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PMcClure

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Everything posted by PMcClure

  1. I am still in the process of getting all the pieces together to upgrade our ovation with the 310hp. I checked with 2 different well known service centers and have been quoted more for the STC. For you guys mentioning $5,000, can you list the best source? Hate to pay more for "paperwork". Thanks. @William Munney @LANCECASPER @StevenL757 @ilovecornfields
  2. Happened to me - used to carry paper charts as back up. Door popped open in cruise and everything was sucked out the door.
  3. Part of a local family that does all sorts of aviation work. There was a king air on the ramp and a citation was after me. $2350 for the work not including the paint or wing tip repair which was covered by the vendor. Paint was color matched with a local paint shop then adjusted by the hand and is perfect match. They also cleaned the interior, windows and spinners. The seats look like new. The white color touch up spots could have been better, but from my own experience, less can be more. I got priority service because the the vendor that damaged the plane has a connection with them. Took about a week for the fiber glass repair and 3 days for the rest. Based at talladega airport. Pm me if you want contact.
  4. I fly a lot and am top tier on two airlines and have 2 cards that give points. I use the points for tickets for family. Based on actual use, I value the points at about $.015 per mile. They sure have made it more difficult to get perks but I still think the miles are worth it and better than cash back. The main reason is you can stack miles buy using bonus miles. I probably earn 2-3x the miles I spend or fly each year. So that makes the points worth $.03-$.045/mile.
  5. Update - local guy repaired the wing tip and painted. I took the opportunity to have him touch up several other minor hanger rash and paint imperfections adn then clean, degrease, polish and ceramic coat the whole plane. I can say that I am happy again!
  6. Personally, I would focus on the autopilot as the priority. I don't know the Century III at all, but can tell you that changing over from KFC200 to the GFC 500 was worth it and probably cost efficient given the cost to rebuild the old King servos. Without an autopilot, I wouldn't consider the plane IFR ready. So I suggest you plan that first and then prioritize the rest of your money. Replacing the vacuum driven AH/DG would be my next priority. In 17 years of flying, I have had more than 6 failures with vacuum system or related parts/instruments probably the same number of A/P servo failures plus a couple of A/P computer failures. A few of these failures in IMC. So far, the Garmin set-up (A/P and AHRS) have been rock solid except that Garmin has replaced the servos in my plane 2 times each under warranty without me asking.
  7. What color is yours? I see a statement that “flat black is most durable”. I take to mean other colors are not durable.
  8. Some real world costs: Overhaul and balance current 3 blade Hartzell steel prop: $4500 at factory +. freight 3-4 weeks. includes dynamic balancing. New Hartzell ASC11 Composite prop: $35,200 with STC and spinner. 16 weeks saves 20lbs. No trade in value, but maybe I could sell the current prop? New MT 4 blade composite: $24.500 delivered. in stock. Reversing option about +$12500 including field approval. saves 24lbs I filed reverse under the nice, but not much additional utility. The current Hartzell prop I have now is smooth as silk with 16 years and 1650 hours on it. Rebuild is the obvious economic choice. But going with all new firewall forward, the MT 4 blade is tempting.
  9. And is there any change to take off and landing distances in the documemtation?
  10. quoted 24.5 +9 + field approval for reverse.
  11. It's a good question though - why reverse? I can only imagine how good the short field take off roll and climb rates are with a light 310hp Ovation with a 4 blade composite prop. Would I use reverse? Probably not and I rarely fly into short fields. Would it be nice to have if you needed it, sure. Worth 10K, doubt it. But welcome any thoughts on reverse as well as other input on Hartzell 3 blade composite vs MT 4 blade vs steel and updated info on the MT performance and durability.
  12. Bumping this thread with some questions: Any update from the users of the MT 4 blade composite prop? I spoke to flight resource yesterday and am considering this as an enhancement as we work toward firewall forward replacement. They said negative pitch (reverse) is an option for the Ovation but would require a field approval. Adds $9500 plus field approval cost. Any thoughts on that option? Also, Hartzel has a 3 blade replacement composite prop. Any pireps on that?
  13. Thank you for the input. I had our A&P inspect the gear and thankfully there was no damage.
  14. Good idea. Is there a service bulletin on what is acceptable that I can share with the shop?
  15. Some local folks are saying replacing wing tip may be more difficult than repairing due to the flush rivets. Not sure about that or not.
  16. Vendor ground crew damaged my wing tip yesterday when putting the plane back in the hangar. They ran it into the adjacent hangar door when swinging around to line up with my door. I know and trust the owner to make it right and he has committed to do so. Any suggestions on how to fix this right. Fiberglass repair and paint, or replace the wing tip, etc...
  17. Flew up to Waukesha for work in the area and got to do the shoreline flight both ways. Fun!
  18. If none of that works, I had to delete Pilot app, re-install and it worked fine.
  19. My wife and I watched this movie last week. It was so wrong in so many ways, but entertaining! And it started a conversation with her about radio and autopilot functions in our plane. All that was lost was about 1 1/2 hours, but may be it sparked some interest by her to start learning some basic skills in the cockpit. Not so bad!!
  20. A challenge to install and calibrate. Dead on when we finally got it right.
  21. I remember thinking it was a lot at the time. But ended up being very happy with it. Not sure he would do it for that much again.
  22. It was and he did an excellent job. You are welcome to come check it out one day.
  23. About $1500-2000 custom made in the aviation shop, including the bend, paint and silk screening.
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