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In short, the Aerocruze 100 at my approximate all in price of 11K was worth it. The GFC500 complete setup all in was going to be roughly 32K. I figure 70% of the performance for about a third the price. '76 Ranger with the Aspen E5, GNC 355, MX 170C, AV30 back up, everything else close to original and analog. I purchased the autopilot a couple years ago. Initial install shop ran into the bracket issues and did not want to take it further. Wasn't able to find a shop that would install it so it sat in a box on my hangar floor for seems like two years. Through a contact here on MS, found out about an avionics shop in Oklahoma that had done a bunch of AeroCruze installs including all types of Mooney's. Super nice folks, bit of a cross country from Ohio, but at this point I just wanted it done. Flew the Ranger to them right out of its annual directly. Once they went into the box, they found the previous shop HAD actually cut on the bracket but in a way that rendered it unusable. So, $500 and an email to Duncan/BK, had a new bracket on the way. I was actually surprised it only took them about a week to get it to the shop. That surprise added some time to the install and my crazy work schedule, it ended up 5 weeks from drop off to pick up. The shop told me the standard settings from BK seem to work in Mooney's, they've never had to tweak one yet. They did a really nice job at the price they promised, cleaned up some wiring, and were very communicative during the process. One test flight with the avionics guy, everything looked good, flew home that same day. I've now got a couple flights in, no long cross countries but I've done several coupled approaches VMC including missed to a published hold. I've got a tell ya, I am kind of impressed. What is crazy is I do this for a living in "big iron" with more capable systems and it is still a barrel of fun to watch it happen in my little Mooney. The airplane did not have an a/p before. It does have idiosyncrasies that I was forewarned about from the avionics shop. When the a/p priority switch is in Aspen, the autopilot follows the Aspen's heading bug. Its 10% lazy. It will mildly overshoot then come back, eventually settling on the heading. The shop explained it has to do with the routing of info between GPS, Aspen, and A/P. When the priority switch is in GPS, it follows whatever the Garmin is doing precisely. Altitude hold is okay but not stellar like I have experienced in some Garmin autopilots. The yokes have been lubed, minimal friction in the system. It doesn't do a bad job, sometimes a very mild PIO +/- 50 ft. I have flown through some mild, occasional moderate turbulence and it actually held altitude to a tighter tolerance. The shop told me the folks at Duncan said you could leave the trim annunciation wiring unconnected to save on all the nuisance indications from the display head. They hooked it up and told me to accept the fact, the a/p is never going to like where you set the trim. And that's pretty much how it works. I know where my trim should be ball park, so I set it according to what I am doing and just let the AeroCruze blink "up" or "down". If you hold the yoke a/p button in, it goes into Control Wheel Steering, and that's what I use once in a while to ensure its in trim. Every once in a blue moon, the screen will be blank for a little while but rest assured it will start wanting trim again even if you've proven its fine by kicking it off and letting the airplane fly hands off. Coupled approaches work as advertised especially if you don't have a moron pilot like me at the controls who forgets to start trimming pitch on a go around. I let the a/p take me down on an LPV to below minimums ( all VMC), pressed the ALT button for GA, pushed in power and watched the airplane pitch up for a 500 fpm climb, then watched it pitch WAY UP as my dense brain realized I should really be working that trim wheel down and quickly. Once past idiocy, Ranger cleaned up, it climbed 500 fpm to the MAA of 2800, leveled off, flew out to the hold, beautiful tear drop entry, then proceeded to go round and round without missing a beat. I handled trim, gear, power and flaps but never touched the yoke. Really nice. I've pushed the "Blue" button, (level), four times after maneuvering the airplane into some unusual attitudes. Up to 60 degrees of bank, maybe 15 to 20 in pitch, no high airspeeds though. Its never failed to come on and quickly level the airplane and hold it steady. Although the trim annunciation was blinking like crazy, it never showed clutch slippage or failed to hold the airplane stable. With only two buttons, one knob, and limited display size for the control head, there is button-ology to learn and not all that intuitive. I think with usage, I will get better, but it does take a couple more inputs to get different things done than I would like. Its internal AHRS aligns FAST! I mean its ready to go within 5 seconds of power up. My AV30 is second, my Aspen takes longest, almost gotta sit on my hands for patience. My conclusion. If you have Dynon or are going Dynon and their latest a/p news, that's an easy one. Stick with Dynon. If I knew 5 years ago what I know now, I'd have gone Dynon from the get go. GFC500 would be the best all around especially if you've already gone largely Garmin and/or you own an M20J or better, the value is there even at 35k. For us vintage owners, especially the 180 horse and analog or basic glass panel folks, the AeroCruze is a hard deal to beat. I think its a huge boost to safety even for the VFR pilot. 10-15k in is still a lot of money! However when comparing our current choices for certified aircraft, I think it is worth the spend. AeroValley LLC in Paul's Valley, OK did the install. Give them a shout if curious. They helped me out in transportation too. Plus Amtrak runs back and forth between Dallas and Ok City, like 11 bucks.

