We all like to buy "stuff" for our planes, it's fun to play with the latest gadget! However if you truly are looking to improve your landings, practice is the answer, not a new toy.

Jeff
 

Latest posts

Back
Top