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Morning to all, It has been a grueling 11 months, set backs and the learning curve have been steep. There is nothing similar between the rules of DOT and the FAA except the government is warped in both organizations and common sense is tossed when dealing with them. I adapted, I have a very bloody tongue from biting it on more than one occasion, and a profound love for the people who work on the mechanical birds that sore above us. It took two years of pure hell and a lot of wasted money to finally find and AP/IA in ND that understands GA and knows how to balance the new with the old and create a harmony between them without condemning the vintage to the scrap yards because its not composite, shiny, and new. N3510X will once again take to the skies. It is getting its last MOD this week. Installing the Garmin 335 for ADSB out and then it gets the final inspection. From prop to tail and wingtip to wingtip every needed repair has been made. Some out of necessity others for peace of mind but all done to remove the sins of the past and breathe life into the soul of the craft to make it a useable machine. The old adage that a Mooney is not yours till it draws blood is so true I own it outright and it owns me by several scars and pints of blood. Bladders suck to do but many kudos to Griggs Aviation they are top notch and guided and helped the whole way. Wiring a panel is a whole other learning curve. Those avionics techs (the good ones) are bad ass. I thought wiring a semi truck for GPS and stereo was time consuming and precise. There is no comparison. I'd like to say thank you to @Aerodon for all the phone calls, information, equipment that he has provided. His knowledge and patience is above anyone I have ever had the privilege to know. Without his help the plane would have never seen the light of day again! Wiring neatly and installing equipment is really easy. Getting everything to communicate and like each other is a whole different story. I can honestly say the project never would have been without Don. Thank you. This forum has given me countless hours of reading and learning and allowed me to filter good from bad. From advice from a surprise ramp check to the dealings with crooked repair shops. This site is a needed accessory to owning a Mooney no matter what the model or the year. There are to many people to thank but if I have spoken to you via phone, message, or forum please know I really appreciated the help you guys have given to make this possible. Doing the work was easy having the information and the ideas and the knowledge to share was where you guys shined. Thank you. Pictures will follow in the next few days as I start to button up the panel and install the interior. It has been a crazy journey and one I hope to never repeat. I look forward to flying and maybe one day meeting some of the great people on this forum. As for people asking if buying a vintage bird is worth it the answer is only you can answer that. If money is the issue then owning a plane is not for you. Nothing is cheap, nothing is planned, and there is always a surprise. Joe

Had to wait till this afternoon for the snow and over cast to break up, but flew into Troutdale to start the annual on Monday. I was able to climb vfr through the left over clouds and picked up my IFR clearance in the air. It was another learning experience since my filed was not close to my cleared. But the IFD100 makes short work of it. There was Airmet Zulu over the eastern part of Oregon and by the time I got west of the cascades and past it all the clouds were gone, so still haven’t got the new ticket wet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And suddenly everyone EXCEPT @m20kmooney looks silly. I'm going to see myself out. It's going to be a busy day finding funds to buy my Mooney G3X Certified.

I just talked to my avionics. I can switch but basically have to install a GFC 500 to get all the features - which is not yet approved for the J's and K's. They said expected May 2019 on the J's and K's - kits are avaiable for the M, R, S today. Its not yet clear how much integration it has with the old autopilots. Going with the GFC 500 will give me flight director.

Anyone care to join me? I heard it goes well with melted butter. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Looks like the original poster knew something... https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/682215/pn/G3X-TCERT-03#specs

