JohnB

Everyone knows being on speed is the key to a good landing. If you have an AOA indicator that helps tremendously without having to even think about it. As a bonus, I too have found that holding the nose off as long as possible impresses your passengers greatly as people tend not to notice much when the mains touch, but when you hold off and just barely tap the nose gear down, you get 5 star landing ratings from them, and makes almost every landing a great one. And I think it saves your brakes as if you do it right, you bleed off lots of airspeed holding the nose off as long as possible, as if I'm on speed, and hold nose up, I can usually make that first exit without much braking at all. Of course this doesn't apply to gusty or large crosswind landings, but every other time, its fun to do.

Nice all, it’s amazing the breadth of knowledge on this board. Impressive diagnostic @Bob Weber from such a distance! Thank you all. My installer found the problem, it was a diode that had gone bad that was related to my TXi install. Works like it should now. Thank again everyone for the tips!

Paper dots should not be sold. One of the first things that goes if you have carbon monoxide poisoning is your sense of color vision, so even if you were lucky enough to to glance at your dot in case of CO poisoning, you would have no idea what color it was. if you still have a paper dot in your airplane, remove it and place a real CO detector with an alarm. The only use I can imagine for a paper dot is for an NTSB agent if they see one of those in your plane with a color change, they may be able to deduce the cause of a fatal accident, but this won’t help you. You need something that will alert you so you can get on the ground safely and get the problem fixed. A dot won’t do that.

A screw out? Not sure that could cause the autopilot to disconnect only when the nav lights are turned on and have both work fine independently. Or can it? If that's true, where is this array?

Great ideas and thank you. Hope the other thread info helps too

Got it.. I like this voltage drop idea that you and @LANCECASPER have.. Ill get my avionics shop to check it Monday. Thanks!!

Ok Ill weigh in since there's so much fear surrounding this topic. The current Corona virus (COVID -19) is a cold virus. It is one of many Corona viruses that can result in colds and illnesses, many of these Corona viruses you have already been exposed to and have some immunity to. Since this strain is one our bodies haven't seen yet, we don't yet have an immunity to it. Having said that, the media and some organizations are suggesting that progressive isolation, interacting with fewer and fewer people is the only way to help prevent you from getting the virus as I see media are promoting and entities cancelling gatherings of fewer and fewer numbers of people as time goes by. While isolation is important, it will not stop the spread but will slow down the spread, perhaps until the summer comes (which colds have much less potency in). I think there are other ways that can help immensely. Having said that, One of the best things I think that one can do right now is to stay warm, eat right, take your vitamins, and do everything that you can to keep your own immunity up. The same things you have been doing for years to help prevent you from catching a cold, can help keep you from getting dreadfully sick from this cold virus if you do get exposed. (Yes Corona virus is another cold virus, you have already been exposed to several other Corona viruses in your lifetime and you may or may not have had colds from them) Good handwashing techniques always helpful. If you get a cold, don't rush to the ER to see if it's Corona virus. Get over your cold, if you're dreadfully sick, absolutely go. If you do have to be around people and you have any kind of cold, wear a mask and keep your hands clean. If you do happen to get this Corona virus and a cold due to it, once you're fully over the infection, you'll have immunity from it and won't pass it to others, or be able to get sick from re exposure to this Corona virus strain. Avoiding crowds will help slow the spread of the virus, particularly if you have a cold, but unfortunately will not completely stop the spread of the virus as some people with good immunity may have the virus and pass it on without them even knowing that they have any kind of illness whatsoever. (Like people less than 10 years old, or people with very healthy immune systems) Toilet paper or hoarding wont work for any of this. As an aside, I think we are very fortunate that we can fly our Mooneys as not only flying it reduces your personal exposure compared to commercial air, but there have been 7 hour waits to check in for the enhanced Corona virus screening now in place at some airports, and that's in the light of much less people travelling by commercial air. Quite a time we are living in.

Interesting thought. As my nav light turns on, unlike all other rocker switches, it changes the dimming on all of my annunciator and panel lights. I wonder if it also dims the annunciators on my kfc 150 and perhaps that connection is faulty... Hmmm good food for thought.. ill look into it. thanks!

Bravo!. Well done. Perfect execution. You’re right, formation training likely saved a collision there. If the other plane was on top of you, he obviously didn’t see you and if you had used any aileron to get away, your right wing would have risen and likely impacted him, whereas hard left rudder just creates rapid horizontal distance without any loss of sight. Wondering if he was trying also to land on the L runway by mistake. If he realized that mistake and banked right to correct it, his left wing would be high and he would not be able to see you. But if he passed over on top of you, that was a collision about to happen. Thanks for sharing and glad you’re ok! Paws

This is a strange one, but it’s a shot in the dark to see if anyone else has had a similar problem. A few months ago, my autopilot kfc 150 shutoff in flight for no reason I could identify then and would not come back on. Replaced the ap disconnect switch with a new one and later realized that switch wasn’t faulty, but the problem was, when I turn my nav light switch on, my autopilot disconnects. Doesn’t happen with any other lights or switches, even if I turn all other switches on other than the nav switch. Had led nav lights installed around 6 years ago, and no major avionics work in the last year. Was wondering for any electrical person out there might have any thoughts? Or if by some odd chance, someone else has had a similar problem? Shop is looking for a chaffed wire now. Looking for ideas rather than trying to replace everything ($$$$) and see if it works later approach.

THAT is a capital idea sir!! I would love to contribute/ read some of these from our fellow Mooniacs! Always looking for places to visit!

Thank you so much @kmyfm20s! Much appreciated

Hugely helpful, being you’re on that field! Did you like Crown when they were up and running or have you always used a non MSC?

