All posts by Terry Pitts

Terry is a retired school teacher, retired Army Reservist, and retired civilian Department of the Army Civilian working about half the time as a pilot and flight instructor. He has been flying since age 19, adding gliders in 2011. He's been an FAA certificated flight instructor since 2013.
Cars

Gretel is gone. Long live Gretel

I SOLD THE 2006 X3 yesterday. Cash. For the asking price. Without a test drive.

I met up with the couple that bought the car. They said, “We have the money if you have the title.” I offered a test drive, and the woman half of the couple said, “You drove it here.” The easiest car sale ever.

We have sold three cars via CraigsList in the last several years with great success. Here’s what I did this time:

Pricing. I looked for the same model car on several used car sites, filtering for total mileage just on either side of my car. I found 26, which I put into a spreadsheet and averaged prices and miles and calculated my car’s price accordingly. Twenty-six people selling a BMW X3 in the SE United States can’t all be crazy on pricing, so I figured that was a good exercise in crowd sourcing. I assumed the asking prices had some negotiating room built in. I read a used car selling guide once that made the claim ending prices with $~75 looks much more like a real person that a dealer pricing at $~99, so the price became $5,975.

Pictures. I’m an avid photographer, so wasn’t concerned about taking pictures until the Nikon DSLR seemed to have died and then the battery died on the Canon camcorder I used in still shot mode. So, most of the pictures ended up being from an iPhone. Not the best tool for the job – but it obviously didn’t hurt things! I had googled for tips on pictures for selling used cars, and only one thing popped up that was new and intriguing. The suggestion was to photograph the dash by moving the front seats back and fully reclining them. I thought that picture worked out rather sell, despite being shot with the phone.

Text. I followed all the tips in articles I found about writing effective used car ads. That seemed to have worked, too. I suspect that people believe if you are honest about the flaws then you must be telling the truth about the rest.

Timing. I posted the ad on Friday night, having kept the weekend pretty free. The idea being I don’t have to spend week days dealing with people who won’t come look until the weekend anyway. (This has worked three times now!) Then, I can see a lot of people who saw a brand new ad.

I’ve shared the story before about the “Gretel” name. I bought a 2015 BMW X1 in January, so I’ve wanted to sell Gretel since then. I’ve been calling the X1 Helga to avoid confusion, but with the departure of Gretel 2.0 yesterday, Helga gets elevated to her reignal name of Gretel. Is that 3.0 or maybe “just” 2.x-something since this car is also an X-drive vehicle? Thoughts?

Gretel is gone. Long live Gretel.

PS I bought Gretel 3-1/2 years ago for $7,000. I’m pleased!

Uncategorized

Commercial Multi Add-On

Add-On Airplane Multiengine Class Rating to a Commercial Certificate

FAR 61.127 defines the aeronautical experience required for an initial Commercial Pilot Certificate. Within the Category “Airplane” there are four classes – airplane single engine land, airplane single engine sea, airplane multi-engine land, and airplane multi-engine sea. The first of any of these four falls under 61.127. The next one falls under 61.63.

Flight Experience

FAR 61.63(c)(3) says a person who applies for an additional class rating on a pilot certificate…“Need not meet the specified training time requirements prescribed by this part that apply to the pilot certificate for the aircraft class rating sought;”

No Specific Hour Requirement for Flight Training, training to ACS standards is enough

No Requirement to do a Cross-Country Plan for the Exam

Flight Instructor Endorsements

FAR 61.39(a)(6)(i) training time within previous 2 calendar months

FAR 61.39(a)(6)(ii) prepared for practical test

FAR 61.125(b) and FAR 61.127(b)(2) …”person was found competent in the appropriate aeronautical areas and proficient in the appropriate areas of operation.

Solo Endorsement for Additional Class Rating FAR 61.31(d)(2) – You may be endorsed to fly a twin solo as part of add on training, but highly unlikely!

I instruct Light Sport, ASEL, AMEL, and IFR at Spirit Aviation in Thomson, GA (KHQU) and gliders with the Mid-Georgia Soaring Association in Monroe, GA (D73).