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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/04/2021 in all areas

  1. Worked like a champ! Those waterjet panels came out kickass. So start with a piece of carboard, for a rough shape and use pieces of paper with your gauge dimensions on them, and start laying out. A couple of things to take into consideration. 1) There are vertical "support" structures behind your panel, that you have to work around. So first is finding where you can't put gauges. 2) If you can get your hands on an existing cad file of a generic panel layout for your plane, this will save you a step, maybe several. IF you can get your hands on that CAD file, then find a local laser engraver. Give them the CAD file and have them cut your file out of clear 1/8-1/4" or so acrylic. Just the base panel, no cutouts (yet) Now get your old panel out of your plane, and put your acrylic cutouts in place, and start marking with a black marker. You can see right through the pieces of acrylic, so you can mark where any support pieces are, ducting, or anything else that is a barrier for gauge placement. (Some of your gauges are much deeper than you think). Now the fun part! If you have to make your own CAD file, then get your ruler, get the free Solidworks, and start mapping out. Now before the next step, you'll still need that Solidworks download and go through the process of learning how to make shapes, size them, etc. But you will be working with a flat (2D) file, so no need to learn extrusions, etc. But the learning curve is quite mild if you're technically savvvy. Otherwise, either pay someone else, or just buy the one from your avionics shop. Now you've got your clear acrylic panels, the black markings where you have to work around, and now it's time to layout. So take your paper gauges and start placing. Get them pretty close to where you want them and tape them down. Once you're happy, then it's either into Solidworks, or back to the engraver. You're gonna pay for hours of labor if he has to import your paper layout into that cad drawing, so what's your time worth? Get you a new clear acrylic panel, with ALL your gauges cutout. I would get at least 2 cut out for drafts. Take it to the plane and start mocking it up for real. Drill holes, make notes, and redo these steps as many times as it takes to get it right. Once you've got a finalized panel, made out of clear acrylic, it's time to see the metal maker! Do as much of the cad yourself as you're comfortable, but the metal shop will probably have someone on the payroll for sketchups. Give them everything you've got, and let them make your acrylic panel into a metal one. Waterjet, laser, press-cuts, etc. They'll all be the same, just make sure they use .090" 6061 aluminum. There are some great resources and links on the experimental building websites, but this is a wonderful resource for the DIY https://www.kitplanes.com/all-about-avionics-cutting-the-metal/#:~:text=The two most common thicknesses,are going to be installed. I hope that helps with the panel portion, and good luck!
    5 points
  2. Today I tried an Apple iPhone Charge adapter that has both the iPhone and Ipad outlets. Charges the iPad and does not create radio noise.
    4 points
  3. This picture was taken yesterday coming back VFR from Colorado. Just another day for the M20K......cruising at 15,500 ft with a TAS of 173 knots burning 11.7 gal/hr
    3 points
  4. Here they are all fit up. This pic is a just getting them installed so pay no attention to the wiring hanging down.
    3 points
  5. @Hank Hank would want you to have this pic... All nicely straightened and from a similar thread.... It is a beautiful example of a modern M20C... The tail cone has been included as the rudder extension... -a-
    3 points
  6. I emailed the broker no thanks on that Cirrus. Going to fly down and look at this one this week. 1200 useful, supposedly $3900 buys an extra 400 useful thru osborne/now gami. Wife gave me heck about this not having tks. I told her for the money, we could add it to the bo. https://www.controller.com/listing/for-sale/203264605/1975-beechcraft-a36-bonanza-piston-single-aircraft
    3 points
  7. Not being in annual is not a deal breaker. There are a lot of reasons for that - loss of interest in the airplane due to other issues in a person 's life is the main one. A good pre-buy will identify the airworthy items and go from there. The owner that previously owned my airplane had passed away after a long illness. I participated in a pre-buy with a shop on the field where it was based. After I was satisfied and we struck an agreement, the shop arranged a ferry permit so I could get it back to Texas to get it an annual from someone I had faith and confidence in (wouldn't hold the airplane hostage). It all worked out. All systems on the airplane don't automatically go bad the day the airplane's annual expires. I knew after spending a few hours going through the logs and seeing it with the belly pans and inspection covers off I was confident I wouldn't have a huge annual. I knew it would be costly since I would be catching up on a few things (shock discs, oxygen tank etc.) but I budgeted for it and turned out to be $1000 less than I had planned. Once I asked the right questions and felt comfortable with it I looked at it being out of annual as an opportunity not a problem - it eliminated virtually all of the other would-be buyers. I wouldn't have done this had I not done all of my homework, seen the airplane with my own eyes and participated in the pre-buy.
