JohnB

As always, thanks everyone for your input! Well it looks like this is not the same issue as @tls pilot had, as my tappets are the original straight ones, but in speaking with Lycoming, they are now putting parabolic tappets on all of their new FRM engines today as they feel they have fixed the parabolic tappet issue that was around engines in 2009. I think I have this finally figured out, but if someone more wise at engines than me has a better theory, I'm all ears! Here's what I've done to look into this issue: I had my oil relief spring replaced with a new stiffer one PN LW18085. Adjusted oil pressure screw upwards, this changes the startup pressure but does not change pressure at altitude Checked my digital EIS with a known external pressure sensor and verified almost equivalence within specs.. Made sure all of my screens were clear of of obstructions, spring/ ball assembly clear.. Oil pressure still only goes down at increasing altitude above 10.k Oil temp remains fine between 180-192. leaving cowl flaps open allows oil temps to stay lower and therefore oil pressure higher After all of this replacing, I have come to the conclusion this is a manifestation of recognizing oil pressure on a digital readout that blinks at you compared to the old needles that don't blink at you. I found a picture from last year at 17k that shows my oil pressure needle at top of yellow, bottom of green or close, and I've taken my bird up to 25k with no problems whatsoever. AND Ive seen a few pictures of some other mooneys on social media who were taking pictures and posting the speed they're doing at altitude, and likely not noticing their oil pressure gauge, and I note that their oil pressure above 10k is at the bottom of the green/ top of yellow, or yellow on most. It's hard to discern the difference between a pressure of 56 or 53 on a analog needle, but easy with digital. So I think I'm going to go with @N201MKTurbo's theory, that it is simply a manifestation of lower atmospheric pressure on the outside of the ball on the relief spring (or some other atmospheric pressure reduction explanation) compared to the atmospheric pressure at lower altitude, as this is the only variable that changes with my engine is altitude. Another possible theory my mechanic pointed out that on our oil pressure sensor on a Bravo is located on a Y port along with out wastegate controller, so his theory was that the wastegate at that location may be pulling more oil on closing at altitude therefore reducing local pressure which I think is logical as well. Lycoming doesn't buy either of those two theories but no other suggestions. So "I'm going with the altitude theory, as I've heard from a few others that are brave enough to say that their oil pressure does tend to go down at higher altitudes. My fix? Leaving the cowl flaps open at higher altitudes if the blinking of the oil pressure light bothers me. . Thanks all! John B

Just bought a neutral filter from Amazon, I’ll try it, and I’ll see if I can adjust the shutter speed on my VIRB as well and I’m wondering if the prop filter I have will work... well lots of things to try.. thanks guys!

Hey Don! I get it, the traditional setup of the G500 is left PFD and right MFD, which your scan is probably used to as mine was as my gtn is on the right side and my flight instruments (round ones) were on the left. I originally had mine set up that way but changed it before I picked it up after thinking about it. Took me no time to get used to one non PFD display on the left. The way I designed my panel, full screen my pfd is dead centered, and split screen its just a little right of center, but since you're not getting the EIS, and you're probably putting your engine MVP on either the right or the left, your shift may be different. Well its pilot's preference on that one but knobs made my choice for me. I personally like always being able to change heading/alt/barometer always with my right hand, and right hand knob, as I was used to flying with my trusty altitude preselect on the right using my left hand to control the yoke while pushing buttons or turning knobs. I rarely if ever even touch the left hand knob for anything. That way my right hand knob will always control flight functions, whereas with PFD on the left, you can only change them with the right hand knob in full screen mode. I would find it kind of clunky to adjust the left hand knob with my left hand or adjusting the left knob with my right hand around my yoke for a twister like maneuver in the cockpit which I think would be very very clunky, but if you're used to it, that's cool too. In my busy ATC area, I always get very high speed altitude and course changes which i now can do VERY quickly with my right hand on the right knob in full or half screen while flying with my left hand. Don't know how you two do it quickly if the flight control knob is on the left, but whatever works is all good! And @Rmag! Nice video! I too noted the black line that goes across the screen when I try to take video pictures of my TXi which is a mystery to me too. if you figure out how to solve that, let me know please! Oh and @donkaye I used the tip you told me about the trend circle during some recent formation flying and it works perfectly! So here's Don's tip everyone. if you're making a steep turn (or any turn) if you keep the flight trend circle on the artificial horizon as you're turning, you won't climb or descend and you can do whatever degree of bank turn you wish and you'll wind up at the same altitude on rollout. Very nice. And yes, the standard rate turn indication changes with your airspeed.

