Ragsf15e

That use to be the USAF technique as well. Do the walk around, then walk 20-30 paces in front of the airplane and look it over from in front of the nose while you strapped on your parachute harness leg straps and zipped up your G suit. Look for red streamers, leaks, missing panels, etc from much further back than the walk around.

Yeah, then you’ll need to check behind the carpet below the door line as others are saying.. there’s a whole technique to fixing leaks around the inboard senders or pickup. Once you find the leak, look for that tread on this site.

Yeah definitely. Removed most of the interior and strung the wiring for the Surefly back to the battery along the pilot side. Passed it through the firewall through one of the holes freed up by the sos. Sf has to connect to the battery or hot side of battery solenoid, so it’s connected near the battery.

My sos was a little tricky to remove as I had to get a wrench on the nuts up under the instrument panel while my IA tuned the bolts in the engine compartment. Other than that and capping the wires, easy.

What phase of flight were you in? Were you leaning for cruise?

Or, (tongue in cheek), if you need right rudder in cruise, try a lower cruise altitude with higher IAS! Another solution (obviously after the rigging)… the gfc500 yaw dampner will correct for small variations in yaw at cruise. Maybe Skip just thinks his plane is rigged perfectly !

I think there will still be some very minor variations based on cruise IAS? For example 115kias at 12,500’ might require a little right rudder while 150kias at 4,500’might require slightly left rudder even though they are about the same cruise TAS. Since we have no trim, the rigging aims for the middle of “cruise”, but that might vary, no?

Possibly ditch the gma345 for a pma450b which has built in usb c, ditch the additional usb ports and continue to use cheap usb adapter from cigar lighter. Won’t save 25% but it’s something, and pma450 is really good.

Have you guys drilled out and replaced the receiver end too or did just replacing the “male” end work?

Well what about the rubber intake boot for the engine? Do you have electric gear? You’ll need a set of gears (20/1 or 40/1), an airspeed switch and maybe an emergency gear cable. There are more im sure…yes, it’s worrying, but I’ve had mine (68 F) for 10 years and it’s been ok. You should try to get an edm900 and ditch the mechanical gages.

How’s it looking?

You will need a G5, GI-275, or G3x to actually control/display your gfc500 autopilot. It doesn’t “interface” with Aspen, although you might possibly be able to use the heading bug. The autopilot indications such as mode, altitude selection, etc will all not be on the aspen, but on your garmin pfd. I hear that you liked the Aspen, but the garmin g3x is actually meant to work with the gfc500 and is a better choice if you want that autopilot. Additionally, you will need a Garmin dealer to order the gfc500 for you, but maybe you can work out a deal where you help with the installation? Make sure you get the certified version of all these because they come in experimental versions as well but those aren’t airworthy for your certified aircraft. Good luck.

Ha! I’ve seen a higher (and unexpected) Meridian annual too, and I was very thankful I was only crew, not owner!

Meridian is that way too.

Try this. I think they changed websites/distribution channels, but I bought one a year ago and they were still good. take the time to see exactly which mag feeds which top/bottom on each cylinder because there’s apparently a couple ways to do that and it won’t fit if you’re try to run to the wrong plug. https://www.maggieignitionsystems.com/about-3

Good lesson for sure. I feel like after we’ve had our plane for a while, I’ve had mine for ten years, we get a little complacent in thinking it has always worked, so it will always work. Sometimes I think I know it too well, and might suppose that something is minor or the airplane will still get me where I need to go when I should be looking deeper.

You did good by calling them. D max is pretty well-known and has helped out lots of people. I have had a similar experience and talked to Don myself for 10 or 15 minutes and he was just trying to help me out. No expectation of anything else. I guess what I’m saying is you won’t find that everywhere. It’s still fun having an airplane, just be ready to be involved in the maintenance.

Good to see you again! I like your stuff.

Im not trying to make excuses for them, but finding good maintenance for your new airplane is going to be one of the most difficult parts. Likely you’ll need to be deeply involved with it yourself. The best outcomes seem to be from owners who find the problem, help troubleshoot, find the parts and at least help with installation. Again, I don’t think it has to be this way or should be this way, but currently it seems to work out like this. It’s still a good ride…

My seat was broken like that when I got my plane. Had a mechanic carefully remove the upholstery and weld in a support to hold it back together as @N201MKTurbo suggested. I think the seats were built pretty light. It was a pretty cheap fix. The cam issues others mentioned usually result in the seat leaning back on both sides (just reclining) but doesn’t sound like what you described?

I fly my f in a little colder temps and it’s better than you describe, but around-15c, I’m wearing a jacket and hat. Id check your butterfly mixing valve first. Sealing up leaks in the baggage area (door and far back corner to battery) help the back seat. You can also remove the carpet and seal up leaks in the floor.

Hopefully that works… myself, I spent $$ on a new alternator and vr and my problem (low voltage ~13.4v in cruise) persisted until I got a digital voltage meter and troubleshot it myself. You will find that many GA mechanics are not electrical system experts.

Ahh you’re right! I forgot you can get continental cylinders for the lyc. You’re about the only one that’s been brave enough to try them but they’ve been fine, right?

Only lycoming new or a shop might have oh cylinders available. Or maybe oh yours. Nobody else makes them for the angle valves…

Personally I might just keep the Sentry. Here’s why… yes, it’s probably overkill, but it’s got an internal battery, separate from the ship’s electrical system, and it provides ahrs for the ipad without needing anything from the airplane. Also it’s tiny. That being said, I haven’t bought one as a backup yet and my ipad connects to the gtx345 for ADSB and ahrs, but if you want belt and suspenders, consider keeping it. The gtx345 ahrs doesn’t seem quite as solid as their pfds. Personally, my ipad running ff has been 100% glitch free. I’m usually not in a hot environment, but I left it in the sun once, overheated, pulled up my phone backup while the ipad cooled and all was fine. My personal experience is that with a g1000,adsb, and an ipad, an aera is overkill, but clearly a lot of people like them, so there you go.