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Wanted to share this one with the crowd. When we were flying back from the Bahamas through FL, we got diverted due to some loitering military traffic that was out playing. ATC had no clue what it was but wanted us to give them some space! Clipped this screenshot:

Today was my first Mooney flight of 2020. I took my son on a flight from BJC to MTJ, I was really a nice day to fly, even though it may not look like in some of the photos. For those of you with young kids, they grow up so fast!

Negative. Need to pay close attention to the Prop Gov in this situation. Putting grease in the propeller doesn’t have anything to do with it not maintaining RPM. The Grease just Lubricates the Thrust Bearings. Bout 18/19in is where my F model gov would go off line. At that point the prop will be pushing the engine. If you push the power to 20/22in( somewhere in that area) you should get a very noticeable rpm reduction an be able to hear the Gov load the propeller with pitch. I would be very curious to know if you have a Hartzell H-1 Gov. This same thing happened to me. Propeller control full out would only pull it down to 2550 Rpms. Turns out the Gov was internally bypassing the oil that was needed at the prop. Keep a close eye on this issue. “Down shifting” to Granny Low isn’t a good idea at 140Knts

Remember the cheap route is completely valid if factory parts are prohibitively expensive. You as owner / operator / flight department manager get to make that call.

With 51 years flying, 40 years of airline experience, I am amazed at this gentlemen's,( a layman not a pilot,) clear thinking in the midst of overwhelming grief on the MAX fiasco at Boeing. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/01/17/boeing-david-calhoun-airline-safety-culture-lawsuit-ceo-column/4479056002/

I’m the voice at the back of you head? The governor system is proven to not be working properly... could be a simple oil leak. Fly it... risk overspeed of the engine... manually watch/control rpm, full power can’t be available... This goes in the do not fly box until the problem is known... In the shop... it is easy to pressurize the system to know where the leak is occurring... To continue to fly it and hope the engine tells you what is wrong is relying on hope... Hope makes a crummy flight plan... So... Where does this rant come from..? My M20C lost the disc seal at the back of the shaft.. it leaks oil pressure into the case... To produce enough power for continued flight it is in or near the overspeed range... or while flying the plane the rpms climb well past the governed range... The prop would have to be set-up with impossible precision to have the stops be in the right place for 2700 rpm... it just doesn’t work that way... You might consult with out prop guy to better understand what you want to do... @Cody Stallings Call me a friend, looking after the health of your engine... PP thoughts only, not a mechanic... Best regards, -a-

Planning this flight next week.

I asked for a labor estimate from a reputable avionics shop and it's 40 hours for a dual 275 install. They listed the same costs you mention in your post (I won't do synth vision), but ultimately I also came to a $15k installed ballpark. (I really thought given the form factor a 10-15hr install would have been totally reasonable). Then I still won't have full integration with my NGT9000 for example. With an E5 and EA100 I'm guessing (I didn't get a labor quote) that it'll end up also around $15k. Then everything connects - Century2000, NGT9000, IFD440 (to replace 430W) and KX165. So after my initial excitement I've also gone back to Aspen as my preference.

Peter the thing is it’s a good thing to have competition and choices. I wish BK had some offerings. I’m hopeful that Aspen and Uavionix will be successful. A healthy market with viable competition keeps GA going and prices .... less inflated.

Since I don't have a Mooney (yet) I figured I could participate in this conversation.for entertainment purposes. This photo was taken on one of my favorite trips in a GA plane where the journey was the destination. We enjoyed a few weeks flying through the Bahamas, Turk's & Caicos, DR, Puerto Rico and beyond. This photo was taken as we were in transit over Middle Turk. Flying the AN-2 always turned heads and we have some funny stories that I will never forget. Many had to do with Customs, Law enforcement, Airport security and the adventures of finding fuel when we needed it. We had to fly all the way across the DR on fumes because Puerto Plata was out of fuel with no timeline to get more. Your range in a Mooney probably gives you more options than we had. However, I think it's always a grand adventure. Have fun.

That is a very on point piece about Boeing. In the last 7 years, I’ve gone from 757/767 to the A-320 family to the 787 and the Boeing felt like a step back from the Airbus. I commented more than once that a lot of the “old Boeing” ways made it into the 787 and it was a shame. If Boeing is going to catch up, they need a clean sheet design. That said, the 787 has the best wing of any airplane I have ever flown.