    2 points
  8. The crazy thing is they / she is like a huge version of Jimmy. Looks like cirrus buyers will put up with that crap...I know Mooney owners wouldn’t. I’d tell them to take better listing pictures next time and have a nice Easter. If she strips the money out of your deposit let us know so we can all call them up and praise them for their wonderful customer service.
    2 points
  9. So the endurance figure the design report gives at the battery end of life is approx. 45 seconds on a single charge. New batteries might propel the thing for more than 90 seconds. Not sure about charging time, depends on random factors like panel orientation and atmospheric opacity (dust). Solar constant at Mars is about 580 W/m2, top of atmosphere. The crazy thing is- not only do the batteries pull duty to power flight and guidance/radios but they also power heaters at night to keep the cells from getting too cold, which will kill them. One good feature is that they can spin up the rotors to dust off the solar panel. Should have first flight this week!
    2 points
  10. I have the JPI 900 and EI’s tach, RPM and fuel totalizer. The fuel totalizer has been in the plane since 1993, zero problems. In fact, the only time I sent it back for anything was to have the internal lighting converted to LED to match the more recently installed tach and RPM gauges. I have owned both the JPI 830 and 900. The 900 has been back to the shop at least 4 times. Once for a firmware update, once for a booting issue and twice for bad displays. I will give JPI credit that they replaced the display the second time out of warranty but I think the original displays they were using had some issues. The new one doesn’t have the anti-glare coating like the original. At the time of the JPI 900 purchase, the 3 1/8” units weren’t available and the MVP-50 was almost twice as expensive as the 900. Old display New display EI gauges Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
    2 points
  11. Business is good. Not sure if it's that good though. One can dream.
    2 points
  12. It's common enough that a lot of airplanes have a starter engaged light to alert of such a problem. The cause is usually a starter relay whose contacts have welded themselves together. Root cause is low voltage from cranking the engine quite a bit, running down the battery to the point of the relay beginning to drop out under load. Big arc as the contacts move apart under load. Good you caught it right after start, the new starter may be okay.
    2 points
  13. You are correct. To replace all factory gauges, you'll need both the CGR-30P and 30C. If fitting into an existing panel, it's a good option that takes two holes. The EDM900 can replace all factory gauges with a single instrument that takes a hole and a half. If cutting a new panel, it takes up slight less room than the pair of CGR gauges. The Garmin GI275 can theoretically do all of it in a single instrument only taking a single hole. But after looking at it myself, it just doesn't display enough to be useful for me. I would want to be able to keep MP/RPM visible all the time and at the same time see all EGT's, CHT's, and Fuel flow at minimum. The GI275 just can't display that info all at the same time and so you'd be going back and forth between displays to get the info. I chose the EDM900 because it was quite a bit cheaper than the pair of CGR gauges at the time I purchased it. Also I was cutting a new panel and it fit better than the CGR gauges. I've been very happy with it for 5 years now.
    2 points
  14. That one looks really nice! I don’t need six seats, I don’t need six seats, I don’t need six seats...
    2 points
  15. I’ve purchased three sets from aero sheep. the latest set were very well fitting and they changed from those stupid clips to plastic buckles on the bottom which work a lot better. I always thought they would be hot, but one plane I had came with them and after flying with them I was a convert. I even got them in my truck. I wouldn’t want to take a long trip in a plane without them.