Makes you wonder how many Mooneys with MT props taxiing backwards you've missed...

Look at the tcds for the engine. It uses a -200 and a -204. -200 should be retard breaker, not impulse coupling.

I agree with a majority of what you said there, including that cylinders should only be removed when necessary. I just think you may be overstating the complexity a little bit. Replacing a cylinder should be routine for all but the least competent mechanics, and shouldn’t really be a scary thought. I would say if you don’t trust your local shop to pull a cylinder, you shouldn’t trust them to change your oil. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@UteM20F Maybe give those on the front line in California as early adopters grace as they tried a product in good faith and we’re all learning from them. It has to be horrible to have your paint and tanks deteriorated in a completely unexpected and previously unseen way. I had leaks. The paint was unchanged when I picked up from WeepNoMore. I did not see any of the issues @gabez saw and I had leaks…

Having done plenty of shock disk changes, I don’t see how this would make a difference to shock disk longevity on the nose gear. They are under heavy compression all the time unlike the main gear. I could see this helping possibly extending the life of the mains but not sure by how much. Are they worth the investment on any other model than the long bodies? I’m not sure. David

@mluvara latest testing video is very concerning. Do I think these tests should be done in a scientific setting with better controls and repeatability, yes, but they point out very concerning issues. If g100ul does in fact permeate like that, no amount of anything will keep it from destroying anything it is around in short order, or over time. It is also a fire and safety hazard. @George Braly either didn't do due diligence in full testing, doesn't really understand materials science or has a materials engineer at gami, wanted to use the fleet as the test. OK, we are all human. Or the worst knew about it and did not let anyone know. He had a chance to tackle this probably when issues started, become transparent and involve the aviation, science, and engineering community. For blaming technology of 50, 60 years ago is not winning hearts or minds and is completely deflecting. If g100ul only works for the latest engineered parts, OK, own it. If more work needs to happen on the formula, OK own it. I had high hopes for it and had strong respect for George until the constant deflecting. Not sure he realizes, he is digging the grave of gami, single handedly. Which actually takes talent and the desire to do so.

Because that would be another embarrassment of the faa. The boeing fiasco is still too fresh.

Update. Mine has a bad fuel pump. It was showing 5 gph lower then normal, 19 gph at take off power. Attempted to reset flow and the pump would not increase and had some strange fluctuations. New one just came in and setting up flows now.

Possibly but major aspects of piloting/aircraft ownership makes it hard to bypass: If you are the pilot, you are personally liable for anything that might have happened (or allege to have happened) - no trust or LLC will separate you from that liability. If you lease space for your plane, most leases require liability insurance on the plane. It has been discussed here before, that one of the benefits of insurance is the legal support. Yes you can go bare and hire lawyers on your own should a claim arise but that can get expensive fast - and very time consuming on your part. The insurance company has lawyers available and a duty to defend you.

I saw him speak at the Buckeye Air Fair two years ago, and at that time he was saying, "Don't get it on your paint." He was indicating that it'd damage the paint if you spilled it. So he at least knew about that. Whether he knew about the o-ring/seal/tank/materials issues is another question. If he knew about that, I'd agree that's even worse.

FWIW, I’ve done both FRG and ISP. Definitely FRG if heading into Queens or Brooklyn. And yes, it can get busy. Not only because of the airport traffic itself, but its location in JFK’s flight path. Pay very close attention to the ATIS. It’s not just weather and runway. Example at the very beginning of this video…

