That says a lot for the aircraft and perhaps some for the pilots that choose Diamond.

This particular practice area is extremely busy. It serves flight training for the following airports. Long Beach, Torrance, Hawthorne, Compton, John Wayne and sometimes Fullerton. Also, extensive aerobatic training exist right about where Jetpack man was sighted. (See red arrow on chart). Flying wi...

So a CFI at my base airport, KTOA, shot the jetpack guy last Monday on video flying in our local practice area at 3,000 feet MSL. Over the past few months, jetpack guy has been sighted at 6,000 feet on or near the ILS for LAX and reported by airline pilots. Skeptics say it is a drone with a human li...

I took from my friend's message that the door ajar light came on during flight -- maybe it was also on during run up, but that's not clear. I can ask my friend if he knows. Anyway, I think it's wise advice not to lock the door and possibly prevent emergency egress -- I'm assuming that if the door i...

Perhaps alcohol was involved.

Sounds like they overlooked the "Door Open" warning message which is also on the check list during run up. That said, never key lock the back door before flight. In the event that you do an off field landing and the plane flips over, then you can not exit via the canopy and the back door w...

What I love about flying in SoCal, if you really would like some snow, then you have to go looking for it.

Just one thing to add. After flying through heavy smoke for a long duration, it is not a bad idea to clean your engine's air intake filter. I pulled my filter off and used compressed air to clean. Lots of very fine ash dust came out.

Thanks Wayne for your Pilots & Paws flights. Yep, in the last four weeks or so, I have more experience flying in heavy smoke than my 18 years of previous flying. Photo: Entering smoke cloud over Huntington Beach coastline just after departing John Wayne Airport.

Does anyone know if the backup battery behind the panel gets recharged during flight or is just charged once at the factory?

Thanks,
Don