PMcClure

July 4th is always a busy flying week for me. Family does a week at the beach around the 4th and now that the kids are older (And getting married and working) few can stay for the whole week. So I HAVE to ferry them back and forth to Destin and home. And this year, I threw in a business trip to Cleveland, making it a true cross country from the Gulf to the Great Lakes. All in, about 13 hours of flying and 5 different airports. First time landing in Class Bravo airport, which ended up not being much of a bid deal. One flight ended with an hour long storm after the taxi in. The wind was so strong, I thought she may take off again before we got her in the hangar.

Yes it is. Let me know if any interest.

No one interested in King Servo's or the A/P Computer? $500 for the head and $200 per Servo? Make an offer. For those of. you planning an upgrade, don't plan on much value for the old A/P components. I was able to sell the old 121.5 ELT for a $150. That sold in a day and lots of listings on Ebay. Not sure what people are using those for. Surprised I can't get any interest in the old A/P stuff. Also, still have the Moritz gauges if anyone is interested.

I’ll take them. Sending a pm.

I have a set of oem gauges for sale. If interested pm me.

Hi Everyone - 30 hours on the new stuff so far but grounded this week for annual I still have the Moritz gauges and KFC 225 system. Willing to split the A/P head and servos. Make offer. No one needs a Moritz gauge back up?Thought for sure there may be some CB around. Thanks!

Wow, great job getting down safely. I would fly with you any day!

+1 to check your timing. Temps seem higher than normal to me although sub 400 cht on hot days after long ground runs may not be very realistic. #3 is usually the hottest for me (O2 280hp).

I did exactly what you are thinking and ended back in a mooney a few years later. I sold my f and bought into a beautiful BT36TC. Thing was, he kids got bigger, too big really and busy. I ended up flying a lone 80% of the time. Maintenance and fuel was much more. Now the kids are gone and its almost always just me or me and my wife on trips to see the kids or parents. I loved the Bo but found i really belong in a mooney. I also found the Bo was range OR payload limited. You could bring full fuel or full seats, not both.

I decided against the yaw servo on my install. Maybe i don't know what i am missing. But i didn't see the point.

I think silicone is what we used.

Welcome! Not in SC but am nearly 6'2. I flew an F model for years and felt it was comfortable. The height is not a problem at all. With the seat all the way back, I can just reach the pedals. Width is more of a concern but I still didn't find it a problem at nearly 200#. Two big guys in front may rub shoulders, but off setting seats solves that. The seat is lower to the floor. Back pain didn't seem aggravated by 3-4 hour flights. Getting in and out the door may create a few grunts and groans.

I can think of a few interesting ways! But I don't remember what exactly was done did other than cleaning and applying some lube. My last flight, I felt some minor binding during preflight and added this to the squawk list for my upcoming annual.

None for me so far. Although, I did have a similar issue with the yoke lube with the prior A/P.

Thanks! I will try that next time.

I flew about 4 hours this Saturday and it felt good to be back in the air. It is hard to separate the impact of each of the upgrades, but flying the G3X, 750Xi and the GFC 500 A/P together is impressive. The availability of information and intuitive flow is excellent. One thing I noticed is that I never even glanced at my iPad. All the information was in front of me in the panel. The A/P flight envelope protection features are a great improvement. The KFC 225 was a great A/P but the stability of the GFC500 is better and the integration with the other avionics is much improved. There were a few times I said "what the heck is the A/P doing now" but by the 4th approach, I had it down. Flying victor airways is great as is selecting and flying holds at any fix. I also appreciate how it picks up the glide path and flies the missed approach so seamlessly. One other nice benefit is the gain in useful load of 30 lbs. Only a few bugs left from the install. Main one being my right fuel indicator Is not working properly. Also need to add lean assist option to engine monitoring. I feel lucky that I was able to do this at my home field (KPLR) and can wholeheartedly recommend Holder Aviation. He may not be the cheapest or the fastest but he did very good work and was easy to work with, even through the pandemic. The installation was very clean and professional. Notice the updated circuit breaker panel in the pics above. Small detail I know, but reverse engraving a new panel makes for a new looking panel. I am amazed at the amount of detailed work that was required to get this upgrade done and how few bugs there are to report. I am wondering how this upgrade impacts value. None of this equipment is listed on Vref yet. Personally, I think it was a great value in terms of what it cost for what I got, and hopefully translating into value of the plane (although I don't plan on selling anytime soon). Hopefully these upgrades will keep 51K in the air for the next 20 years. Next will be an engine replace/rebuild but hope to put that off a few more years. Any questions, let me know. Appreciate the support of this community.

Valid points and I think think the GNS boxes are great. But I have a 430 without WAAS and couldn't imagine paying $4000 to upgrade it to WAAS. If I didn't have one, I wouldn't buy a one without WAAS.

Heard the same. $4000 upgrade for the 430. It hardly seems worth it compared to some of the new stuff out there.

Thanks - They are in the stock location, but removed stand-by vacuum and the blanks. Gained 30lbs in Useful Load!

I have not flown it enough to say yet. Give me a week and I'll give you an update but from what I saw in my 30 minute flight yesterday I like it. It will take some getting used to looking at the panel for the setting vs at the A/P box. Otherwise the whole system is very intuitive. We went back and forth with the location of the GFC500 and decided to put it at the bottom for 2 reasons: 1) its where Mooney put the A/P and would be more intuitive for any Mooney Pilot 2) thought it would be more accessible there and easier to steady my hand in turbulence. We did have to trim down the annunciator panel and you will notice the audio box was removed.

Still working on some bugs, but got back into the air yesterday!

I bought into an existing long term membership on a 69F model based at our home field for my 1st ownership experience. Since it was an existing partnership, I pretty much knew what I was getting into. The rules and cost sharing was laid out pretty well, but not in writing. There were 4 co-owners. 2 of us flew regularly. 2 flew less than 10 hours a year. Fixed costs were shared evenly, variable costs by the hour. I sold my share to another local pilot and went on to buy my own plane after a few years. The experience really helped me understand how to own and care for a plane. I left because I wanted more capability than the F had and there was no way to get buy in on upgrade costs especially with 2 owners only flying 1 time a month and local. We kept fixing the broken things but using 50 year old avionics and engine gauges got old for me. The key is the right co-owners and having a method laid out for cost sharing that is fair. Flexibility is important.

Thanks- we have what we need. Hope to be back in the air early next week!

I am getting close to flying again!! Could use some help from other ovation owners. Could you confirm your idle and full power fuel flow and what your K factor is? We sold the JPI without getting that information recorded (my fault) and are trying to get it reset in the new system. Ovation 2 280hp. Thanks!

GFC 500. The main reason for the G3X was cost, about 50% the G500TXi. I have not heard of any issues with the flight director display, but hope to be able to give you a report soon.