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Everything out the door was about $80 AMU that's adding on Electro Air 15000 and a few other things that are not seen. It took about 8 weeks total to complete and everything money related was always agreed upon and we stay within that budget.

My airplane is an 84 but the tanks were sealed in 83. No leaks and I don't anticipate they'll leak anytime soon. Here is what I'm willing to do. You can borescope the tanks and you can give an opinion on whether they'll leak in the next 12 or 24 months. If you say they'll leak, I'll keep burning 100LL and we'll see whether they are the timebomb you claim. My prediction is my tanks will be just fine and I have zero risk with that. If my tanks/airplane are suitable for G100UL, I'll use G100UL. If I have any issues with tanks, the fuel system, the engine, or paint stripping off (I'm responsible for staining), GAMI/you are 100% responsible for fixing it. I'm still predicting my tanks will be fine, but my confidence level is down, down enough that I'm not willing to take the risk without a warranty. Either the product is suitable or it isn't. The only way to find out is more real world testing with real users. If George is willing to to that, I hope other owners to make the same offer so that we can have a more representative sample. Another way to word that statistic, is that after inspecting airplanes who had issues with G100UL, no fault could be find that is can be assessed to the aircraft or it's maintenance for 5 of the aircraft inspected. That would be an undisputed 3+% failure rate for unknown reason and one of about 10% for aircraft that have possible pre-existing conditions. It's a scary number to look from an owner perspective when 100LL is still readily available. It will be interesting to see how those numbers change over time.

I tried a little experiment today in my M20J MSE. Climbed to 5000'. Put gear down and flaps full down and set power to maintain 75 KIAS. Put the gear up and held altitude and the airspeed stabilized at 80 KIAS. Put the gear down and stabilized again at 75 KIAS. Raised the flaps to TO position (15 deg). Airspeed stabilized at 80 KIAS. So the drag from the gear and full flaps is the same. With gear up and full flaps and only me and half tanks, the airplane would climb at greater than 500 fpm with full power. So, I agree with @donkaye, MCFI: The simplest procedure for going around is gear then flaps.

George addressed paint damage and fuel tank sealant, but what about o-ring swelling? It's one thing to say that all the old Mooneys need tank reseals. It's quite another to say that the whole fleet needs all its o-rings replaced.

I've never had much respect for Perdue, but always thought Braly did a great job of marketing science that had been known since Lindburgh's time and WWII, as his own but made sense from "a lawyer turned salesman!" point of view So, good on him for GAMI... up until this G100UL fiasco! OTOH, I've liked Mike Busch and his engine philosophy, but admit this 'softball interview' with Braly was a bit disappointing, unfortunately. Definitely felt like gaslighting and helpin' out a good ol' boy vibe.

I have done more tank work than I care to think about. I don’t think I could find a leak with a borescope. Most leaks come from air bubbles in the sealant, or the sealant delaminating from the metal. Both would be almost impossible to see. I have seen sealant that is failing and turning to crumbs. You might be able to see that with a borescope. I don’t know what causes that, but I don’t think it is time. I think it is defective sealant from the start, or attack by some chemical. I have seen very old sealant that had no signs of deterioration. Most leaks I have fixed were in good looking sealant. I think poor surface preparation before applying the sealant causes way more leaks than sealant failure.

By my math, that's a 3.3% failure rate, or 33,000 ppm defect level. Not sure what engineer/scientist/QA department would approve a product to ship with those numbers!

This reminds me of the people who get an insurance policy for whatever reason (maybe so they can give proof of insurance to an airport authority) and then never pay. Guess who gets to pay for the days of insurance coverage that accrued and the time to try and collect? Me. In the Walmart example, the costs are passed onto the vendors, consumers, and/or to the shareholders...regular people with 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, etc. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

The microswitch on the throttle cable is adjustable. I would be surprised if the problem lies with the throttle cable itself. However, if that is the case, throttle cables are readily available from McFarlane Aviation Products. It may have to be made to order so it might take a couple of weeks.