The TT/BK Autopilot belief summary: Excited ---> Optimistic ---> Less optimistic --> Mildly Disappointed ---> Mildly Irritated ---> Angry at myself for believing the hype ---> No longer believe Now I can visit this thread for the comedy

Parting out a perfectly good airplane to minimize liability exposure is one of the most selfish things one could do with respect to GA. Anyone thinking in those terms shouldn't be allowed to own an airplane.

My 1st three cars. Wish I would have kept all of them

Go get a beer and a lawn chair. Walk up to a nice hill overlooking the lake. Look over the beautiful view and consider how great it is and don’t worry about it.

Interesting topic, but I'm wondering where this is leading? Are we advocating that it’s OK to operate early Js “a bit” over gross here? What about if 2900 lbs isn't quite enough? IS it OK to rationalize 3200 lbs? What if that isn't quite enough? How much is too much? Where do you draw the line? This discussion isn't limited to Mooneys, King Air 200s come from the factory with a max certificated gross weight of 12,500 lbs, but the military operates them at 14,000+ lbs and you can buy an STC that raises the max weight on the civilian models to well above 12,500 lbs and requires a King Air 200 type rating for the pilot. Is a King Air 200 pilot justified in flying a stock KA-200 at more than 12,500 lbs because other identical aircraft can? Just about every corporate jet I've flown have had max gross weight increases over the years. Is a pilot justified to simply ignore the provisions of the STC? There are other, totally arbitrary, factors that can enter into the equation as well. The main reason the King Air 200 was limited to 12500 lbs was to simply to avoid the need of a civilian type rating. Early Cessna 340s were limited to 5990 lbs to keep them out of a higher federal excise tax tax bracket which went into effect at 6000 lbs. And IIRC, there were also several singles that limited out at 2490 lbs to avoid an excise tax category came into play at 2500 lbs. There are also limits on weight on some larger singles because they must comply with a 61 knot max stall speed and once you've done all of the aerodynamic tricks, the only other thing left is to limit weight. Other things are arbitrarily limited as well. For example, MU-2s were limited on the amount of torque you could pull by the certification requirement to keep Vmc to "less than 100 kcas". When you start messing around with maximum allowable weights you get into all sorts of other areas as well. A long time ago, most aircraft manufacturers adopted the principle of "loading flexibility” - in other words, Mooney, Piper, Cessna, Beech and just about every other aircraft manufacturer make aircraft that have seats than can be used if topped off with fuel. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you're flying a business jet (or airliner) or a Cessna 172, you are probably only able to fill all of your seats or fill your fuel tanks, but not both at the same time (legally). I’ve got PIC time in over 105 different makes and models of aircraft, from gliders to jets, and I can count on one hand the number of them that you could honestly load up and go without regard to loading. Loading Flexibility is a legitimate approach; but history has shown us time and time again that there are many of us out there who have no idea of how the concept works. Silly pilots, many of us still think that if we've got 4 seats we ought to be able to top off the tanks, load up all the seats, and go. However, if you're willing to ignore your airplane's limitations, legalities, and insurance ramifications involved, you pretty much can because there is nothing magical about that max gross weight number – the airplane will continue to fly.

Got tired of the dirty stickers marking the settings for my fuel selector, so thought I would try out FrontPanelExpress and make a new one. Result is attached. I am pretty pleased with result but took some trial and error with paper printouts from FrontPanelExpress software to get the holes in right places. I swear they were done by sight without a template back in 1965. Pic is before cleaning up the plastic underneath. Have started making some other placards to clean up the interior a bit more. Just did another for cowl flaps. Rodney

Garmin appears to have released this product line to put competitors in a defensive position. The cost/value ratio for this product line doesn't really look right though.

FWIW, I'm in A&P school right now and that's how it's been conveyed here, i.e., the signature on the annual only attests to its condition and airworthiness at that moment. Once it leaves your custody you have no control or visibility into what may or may not happen to it that affects its condition. I don't think the concern is as much with the buyer as it is with the buyer's heirs should something bad happen.

Actually I think only a BATD is required, but it doesn't change much. They're still more expensive than most people would be comfortable with for home use. I've thought that this would be an opportunity for somebody to set up a shop with a few BATDs/AATDs and just rent time on them for people wanting to keep IFR current. Some training time of how to use the device would be necessary, but that do-able.

Im guessing you could get the E5 installed for ~ 10-10.5. (4200+700+2300+install) For 15 you could have (in the hopefully near future) a new E5 and TT autopilot.

That’s one way - but a much cheaper and easier way is to put in a heavier Charlie weight in the tail. Just say’in. Although I personally like your way better Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is an easy answer. Buy some seller's liability insurance. It is cheap. I just sold my PA-18 and it was a single 500 dollar one time premium. End of problem.

