whiskytango

I have also had controllers ask if I am IFR or VFR. Why wouldn't they have that information?

One of the things I do before filing is to go on ForeFlight and look at the routing that other aircraft have been given for the departure and destination airports of the flight I am planning. Many times I will see that ATC has cleared flights multiple, sometimes hundreds of times, on a specific routing. I file that routing and am given that route by Clearance Delivery, however invariably I get multiple reroutes shortly after entering the system. Just because you are cleared for a route by Clearance Delivery doesn't mean that you will actually fly that route. An autopilot sure comes in handy when reprogramming the GPS. Rather than get annoyed, I think of the words of Consigliere Tom Hagen: "This is business, not personal!"

You are not the only one. I too have tried all the suggestions offered here with no improvement. I am resigned to going into VS mode every 15 minutes or so and setting it to zero to stop the oscillations. It is hard to believe that Garmin can't come up with a software patch that looks for low level pitch hunting and damps it.

I have wondered if there would be a benefit to having a HUD with just ADSB traffic, to minimize the time you are looking at a display inside the cockpit (particularly when in the pattern!). The HUD would be less beneficial, and could provide misleading information in the pattern environment if there is latency in the depiction of ADSB traffic.

Excellent Aeronautical Decision-Making!!

+1 on Zephyr. The A&P that put it into my plane told me it was the smoothest running TSIO-360 he had ever installed.

Before replacing it with a GFC500, I had a Century 31. It is similar to the 21, but had altitude hold and attitude (pitch) hold. It would fly GPS NAV courses very accurately, but every now and then would do a "Crazy Ivan" turn for no apparent reason. It was an intermittent problem, and none of the avionics shops that looked at it could resolve the problem. Good luck!

I plan on going to the shop to photo-document the damage once I get the call that they have completed the inspection.

I know Dave. Bought my C model from him a number of years ago. I didn't know he had a place in GA. Thanks @PeteMc

Even before I had a chance to mention it, the DOM at the shop on the field said that he wanted to put it on jacks, do multiple retraction checks, and inspect the gear mechanism in detail, so we are thinking alike. Thanks for the additional suggestions @M20Doc. I will make sure they are done.

Update: I contacted my insurance carrier, and the adjustor actually recommended that I file a Claim on my insurance. The adjustor said that they have a "history" with this FBO, where the FBO's insurance company will not admit liability (even in the most obvious cases of sole liability) until they do a very lengthy "investigation" of the incident. This has resulted in major delays in getting damaged aircraft repaired. He authorized me to have the aircraft inspected, which I plan to do at the maintenance facility on the field. Repairs can be done locally or at a MSC. My carrier will then Subrogate the loss against the FBO, to help them find their checkbook sooner than later.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I now realize the need to put my insurance company on notice. When you are an Old Geezer, as I am, you want to keep a low profile with your insurance company, but they do need to know about this.

I went to the airport today to check the fuel level for a flight I was planning to take Thursday afternoon. I also put the updated CF cards in the CNX80 and MX20. Walking back to my truck, I couldn't remember if I closed the pilot's side window. As I turned to walk back to the plane, I saw an unoccupied SUV moving in reverse just as it hit the plane on the left side of the engine cowling!! See photos. The SUV belonged to the FBO, and two employees had driven out to put a Baron in a hangar across from my Shadeport tiedown. My guess is that they left the engine running, pulled the parking brake, but left the SUV in Reverse. Eventually the SUV started moving and accelerated in reverse. My best guess is that it was moving between 5 and 10 MPH when it hit the plane. I have already met with the FBO manager, who is putting his insurance company on notice. I also contacted AOPA Legal Services Plan to see what, if any, reports I should file with FAA. I am seeking advice from the MooneySpace Brain Trust on the following Mooney issues: 1. The impact displaced the nose of the plane an estimated 18 inches. My main concern is that the nose gear and main gear may have sustained impact-related side loads. What inspections/testing should be done to determine if there is damage? 2. The cowling has some exterior creasing (slight) and paint damage. The cowling has not been removed yet. Should I be looking for damage to the engine and/or engine mount? 3. At the point of impact I was not in a position to see if the SUV hit the prop. After the impact the SUV was not in contact with the prop, and there is no obvious damage to the prop that would indicate there was contact. Is the absence of any visible damage to the prop enough to rule out the need for an engine teardown? 4. Is this the type of incident where a Mooney Service Center should be involved? There is a very good shop on the field at KSAV that I have used in the past, but would I be better off getting a Ferry Permit and taking it to a MSC to evaluate the unusual issues here? As if this wasn't bad enough, I would like to get all this resolved ASAP so that I don't lose my slot at Wet Wingologists in August.

