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Todays flight wasn’t mine, but was the proudest day of my recent life. My 15 year old daughter soloed in our 150. Clarence edit: My wife found a picture of Amanda flying our second Mooney E model.

It will not surprise anyone on this site that knows me that I have a different airplane. This is #16. I change airplanes as my needs change. A couple of years ago I had a really sweet Mooney 231. A good friend of mine wanted it and I wanted more useful load (892 lb wasn't enough) and air conditioning. So I went about looking for an airplane that met those needs. I was looking for 1100 lb useful load in a single or 1500 lb in a twin. Other than those requirements, I was open to the specific airplane. I came upon a really nice B55 Baron. There are some photos of it on this site. Most importantly, it had flown just shy of 100 hours per year for each of the previous seven years. Right at a year ago now I accepted a position that allows me to fly to work a couple of days a week. It is only a 57NM flight each way but over the mountains that turns a 2 hour commute each way into a 20 minute flight. That flight comprises most of my flight time now, and it is done solo with me only bringing a back pack. So I started to investigate what I wanted next as the Baron certainly isn't required for that flight. Lancair 360 ? RV series ? Cessna 150 ? Two seats are all I need for that flight. But I need to get to 7,500/8,500 ft to clear the mountains and that may be 11,000 ft density altitude in the summer. A 150 is out, as is a 172. I guess a Cessna 182 would be the minimum. I had a Lancair and didn't like it. I've had a couple of 182s and really didn't want another one. I'm thinking 200 HP minimum. A nice F/J/K Mooney would be perfectly reasonable. I also go to Mexico a few times a year with the Flying Samaritans so four seats would be nice and useful load is good for those flights. I also need enough fuel to make it to Mexico and back without taking on fuel as the availability of fuel in Mexico is always in question. Looking for at least 1100 lb useful load rules out the Mooneys. A few weeks ago a guy posted on BeechTalk that he has a nice S35 Bonanza and was looking to trade for a Baron. We talked, we came to an agreement and we swapped airplanes last Sunday. The Bonanza has flown 100 hours per year for the last ten years. Yesterday I swapped out the Garmin 430W for an Avidyne 440 and I'll probably swap out the Garmin 340 audio panel for a PMA450B. The first photo is both airplanes side by side last Sunday, then photos of the Bonanza.

Now for an update from an actual experience with Avidyne. @Bryan Kahl got right back to me, apologized for them dropping the ball last time, or losing me somewhere in the shuffle. He immediately put me on the phone with TJ who leads their tech support team. I gave TJ all the info we had regarding the pin-outs, configuration, software versions, etc. He was able to immediately download the FAA ADS-B data for the day when I'd been flying, and verify that I was successfully communicating with ADS-B ground stations. I wasn't at the plane, so he offered to call me back at my convenience the next morning when I would be at the plane. The next morning, while sitting in the plane, TJ walked me through the various configuration screens. He immediately noticed a Radio ID indicating a SiriusXM radio. I confirmed that yes I have a GDL69a. But I only use it for music, not weather. This was the problem. The IFD, if configured to talk to the GDL69a, it prioritizes that over ADS-B Wx. We changed the configuration to eliminate the GDL69a and immediately the ADS-B weather started coming through. I took the plane up for a couple of laps around the pattern under a very low overcast, and was immediately able to see weather data including METAR's, Ceilings, Winds Aloft, etc. on the IFD540 screen. This was obviously something that two "installers" didn't know about. I really appreciate Avidyne working with me directly, and I certainly understand the whole system a lot better now. I'm still very happy with my Avidyne GPS and will likely install the 440 at some point to complete the IFD stack. Other than this configuration issue, I've never had a single problem with the system. In fact, the CFI working with me on the Commercial rating, commented yesterday at the ease of using the IFD. He only had experience with the Garmin units. As we finished up our lesson on Monday, a thick layer of low clouds had moved in over the airport and we needed a pop up IFR clearance to get down through it. I immediately set up the IFD for the RNAV 35, Vectors, and headed that direction while descending. We then called Approach to get the clearance. By the time we had the clearance, we were already in the right position with the KFC150 and the IFD540 doing all the work. The CFI was very impressed with how easy it all was on the IFD platform and especially how convenient the little bluetooth keyboard it. Thanks again to Bryan and TJ for sorting this out and making it such a good experience.