His only reference points are his work at Aerostar when he was a young man, and what he has been told about mooney’s. He says Aerostar applied sealant before assembly. Whether this is true or not, I do not believe it’s particularly relevant. Mooney wing skins are not structural. At least not like an Aerostar. The skins on an Aerostar are maybe three times the thickness and are a large part of the structure. it was explained to me that the sealant between skins is not as effective when the material flexes, as it does in the Mooney, because it is squeezed out unevenly under pressure, and deforms the skin. The only Mooney fuel leak I ever had was under the nonskid material on the top and only leaked when it was topped off so I didn’t fill up until leaving and never had staining. I have actually had more nuisance leaks with the Aerostar. To think the assumption that wet wings should never need servicing is a bit silly. If you think about the movement they all have, it’s amazing they don’t leak more! I think it’s a valid argument that poorly maintained tanks, or tanks that have been repaired improperly may be more vulnerable to any new solution of aromatics. Failure of the components of the fuel system as a result of the fuel is a whole other issue. Have any of those gami planes been monitored for o-ring or fuel hose failures? seems like there has to be a chemical or perhaps paint solution to the staining. Coming up with a better fuel nozzle and cap seems easy, the venting areas are a bigger challenge.

That's sad. I used to fly to Portsmouth in my C. Their breakfast is pretty good, and the blueberry pancakes were a favorite! There were no planes left abandoned then.

The left magneto is used for starting and will either have an impulse coupling, or a retard breaker used for a shower of sparks (a.k.a. starting vibrator) system. According to the attached chart, the left mag should be a S4LN-200 for a shower of sparks system. (S4LN-21 for impulse coupled).

On top of this don’t be in a rush to leave. Sometimes it’s fine sometimes it’s 45 minutes. Build a buffer into your schedule if you have somewhere to be.

On the "closed" mode on the 231 from the factory they were supposed to be slightly open, less than an inch for cooling, also better speed. In flight testing Mooney found that completely closed yielded a lower top speed than slightly open, since it was more efficient to have some air moving through.

Mind you, FRG can get REALLY busy! Sometimes they're extending downwinds all the way to either end of long island. It may be a D airport, but be sure to bring your A game.

Perhaps George needs to hire the crisis firm aopa did lol. Some close parallels.

Well, I flew the Piper last weekend and I didn’t turn into a pumpkin or anything. Based on feedback from this thread, I caught up with Parker directly before I went to the airport and he confirmed that my insurance policies wouldn’t present any problems. I now have my FAA medical current again.. so that was fun while it lasted

I hardly think Mooneys are 'poorly engineered '. Nor do I think they are any more 'poorly maintained' than any other aircraft. As @Marc_B alluded, I think we are all very lucky that Mooneys and a few other aircraft have served as 'Canaries in the coal mine"! IMHO, George made two fatal mistakes in his 'marketing' of G100UL: 1) Not being upfront and forthright in coming clean when problems arose rather than blaming others (it would really be egregious to find out he knew prior to releasing G100UL) 2) Supporting Kalifornia's draconian environmental system (CEH case) to try and ban the sale of 100LL and thereby force the purchase of his G100UL. That is the strategy of greed by corporate executives not the sales rollout from someone portraying themselves as 'one of us'.

New Pirep on seat of the pants takeoff performance. In the past with our 50 ft drop in elevation at about midway down the runway at max gross takeoff weight my abort decision was visually easy to acquire as I needed to be airborne before the aircraft reached the bottom of the hill and with temperature differences sometimes I would be airborne as I was coming down the hill. Well today with max gross weight takeoff I was airborne before I even started down the hill and climbing at a full 1000ft per min after airborne made for a much bigger performance cushion than what I had in the past.

Thanks for the help! I have my Dynon AP ordered. They say the components won't be ready to ship until March

George is an engine guy. He focused on engine performance, especially detonation margin. He's not a materials guy and probably didn't do enough testing there. Now he's in deep having spent a lot of time and money developing G100UL. Human nature says he will defend it to the end. Look at how many of us defend our positions on all kinds of things in the face of evidence to the contrary when we believe we are right. George has done a lot for GA over the years and I hope that this somehow works out for him, but it seems pretty obvious that the negatives outweigh the positives for G100UL.

Mine used to stumble about once or twice per hour at cruise altitude around 7k-9k. Rebuilt mag at 500hr did not change anything. Changing the plugs when it was time did not change anything. Installing a new set of wires when I discovered this was the cause of my radio interference fixed the radio reception, and the stumbles. I could not tell you the last time it stumbled and that has been about 7 years since mag harness change.

It is common for an IO-360 to show fuel pressure fluctuations due to heating in the fuel pump introducing vapor to the fuel. It doesn't show on the factory gauges due to the damping of the internal gauge but it clearly shows up on my Garmin EIS with both the Kavlico pressure sensor and the GPT sensor. It's not just Mooneys -- there are threads about this on vansairforce.net. It is not common, in my experience, to see rapid fluctuations in the fuel flow. I would suspect an electrical connection issue -- especially a ground since the fuel flow and pressure seem to vary in lockstep.

