Bob - S50

That's part of our agreement. Taking the plane for up to a week is automatically approved unless someone objects within 7 days of making the reservation. Taking it for more than 7 days requires specific approval of the group.

Try this: FAA ADS-B Performance Report Request Page

You may all like owning the plane by yourself. I may be lucky, but having 3 partners has worked great for me for a couple reasons. Obviously, it has cut my cost of ownership. As I showed above, even with monthly dues, flying my Mooney is cheaper than renting a 172 (I fly about 70 or 80 hours/year). It makes it easier to keep the plane exercised instead of corroding in the hangar. With 4 of us flying we put about 150 to 200 hours/year on the plane and it never sits more than 2 weeks without flying. I may be lucky, but in the 7 years we've had the plane, we've had a total of 6 different people in the group (as partners sold their share) and have never had a time when there was a scheduling conflict. While we each operate the plane just a bit differently, we've agreed to standards that cover most things. When I get in the plane, there is rarely something I need to change. About as bad as it gets is possibly needing to change the scale on the GPS. Having partners of like mind is a great way to cut the cost of flying.

G5 no. GI275 yes. GI275 Interface list

Yes, but not legally yet. And it will not fly and ILS/LOC/VOR approach, just GPS.

With four of us paying we have $12,000/year for fixed expenses: $2000 insurance, $3000 hangar, $3000 annual. Leaves us $4000 for subscriptions/registrations and fixing or replacing stuff that breaks. $30/hour broken down into about $1.50/hour for SB282 'no back clutch spring'. About $5/hour for oil changes. $2/hour for magneto 500 hour inspection. That leaves a bit over $20/hour for engine and prop overhaul.

I only knew that because we have an Apollo SL15-CD.

Our J with 4 of us costs me, based on $5/gallon, 10 gph, $250/month, and $30/hour tach time dry: 100 hours/year: $110/hour 75 hours/year: $120/hour 50 hours/year: $140/hour

How about a PS Engineering PMA 7000BT? Slide in replacement. Zero labor expense.

The solution is to buy a more expensive airplane. Then the percentage cost of the autopilot install will be lower.

I haven't used them but I've heard good things. I called and asked for a rough guess on the cost to redo our J seats in leather. Pricey. Something over $6000 if I remember right. That's more than double the cost of the place in Canada we'll probably use when the time comes. Then again, you can't put a price on comfort. And if all their layers of foam make a difference, it might be worth it.

I've only been flying GA again for a few years but it appears to me that NOBODY delivers on time so we might as well get used to it. So this is no particular knock on TruTrak/BK. There are a few solutions: 1. We (the manufacturer) are developing a gizmo that will be amazing some time in the next few years but due to inability to forecast FAA delays, we can't say when that will be. In other words, don't provide an estimated availability time frame. Just let people know you're working on it, occasionally let them know you are still working on it, provide an occasional progress update, and then let them know when it is available. 2. Use the Murphy's law for time estimation. Divide the numeric portion by two and increase the units by one. A gadget that is supposed to be available in 6 months will really be here in 3 years.

I know there is at least one Mooney owner on here that is from that area. I'm down at Auburn. If you can't find anybody closer, let me know. Under the current conditions I can't offer you a ride, but we could meet someplace to let you look at the plane and talk. Bob

Those quotes seem high. We had our KFC200 removed and installed a GFC500 with 4 servos and dual G5's for $31,000. I would ask other shops. I suspect you could get a 2 servo install for something around $25,000.

To answer the original question, no I don't. It never rains in Seattle.

I don't know about a single G5 installation, but our dual G5 ADI displays course and glidepath bugs. I actually just hand flew an ILS raw data by watching the ADI.

There are MANY good ways to run an engine. I think we need to be careful about suggesting there is one best/easiest way to do that. There are so many variables, that any time we recommend a specific technique, we should be sure to list all the qualifiers. For example: above 6000', non-turbo, non-"D" engine, less than XX%, etc. For example, do the WOT proponents do that at 2000'? Run around at 28", 2400 RPM and 10 gph (for a 200 horse engine)? Controlling power with mixture while WOT will probably require a mixture that is VERY LOP. Maybe too lean for many engines to run smoothly. And probably less efficiently than one run at best BSFC with a partially closed throttle. Do you have an A3B6 engine timed at 20 BTDC or an A3B6D engine timed at 25 BTDC? If the latter, maybe you don't want to run around over square (or maybe you do; I don't). When we make suggestions here, we should not make any assumptions because we all know what happens when we assume. Take everything we read here with a grain of salt. Read the articles by John Deakin. Educate ourselves and then make wise decisions.

To add to that, that is to say, you can use a G5 as an HSI for those autopilots but it will not work as an ADI.

I just don't understand why people want to run 'deeply lean'. I want my engine as efficient as possible. That means I want my engine about 50 LOP more or less and use a MP and RPM combination that gives me the power I want.

Always ask about the useful load.

But a G5 will NOT run a KFC150 or a KAP150.

Here's what I'd do in that situation. 1. Turn to the heading. 2. Switch my geo-referenced tablet chart from Sectional to Low Altitude Chart (if not already there), and see where Victor 123 was. 3. Take a guess as to approximately where I would intercept the airway, then pick an intersection or navaid along that airway that was definitely going to be behind me when I intercepted the airway. 4. Enter that fix/navaid in my flightplan, load the airway from there to XYZ, then activate the leg into the first fix after the one I entered. 5. Since I'm cleared direct after XYZ, remove all fixes in the flightplan between XYZ and my destination. 6. As I fly along on my heading, as I pass fixes on the airway, the active leg should change to be the leg into the next fix. 7. Intercept the airway and continue. Easier to do than it is to describe. By the way, that's where the simulator works great. Give yourself all kinds of weird scenarios and see if you can load them up in the simulator. A great way I find to do that is to try and figure out how to load an obstacle departure procedure that is not a SID. You'll get it. Practice, practice, practice.

Or a Garmin GI275. It will not give you 'native GPSS', but it will give you GPSS HDG emulation. With the KFC150 it will even give you a flight director. With the KAP150 it will not give you a flight director.

Better yet, according to Garmin, only an authorized installer is allowed to update a certified G5. Even though you can download the update, a non-installer pilot is not allowed to do the update. Others disagree, but that is Garmin's position over on BT.

Kind of off topic, but along these lines, not only does the AI show the glideslope (GS), it shows the course and course deviation (CDI) too. I actually went out VFR and flew a raw data ILS using just the AI (but checking the HSI to make sure I was doing it correctly). 90% AI, 10% HSI. Turn to center the CDI. When it centers, turn to line up the magenta track triangle on the heading tape with the green (magenta for an RNAV) vertical hash mark on the heading tape. You are now not only on course but you are flying a wind drift corrected heading. Intercept the GS and track it just like you normally would. Make corrections as you normally would.