Yeah, there's no tone for that. The GFC 500 has the following alerts: 1. Autopilot disengage tone 2. "Engaging Autopilot" voice alert 3. "Airspeed" voice alert 4. Altitude alert tone In a G3X installation, the GTN audio is not connected. The terrain, traffic, "minimums" and "five hundred" alerts come from the G3X. I think Garmin probably figures it's enough to flag the indicator as would happen with an analog panel.

should be an easy fix, why not just fix it?

@Ragsf15e Here's an excerpt from the GTN Xi Pilot Guide that details what happens in the event of an approach downgrade due to lack of position integrity. There should have been an advisory message on your 750, but I think it's easy to miss if you aren't looking at it because it isn't persistent.

I don't know, but I pasted your question and the Garmin manuals into Gemini and this is what came back. Rick might have a better answer.

As noted, the balance of flow is not what people were talking about. The concern was/is takeoff power total flow. Not sure what GAMI's will do with cylinder temps although maybe you mean exhaust gas temps. Also not sure how GAMI injectors would impact manifold pressure. Not sure what engine data set you sent GAMI either. Obviously, it wasn't the short flight where you just about blew up the engine (sorry to be tough but that is very much a risk). Without being harsh and based on what you've written so far, you really need to find two things: 1. A mechanic who understands turbocharged engines. Even better would be someone who has experience with these older version small block turbo Conti's and understands the variations of turbo Conti's setups wrt wastegate, fuel and air intake, and intercoolers. Unfortunately, I don't have any mechanic references. 2. A sharp pilot/instructor who understands turbo charged engines and has access to the supplements and POH for operating said engine who can teach you how to operate the engine. Actual experience would be even better. I only have a few thousand hours in various turbo piston engines including as a CFI, but what you've written is very scary to me. I don't write that lightly. I get you don't know what you don't know, but you really need a good resource. Lots of really good instructors available who know and have experience in this engine including the aftermarket setup. Seek them out. Best of luck William Btw, I would also check the sparkplugs. Those are usually the first to go in a detonation event like you seem to have had. See recommendation 1 above.

The curious thing is that I was about to delete and reload GP on all three devices but decided to exercise the “insanity option” first - try doing the same thing over again and expect a different outcome - and low and behold it worked. I didn’t even do the common sense power off - power on step. As I discovered throughout my career, how you hold your mouth as you’re executing the steps to operate any technology influences the FM that makes all of this stuff work.

I work in IT and this is how most issues end up being resolved- it just starts working for an unknown reason. All you need to do now is tell me your address so I can send you an invoice.

Didn't he go as far as saying that the fuel selector o-ring size defined by the manufacturer is wrong and a smaller one should be used? Like, anything but saying that G100UL has material compatibility issues.

True. Up to this point my thinking was "Hey, Mike Busch doesn't want to get involved in this drama, I respect that". Now I am not so sure. Interviewing Braly without bringing up all the issues with G100UL is almost the same as endorsing G100UL.

I was a supporter and advocate for G100UL from the moment they got their STC. I was looking forward to running it in my engine, and was glad that there was finally a lead-free solution for our engines. I attended George Braly’s seminars at Oshkosh over the years to hear and learn more. At last year’s, he seemed to blame Mooney fuel leaks on Mooneys, the Mooney design, and Mooney owners. He came across as a lawyer-turned-salesman who was using lawyerly obfuscation and deflection to shift blame away from his product. I left halfway through the seminar. Needless to say, I’m no longer an advocate for G100UL.

The more those guys talk that way the more I lose respect for both of them. Likewise Scott Perdue. It's pretty much gaslighting at this point, in my opinion. That seemed to put a pin in a lot of the discussions about it, and things seemed to go pretty quiet after that since I think it was an easy decision point for many people. It seemed like there wasn't much left to discuss after that for a lot of folks. - It only dissolves teeth in people with bad teeth. - It dissolves teeth in 30% of the population! - That 30% had bad teeth. 70% of the population can use it with no trouble. - It dissolved my teeth and my kids teeth! - You should have taken better care of your teeth. The majority of the population are fine with it. If that were spark plugs or tires or paint or oil or anything else (toothpaste) the manufacturers would be scrambling to fix the problems and make those damaged as whole as possible, but there seems to be a really good supply of hubris to go around for this one.