Thanks for all the sound advice. Our instructor has a cherokee 140 for his trainer and the rental is $110 (wet) an hour so not too bad. We have actually found a couple mid time cherokee 140s with asking prices right at 20k. For the heck of it I got an insurance quote on a cherokee for the both of us, having less than 10 hours each, and it came in just under $800 a year. Between the both of us i think we may try and go that route just for him to have a time builder. Our local field even has a couple T hanger spots coming available for $120 a month. Factoring all that in he would be able to fly more hours on the same money barring any big OH $H!T items that may rear their ugly heads and for that price point I would'n have a problem running it a few hundred hours and selling it, of course to get a mooney , and not really getting hurt on it. On another note, on one of my work trips, every 3 weeks I alternate XNA-MSY commercial, I met a left seat AA pilot and happened to ask him a question about the particular patterns at one of the fields and he ended up asking for my number and we've talked since. He called my son and talked to him the other day and gave him some pointers and answered questions. He even offered to give him a hand up once my boy got his commercial ticket, evidently he has a few friends that own or have hire/fire powers at some part 135 carriers and said he had help when he was younger and has been looking to return the favor.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/682215 Panel Mockup with new equipment and two iPad Pro's 10.5 using flush panel dock.

Or he is a Garmin employee? Tom

@m20kmooney has every right to give all of us shit for not seeing this. I'm not gonna lie. I was never expecting this.

If you have a good/experienced Mooney CFII you might consider offering accelerated Mooney transition training for prospective owners that don't have Mooney time. I'm thinking where they can come to town for 2-3 days and knock it out. Maybe in conjunction with a flight review, IPC, etc as needed. We get questions every now and then from folks looking for rental Mooneys for this kind of thing. Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

It must really suck to be one of these people. What do you say to your child when they ask "daddy, what do you do for a living?" How do you say "I'm a worthless piece of human garbage that just thieves from others"? Or do you just look into the adoring eyes of your children and lie?

It's important to note that neither of the two new GPS units has any Nav/Com capability. But, I did notice that they're pretty much exactly the same size as a KLN 89B, so those million Cessnas (and others) from 1997-2003 that featured the KLN 89B with a pair of KX155s below it now have a pretty easy way to upgrade to a modern WAAS navigator and potentially ADS-B as well.

There is some great, and really helpful, feedback and information here (above) - thank you all for sharing your expertise! So, here's my stupid for the week... I didn't realize that the two ceiling-located dimmers didn't control the red spots. So, during the day, I had dutifully dialed up the left dimmer and checked the left spot - yay, it works. I dialed it to off then checked the right side spot with that side's dimmer. Darn, that spot seems to not be working... maybe a bulb? Of course, you know what I was doing. I was unknowingly turning up, and then off, the panel lights... but during the day, I didn't see that. Anyway, the panel lights work just fine and both spots also work just fine, now that I've been "unconfused" - thanks for that! I had a message asking about the rounded windows. They aren't just painted to look like that. They are normally shaped on the inside, but at some time in the past there was some nice sheet metal work done on the exterior and rounded corners were added. As to the shoulder belts, yes there are reels mounted to the frame/pillar. And we use them. And, 211º, thanks for that helpful info - I'll give that a try. Finally - here she is in her new home, at Williams KCMR. Our business is in Flagstaff and the airport here in Flag is very nice, but there's a super long waitlist for hangars or even shades. Since we live about 25 minutes west of Flagstaff, the Williams airport is actually a bit closer to our home and it's a nice little operation with available T-hangars. Edit to add: I forgot to address a request for my performance experience here in Flagstaff. Yesterday, I took off from KFLG with full tanks and 360 pounds in passenger weight, plus about 25 pounds of stuff. My wife and I were in the front, with Ruby in the back. FLG has an 8800' runway at 7015 feet elevation. I forgot to check our altitude at the end of the runway, but I'll say I was impressed. It easily matched the high-altitude performance of the Diamond DA-40 I had previously, maybe beating it? I know I was faster!

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6QODH2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 same thing, only you can have Mrs Bezos donate 1/2 of one percent to the Mooney Summit ! (I have used this also, Dave, it works great)

I certainly wouldn't buy iPad chargers from Sporty's. This is what I've been using for years, and it charges both iPad and iPhone together. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6QODH2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I like it that it's a flush mount and doesn't stick way out of the panel like its trying to get attention or something.