My night fireworks flight was one of my favorite. I would do it around the LA basin where there are so many firework shows, that you're flying over what looks like a blanket of them. Also, from the ground, you only see them in two dimensions, and they appear like circles or lines. From the air, you can see that the circles are all 3D SPHERES, and they look absolutely gorgeous. Despite how high they look from the ground they only go up I would estimate 200-500 feet, so youll be well above them at any legal altitude above populated areas but I recall being between 1500 to 2500 feet over most of them. Above that I think would be a bit high to see all of the 3D effects, but still nice!

Count 2 more John B + Debbie are in!

Awesome panel @Rmag! I was wondering what your device on the far right was, and it looks like an ipad mounted seamlessly into your cockpit? Nice! Powered? I may have done that if I had the room. Another pirep is that once you get used to the knobs, everything is really easy. i.e. Barometer setting changes are a breeze, turn outer knob all the way to the right, then use inner knob to adjust actual barometer setting. And I use the alt capture then VS adjust as you described, its really quite simple. So once you get used to it, heading change - just turn the inner knob, altitude - one big knob click right then inner knob, VS - one outer knob click right after altitude then inner knob to adjust barometer- outer knob all the way to the right then inner knob. And @donkaye I would also +1 highly recommend putting your PFD on the right, and your MFD on the left @donkaye , my setup as well. Having your right hand knob control all flight functions is for me much better as a right handed pilot, and you would only be able to control your PFD with the right hand knob if you use full screen mode if you flipped the order. But I get it, as you're not getting the EIS, full screen may not be exactly centered, but depend on your other placements in your panel. You rarely need the knobs to control functions on your MFD as most of them (zoom etc) you can do touch screen, but the outer knob on your MFD side allows you to switch quickly different MFD displays (traffic, chart, map etc) without having to go back to the main menu to tap which is nice. Rmag, I see you also have the EIS, I gave a blase review before. but I have grown to really like mine now. It is very straight forward. It picks up pre warnings well before there' s any issues with your engine. Very clear to see when everything is in the green as the resolution is so high without having to interpolate or process a number which is available on your engine page if you need it. After Oshkosh, ill be upgrading from my Flightstream 210 to the 510 so that I can try out getting engine information supposedly automatically downloaded to Garmin pilot and see if that is an advantage. The next gadget im thinking of installing is the Guardian Aero 553 as the TXi currently does not allow my remote CO detector to display CO levels which I wish it did. Of course this may change if I see something better at Osh!

Got it! Looks like this is the same problem as the other thread.. moving to the other one.. thanks again all hugely helpful!

I’m having the same issue drop in oil pressure with increasing altitude, for me it’s about 1psi drop with every 1000 feet above 11k starting at 55psi. My engine was built in 1993. Already did all of the attempted fixes above except changing tappets. I’ll be calling Lycoming tomorrow. But is this an actual problem? I heard from reliable mechanic that it’s not unusual for bravos to run fine below 55psi at altitude.

Ok I’m raising the ante... I’ll buy beverages of choice whenever I get to meet you for the Bravo owner who can fill in this chart! PM ok if you don’t want to share! And if you could also let me know whether you have digital or analog gauges and if you’re on your original engine. Altitude Oil Pressure (psi) 12,000 ____________ 15,000 ___________ 18,000 ____________ 21,000 ___________ 25,000 ___________ Thanks hugely!

Yes read that post with interest. The author did the following after his overhaul (which sounds very expensive) In my case, after flying the reman engine for 21 hrs, the engine was pulled and rebuilt w another new camshaft and new tappets, the original design type. After that, I can fly up to FL240 without any oil pressure drop. It certainly fixed the issue. No sense having an engine and plane that can fly at FL240 but you need to fly with the oil pressure in the red or yellow.... Hoping to see if this can be fixed without having to rebuild an entire camshaft and tappets. Or if it even needs to be fixed?

Oil temperature stays rock soilid and doesn’t change with altitude. That is very interesting, and hugely helpful I like that explanation thank you! Ha! True, I never noticed this before I had digital gauges for oil pressure. I’m thinking the analog gauges don’t give you warnings like the digital ones do now which we don’t notice, at least that’s what I’m thinking could have occurred. But it should be reading the same with both digital and analog with your explaination above, except the analog doesn’t give you a caution warning when it dips down. Still hoping Someone still flies their bravo in the flight levels and can take a peek at their oil pressure gauge and share that number and their altitude. So at least I won’t be chasing a non existent problem.

