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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/19/2018 in all areas

  1. Hi Everybody, I'm new to both the board and to Mooney ownership and figured this thread was as good place to jump in as any, since this is almost exactly what I am attempting at the moment. I recently picked up an '87 J with a solid airframe, engine, and interior, but mostly original panel. I thought the vintage of the plane was appropriate since that was probably the year I decided I wanted to own a Mooney someday. It's currently in the shop having the following added: Garmin GTN 750 Garmin G5 DG/HSI to replace the mechanical DG and one of the legacy CDIs Garmin GAD 29B so the G5 can drive the legacy KAP 100 that came with the plane (keeping this for now) Garmin 345R Transponder (ADS-B) JPI EDM-930 (to replace most of the legacy engine instruments) With any luck, this will be my "forever plane." Before and after pictures to follow... Nice to be a part of the group!
    7 points
  2. Your process is pretty simple... and fairly close to what I do. I do everything based on gallons used, to minimize switching tanks, and never to be switching tanks in the pattern or on approach. Start on the left tank and burn 15 or 20 gal (35 gal tanks). Then switch to the right and run it all the way dry. Switch back to the left where I have 15 gal and should be on the descent to land. Obviously there are variations to this if I'm not going as far. I will switch to the fullest tank either at top of descent or within 10K ft of the ground. But I never change tanks more than twice during any flight and often only once. I'll flip this procedure left to right occasionally. Benefits I see to this procedure: Upon landing with an empty tank, filling that tank will give me an EXACT value of useable fuel. (I really only care about useable fuel when in cruise attitude in flight, that's when it matters) I learn what my gauges read as the tank is going dry. I know what the engine sounds like and syptoms of fuel starvation. Gain the confidence that fuel starvation from one tank is not a cause for panic and build muscle memory to switch tanks as soon as those symptoms appear. Landing with 10 gal all in one tank is more comfortable than landing with 5 gal in each tank. Basing the procedure on gallons and not on time has me paying closer attention to fuel and removes an additional variable from the equation. The math is also simpler... I like to go far and especially when solo, like to see how far I can go non-stop. It's just what I enjoy. This procedure has allowed me to go much further with much more confidence in my fuel situation. I expect to know anytime I pull up to the pump, to 1/2 gal per tank, what it will take.
    6 points
  3. The interior is in and got to test run the engine yesterday. After a few setting changes on the JPI the plane is buttoned up and ready for a test flight as soon as the weather allows. It’s not the best panel out there, but it’s the best my panel has been. I gained 23lbs of useful load. I hoped for a little more but after all the clean up we did future upgrades should go really fast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    6 points
  4. Seeing how other shops treat AOG customers really chaps my....... I agree with you here. I am more than proud to say we do not rip it off in Mrs./Mr. AOG. They don't receive a higher shop rate, and the markup is the same on the parts. If their emergency is an hr or 2 of our labor, they receive a 'safe travels' - not an invoice. We treat them as if they had been coming to us for years. Someone having a REALLY bad day isn't an opportunity to make bank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    5 points
  5. All education carries with it tuition. Lesson learned: on any repair or installation of anything, airplane or otherwise, get a firm quote first. If they don't agree to that, find someone who will. On a firm quote they have motivation to move along a good pace to get done to get paid. If they quoted low then the education is theirs. They will adjust that the next time they quote a similar job. With a time and materials deal they have motivation to stretch it out and keep getting paid. To keep a long term relationship working with a shop you both have to feel like you are getting a fair deal. To get the full value of the education you have to realize that you agreed to time and materials, no one held a gun to your head. Rather than wasting energy on being mad at him, just take what you learned from it and move on. One of the nice things about Mooneyspace is we all get the education on the tuition you paid.
    3 points
  6. Ok, so it wasn't "today's" flight, but I just got the pictures from a flight we took on Memorial Day around St. Louis. Big thanks to @Junkman for leading our tour and to my brother, Matt, for being our photographer. My dad, Everett, rode copilot with me and my son, Matthew, rode copilot with Junkman. Photos in order: Preflight briefing, taxi, Daniel Boone bridge, river bluffs, the Stan Span, Gateway Arch, Busch Stadium, Budweiser brewery, close formation, post flight smiles.