I don't think it's totally out of line. What is the all-in cost per hour of operating the plane, including fuel, insurance, maintenance and engine overhaul reserve? You also have to make a profit as the owner. Here in Memphis, a 182RG can be rented for about the same price. A 182 with a G1000 goes for $220 per hour wet.

Stick some new brushes in it, you should be fine. (Runs for cover)

That'll never happen ;-)

When I change the oil I also check the water level in the battery. I always have to add just a little, but checking that frequently has kept it from ever getting low. Just part of the oil change routine.

This was from last week, but going over the Coastal mountains into Penticton for work. Had great break in the weather and beautiful clear, VFR landing.50 miles to the north Kelowna was fogged into the ground and heard all the heavies in the hold trying to get in. Just smiled as that would have been my back up flight if weather was too rough. Ran the TKS to clear some ice picked up when I was descending through the layer back into Victoria.

Appreciate your comment about not slapping MSCs around, but this is is certainly not the first I've heard of an MSC performing shoddy work or failing to control quality properly. Like you and others, I'm shocked this didn't cause serious damage to not only wiring, but had that battery broken loose, this may have caused severe airframe and structural damage. Probably to the tune of tens and tens of thousands of dollars. I had two separate - although minor - incidents with an MSC very early in the first year of ownership, and never went back to that shop. I won't mention the shop or go into detail, but had the issues not been caught and addressed, each individually would have caused a much larger issue. Glad you were able to catch it when you did. Steve

They've been selling essentially the same unit for 11 years. Yes it has SV and a faster processor and some other add-ons but it still the same too-small screen thats now faster and brighter. But still a single-product company. It reminds me of the CEO of Motorola back in 2005, the RAZR phone was top of the market. They asked him, what next for Motorola? "More RAZR's !". ok, we saw how that turned out.

Garmin has a leak somewhere

With the lower prices of the g3x I think many people are going to dig really deep and put in the gfc500. They’re going to sell a ton of those AP’s...

I think Aspen will have to, now that these are available.... This does not bode well for them....and I'm a huge aspen fan.

Indeed- the price is about half of what I was expecting. Definitely taking a swing at Aspen-Touch screen, better looking display, bigger area... and cheaper. unless aspen reprices their “Max” displays, they are about to lose a ton of business. Looks like Garmin is finally “getting it.”

Here's a good book for you guys,

Totally a big deal. Making me want to jump both feet into the G pool. GFC500, G3X, GTN750. Way nice. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Why separate out hardware that will run off of the standby alternator. Not flying the space shuttle. Simply turn off what you don't need until the load is acceptable.

I am about to cancel my Cloud Ahoy subscription. The app is at least amusing if I turn on the app to record a flight real time but if I do not think to do that importing flights from Garmin Pilot is a mystery and almost every flight gets truncated in some manner. Am I missing something?

Hope you find the answer.

The obvious question is what’s the difference between the their 2 lines of products? TXI vs G3X? They also announced a lower price GPS..GNX 375.... Goodbye Dynon... Tom

Everyone who's been should recognize the main entrance, even with snow!

Well, Andy, thanks for posting that picture. I’ve been through that front gate many times and am counting the days.

Note that this is not for certified aircraft and is not legal for a Mooney. It does fit and work. It does not have as wide a beam as the standard light but it is brighter, a more white light than yellow, and shines further. I used it for 20 months (left on for all flights) and it has a little under 200 hours on it. It is rated for 50,000 hours. I was able to pick up the Rigid 63362 on a flash sale on Amazon for $162 (about $200 off) or I would still have this on one my plane. This is the lamp: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B009LQG64S/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If interested feel free to PM me if you don't want to advertise having a non-certified bulb on your plane.

Lycoming's recommendation really isn't very good. Savvy, APS, Deakin, et.al. are all much better and more accurate.

