Ragsf15e

Dude, that looks awesome!

Someone else will be along to give you a better answer, but I did it once 15 years ago and they gave us an altitude to remain below and headings/landmarks to fly over. It was like “vectors” but a bit looser. Of course I was in a 2 ship of F-15Es, so your mileage may vary.

The 650 is a different size than the 430 though, so if your panel is already filled up, installation goes up dramatically. If you’ve got extra space, potentially a good deal. Ive got a working 430w and really can’t see replacing it until it dies. Although I also drive a 2001 F-150 that I’ve had since new. A 430w (or 530w) gives the same ifr approach capabilities as the newest 750. If My 430 holds on a few more years, I’ll skip straight to the Garmin 1150 super XR! (Yeah, I made that up). If you like a new iPhone every year or two because the camera and the chip are better, than trading the 430w for a 650 is probably a good deal.

Ok, I don’t have the documentation in front of me, but I think it will accept 2 digital inputs... so not an old VOR, but an sl30 with a 430w should work. The AP wiring could affect that though.

Dude that’s awesome, enjoy!

I have an F, insured for $85k. Very similar time and experience. Almost the exact same quote you got from aopa, 45% increase. Parker was able to save me about $100 on a slightly better policy.

You guys actually been to inyokern? My high school was in their league... I ran some races out there. Not much there except tumbleweeds and desert. I think they could do this for a long time and not sell out!

They did this in San Marcos while I lived in TX. $1 100ll for like a month. I knew a guy (UPS pilot and USAF reserves pilot no less) who flew his Cardinal there weekly (15 minute flight) for a fillup and then empty his tanks by siphon into storage in his hangar. Only an airline pilot...

Mine used baby bubz or baby bandz plus earplugs until they were 2-3. Then I bought some basic youth headsets (passive) from Spruce: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/av/headsets_youth/pilotUSAheadsets8.php They have been using these for 2 years now with good results. Apparently if you contact the company they will send you an adult headband for them as the kids grow. These headsets have an aux input for an ipad. About 3 or 4 years old, connect mind control to headsets at leveloff and enjoy peaceful flight. If you buy headsets without inputs, make sure you have a way to pipe the audio through your comm panel to the kids while isolating yourself (and possibly the Mrs, depends on your level of compassion) from a 4th viewing of Frozen.

In addition to the above recommendations, check the security of your spark plug leads. If loose or degrading, they will cause radio noise with rpm. You can try a mag check to narrow down which side is causing it and to see if it goes away on one mag.

Also, try lubing the control shaft. People have had porpoise problems with other autopilots recently that were caused by just a tiny “sticky” spot in the elevator control which were resolved with LPS 2 or similar.

Seems reasonable. I don’t really know where the sweet spot is for traditional mags - just need to be lop enough to stay out of the “red box”/ detonation when you’re at low altitude and high power. However, the SF does seem to make more of a difference at altitudes where I was use to losing power and speed more rapidly as I leaned. Say above 8500 or so. Funny thing is I did all those lop speed runs and graphs, but I typically fly ROP to get the 5 extra knots because I’ve got two 4 year old terrorists in the backseat!

The F models look awesome in this thread! Mine has 1034UL even with a 3 blade prop! I try not to load the 52 year old girl to gross, but it hasn’t been a problem to fly 500nm with an hour reserve and stay 50-75 lbs below max! That’s with 2 adults, 2 kids and weekend bags.

With a turbo you can’t currently use the timing advance function, but yeah, it’s approved for most engines/airframes. Maybe they’ll eventually get advanced timing on turbos?

Yeah, I agree the big original gages are nice as long as you’re prepared to maintain them. The 800 you’ve got provides extra capability in that it can record and shows all the chts/egts. I definitely don’t fault that choice. I guess I think the 900/930 should be more reliable than the factory originals in the long run. My 930 certainly has. I’ve read the comments about people having problems with the “autodim”, but I just wanna think the digital tech should last longer and be supported longer. All that said, I didn’t have to pay for mine, the previous owner did. I’m not sure, but I could see myself doing what you did and saving the $$. I suspect if we all had money to burn, we’d have a couple 10” screens with flight and engine information, a touchscreen gps and a digital autopilot. Since we don’t have that kind of cash, adding the usefulness of a Jpi 800 while having to maintain the factory gages and saving one years worth of 100LL seems reasonable.

Well yes, that’s definitely true. I was hoping you wouldn’t take offense to what I wrote because your guidance on this board has always been spot on and backed up by manuals, diagrams, and regulations. Just so you know, that’s not exactly typical. Heck, even your magnetic paperclip trick to check the alternator is more than my mechanic did before replacing it and I consider him to be fairly “by the book”. I think diagnosing electrical systems can seem like a dark art.

But if your original gages go on the fritz, you’re not...

Yeah, I think that’s common. A lot of mechanics see electrical problem and go straight to the alternator. It’s relatively easy to wrench and doesn’t require any further troubleshooting to track down a part for replacement... there it is, replace it. Unfortunately, I think it’s more common that there’s another culprit, especially on the older airplanes because there are lots of corroded connections, switches and circuit breakers.

In fact, the belt or a corroded connection (or circuit breaker) are most likely. Unfortunately, tracking down the actual culprit corroded connection in 169 miles of wiring stuffed into a 50 year old volkswagon with wings is the difficult part. That being said, changing from the old mechanical regulator to a digital (plane power or zeftronics) isn’t terrible. It’s ~$300 and easy to do. Should last and be reliable too. Checking input voltage and output (field) voltage from the regulator is definitely part of the troubleshooting.

Seems like a roll of the dice. My coverage is the same except $85k hull. Interesting. Parker got me the best deal possible. The industry is changing!

This is real! 4500 hour ATP, 1968 F, $1038 last year, $1500 this year. No claims, no changes. I’m no mathologist, but that like 45% higher, no?!

The two guys above have good questions for you. Unlike cars, the alternator in your airplane is likely externally controlled by a regulator. The old (original) regulators are mechanical. The newer ones are digital. The old ones can fail in weird ways. I’ve been told (by zeftronics tech support) that the digital ones usually either work or don’t work, there’s not a lot of weird failures. What year is your airplane? Electrical problems are kind of difficult to nail down but there are good troubleshooting guides on both the zeftronics and plane power sites. its common (and expensive) to throw parts at these issues before knowing exactly where the problem is. I did both an alternator and regulator before I quit letting my IA troubleshoot it and read the zeftronics guide myself. I then narrowed it down and replaced a $25 circuit breaker... after $1000 of alternator and regulator that hadn’t fixed anything. So circuit breakers wear out, corrosion causes resistance at contacts throughout the airplane, and the field wire lives a hard life between your regulator and alternator (via the master switch). you need a voltmeter and a troubleshooting guide.

All my speed tests are done wide open throttle, ram on, 2500 rpm. What you’re saying definitely makes sense. I start to see the improvement (slight) above about 8000’ or so and it seems to increase with altitude. I need more data to say it’s real though.

The MP hookup is pretty simple though. The battery is more work unless you’ve got your battery in the front still. I can see your point if you’re not going to run lop, but it’s probably worth installing the MP just to see if it helps it run lop - doesn’t mean you have to fly like that all the time.

I removed mine about 5 years ago. My mechanic used clear “packing” tape on the inside (I’m sure it was STC’d, PMA’d, and TSO’d aviation packing tape), maybe 1” diameter around the 1/2” diameter hole. Then he filled the outside with silicone. It’s not clear, but it’s not noticeable way up there either. That’s lasted 5 years with no problem. I don’t take any special precautions when cleaning or flying in rain.