Just heard about a recently opened Mooney service center Coast Air Center in San Diego CA at MYF. They took over Crowns MSC designation and hired most of Crown Aviation’s top staff. Anyone have any pireps regarding this shop? They seem like they’re gearing up to be a nice one but I’d like to hear from anyone with experience particularly Mooney experience.

Whew! It was my switch! Went flying today to my avionics shop, and I pushed the red switch a few times and jiggled it a bit just because of what I’ve read here about this switch and.. my KFC 150 came alive! Flew a flawless coupled approach and navigated with the autopilot on two flights. going to have the switch replaced As mine is about to go. Sure it will cost $200 for the switch (which I know if I bought it and did it myself it would be $7) but it is such a relief as I was gearing up to spend at least $15,000 on an autopilot solution and $200 is way better. Problem solved for now thanks everyone! I’ll be waiting for a better autopilot solution for an upgrade one of these days compared to what’s out there, although that Aerocruz 230 looked pretty good, but not yet...... not yet.

I agree with you 109%, my fingers are crossed hoping it’s just a switch. I think I saw someone talking about the switch research on pilots of America board, but it was just in a forum. Couldn’t find on google search. Do you have the link to the research on it?

In answer to your question, the flight director bars do NOT also show up on my Aspen. When my autopilot is on, the FD bars only appear on the TXi exactly as above.

Thanks Niko! Looking forward to your update. the KFC does seem virtual, Ill see if I hear from anyone. You may see my plane over at SNA soon! Thanks good to know I don't need to make space for the Garmin PFD controller (which btw won't fit under my Aspen) . Moving my 430 right would be definitely something Id have to get used to as I use that quite a bit. Thanks again everyone, this is such a good forum with so much useful information from you all.

Wow, thanks Don! I did just put in an inquiry regarding the AeroCruz 230, ill see what they say. Hmmm not sure a G5 would fit under my Aspen, but if it could, that would save some costs if also GFC 500 unit will fit where my KFC did. Only 2 G5's would come somewhat close to matching some of the Aspen's functionality, which I don't want to swap out my backup system. Question for you sir..... When you got your GFC 500 installed, are you using the controls on the GFC 500 to change and set altitude and courses, or are you still using your remote garmin PFD controller? Or can you use both/ either? Im still hoping that its something simple and my 150 can be fixed, I just read about a switch failure for some of the KFC 150 autopilots, which sounds like it could be the problem with mine since it just suddenly went out when a load was applied (I think I turned on a light or something similar and the autopilot went poof) .. I can always hope!

I looked on Beechtalk and no one yet that I see has put this one in. Customer service appears suboptimal. Well plarp. Looks like I might just have to get my 150 fixed, or get 3 attitude indicators and the GFC 500 if there's no other option for upgrade available.

A big +1 on that one! Rats, I was afraid that it required a G5. I was hoping there was a fix around this, as I have an aspen for my backup solution which I absolutely love, and the G5 comes no where near its capabilities. So in order to get this new autopilot, I would have to buy ANOTHER backup instrument on the opposite side of my panel. Poop! Think theres a conspiracy to force the use of a G5 backup, and once you have one, you need two. yikes. See panel, even if I did want to downgrade my Aspen Backup to a G5 (which I don't) I would have to buy G5 x 2, and redo my panel completely, or get a third attitude indicator (G5) and put it on the copilots side. That I think would be excessive redundancy. Still hoping theres some solution that doesn't involve getting a G5 or re-doing my entire panel. . Also, hearing your roller coaster problems, not jumping up and down over the GFC 500 yet. I did hear of a Bendix King autopilot, which is apparently a slide in replacement for the KFC 150, the Aerocruze 230, that does NOT require you to buy a G5 and is approved for our aircraft. Anyone heard anything about this one? https://www.bendixking.com/en/products/aerocruze-230

Well, that may be happening. Just today, my KFC 150 just stopped working and wouldn't restart. Could be fixable, but I think it could have bought the farm. So yes im now looking at upgrading to a GFC 500. In looking at the demo videos, they talk about it with a Garmin G5. My question would be, is it required to add a G5 which I don't need just to buy a GFC 500? Hoping that it will work with my Garmin G500 Txi and GTN 750. If it doesn't, and I need to upgrade to a new system or add a G5 to get it, Ill be looking for a rebuilt KFC 150 or something similar that will continue to integrate from someone who doesn't need it anymore.

Got it, I’ll check. Now not sure if it does on both, as my Aspen is not connected to the autopilot. But you’re giving me another excuse to go flying! (Like I need another reason ha!) The Highway in the sky would be a cool feature that is not on either of my gadgets.

Correct, my Garmin gad43e connects all of my Garmin TXi functions to my KAP 150 autopilot, works well together. My Aspen has no autopilot connection whatsoever,. It is a great secondary nav tool even not in an emergency. I totally agree with @gsxrpilot there’s absolutely no need to have your autopilot connected to your backup system, and it wouldn’t work anyway in an electrical failure. I believe my Aspen displays FD information when I set a course or set an approach, so I can load a gps waas approach on my TXi and an ILS on my Aspen and get lateral and vertical navigation indications on the hsi and am easily able to look at the different indicators in case of degradation of the gps or ils signal or some other deviation from perfection. Only the TXi though is connected to the autopilot. If you’re talking about the flight director bars, I believe they are there on the Aspen as well, but I’ll have to verify that next time I fly.

I have a KFC 150. Seems to work fine for now, no oscillations in any mode now, so haven’t yet upgraded it. Wow, didnt know you couldnt adjust GFC settings. I’m still wondering if it has something to do with the G5, as I have a separate analog to digital converter which is not the G5. Anyway, I’d like to follow this thread to see if this gets worked out before I have to start autopilot shopping.