- Your toothpaste dissolves teeth. - With appropriate oral hygiene, teeth are not dissolved. - Here are statements from users whose teeth have dissolved. - With appropriate oral hygiene, teeth are not dissolved. - Here is evidence that a tooth placed in your toothpaste dissolves. - With appropriate oral hygiene, teeth are not dissolved. - I hear Colgate makes decent toothpaste now. - Colgate toothpaste can't exist in principle.

Hmm, sorry but I wouldn't recommend that. I lean to maintain full power sea level EGTs (mid 1200s for my plane) until I'm at cruise; only then do I go LOP.

Start with the cheap stuff first... could be the microswitch at the throttle cable so check the contacts, use contact cleaner, exercise it, etc. and try to get the horn to sound. Then check the Sonalert next and make sure it can still make noise. Lastly you can replace the cable, and perhaps do that anyway if it is really old. I changed all mine at engine overhaul when they were almost 40 years old and am glad I did.

He can sign off with discrepancies and if necessary you get them fixed by him or ferry permit to where you can… But he CAN sign off the annual with the noted discrepancies… -Don

Definitely understandable, and I agree that there should be a more clear indication when there is an approach downgrade/change in autopilot vertical mode while on an approach. The avionics shouldn't make this an easy thing to miss!

Craig is a great guy, before he was at Command Aviation he used to be the DOM at at a MSC on the east side that closed years ago. He knows more about Mooney’s than he’ll admit! lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So it appears all that stuff happened and there’s no audio warning. I should be more cognizant of this in the future, but I will tell you, in the soup with any distraction, it was subtle. Im pretty glad (lucky really) that I had the FAF altitude set as normally Id have the missed altitude set, but the FAF altitude was the last one I had been given before getting on the GS. When the airplane leveled off, I realized it was doing something I didn’t like!

Thanks very much. I think I’ll try the gasket on the vacuum pad first with my mechanic and then go from there. Funny you recommended Craig! I know him well. Just saw him two weeks ago as we have our corporate plane maintained at his shop. If it’s still leaking at the thread seal I’ll talk to him. Drew

Outside of the occasional drip running off and on to the paint from my sump valves, I have no leaks. on my J. Does that mean I should feel confident that g100UL won't mess my paint, or sealant up? Unfortunately, I can't be.. Not with the evidence I've seen so far.

Excellent recent advice above by @WilliamR and @Ragsf15e about what the priority should be - max FF not Gami's, which I am sure is why @Pinecone is asking about your Fuel set up. Since this is a 231 with an aftercooler, it needs to get the max FF specified by both TCM and the aftercooler manufacturer at the reduced redline MAP (generally about 37.5" MAP depending on manufacturer) not the original 40" - which many mechanics without experience with this engine fail to do. I teach my transition students to monitor TIT as they go to full power and start the takeoff run and abort any takeoff if they see the TIT get to 1450F - with countless Savvy clients I've see a partial loss of power occur after takeoff from this. The K's didn't get this warning their POH's but its in every modern Continental turbo engine POH to flip on the boost pump if TIT gets to 1450F. So make sure max FF is adequate at your max MAP. Secondly find an instructor that actually has time in type including a 231. Its critical and almost cost you your engine from overboost - if it got a couple inches higher I am sure it would have been much worse. If I had more time I would provide a better explanation on Merlyn's limitation. But @PeteMc actually did a fine job of explaining why it's not an "automatic" wastegate. An "automatic" wastegate is also known as a "set and forget" wastegate. Its flies just like a NA engine and won't overboost as your CFI pilot expected. This is where the marketing material on Merlyn's website is so misleading and you and your CFI are not the first to misunderstand this since anyone with real turbo experience reads automatic wastegate expects exactly that - a set and forget. But the Merlyn is sill manual, as Pete explained, it will still overboost and as ambient atmospheric pressure changes in climbs and descents you have to keep adjusting the throttle for MAP setting you want. How the throttle behaves is no different than how the throttle behaves without the Merlyn, but what the Merlyn brings to the table is "adjustable" wastegate over the original fixed bolt. By adjusting the wastegate, it's able to greatly increase the critical altitude of the turbo installation from 15K DA to around 22K DA, which does make it a whole new airplane with respect to altitude performance. But the pilot still has to manually manage their MAP after any change in ambient atmospheric pressure or altitude unlike any real automatic wastegates which are all hydraulically controlled wastegates. However, given the price point for a Merlyn pneumatic wastegate, its a bargain compared to how much a hydraulic wastegate installation adds up to in 252 or Encore which is why most 231 pilots are happy with its limitations. I originally owned a 231 as well before upgrading to 252 now converted to the Encore - but night and day differences.