It was Al Mooney! It was talked about in the biography. He was active in getting the idea accepted in the mainstream.

Make sure you keep it interesting. It would be ironic to put a room of anesthetists to sleep.

Complete firewall forward Blue hoses / Med blue Baffle Seal / Med blue Black sceet ducts Matching molded duct/ med blue Getting Close

Although Garmin makes good products as well, the response you would have received is “see your dealer”. The tech you are dealing with at the dealer most of the times is not a pilot and a lot can get lost in the translation. Being able to work directly with Tech Support is reason enough to go with Avidyne over Garmin. Avidyne just celebrated 25 years in business on private funds. To me that means that they are going to operate more efficiently than if they operate on shareholders’ money. To bring the products to market that they have, working through all of the FAA hoops, proves they know what they are doing.

@LANCECASPER, @afward, @carusoam, et. al. A very basic rule of etiquette online is...

I've figured it out--Ken's purpose is to upgrade as many GA planes as possible, and release them back to the market! Thanks for what you do for the rest of us, Ken.

PMA450B is the best on the planet. Go demo it at OSH side by side with Garmin and you'll see. Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

You should see the photos you get when you google “MooneySpace members”. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Glad to hear we got this taken care of for you. Please don't hesitate to reach out if anything comes up when you check it out this weekend or anytime moving forward. Best regards and thanks for choosing Avidyne, Bryan Kahl Director of Customer Experience M: 321-506-1541 | O: 321-751-8494 Bkahl@avidyne.com

Anyway --- update. Got an email yesterday morning from the avionics shop. They walked over to my hanger and swapped out the SD Cards and said the unit is fixed and my logbook sticker is sitting on my seat. Wont get to verify its working until this weekend or next, but very pleased with how quickly Avidyne reacted in shipping replacement hardware and coordinating with the shop to repair.

My daughter is Amanda, our dog is Igor. She has flown with me since she was about 1 year old. She is working on her Recreational Pilots licence, (similar to a Sport pilots licence) then hopefully on to her PPL. On the Recreational licence she will be able work her way up our RV4 and the Comanche 400. Clarence

The professionalism crosses both sides of our border. Nav Canada controllers are buying pizzas for FAA controllers during the shut down. https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-air-traffic-controllers-buy-pizza-for-u-s-peers-going-unpaid-during-shutdown-1.4251623 Clarence

Went to Los Angeles area yesterday to pick up a friend who dropped off his Bonanza. It was busy as usual but ATC was professional, efficient and friendly. There was a Mooney pilot at KPOC that couldn’t figure out the ODP and the ground controller patiently talked him through it, reviewed all the altitudes and headings and even told him where he could find the written version-all with patience and not a hint of frustration. As we were flying home I commented to my friend how impressed I was with the controllers and he said “It’s even more impressive when you consider the fact they’re not getting paid!” Ran across this article today and I guess it’s true (although I’m not sure how it works for contract controllers). Not trying to get into politics here, but I just wanted to say kudos to our aviation colleagues who show up every day, do their job and act like true professionals, even in the face of personal hardship. I wish more people acted that way... https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/11/politics/shutdown-paycheck-what-it-looks-like-trnd/index.html

Anytime Paul! I'm glad everything got taken care of. Don't hesitate to reach out if anything else comes up. Best regards, Bryan Kahl Director of Customer Experience Bkahl@avidyne.com

Hi there..m20k...Avidyne completed an software update that completely resolved the issue....I have since been completely satisfied with both IFD 440/540 units since software 10.2.2 came out....the entire transaction of trading in 530w/430w for the Avidynes plus 11 k or so was for the bang for the buck the most valuable AMU s in aviation I have ever spent.I wanted to invest in this company as I have done in Garmin...no go...Avidyne is privately funded...