I recently made the mistake of taking the aluminum Tylenol from SAV (Savannah) to LaGuardia for a short meeting in NYC. Since there is only 1 nonstop flight, I had to leave the house in the middle of the night to get to the airport, and I didn’t get home until around midnight. LGA is so torn up that it takes a 1/2 mile walk, plus 2 shuttle buses to get from your arrival gate to the rental car facility. Of course the return flight was delayed, for no apparent reason (weather in NYC and south was CAVU). It was a miserable experience. I could have flown my M20K from SAV to FRG in about 4 1/2 hours, picked up a rental car at the FBO, attended the meeting and arrived at home in about 3/4 the total time of the airline trip, and with much less hassle. I have learned my lesson.

Great question. I will look in the GNS480 documentation to see if that is possible.

Based on the above responses, it seems that decommissioned VORs are being dropped from the database used by the GNS480 / CNX80 navigators, but not other Garmin GPSs. Although obsolete, my CNX80 is still a great box, so I will live with this limitation, and be prepared to tell ATC that I can't get there from here.

This^^^^^^^^^^^. I had an off-airport landing in my first K Model (engine failure) which resulted in relatively minor damage to the left wing. The shop that did the wing repairs advised me that the main and aux tanks were leaking, and the the insurance company had authorized them to do a reseal. This turned into an 8-month long game of Whack-a-Mole as the "resealed" tanks began to leak within days of each "repair". They clearly did not know how to correctly reseal a wet-wing Mooney. Stick with the experts mentioned by @LANCECASPER

Out of curiosity I looked at the JEN VOR that the person on the GNX480/CNX80 Forum described. In the case of that VOR, the FAA deleted portions of airways that used the JEN VOR as a fix. If you look at the IFR Low chart, the VOR is still there (with no airways running through it), and it was never given a five letter identifier. Guess that was too confusing to Garmin/Jeppesen to figure out what to do, so the VOR was deleted from the database for those GPS navigators (which have not been supported by Garmin for many years). Federal Register : Amendment of VOR Federal Airways V-17, V-18, V-62, V-94, V-163, and V-568 in the.pdf

A member of another group that I follow (Apollo/UPSAT/Garmin GNS480 CNX80 Owners Group) mentioned that he has been given amended clearances to decommissioned VORs that are no longer in the GPS Navigator database. He cites Glen Rose (JEN) and McAlester (MLC) as waypoints he has been given in amended clearances. This means "unable" and ATC has to come up with another re-route. I had not heard of this before. Has anyone experienced this issue?

+1 on filing IFR for entry into or departure from the SFRA as @Bolter mentioned. It makes it much easier than an SFRA Flight Plan. Also, NEVER squawk 1200 at any time in SFRA airspace. Doing so will earn you some quality time with the Friendly Aviation Administration (and possibly other agencies).

Not an FAA requirement, but if the seller is a member of AEA (Aircraft Electronics Association) I would ask them to check the serial numbers against the Stolen Avionics database to confirm that as of the date of sale, the avionics are not reported as stolen.

Consider how an Investigation is conducted. Following the Scientific Method, the Investigator collects evidence (factual information plus physical evidence) and develops Hypotheses of potential causes of the accident. Each Hypothesis begins as speculation. The investigator then tests each Hypothesis through either laboratory testing of physical evidence or "cognitive testing" (deductive reasoning) in situations where physical evidence does not exist or is damaged to the point that it cannot be reliably tested in a laboratory. Hypotheses may be ruled out through testing. The goal is to finally develop a single Hypothesis that is supported by the evidence and testing, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. As MS members interested in Aviation Safety we are following the Scientific Method to some extent, but we have no access to physical evidence, cannot perform laboratory testing, and have limited access to factual information. We are developing Hypotheses based on incomplete information, which leaves us in the speculation stage. Some of the Hypotheses, although reasonable and potentially probable, may be hurtful to family members and friends of the pilot and passengers. We need to keep that in mind in our comments on this public forum.

Well I guess this means that the post-maintenance preflight checklist now has to include "Check security of left side Shoulder Harness attachment bolt". Thanks @PT20J

Back in the beginning of 2022 I had 2 G5s and a 3 servo GFC500 installed. The existing Century 31 autopilot, HSI and Attitude indicator, plus the vacuum system were removed. My question is: Would the work described above require that the interior panels on the pilot's side be removed? The reason I ask is that at the end of a flight yesterday, while taxiing to my shade port, I reached over to open the door and get some ventilation going. To my amazement, my shoulder harness fell off its attachment point to the structure of the aircraft. I later found the attachment bolt lying on the floor behind my seat. It would be necessary to remove this bolt and the shoulder harness if a technician needed to remove the pilot's side interior panels to route cables etc. I checked the bolt and there is no sign of thread stripping or deformation - it seems to have simply backed out under no-load conditions. Fortunately I have not been in any situation where I needed my shoulder harness, but this could have made the difference between injury/death or not in an accident. I checked and the shoulder harness attachment bolt on the passenger side was tight.

Thanks @PT20J. I will look this up in the Pilot's Guide.