    2 points
  16. Back to how things are made... 1) When molding plastics... 2) A fare amount of care and planning have to go into how the parts will get used... what environment they will be in... 3) Forming plastics puts plenty of stress at the molecular level... the more they get stretched in the mold... 4) High quality materials can handle the time and temp in the molding process... 5) Long time and high temp, is good for relieving the stress... 6) In this case... the heat of the sun looks like it started to relax the stresses that were bound up in the pieces... 7) stress relief outside of the mold... has the polymer chains trying to relax back into the shapes they were in when they were born... 8) In Mooneys we sometimes see this with glare shields... where the plastic substructure starts to get all squiggly... 9) Mooney ABS plastic parts are much more temp resistant and fare pretty well over time... PP thoughts only, not Paully Propilene... Best regards, -a-
    2 points
  17. There's a long thread here, with an update I did a year ago (second to the last post at the moment): Bottom line: even expensive ones can be noisy and even cheap ones can be really quiet. If you find a noisy one, throw it out and replace it with one that's not noisy. These things are commodities and noisy ones just seem to be random and not necessarily correlated to a particular type. The implementations change from time to time since the volumes are so high, so even year-old research is probably getting stale. Latest report copied here for convenience: http://ericjacobsen.org/Files/USB_Power_Supply_RF_analysis_3.pdf
    2 points
  18. I agree with the above, I spoke with the broker as well on Monday, he did explain some of the background and the low use and I do not think he was trying to hide anything. I still think this might end up a good buy, as long as you fully know what you are getting into and budget or get a reduction for an engine OH. However I am going to pass on this one. As Steve said there is better Ovations out there. A very funny part of the psychology of airplane purchase (and I include myself in this) is how we end up looking for "a deal" and can haggle over the price. Only to end up spending $50k in the first year or two after purchase to "get it right". Meanwhile we discounted the "prime example" that was $50k more expensive than the "deal/bargain". Hilgard
    2 points
  19. Some beautiful scenery plus there were 5 Mooneys on the ramp
    1 point
  20. Your friend doesnt seem like a good match for aviation. Oh well. He'll learn the hard way.
    1 point
  21. Is give this a like but I'm plumb out of them today
    1 point
  22. May need to be adjusted, in the neutral position your ailerons should be roughly flush with the flaps or even slightly below since they lift in flight. Get an MSC to use a the boards on it and they will tell you if they need to be brought up. It’s tough to tell in the picture but they look slightly down. They should be around 0 to +1 degree.
    1 point
  23. Boy oh boy - you dodged a bullet. I mean with this kind of awful service, dishonest and nastiness - what actual problems with the airplane, the sale or what not were you going to find mid stream in the process or even after purchase if you had actually moved forward?! Saw dust in the engine?
    1 point
  24. Legally flying part 91 you don't need to do a HSI but unless you are on a trend monitoring program your really should. Based on the research I did a few years ago I came out with the same information that is generally accepted in the industry and that is turbine engines are more reliable than piston. BUT when they do fail it is usually a complete falure. piston engines do have problems more frequently but many times are not complete failure. Last year I learned that even with only 3 cylinders running I doesn't take alot of power to nurse a J to an airport. Alot has to do with the fact that turbine engine are usually held to a high maintenance standard such as HSI that are technically not required but are done anyway. Cape Air runs about 80 402s with turbo Continentals. The last engine failure I rember is when they tried running their engines at 2100 RPM and broke a crankshaft causing a service bulletin not to run certain engines below 2300 rpm. But otherwise with the high standards that they hold those engines to results in WAY above piston engine reliability.
    1 point
  25. Another vent on the classlessness of the Cirrus broker. She replied to my rejection that I'd need to pay ferry costs to get that plane from Mi-Oh-Mi when clearly the add says it's at her airport. I don't understand how she claims 35 unit sales a month with customer service like this. Pee on them.
    1 point
  26. I agree with almost everything you said. If it is used as a primary (mine is) MP and RPM are always visible. you can program it to show the hottest CHT and EGT along with fuel flow as a part of the home page. I don't think it is important to see all of the CHT and EGT all the time mainly because it automatically shows the hottest one. I don't feel the need to always monitor the cylinders that live at 300-320 degrees Obviously if you go pages deep in to other functions you loose that except for the MP and RPM but if you program user limits it will yell at you if something is wrong. You can always see it on the big screen on your ipad.