My impression - but not knowing - is that the GI275 was designed to be a less intrusive install, for example with the autopilot interface built in, and then hopefully the higher cost of the unit would be recouped in the lower cost of spending less on hours to install. But I don't know - I wish someone with some expert opinion on hours to install a GI275 vs hours to install a G5 vs Horus to install a G3x would speak up. In the end its about total cost installed out the door that really counts, vs the unit cost. A remark on that, Garmin has a way of pricing everything they sell in their hardware store with relatively lower numbers, and then charging you for many add ons, some of which are truly optional but some of which are really critical, all of which a typical buyer would want, that many other companies would more likely count in the cost in the first place, so that by the time you add up all the real hardware costs of Garmin upgrades, it is much more expensive than it seems. And that is before install cost. In this case, I see for -Garmin GI275 as KI256 attitude indicator replacement interfaced to autopilot, basic $3489 nicely but perhaps falsely priced below 4k, + w heading + 300 + autopilot interface + 900 + gps antenna 189 + 419 for temp probe for air computer (is that little piece of wire really $419?! https://sarasotaavionics.com/avionics/gtp59) + 889 for svt software unlock + 235 KI256 adaptor kit for GI275 = $6421 in hardware to install before the man hours install cost. I am starting to think a single GI275 to replace a Ki256 with all relevant hardware and software to make it nice as advertised is going to cost $8500-9000 (guessing 2-2.5k for install making up numbers out of thin air). That's a lot more than it seems at first look. https://sarasotaavionics.com/avionics/gi-275-ai-adi accessories https://sarasotaavionics.com/avionics/gi-275-hsi (and I find all this extra information very hard to find and seemingly intentionally hidden - certainly not easy to find on Garmin's website). Same kind of arithmetic - counting all the parts for an HSI - they claim it "starts" at $3789 but I end up counting $4689 (https://sarasotaavionics.com/avionics/gi-275-hsi) but not as much extras So now hardware cost for a simple dual GI275 system for AI and HSI is $6421+4689=$11110. Before install costs. Making up numbers out of thin air again - guessing $4k total to install? Im gusting such a thing is $15k installed. I'm not complaining here. I am counting. But with these numbers it seems that these units are not competitive in price even if they are competitive in other ways.

Yes, that’s why I did it. If I hadn’t fixed it, there would NEVER be certification and availability. Murphy!

I'm hopeful we'll eventually get a KLN-94W

@aviatoreb Erik: I believe that we agree . I agree with your numbers, too. The problem with that is HP is takeoff and climb performance (an "Ovation" will initially outperform an "Acclaim"), but the cruise speeds would be improved … especially if you don't mind going up. 2) Gotcha. 3) (not above … and I should start a new thread if I really want to talk about this) But you have made me think about a topic when 2 and 2 are added. I'm in the Experimental world a lot, too, but I don't remember people desiring a full-aircraft parachute there. So (and I'm thinking way too logical and not with my heart) why are parachutes needed on airplanes that have to prove reliability and structures and not on those airplanes that don't? Thanks for the great discussion, Ron

Service Bulletin SBM20-177

SBA is Class C

Can the E5 replace the BK KI256? Why is the 1000 ProMax $5000 more than the E5? What additional features does it have?

No I didn’t read it but I did read others like it. But I agree! I was only talking price wise the price effective way to do an auto engine Is in experimental category. That a certified car engine is unlikely and won’t be cheap if there ever were one. then again I remember one article by a fellow who got an eggenfeller-Subaru engine for his rv7 then after years of expensive of nuisance issues especially cooling and gearbox stuff he finally pulled and put a lycoming on the nose. personally if I would ever build an experimental I will put some kind of aviation specific purpose designed engine. Continental-lycoming-rotax from their x-menu or... pt6. Ps - Erik with a k. :-)

If you need a signature map that big the 275 is not for you.

These guys rebuilt mine for closer to $750. https://awi-ami.com Make sure you send the all of the pipes, they will need to put everything together on the jig for proper fit.

OK. Problem solved. I went to the Hartzell maintenance manual 115N. Ran the applicable trouble shooting procedure and discovered that there was no grease in the prop. I greased it IAW the instructions and flew it and it worked perfectly. Now to give the previous owner's mechanic a call...

We can only hope that those people will never be allowed to sit in any airplane again. Parting out a fully operational and airworthy airplane is a scum move.