I have the autopilot in a K - you won't be disappointed. The installation was very straightforward (for the most part) - the kit contains everything. Pay careful attention with the wiring. I suggest you don't install the yaw damper disconnect switch - that did give me problems and once I removed it, everything worked great.

It shouldn't have dropped pressure with four quarts in the sump, unless the oil was geting very hot. +1 to just keep running it but keep a close eye on trends, both consumption and metals. If you're handy with a wrench and don't mind spending some quality time with your engine, get a good borescope and take a peek at the cylinders yourself from time to time. You are allowed to do this as the owner. This way you can start seeing what's normal or not, and get a peek at the sparkplugs at the same time. One thing to watch when doing this is how much oil is pooling in the cylinder. You may be able to identify a particular cylinder that is using more oil this way. This way if it does get to where you need to change a cylinder (if oil consumption continues to get much worse), you don't have to change all of them, just the one(s) most likely to be causing trouble. Angle valve cylinders are very difficult to get right now, so if you do have to pull a cylinder you may have to send it off for overhaul. There's always a risk when you do that that something is past overhaul limits and you'll be grounded until you can find a replacement. So just run it with an eye on it until it is evident that you really need to do something.

Insurance is a form of risk management called transfer. You pay a premium to transfer a financial risk to another party. It makes no sense to over or under insure. Professional risk managers are adept at matching the policy with the actual risk. This is the point about insurance often missed when the focus is on the cost of the policy and not the management of the risk. (BTW, there are four formal methods to manage risk: Accept (self-insure), Avoid it (sell the airplane), Mitigate (don't carry passengers), Transfer (buy insurance)).

Hey all! My name is Philip, and I fly Dassault Falcon jets and run a mobile A&P business based out of the upper Midwest. I picked up a unique little E model Mooney as another service rig for the business, so figured I'd join and get involved with this awesome community! This E model is unique because one of the past owners put a lot into making it just like a mini-J model. It has every offered speed mod, a beautifully done original 201 paint scheme, electric gear, one piece belly, wingtips, speed brakes, and much more. The most interesting part is that it received a single aircraft approval STC for a Lycoming IO-360-C1D6 engine, which uses a 6.3 and 8th order counterweight on the crankshaft, just like the J model engines (A1B6D & A3B6D). Finishing it off, the engine is mated with a round-tip J model propeller and spinner. I've been a long-time viewer of this group, and the content here has helped tremendously when working on client's aircraft. I'm glad to now be a part of this group and hopefully I'll be able to contribute even just a fraction of the value and knowledge that is held within this community!

Hmm, our country has a history of passing laws to PROTECT minority populations; I guess minorities of minorities get laws passed against them! And, you're okay with that, apparently. I am not. Whatever is 'coming' should be based on RATIONAL, not EMOTIONAL, reasons. In another post I shared the results of a government study (southern California Air Quality Management District) that showed the airborne lead levels around Whiteman Airport (KWHP) to be no greater than in the Los Angeles basin as a whole. Further, the levels were way below the Federal limit! Yet, many here on an aviation forum, of all places, seem perfectly okay with rolling over to, at the very least, paint staining, swollen O-rings, and a higher price to 'solve' what, in reality, is a political issue, NOT a health one! Frankly, unbelievable. The Consent Decree is not only unclear on what constitutes "commercially available" fuel but is based, originally, on the fact that Proposition 65 warnings were not adequately provided to residents surrounding airports (as well as proper airport signage). This is the basis for the 'lead free' requirement. Thing is, Prop 65 covers all kinds of chemicals that pose a potential "risk to society", not just lead. It turns out things like benzene and toluene are also covered by Prop 65. So, once the NIMBYS and real estate developers "get the lead out" of our fuel, what do you think is going to happen next? This is entirely POLITICAL. At what point are YOU going to fight for your freedom to fly? So, yes, I blame Kalifornia. They have long been the leader in restricting freedoms.

50 years……..doesn’t seem to be a lot of angst over the fate of the little children!

The paint in person is awful. And the air in tires may be an FBO requirement. I doubt anything else has been done.

I agree and do not carry a battery pack any more in a small airplane, especially since this Mooney burned up after a battery pack caught on fire after being dropped. Thank goodness it happened on the ground and not in the air. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/386971