Since the MFD is also a PFD, makes "partial panel" totally different.

Just be careful about total ff. If that’s not set at the upper end of the takeoff range, you will quickly end up too hot. Yes, balancing ff with injectors is nice, but you need max ff at full power to keep these engines cool. Too low will also be evident in a higher tit as @kortopates mentioned.

If it's plumbed to the MAP, then it will increase the advance, which will lead to higher cht. I gained about 10F on CHT after installing surefly. But it's still way below high range. You might be leaving the mixture just above peak, which maximizes CHT.

In the comments of the Busch interview video Braly says the o rings used in testing by Michael Luvara was at least 1 size too big:

Yeah, i may do that. The mechanic put one on like that with the round wemac vent but it is too small. When I calculated the diameter surface, it was like 16/1 smaller. I am playing around with 3 d printing another similar style part and will share if it works out. My fall back position is to use a wemac vent

As in EFC100

GP is super fast for me. i have both north america and south america jepp and the regular garmin downloads. I download the full 8GB in under 10 min at home with latest mini ipad. its only a bear with public wifi on a trip. Never at home and my service is with Spectrum. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wet wings are a crap shoot. Airlines have whole departments that do nothing but reseals and repairs. I've seen brand new Boeings and Airbus' leak. It is never guaranteed not to leak, just guaranteed if it leaks they'll plug it.

GP has always been super crazy slow for me, on a gigabit home internet connection. It has never actually downloaded its own updates, which is an ongoing annoyance. I have to manually request the download, and it takes forever. And if I switch apps or the iPad goes to sleep, the download seems to pause until I bring focus back to the app. I’m generally a GP fanboy, and this is a pretty minor issue in the scheme of things, but the database downloads are crap.

Thanks @Flyler, I’m hoping to avoid that. The fact that all of my devices are doing the same thing makes me think it’s something I have selected. None of the devices are storage-limited. But I will give it a try anyway.

You'd need an STC and a placard. And a special mat!

Comes from a pink and purple polka dot unicorn that craps skittles and smells of sherbet. Can find in the land of make believe Nothing with last forever, 10 to 20 years if taken care of. More is just extra and living on borrowed time. Like roofing

What about the Cessna 421 that was totalled by the insurance company after all the damages caused by G100UL? I'm really curious about it. I'm baffled about the ongoing denial by GAMI on all the issues people are having after using G100UL. If GAMI would be more transparent I would be open to using it, but their denial is a safety of flight issue.

