StevenL757

A brand-new installation of the GFC600 autopilot for a C340A or a T310R previously-quoted by my shop runs approximately $42k. The STEC3100 and the GFC500 are apples and oranges by comparison. Each has had its issues. You don't have to be an advocate or an opponent of Garmin's to realize this is merely a minor "speedbump" in the road for them. "This, too, shall pass".

Have your shop fully update the firmware/code on your 750, then after a restart, have them re-apply the JeppView unlock SD card and it should restore the Jepp chart functionality.

@mooniac58 FYI.

That sounds about right for someone in your position. Reasons you're seeing that premium number... 1. Hull value 2. Low total time 3. "0" make/model time. Unfortunately, the carrier doesn't care whether you've owned it for a year. 4. No Instrument Rating You can't (nor should you) reduce the hull value, but you CAN control the other three. Once you have a fair amount of time in type (around 100 hours), and pass your IFR Practical Exam, your next year's renewal is likely to be significantly less. Welcome to General Aviation. :-)

First off, I’d suggest getting those headsets off your glareshield and eliminate the risk of scratching your windscreen. :-) Second, welcome to the group. Third - your upgrade options are really based on your mission, future upgradability consideration, your ego, and the size of your wallet. Personally, I have my Ovation equipped as equal as possible to an airline cockpit, given my flows are similar. The G500TXi, GI275, and GFC500 (with YD option) are your best options to accomplish your long and short-term goals. I’d personally speak to your shop of choice, put your final design plans on paper, arrange to have a new panel cut (small dollars in the grand scheme), and your result will be nothing short of extraordinary. You’ll likely not need to spend any more money on upgrading for a very long time. The EDM900 and GTX345 should remain, given they’re excellent units, but you probably already know this. FYI - that unit in the panel is a “straight” GTN750, not a 750Xi. Garmin does have an upgrade path to trade up a 750 to a 750Xi unit…your shop can help you with this. Best of luck…let us know your thoughts and timeline as you go through the process. Steve

What you use on your tug battery probably isn’t a big deal, but if you’re considering a charger for your Ovation, get the proper charger for that SPECIFIC battery make and model. If you fly the aircraft more than about 100 hours per year, the battery likely wont need any charging in-between non-flying intervals. Steve

Personally, I would jump in the golf cart, run these things over to Brian Kendrick in McKee’s hangar and see if he has any interest. He’s around every day of the week except Saturday. I do know he was looking for some rocker switches to complete a couple of projects, but not sure if he found what he needed. He’s also working on a couple of breaker panels, so there might be some interest there. Just a thought. Steve

FlightAware only captures “recently-cleared” and issued IFR routes for various AC types, but my understanding is that they have no way of guaranteeing or knowing what specific route or routes an ATC facility will issue to any aircraft type on any given day. Furthermore, ATC often makes changes to initially-issued routes frequently. Unless I’m missing something, it’s kinda’ like the Forest Gump principle: Ya’ never know what you’re gonna’ git”.

Good point…sorry, I should’ve clarified. Certainly not a “pro” term. :-) Generally, it’s a point just outside the FAF (and at least 5nm from the runway) that tower controllers use internally to route traffic. They understand if you use the term that you’re able to stabilize your approach in time to make the runway and perform a normal, on-speed touchdown. Thrust reversers optional. Kidding. :-)

Interesting. On both my Ovation and work airplanes, that isn’t the case. Each crew member can transmit from their respective sides, and both pilots can essentially speak and be heard, however, if @TuomoMooneyFlying’s situation is as you describe, I can see where that would pose a challenge inflight.

Yeah, that's a good way to handle it. You're setting proper expectations by keeping them advised as to your intentions. If I choose to accept a request to keep speed up on final (in the Ovation anyway), I generally tell ATC "I can give you 150kts to the gate, and then I need to slow it up...will that work?". This lets them know you have control of the situation, are setting expectations, are able to safely keep the approach stabilized, and touch down at the acceptable speed to make a "normal" turnoff.

I've experienced this a few times in other airplanes. It sounded like your transmissions were broken, yet somewhat readable. To rule out a failure of the Capt. side PTT...start with these: Reach over to the F/O side PTT and see if that works. Switch radios (assuming you have more than one). Use your handheld microphone (assuming you have one). Try using a handheld comm radio, like a Yaesu, Icom, etc. (albeit, this has limited range if not connected to an aircraft antenna). Squawk 7600 so ATC knows you have a comm failure and can manage you accordingly. If I may, a couple of unsolicited pieces of advice based on your video... When clearing a runway, announce "clear of Runway XXX" rather than "clear of the active". Too many people use "the active", and it's really annoying, not to mention procedurally incorrect. Regardless of how many runways are in use at any airport, everyone needs to know where you are. They cannot assume - nor should you expect them to know - what "the active" is if they haven't landed or taken off yet, as a runway can change any time. When you were asked to keep your speed up on final, you acknowledged it, and made a comment about "landing long". There is no such thing. The proper term is "a long rollout", and it's something you should ask ATC for permission to do, as they expect you to turn off at the first-available and suitable runway exit. Without asking them and getting it approved, you may be forcing other traffic on short final behind you to go around unnecessarily. Lastly, if you're not comfortable with accepting an ATC instruction to keep your speed up on final, go around. Forcing the airplane to slow down quickly only helps de-stabilize the approach, which can lead to bad things. Hope this all helps. Good luck with the PTT issue, and let us know how it turns out. Steve

I installed these lights on my own Ovation as well as another one, and in both cases, the lights were too bright - meaning, the excessive brightness almost washed out the black background in the annunciator template, and caused the light in each individual annunciator block to "spill over" into the adjacent light block...causing what I perceived as a less-than-clean look to the entire set of lights. Doing a light test across the annunciator panel confirmed my findings. As much of a proponent as I am to LED lights in general, I had to pass on these specific bulbs for this application and switch back to the incandescent flavor. All $$ aside, the older bulbs simply gave a better presentation.

Were you in GPS (magenta line) or VOR/LOC (green line) mode at the time? (had to ask)

Agree. Sometimes, the ILS needs to be reset as it can “drop out”. This has happened more than once at JFK…where we’ve had to request the ILS be reset. Sometimes it happens before they can actually NOTAM it as out or partially out.