    1 point
  27. If we had a MS FAQ- this would be a great entry in the Avionics section!
    1 point
  28. This one has a new tornado alley turbo. My friend just got one and he does 200 knots TAS in the low teens on 18 GPH (I’ve seen it myself). Yes, I know Mooney’s can do that too but not while hauling 1300 lbs. https://www.controller.com/listing/for-sale/203015581/1990-beechcraft-a36-bonanza-piston-single-aircraft
    1 point
  29. I emailed a salesman at CAV Ice this week regarding FIKI certification on A36 Bonanzas. He stated that tip tanks, VGs, and TN mods all disqualify an airplane from FIKI certification. Just an FYI. Bonanza prices are wild right now but there are some nice ones out there.
    1 point
  30. Actually the servos are all the same and are interchangeable.
    1 point
  31. i'm kinda in the same boat, trying to decide between efis and engine mon at the moment. my opinion, I'd go with a garmin-275 b4 the cgr-30. last i checked, i'd need the cgr-30p and cgr-30c to replace all instruments where as one gi275 would do.
    1 point
  32. the numbers are in, Ovation led lights installed,2 lights per side. went with whelen light wat and taxi lights, its a major PITA to install, have a fat hand. Current drain with all lights on, par 36 lights was 28 amps total with landing and taxi on, 7 amps per bulb. With LED,s installed current dropped to 4 amps total. 1 amp per lights. impressed with results and not a real technical challenge for the average person to do
    1 point
  33. If you're the kind of pilot for who everything happens immediately, and is always in a hurry to quickly react... you might not want to do touch and goes in your Mooney. I've had to go around once in my life for real when a pack of Coyotes darted into the runway just as I was touching down. Even then it felt like I had plenty of time. Nothing needed an immediate reaction. But rather just see, process, and take the appropriate action. I don't understand the thought that things are happening so quickly on final, landing, etc. It never seems that way for me, rather there seems to be plenty of time and no need to rush anything. I went out and did 10 T&G's in a row after dark to satisfy the requirement for the commercial rating. No hurry, nothing rushed. Just roll out on final, land, roll down the runway a bit, reconfigure, roll on the power, lift off, clean up, climb out, turn downwind, repeat. There's plenty of time, no need to rush or be in a hurry.
    1 point
  34. My actual cost at AATG, parts, installed, flown away complete: G3X touch 10.6" $13,500 GFC500 2 axis $10,742 Pitch trim installed: $3011 G5 backup installed: $3253 Total $30,496 Reading it right off the quote and I paid not a dime more. Not shown above was a GTN750, GTX345R, EDM900 Primary, all installed at the same time. Paid exactly the quoted price for all.
    1 point
  35. Depending on the panel work the 900 looks very clean too.
    1 point
  36. See if the Dude has any of the rest of the system... Otherwise check in with Grimmy (the reaper)... @Alan Fox -a-
    1 point
  37. It finally happened. We purchased our first Mooney today. This is our first airplane and we couldn’t be happier. N6413Q, is a 1967 F model that has been meticulously cared for by Ryan the previous owner. It’s taken a couple of years to get here but the ability to own this great Mooney makes today very special. We think it was meant to be. We’re hoping to attend the formation clinic in San Marcos and meet our fellow Mooniacs. Thanks again to Ryan for offering us this great Mooney. Tom
    1 point
  38. Annual finished quick lap then went up for a loose formation flight yesterday. Then today a quick flight with a couple of buddies one in another Mooney one in a Comanche out to chiriaco summit for breakfast and to walk around the tanks at the Patton meuseum.
    1 point
  39. If you start the engine with the Alt on, the field will be fully energizing(trying to geneate maximum voltage). This will place an additional load on the battery. The only time this becomes a problem, is when you have a tired battery or the plane has been sitting out in frigid conditions. If you wait until the engine is running to turn on the Alt, you will get a spike through the alternator and and anything not controlled by the avionics master. I leave the alt on while starting, except if I need all the battery power that I can get. I don't think it makes any difference when the alt is turned off. Ben(Awful Charlie), your system is doing what it's supposed to do. The 'right' Alt is your belt driven one. It spins faster and therefore carries the whole load. The #1(left) is acting as a standby.The VRs are connected and 'tell' each other which one is generating the most voltage, that one gets turned on and the other is turned off.
    1 point
  40. x2, mine has no on/off, but if it did, on before radio master on, off after radio master off. I would be curious to hear what and why from others.
    1 point
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