eaglebkh

I believe one update to the vintage panel that will really help with marketability is to convert the panel to the standard/modern layout. Many people may be split on glass vs. steam, but very people will be looking specifically for the "shotgun" layout.

...my back seat passengers.

I've used Joey quite a bit for some major repairs. He also installed a JPI 700 for me. I highly regard his opinion. Like others have said, the priority mods are engine monitor, bracket air filter, standard gauge layout - the low hanging fruit. I'd like to have the cowl enclosure and 201 windscreen, but now I'm talking about the same money to upgrade to a J.

Just like others have said. If you're considering replacing, then go with an Aspen. I can't think of a good reason to "buy" an expensive mechanical HSI when the Aspen has gobs of more useful features for the same dollar.

Does a "gear warning system" qualify as "something more sophisticated than the throttle-based system that came with the plane?" I'm assuming this is the case, and that's why I voted for the bottom option. I'm okay with the current throttle based system. Are there cases where people are landing gear-up with the throttle above 15" or so? That's the only way that I can think someone would miss it. Maybe the horn just needs to be louder for some people? How is it that people are hearing the gear horn so often that they are ignoring it? I never hear my gear horn unless I'm practicing stalls with an instructor.

Another vote for repairing the S-tec and add Alt hold. I have a 30 with alt hold and it "holds" my E pretty good. I have flown an Arrow with the same alt hold and it was constantly beeping at me to adjust the elevator trim in level flight. In the Mooney, just punch the alt hold once you've reached cruise speed and trimmed it - never beeps unless I change power or the plane enters a bank.

Ok, cool. I'm behind the curve on that one...

Here it is in 4 easy steps. My approach calculates an average wind vector throughout the duration of the descent, and uses that to calculate a new wind-corrected glide range. 1) You'll have to calculate an AVERAGE wind velocity (speed + direction) through all of the winds aloft altitudes (3k, 6k, 9k, etc). You can do this mathematically or approximate. To do this mathematically, calculate the 'x' and 'y' direction component of each wind vector. X = windspeed*cos(winddirection); Y = windspeed*sin(winddirection). Average the X's and Y's to get Xavg and Yavg. The new total average wind speed = squareroot((Xavg*Xavg) + (Yavg*Yavg)). Average wind direction = tangent(Yavg/Xavg). 2) With the average wind speed and direction, you can calculate a new average descent ground speed for the glide (use E6B or whatever). Use the reverse-course bearing. 3) Calculate glide range at altitude (I'd suggest memorizing the glide ratio in NM per thousand feet - always a useful quantity), and then multiply by (avg descent GS)/(Vbg) to calculate the wind-corrected glide range. If ground speed is higher than Vbg, then you'll glide farther - likewise for the opposite. 4) As you cross the shore outbound, the time to reach the decision point is simply the wind-corrected glide range divided by CRUISE ground speed; decision time = (wind-corrected glide range)/(cruise GS). Subtract off any time that it would take to recognize the engine failure, abort the flight and make the 180, as these quantities would penalize that overall time that you could stray from land. At the point when you leave land, start the timer. These equations could be loaded into excel or some other spreadsheet tablet app. Most all inputs would be known prior to take-off, except for the actual ground speed. The key assumption in this method is that you will spend equal time in all of the winds aloft altitudes. Hope this helps!

Question - what's the change-dispenser-looking-thingy in the inner most column of round gauges, bottom row?

Note so sure... When did the independently retracting foot step feature go away? I like having it - poor man's speed brakes...

Very interesting hypothetical! Did you account having to aim for where the Moon will be in 1225 hours (51 days)? Of course, that will lead to a new Moon position and a new ETE. I like computers...

#295 - still has good legs...

Have a race climbing to 10,000' - who is quicker (3-blade or 2)? Have a race to cover 500nm - who is quicker?

I thought Fuller was stepping down as president? Maybe this is how he wants us to remember him...

The main Visual rules I forget are the separation from cloud distances. IFR makes cloud avoidance a mute point (except for the dark ones...).