Huge favor I’ll ask from fellow Bravo owners. What are your oil pressure readings in Psi at altitudes above 13,000 feet? 18k feet? This is a question for Bravo owners. in mine, I have noticed a steady decrease in oil pressure readings as I climb in altitudes just above 13k to around 53 psi with no other gauge changes. Haven’t gone higher recently since I’ve noticed this with more accurate gauges than my factory gauges were. I’ve had the oil pressure screw adjusted, spring replaced, gauge sensor replaced with same so I’m wondering if this is just a lycoming issue in our bravos that doesn’t affect performance before throwing more repairs at it. What I would be hugely curious about if another bravo owner next time you’re flying above 12 k, if you could note what your oil pressure in PSI is at 12, 15, 18, and 21k if any of us are still flying that high that would be hugely helpful. Thanks in advance! John

Speaking of winds, there can be some pretty strong winds in Vegas with gusts. Particularly important if you land at N Las Vegas or Henderson as there's only two directions you can land at those. If you choose one of these, make sure your crosswind skills are good! Another reason why I like McCarren, as their crossing runways almost always seem to have one of their runways aligned with even the strongest gusty winds with limited crosswinds.

Follow up. Changing altitudes once you get used to it is much easier, but it takes getting used to as it’s different from altitude preselect. You can’t just use the knobs alone, but tapping the screen twice is as easy as pushing the engage / arm buttons on a typical preselect. So I don’t need a GCU 485 controller, thank goodness as those take up lots of panel space. So once you get used to changing altitudes and vertical speeds with the device, it’s a breeze. Another feature that’s really fantastic is that when everything is doing ok, and you’re in cruise, and you change to the full screen PFD display with SVT, it is very calming, even in near imc or limited visibility weather. Still exploring features that I’ve never had before now. Very dreamy to fly!

Thanks @carusoam! You da man!

+1 on Atlantic at MCCarran. You don’t get remotely the amount of service at NLV or Henderson. 10 gals fuel waives ramp fees.This time I got really lucky on departure and got vectored right over the strip! Luckily my trusty co pilot was able to snap these as I navigated. Hmm can’t unrotate these but this was way cool.

I haven't tried pushing alt button on autopilot and adjusting altitude to see if it auto arms, I'll try that. Unfortunately I can't hold my ALT button down while adjusting another knob unless I use two hands with my setup. Hey Don, here here.. my thoughts exactly! Yes, I wish that were the case. If you could push the inner knob to arm the altitude capture/ vs, that would be ideal. but you cant. (I asked Garmin if you could change it to that, they said nope, I'm still going to write them as I think that would be a good addition to have to their software as an option to toggle between sync and arm in your menu setup) Pushing the knob synchronizes your current value into the autopilot. So the easiest way I've found to do it, is use the outer knob to select the ALT or VS field, inner knob to select the ALT or VS, take your hand off and tap the screen in each portion to arm/ engage each of them as you adjust each of them. Still a few too many pushes and hand movements than ideal for a rapid altitude change for me, but possible to get used to. Heading change is quite simple. This looks much faster on the GCU 485 PFD controller, twist the altitude knob, hit arm button, twist VS knob, hit engage and you're set.