    3 points
  7. Stephen - you sitting down? If not, you should be... Here is what it feels like: Let me preface the picture below. Costs for avionics installations will vary wildly depending on what you are doing at the time. An example, installing an audio panel is very labor intensive. It needs to be wired to everything that uses it. If you elect to put in a new avionics panel with your old radios and then a year later upgrade your radios, you will essentially be paying twice for the installations. My advice: 1) If there is even a remote chance you will be selling this plane within 10 years, DON’T do a major avionics upgrade. You’ll never get your money back out. Fix what you have and don’t try to keep up with the Jones’s. 2) Think ahead on what you want your panel to look like. If you have aspirations of installing an Aspen or Garmin G500 TXi along with other radio upgrades, save up and do it all at once. Every time your panel is opened, you will incur costs, often duplicate costs. 3) Don’t get caught up in the whiz bang of avionics. You can spend a fortune on avionics. Make sure you have a need for it or you truly want it to enhance your flying. 4) Don’t finance avionics upgrades. If you need to finance, you have no business doing the upgrades. 5) Understand the difference between a quote and an estimate. DO NOT accept an estimate for an upgrade. If necessary, take the plane to the shop and have them look over everything before they issue the quote. When I had my STEC 60-2 installed in 1998, the shop tried to stick with me another $2,000 of “unexpected work”. I had a quote and refused the additional cost - READ THE FINE PRINT ON ANYTHING YOU GET IN WRITING FROM THE AVIONICS SHOP!! 6) Make sure your significant other is supportive. If not, an avionics upgrade can drive a wedge between you. I’m sure there are others who can share their rules. The prices below are ballpark. I recall that the avionics shop wanted $3,600 for the installation of one Aspen. When I decided on two, they wanted to charge $7,200. I argued successfully for a lot lower second installation charge since the plane was already opened and it was just a matter of the additional connections. There will be these kinds of discussion to understand and happen up front (see #5 above). The cost below also doesn’t include any new panels made for you and labor to move things around to new homes (which may require rewiring). Avionics upgrades are NOT for the weak and certainly not for those who have weak finances. P.S. I have two AoAs in the plane. The panel mounted one and the one of the Aspen. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
    3 points
  8. Experience certainly helps but it really comes down to 3 things: 1) Incredibly accurate fuel planning. At my airline (yes, the one of Gimli Glider fame) the planned fuel burn calculated by our flight planning system is usually accurate to about 100kg on a 10 hour flight that will burn about 50,000 kg of fuel. 2) Extremely accurate fuel Totalizers. The "cost to carry" excess fuel is a big deal in the airline world, so we carry exactly what we need and no more. That translates to destination + alternate + legal reserves plus a statistically determined "contingency fuel" for unforeseen events. Then we add deviation fuel in minutes of additional burn for known weather or ATC delays. 3) SOPs. Airline pilots live and die by SOPs. You have an estimated and a minimum fuel quantity at every waypoint on your flight plan which you monitor throughout the flight. If your burn exceeds your plan, you spot it early and come up with a plan. You always have an out, and you exercise it when it is required. All of the above can be applied to my Mooney. The only difference is the somewhat lower degree of accuracy of items 1 & 2, which can be compensated for by adhering strictly to item 3. Most GA fuel exhaustion accidents I have read about were the result of either not having a fuel plan, or failing to follow it. Minor trivia note: Years ago I was instructing in the 767 simulator and we had to review the dual engine failure drill as part of the recurrent training scenario. I made some comment about it being good training but extremely unlikely that it would ever happen. "I mean, have any of you ever had a dual flameout?" I asked. The Captain was a quiet and very competent old guy, very close to retirement. He smiled and said, "Actually, yes I have." His name was Maurice Quintal. Everyone at Air Canada knows the name Bob Pearson, the famous Captain of the Gimli Glider, but few remembered the name of his FO. It was Maurice.