Trade the 430W for an Avidyne 440, easy swap out. $4,845. https://avionicssource.com/product/ifd440-upgrade-430w Trade the 340 for a PMA450B, the best audio panel on the market, bar none. $1,725. https://avionicssource.com/product/ps-pma450b-upgrade That's $6,570. You'll need to add a wire on the 440 to get audio out and have the 450B installed so I'm guessing $7,500 should do it. I just swapped the 430W that came in the Bonanza for an Avidyne 440 yesterday and I just ordered a 450B from Chase @Avionics Source today

Keep in mind the costs involved in having every post reviewed... or edited or thrown out... they are real. It takes real people getting paid real dollars... MS costs are appropriately low. We are a pretty small community... Adding costs for the extra service won’t be greatly appreciated... Note the people that give money to support the community are indicated by ‘supporter’ badge. It’s a small dollar event. Often CFIs and mechanics give their expertise, often. There are no hard rules of what can or can’t be posted. That would require paying somebody to write them... update them... and others to read and abide by them... So... if you want to increase the price so we can have adult supervision... try starting that thread...? There are some really strange posts that come up. Some wish they never saw... Mom always said... you take the good with the bad... get an eyeful of the twisted pair, or any of Marauder’s girls... Keep in mind, when taken too far, too often... enough of the community will put an end to the posts... There really are limits to freedom of speech... you can’t yell Movie in a crowded fire house... ? Also, if you haven’t seen the donate button... it’s at the bottom of the page. We tried to hire one of Marauder’s girls to be a monitor, but we couldn’t find the pay with food option... she wanted too much! If you think there was sexism or otherisms, Marauder’s girls would change color, shape, creed, whatever was needed... The worst part of the thread mentioned... We lost a few people that were very supportive of the community. Including the people that were involved with the offending thread... We can’t afford the losses... Best regards, -a-

I think the frustration aka “irrational hating” comes into play when you feel like they are not working in your best interest or are not showing progress in resolving the concern. I’ll give you 3 personal examples. Garmin GTN. My unit was exhibiting open squelch issues. Early in the process of troubleshooting, the usual “something in the plane is causing this” remarks came up. Then a few firmware updates started showing up. Clearly there was a squelch issue in the box. Between the firmware updates and adjusting the squelch settings, the problem was resolved after a pretty lengthy period. JPI 900. I replaced my JPI 830 with a 900. Shortly afterwards I was on an IFR flight and my squelch on my GTN kept opening on a number of ATC frequencies. It was so bad, I couldn’t hear ATC. I was ready to blame Garmin but I decided to try to determine if anything else changed since the problem started. It had. The JPI 900 was added. After troubleshooting the issue to the remote indicator on the JPI 900, I called JPI. They immediately told me that it was not possible that their unit could do this. I sent them this video. So, I hear nothing from them but a ferrite filter shows up telling me to install it on the lead coming out of the JPI and going to the remote indicator. Problem fixed. Next JPI issue came up with the RPM being erratic. Immediate response was to return the unit. Decided to troubleshoot the issue. Turned out that the lead coming from the mag was loose. Aspen. I get an email from Aspen saying that due to some sort of ADS-B signal coding issue I needed to disable the ADS-B In until the problem is resolved. That was over a month ago. No updates, nada. I’m in the electronics field. I know how disruptive a problem can be for a customer. The best way to handle these issues is to be forthcoming and communicate as much as you can about what you are doing to resolve the concern. The motto we use here is “Take care of the Customer, we can always fix the problem later”. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

@ gsxrpilot, I'm terribly sorry about this. I wasn't aware your issues had not been resolved and you were still waiting on my team to get back to you. When you are available, feel free to call my number below and I'll make sure we get you taken care of. If I'm unable to answer please leave a message and I will get back to you asap. There might be a reason we need to work with the dealer as some troubleshooting involves steps required by the shop. However, we will do what we can to help get this resolved. Best regards, Bryan Kahl Director of Customer Experience 321-751-8494 Bkahl@avidyne.com

I flew my 1964 E for 7 years with no PC and no autopilot. (E models before serial number 400 did not have the PC system installed.) IMC flight in any turbulence was busy. I couldn’t look away from the AI for more than a few seconds to fold a chart (Historical note: IFR charts used to be printed on big sheets of paper) or tune the radios. In glassy smooth air it would stay on heading well for several minutes. An occasional nudge to the yoke was needed to keep on assigned altitude.