That's the same strategy as the corner drug dealer give you a few hits to get you hooked. Maybe that gives you a little brake when getting checked out by their instructors. While I have my own F this is a serous question to the OP though. What is the policy for overnight and extend trips? Welcome aboard Zulu

I’m a new pilot, just wondering if there’s something I don’t know.

I've seen the front gate either - I like to land and camp and generally don't make it outside the perimeter. I came the first time before finishing my PPL with the friend who inspired me to get into flying. The second time, I was in the left seat and he was in the right. It was an emotional experience for someone who is not very emotional.

Yes, I have done that, as you can see: It turns out I just received reply from Garmin support (on Sunday!) : "Once installed in the aircraft, a transponder with a GAE 12 encoder installed must be calibrated by a shop with a pitot static test kit. If this has not been done, you will not receive the Pressure altitude required for Mode C transmissions. Service Soon is a message displayed when the GAE 12 has not been calibrated." So, it seems RV forum post might be correct and all it needs is calibration by avionics shop. My IA only did a leak check to verify added static line is all good. Other then this, I found transponder installation not that difficult as harness was 90% done by aircraft spruce and I needed only couple additional wires...

That's a good upgrade from the standard bulb at a great price. I...ahem, know a guy...that has one on his Mooney. It's been on all the time for years just like you did. Even if you don't fly at night much I think it's worth it for the daytime safety/great visibility to other traffic aspect alone. At night the beam is a bit narrower, but it's not a problem, just a different pattern with sharper lines and less flood.

I had a Precision vertical compass card installed in my '76F at the last annual. It's been great. Very happy with it. They have changed the design a little from what is shown on their website. They now have a 'Made in USA' detail printed on the face. Nothing against being patriotic, but I'd rather they hadn't put it there.....

I just concluded a wonderful day at the 2019 Thunder and Lightning Over Arizona Air Show and at the Feds Against Aviation table they had a flyer "Advanced PreFlight After Maintenance" that made me think of this thread. DL it here.

I am flying from Ilopango to San Jose Costa Rica on Wednesday. So I should be able to get you some pics from the flight and hopefully some video... Stay tuned... I am back on the ground.

That is an amazing airplane, hope your recovery continues to go well

Take a look at mine in my gallery. If you are handy, you might consider building your own. I can build them with about $450 in parts and materials. One downside, it is not really portable.

I just finished my first owner-assisted annual and the experience was enlightening. The reality is that my annuals had been going downhill for the last few years so I decided to take things into my own hands, so to speak. Frankly, A&Ps are sadly underpaid, especially those who work on piston A/C. Mercedes mechanics make more than they do, and they work in near spotless conditions surrounded by special tools and analyzers. So, no big surprise that 'things happen' with a vintage Mooney. The major thing I found with the annual is two sets of eyes. The friend supervising me was just a hawk about spotting stuff and I was very happy to do all the tedious stuff as I found it both therapeutic and satisfying! Now I know where everything is, I know all the right screws went back where they belong, etc., etc.. I remain in awe at the complexity of the thing. I think I stared for an hour at the workings under the belly panels. Who knew how clever those mechanical engineers could be? I cannot even begin to imagine how horrible it would be to do this on a day-in/day-out basis. I will be ready to do it again A YEAR FROM NOW, but if another one was staring me in the face next week, well, take this job and shove it. Lastly, there is a danger in an owner being his own mechanic (sort of like the physician that tries to heal himself or the attorney who tries to defend himself) that is why two sets of eyes works so well. On the other hand, knowing your bird means that there should not be any squawks come annual time. Once you know what to look for, you should be looking for it and taking care of it right away.

Excellent report on Executive Autopilots at KSAC they fixed mine today for $500. They were ready and waiting per my appointment.

Here is the In Memoriam video I made for Bill Wheat. It was so fun to look through all the footage I have from Bill. I included a few scenes have not been released. We lost a great guy. When I talked with his daughter Linda tonight she said that Bill was very fond of me and enjoyed my phone calls. I was lucky to have known him, he is missed.