There are several Mooneys that have used G100UL Avgas. No leaks and no paint damage. I borescoped the fuel tank of one Mooney that had leaked. There were at least two (likely three) different types of internal sealant applications (wrong sealant - wrong technique) clearly visible where someone had tried to do field repairs of earlier 100LL leakage. There are three shops around the country that specialize in stripping the interior fuel tank sealant and then applying new sealant - - - properly applying new sealant. (Note the factory applied sealant was never properly applied by the factory - - according to the repair shops.) Basically, those repair shops tell us that any Mooney with more than about 20 years since factory sealant is a ticking leak-bomb for fuel leakage. I inspected a Mooney at RHV that had been using G100UL Avgas for several months. No evidence of any issues. I asked the owner if I could borescope his fuel tanks. He grinned and approved. When I looked in the tank the sealant was as pristine and perfect as you could ever expect. When I quizzed the owner, he grinned and told me that his plane started leaking 100LL when it was about 15 years old. He had it resealed about 8 years previous - - at "Weep No More" (shop in Minnesota that specializes in resealing fuel tanks.) *********** There are about 150 aircraft that have used G100UL Avgas. Of that number, there are 5 that have reported in-service issues that did not have clear evidence of prior leakage of 100LL. If you spill G100UL on your wing during refueling - - and clean it up ("Good fuel hygiene") before it evaporates and dries out in sunlight) then it does no damage to the paint. If you spill it and let it sit and evaporate for a while, without cleaning it up, then it will slightly stain the paint a brownish color. Various ones of the popular crystal coatings offer substantial protection of the paint. A couple of those commercial products are extremely effective at protecting the paint from stains and damage and have a number of other general benefits with respect to improving the durability of the paint and greatly enhancing the ability to clean bugs and debris from the wings. George

Yes, I did watch it. George Braly said basically Mooneys and twin Cessnas with integral tanks are leaking fuel storage devices. He said, they have always leaked and will continue to leak no matter the fuel. He said they leak with 100LL at the same rate as with G100UL.

Not Mooney specific, but Hangtown Aviation (PVF) knows Mooneys. They did fuselage tube repairs for corrosion under the pilot’s window on a J model. It was done to perfection. My friend’s G model had a couple annuals done there, too. A former LASAR A&P worked there a few years ago, until he moved on to teaching in the A&P program (at UCD I think?). A little further away, Lincoln Skyways (LHM) also maintains a few Mooney’s on the field. They’re pretty busy though (like most shops?).

For some reason I thought you had multi cylinder CHT. Having only 1, I suppose it could read false high. Yes, that should be checked. I find your leaning in climb unusual. Maybe I’m old school, but I typically start the climb full rich and full power. I note my EGT and hold that through the climb. In other words, I only lean enough to maintain that. Leaning more aggressively at high power risks detonation and hot CHTs. Aggressive lean of peak in climb can reduce ChT but with reduced power, extending your climb. Maybe try a full rich, full power climb and see what happens….of course if the temp goes up…don’t continue. Can’t recall, was magneto timing checked? As a side note, absolute values of EgT vary too much cylinder to cylinder and aircraft to aircraft to be very useful.

There are some reinforcements under the wing walk on the door side that aren't on the pilot's side. That said:

Just a note, not that it’s better or worse… all the USAF training (at least towards fighters) is done in aircraft with no autopilot. Everyone (fighter/bomber and cargo) does primary instrument training without autopilot. They get about the same time as we do (yes it’s more intense) and they pass an instrument checkride to continue. I actually believe (personal opinion) that having an autopilot gets in the way of training for ifr. However, before everyone loses their $&/! on me, I also believe everyone needs some additional training in their specific autopilot and how to best manage their system once passing their checkride. Yes, “topoff” could be integrated before check, but I think a pilot should be competent enough to pass without the AP and introducing it before just complicated things.

I am a Chemical Engineer with an advanced degree having worked 32 years for Dow Chemical which was the largest manufacturer of chlorinated organic chemicals in the world. I know from real life experiences how incompatible these materials are with aluminum. I have to speak up when somebody acting as an expert “corrects”me and makes a bad recommendation that will likely cause harm. Methylene chloride will get into the cracks and joints and over time decompose to minute amounts of hydrochloric acid which will damage the passive protective oxide layer on the aluminum causing exfolation of the aluminum in the crack or joint. Raymond J eluded to caution when talking about cleaning preparation for tank lining above. I have also felt that some people painting aircraft have not been aware of the hazard here and have used chlorinated solvents to strip the paint aircraft. This type of corrosion will not show up immediately but years later the results can be exfolation damage showing up in the cracks and crevises especially in the overlapping joints and rivets. Yes these solvents are volitale but they can become trapped or mixed with grease, dirt or other materials so don’t just assume the evaporate cleanly like they might in a laboratory beaker. Do we really understand all the causes of corrosion on our airplanes that we are scraping everyday? This is just one.