    3 points
  9. Well MS, 5612Q is now in Savannah with me! I got my insurance checkout on Saturday out at KMRN, then flew up to KFCI for fathers day, really stretched the wings on Monday by flying back to Savannah from Richmond. IDK if she is fast, average, or slow but I was mostly at 6500' doing 141 TAS @ ~9GPH (LOP 40-50 per the G2). Only real squawk is the 12volt outlet does not seem to work and the top door latch has come unlatched on take off twice! I'm also working the IFD 440/GDL88 incompatibility issue, I'm fighting going back to the 430W but not sure how I feel about another 3+ AMUs for a new ADSB out transponder when the 430w/GDL88 worked for in and out.
    2 points
  10. yes, crystal clear. That’s why this subject never ceases to generate thousands of crystal clear opinions on aviation boards everywhere. If you need more clarity, try to get two FAA guys to agree on the subject At least I’m positve.... I think.
    2 points
  11. My appliance list has them as a Slick 4370 and 4347. I suppose the longer advice goes along the same lines of when getting a hair cut, you can always make it shorter...
    2 points
  12. Stephen, no one has mentioned it yet, so I'll throw a wrench into the mix. Given that liberal budget with a lot of range between the numbers, has your friend thought of looking at an Ovation? There are a few on Controller in the $165k - $222k range...some of which have already upgraded panels. I can't see spending the kind of money he wants to spend on a "J", and then having to put another ~50 - 75k (I'm guess-timating) into a panel makeover when he can have Ovation performance. Again, just a thought... Steve
    2 points
  13. Might be. I already had an 830 installed so some of the work was already done.
    2 points
  14. Don't allow a shop to go time and materials. Im finding out now that is asking to be taken advantage of. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
    2 points
  15. @Marauder has some great advice above. I only have a few thoughts to add. 1. If given the choice of two fairly similar quotes (cost, time, quality, etc.) choose the one closest to your home base. Yes, I might have saved about 5-10% if I had gone to a competing avionics shop an hour or so away, but every time I would have had a problem in the future, I would have had the choice of flying (if possible) to get it worked on by the distant shop, or having the avionics shop on the field work on something they didn't install. I see these guys every time I am at the airport, and I have had them drop what they were doing to help me or a friend who had a small avionics problem. 2. (Expanding on #2 above) If you are doing panel upgrades in phases, do as much pre-wiring as possible the first time you have it opened up. Or as the old line goes, start with the end in mind. 3. If a shop says they will take credit cards, ask for a 3% discount for paying with a check. 4. As a supplement to #6 above, putting a USB charging outlet in front of the copilot never hurts.
    2 points
  16. I will second what Paul wrote. I just had my '84 J in the shop and had an Aspen EFD 1000 w/ synthetic vision/AOA/EA 100, new 406 ELT, PMA 450B audio panel, Sandia 340 Quattro, KAS 297B Altitude pre-select/VSS, and KEA 130A (for the KAS 297B) installed. At the same time, I had my 430W sent off to Garmin for refurb, pulled my stand-by vacuum, AI, HSI, T&B, a TON of dead wiring and unused antennas, and took out my AV-300 XM weather receiver. I ended up gaining nearly 20 lbs. of UL and lightened my wallet by almost exactly the same amount as @gsxrpilot. Since then I have recovered a little over $2,000 by selling those items I removed. Of the items I listed, only the Aspen, ELT and PMA 450B were new, and those I got with Sun-n-Fun pricing. If you want all new avionics, it can easily eat up $40-50K plus a bunch more, but if you are patient, look for discounts or deals from manufacturers, and have a little luck, it is doable within your budget. But throw in an autopilot, and it all goes out the window.
    2 points
  17. I think Chris's @Marauder AoA is in the Aspen. A full avionics upgrade without touching the current autopilot... is probably a $60K project. But could go to $80K really quickly. I did my "full" panel upgrade for about $24K but it included some heavy owner involvement to keep down costs. A number of the new instruments were second hand, and others were acquired via trade-in for original equipment that still had some value.