PIREP 5-14-18 G500Txi with EIS system Ok, I waited to do this one as I wanted to fly for a bit to get used to the equipment. 1) EIS. As some of you may know, I was hoping to get just the EIS strip only, and use my JPI 830 for everything else and I found out this is NOT possible from Garmin. In further reviewing EIS features and using them, almost every engine feature that is present on the EIS is on an JPI or MVP 50. The strip is helpful in that for the major items (oil temp pressure) you get yellow annunciators or red caution annunciation. You can't display actual shock cooling (CLD) values, which is a pain, but for everything else you get advisory messages (so you have to pay attention to advisories) that you can custom select for almost anything you wish to monitor, so I like my EIS now and am keeping it. Only thing it doesn't have is the ability to display CO levels from a compatible unit (ie Guardian) and given their STC process, this would be not possible to add in the near future. I think I can get used to my EIS system as its so clean integrated into the system, just have to pay attention to the "A"nnunciator light when it illuminates. 2) Extra costs for TXi - Synthetic vision comes with a 10 hour trial on all TXi installs, but once you see this, you will buy it, so you might as well plan on the extra 3k to get it as even though you only maybe actually would be useful around airports for runway landings etc, it is so cool that after you spend your $ on the Txi, you're gonna need it. The SVT on the aspen is no where near the resolution of the SVT on the TXI 3) More extra costs for TxI - Ok Autopilot use. It is far too clunky to use the touch screen only to enter course and altitude changes with your autopilot. (I have a KAP 150) If you're given an altitude and heading change here's what you have to do. Twist knob or type in new heading (easy to do). Altitude, type in new altitude or scroll to it with knobs,. Hit Altitude capture. Then go to VS select, tap the - sign or + sign, then type the VS you wish, type or twist in VS then hit engage on the screen (if you forget to hit the - sign on typing, if you want to go down, youll go up which will cause controllers to wonder where you're going) Knobs are easier BUT there is no way to capture an altitude or engage a vertical speed using the knobs alone! You have to select the VS/ Altitude and then touch the screen at the appropriate place to engage. Next flight, I am going to try doing VS engage first then select altitude, and to Altitude select engage, and alternatively, use the manual CWS unlock button to manually go to the selected VS then use the knobs to sync that VS if that makes it easier next flight ) I wonder how you G500 users are doing this as all you have is knobs if this is different on the TxI. It would be fantastic if Garmin would make pushing in of the button to engage your altitude or VS choice, (hint hint Garmin factory lookers!) that would be wonderful, but instead, pushing in the button only syncs your current setting. This is clunky in turbulence or rapid fire ATC instructions which I get all of the time. Calling Garmin, the solution would be to install a PFD controller (+$3K) for your autopilot named a GCU unit (which is a few concentric knobs with arm and engage buttons on them, you can adjust all flight course and alt and barometric parameters) Which then has knobs and buttons easily selectable. With our Mooneys and panel space, I would recommend planning for adding a GCU unit in a place you can easily get to it as the altitude changing function of the Txi is not ideal, but would be perfect with a PFD controller which Im looking at getting, so save space for it on your panel in a place you like in case you want one later. That's all I have for now. Great unit overall, makes me want to fly MUCH more. John

I had the original Parmetheus LED lights, and yes they are brighter than the incandescent replacements, but the main advantage for Whelan is that their energy drain was MUCH less, nearly negligible compared to the incandescent. (I can barely see the needle move when I turned on the Whelan lights, but was a noticeable drain turning on the incadescents). Oh if anyone wants these, (I have 4 Whelan Prometheus, two taxi two landing PAR 46-24v) I can give them to you for cheap! I upgraded to the sunspots (24v) at last Oshkosh as the light output was just miles beyond the Whelans, but the power drain was only slightly less than that of the incandescents. So its a trade-off. They had a Parmetheus plus at last Oshkosh which they claim was up to 50% brighter than their original, but still no where near the sunspots (From my eye, sunspots were 200-300% brighter). The comment i got from their rep is "of course if we put more energy into it, it will be brighter, but we still have the lowest energy drain of LEDs on the market". So I guess the question for use would one prefer a brighter light or lower energy drain in deciding between the Whelan and the Sunspots. John

Updated availability on items above. Lots of inquiries thanks! Feel free to ask any questions regarding any of the units by PM. All are serviceable units, fully operational at the time of removal (except factory oil temp gauge which sticks). Once you have decided on a unit, and are ready to purchase please PM me your confirmed bid, and if accepted, I can hold it for you for up to 7 days to await arrival of your check. UPDATE - My JPI EDM 830 without probes may be coming up for sale, ill know by the end of this week and ill repost for that if it does.

The JPI is not for sale at this time as its likely going back into my airplane.

I have an insight 2000 strikefinder just removed for an upgrade. One of my favorite units and worked flawlessly up to time of removal, so much so that I almost wanted to keep it. Heres a link to some pictures of it. Send me a PM if interested

I would take you up on that offer if it were possible! Depends on what you get installed. Here is the price list https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2017-10-04/garmin-touchscreens-will-light-more-cockpits?amp Figure that install will cost you at least half of the unit price. For me, my panel overhaul was less than the cost of an engine overhaul which I’ll have to have in about two years. But since I plan on keeping my Trillian for a long time, after I’ve finished my engine overhaul, I will essentially have a new airplane, with lots of very fun flying time before and after. At least that’s how I’m justifying it :).

Thanks. Im where you are since I have an AOA system already. I recall the Alpha systems required you to do that once. I believe the Aspen requires 6 approaches to stalls (3 dirty, 3 clean). Ill put that on my one of these days list of things to do.

Oh and thanks for your help @Marauder. Question for you since you have an Aspen, does yours or anyone have the AOA in it? That came with mine, If I activate it I would also have a backup aoa in case of all electric failure. Reading the flight calibration process for the Aspen it looks painful on paper. Have you or anyone gone through the calibration process for the aoa on their Aspen? Is it worth the time to do?