This is how Clarence installed them on the firewall of my J

In 2018 the shop I used was Bevan Rabell Inc. Since then the name has changed to Bevan Aviation. I haven't dealt with them since the name change, so I don't know what else has changed.

There is no shortcut. You have to do Continental SID 97-3F to accurately set up the injection system.

According to both Inogen and Aviation Consumer their units are FAA approved and meet the requirements for supplemental oxygen. However one unit is only rated to 15,000 while another is rated to 18,000. You should consult Inogen about your needs. Right now, most airlines do not supply supplemental oxygen bottles anymore. You have to bring your own concentrator and sufficient batteries for the flight duration. http://www.inogenaviator.com/products.html

Tom

The 275 doesn't need any adapters. You can look at the pinouts on the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness, it has every pin imaginable already there. You just have to pay the upcharge for the Autopilot version.

Sorry, dear sir, but I just can't let that statement lie unmolested. So my wife's first visit to Great Britain was after spending 2 days in Iceland. We flew into Gatwick and drove north to my brother's house in Nottinghamshire. Once we got to the Midlands, we stopped at a Little Chef for lunch. After ordering, she leaned over to me and said, "I think they spoke better English in Iceland." True story.

So would the G5 acting as an HSI be the device running the GFC500? Would the GI275 acting as AI interact with the GFC500 in any way? Receive Command bars? Anything? Anyway seems like a plausible way to go here. To go electric and still flexible to possibly go GFC500 down the road, while still driving my current KFC200.

Headed back to snow country after almost 2 weeks at our Florida Spruce Creek home today. Got a call Friday morning for a Med flight from ARB to CMX. Decided it was more efficient for us to pick her up on our way back than someone fly from the U.P. to get her. Headed to Ann Arbor this morning and when I picked up ATIS 15 minutes out, found the airport WAS CLOSED! Ice on the runway. Luckily Willow Run (Yipsilanti) was open. After some logistics getting my patient from Ann Arbor to KYIP, we headed north with serious headwinds and got her home. Although my wife wasn’t impressed about adding two more legs to a non-stop Florida to the U.P. trip, her enthusiasm changed when the patient literally lost it emotionally thanking us for the impact we made on her life today. And why don’t more pilots do these trips????? Tom https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N994PT/history/20200112/1330Z/7FL6/KYIP https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N994PT/history/20200112/1645Z/KYIP/KCMX

I met with Don Maxwell about 2 weeks ago. ( today is Oct. 13th, 2018 ). He went out of his way to come in on a Sunday to discuss Mooneys. I'm in the process of educating myself pre-purchase. I couldn't have found Don more helpful if I'd paid him 1000.00 bucks. ( by the way it was on his own time and didn't charge me a dime ). Ever had a really bad day? I thought so. We all have. Enough said about judging one person on one day. I'm not a Don Maxwell apologiest but if it's bothering you that bad you that you have to take time to rant, maybe you should see someone. You don't need to put "your 2 cents worth in" to "protect otherw". Seriously? That's laughable. THE MARKET PLACE SORTS OUT ALL THE BAD WEEDS OVER TIME. Been that way since some dude named Adam met Eve. Not your negative thoughts. In fact, it highlights some of Don't greatest assets which are too many to count. Sincerly submitted. Dr. Buck Austin VanTrease

...and Ronnie Kramer's.

Mooneybuilder......why didn't you tell Don to make a list, put it in writing and then go over it? C'mon man. If Jan Maxwell called you out, you must have done something.

I think some are giving this guy far to much credit without knowing squat about him. Does anyone here have their plane serviced by him? It is public knowledge that he has had run ins with the law because of his hot temper. He shows up, out of nowhere, and slams a family many of us have been dealing with for decades, and in a most public and vitriolic way. Neither professional nor honest IMO. He challenged Don on a PPI that Don did on a plane he was both brokering and had maintained, and it wasn't even a poor PPI, from what I hear. And no, he wasn't paying for the PPI, the buyer hasn't backed off the deal but some of this guys poor work was highlighted. I'd like to see his vetted resume. He was probably a janitor at Mooney. BTW, we never heard anything more from that other 'one trick pony', DUCK after he received something in the mail from Aero Comfort. What's a joke is taking either of these jerks seriously.

I fear the day that Don retires. I call him several times a year for advice. Many times I try to order parts from him and he steers me to someone else who is less expensive. He's amazing in his willingness to give advice without asking for anything in return. And he even remembers me when I call back. I guess that's just the type of small town business that I'm not used to out West. -Robert

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I can't recall hearing much negativity about Maxwell. In fact, he's highly regarded by many people.