    2 points
  18. I would have it repainted also. I would also see about getting some fresh Alodine under the paint aswell. You can see some light surface Corrosion where the paint is missing, until that is corrected it will continue to bubble an flake the paint off. Just my opinion
    2 points
  19. 2 points
  20. It seems like it was yesterday I took the plane apart for the adsb install. I bet I have a nice useful load right now. Started taking out some guts to install some new toys. Installing a G5, replacing an edm 830 for a 900, 406mhz ELT, CiES fuel senders, elimination of the vacuum pump, gauges, and a lot of old wires. Fun times ahead. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1 point
  21. Time has a way of slipping by almost unnoticed---until it is. Yesterday I had the honor of participating in a Wright Brothers Master Pilot awards presentation. There were 3 of us getting the award. One of the requirements is having flown for 50 years. The time starts from the first solo flight. Not surprising all of us had first soloed in 1967. As I listened to the accomplishments of the other 2 participants given by Karen Arendt, the FAAST Team manager at the San Jose FISDO, I marveled at how unpretentious both were in our pre award conversations. You can do a lot in 50 years, as was demonstrated by these two individuals. Karen first showed a movie detailing the Wright Brothers step by step achievement towards attaining powered flight. Then she detailed the histories of each pilot with input from each as she went along. Photos from each of us went a long way in guiding those biographies. I remember Karen talking to me about receiving the "Blue Ribbon Package" which determines one's eligibility. That package was given to each of us and contained every document the FAA has ever had on us. Once home I reviewed it, and a lot of memories were brought back. It contained the results of every knowledge test, every flight test ever taken, every medical, and every renewal of the flight instructor certificate. Needless to say after 50 years it is pretty thick. And just think, the FAA has this record on each and every pilot in the United States. We were given a beautiful plaque, a letter acknowledging 50 years of our lifetime in aviation, and lapel pins for us and our spouses. The celebration finished wth distribution of pieces of cake that Karen brought and is shown below. All in all quite a day.
    1 point
  22. As @Marauder said, if there's any chance you'll (your friend) sell the plane in the next 10 years it makes no sense to buy a fixer-upper and fix it up. And for someone just getting back into flying.... and especially with that kind of disposable income, there's no chance he keeps it 10 years. I'd recommend to him that he look for a top of the line, example. Be that a J, Eagle, Ovation, etc. Get one that is ready to fly just the way it is and then fly it. Undoubtedly within a year, he'll either move on to something else or be shopping for a late model Acclaim. Just my $0.02
    1 point
  23. Brakes? Brakes for stop. Plane not for stop, plane for GO! Why you need brakes? On a more serious note, though mine is an F model, I can lock up the brakes at just about any speed if I want to. Typically though, I don't use the brakes until I am ready to stop at my parking spot. Just slow down before you land. I often find I need to add power just to make the 3000' turn off with nothing more than aerodynamic braking.
    1 point
  24. Been to a busy four way stop sign lately?
    1 point
  25. I feel bad for you. Even at 40 hours to install the EDM, not sure how they came up with another 154 hours of labor.
    1 point
  26. I went from an EDM700 to EDM900. SWTA did the install which started by pulling all of the EDM700 out including all wiring and probes. Then the install of the EDM900. JD charged me for 20 hours. That might have included a "best customer" discount so don't expect the same. But I doubt it would be more than 40 hours for the install.
    1 point
  27. That was a good Saturday, even if my carb heat failed in the On position leaving MRN. Got home anyway, somewhat slowly, figured out what caused the power loss, and replaced the carb heat cable.
    1 point
  28. Yep, agreed. And I have a mask with the mic built in. It's nice to take the Halo's off my head and just let them sit around my neck or on the shoulders. The ear buds are still in place but no need for the mic as it's in the mask. No question Halo's are the best option if you use O2.
    1 point
  29. I use one of these Black & Decker, small and light weight, not a lot of torque, and buy good bits
    1 point
  30. Let me forward your request to our prop guy... @Cody Stallings He knows everything prop related... Best regards, -a-
    1 point
  31. I used to keep up with every post... I wasn’t alone... On MS, you are never alone... Some of us start early in the morning in Eastern Europe time... then Hyett comes in an hour later... Some of us are working through the night In an office environment... working the Raptor life style... The west coast seems to be up late, often... last night JohnB was discussing Bravo engine oil pressure... I’m just working on some old memory skills, a little reading, some writing... that kind of thing... Nothing like re-learning to read, write, and spell, with a side benefit of refreshing Mooney skills.... Go Late-nite on MS! Best regards, -a-
    1 point
  32. @carusoam Anthony, do you ever sleep? Ive watched you at it every night Ive had insimnia and you seem to read / post 24x7!! Wow! ... or maybe you are the MS AI ... hmmmm.
    1 point
  33. I have requested quotes from Smart Avionics in Donegal Springs (N71) and recently with SureFlight at KMQS. I have not seen anything from either shop. I am in southeast PA, home of the world champion Philadelphia Eagles.
    1 point
  34. I can't believe it's been over 10 years, but it has. I really liked that trip To Australia! What a time we had on the Down Under Tour! I would like to get back there.
    1 point
  35. What Scott said. Star Wars under Disney. What kind of shit is that, other than an unadulterated money grab?
    1 point
  36. If it has been that recient, I would call the prop shop for their opinion.
    1 point
  37. Youngest son (6mo) while on the way back from a family vacation.
    1 point
  38. Were there no screens anywhere in the fuel system!? Next time you've got a tank that's pretty low, look through your fuel cap towards the bulkhead and you can see your fuel pickup. It looks like this. Note the screen; it's hard to see with the image contrast: That's the first line of defense against contaminants. Also note how high it is from the bottom of the tank and truly how much water has to be in the tank to get it into your fuel system. Your drain has to be really screwed or sealant on your bulkheads must really not allow anything to pass under them to allow water into that pickup. Then, inside your fuel servo there's a finer screen that would catch things that either made it through the pickup or were introduced elsewhere: If a contaminant made it through that screen, it would pass easily through the injectors. Either someone left screens out in that accident airplane, the contaminant that clogged the injectors originated from within or past the fuel servo, or the cause of the accident was not blocked injectors.
    1 point
  39. I’m working on my iPad today. Can’t post those without the big screen monitor. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
    1 point
  40. Just an FYI.... the twin Mustang never saw service in WWII. It was, however, used by SAC, Air Defense Command, and also used in the Korean war.
    1 point
  41. That can't be much fun to do aerobatics in, being that far from the center.
    1 point
  42. No filter using one of those iPhones. Storm approaching Southwest Houston. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    1 point
  43. Does anyone else recall the book "The Death of Common Sense" from the mid to late 1990's? Just saying.
    1 point
  44. Like Forest Gump said, that’s all I got to say about that!
    1 point
  45. In the spirit of solidarity with our brothers in the great white north, we'll be spending part of our summer holiday in Canada. The US Canadian border used to be the longest open border on the planet. Shame on us American's for bringing that era to an end.
    1 point
  46. I've read that Mooneys lost a few knots of speed when they switched to metal wings. Sounds like a really nice thing in a dry climate, so long as there are no termites. The only real problem I could see is if they get pranged I don't know who could repair the amazing woodwork that went into those wings.
    1 point
  47. It's not making 365 HP at 2500 or even 2700 RPM though.
    1 point
  48. Sorry, I don't know how to move items from one post to another. If you search "Preferred iPad mounting technique" you will find 3 pages of examples. Multiple pictures are also present that demonstrate different mounts. TRULEY AMAZING....I think of just a few years ago when our flying was done with reference to several needles and an artificial horizon. Our spatial awareness was literally in your "minds eye". Now look at our panels.....It's like flying by virtual reality. I don't know about the rest of you, but I realllly don't miss my ADF or Loran.
    1 point
  49. Nice try but everyone knows that Confucious flew a carbon cub.
    1 point
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