Mooney in Oz

I think that this is actually a good suggestion that might work or somehow keep them occupied by concentration. I’ve known airline pilots while seated in the cabin when required to reposition (aka deadheading) to feel nauseas during flight due to turbulent conditions, however I’ve never known any to feel nauseas from turbulence when seated in the flight deck during flight.

Here you go - Transport Safety Board of Canada report. Have a look at the pictorial flight path following loss of control at what must have been a terrifying ride. Glad it was a successful outcome and not a tragedy. https://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2021/A21P0001/A21P0001.html

The Vantage is indeed impressive. However, the current units are designed to initially replace ageing Avidyne Entegra units that were originally fitted as OEM products to early model Cirrus aircraft. At this stage, it is not available for other aircraft types. In any case, my understanding is that these 12” screens are very expensive and too big for the short and mid body Mooney panel. Who knows whether the units would fit into a long body panel or if Avidyne will likely release a smaller version to fit all Mooneys and other GA aircraft panels given that Garmin already have a stronghold on the big screen market with the G500 Txi and G3X screens. If you still want to seek real life opinions on the Vantage screens then your best bet is to access Cirrus forums.

I vaguely remember years ago reading somewhere of a no lower than 1,500’ AGL limitation for parachute deployment. Is this still a limitation?

No worries Torrey and apologies for getting your name wrong. Corrected accordingly.

Thank goodness it didn’t happen at night.

I agree with you Hank, but I think it’s still easier to deal with when no missed approach is necessary. Did this happen to you at night?

G’day Torrey, In IMC conducting an instrument approach, I prefer to drop the gear at the IAF or IF (10 miles) at the latest as 5 miles is way too close for my comfort. Habits have merit when visual and help with distractions. However in IMC during the final leg of an approach, if it suddenly gets busy whether having to deal with ATC or other multiple aircraft at uncontrolled fields that suddenly call up, appear on the traffic display, on the ground or any other issue then distraction can easily happen. A major cause of gear up landings is distraction. If IMC there is no need to drag the aircraft in any of the approach segments. Unless a chart restriction applies, a low IAF restriction of 2,000’ does not mean you have to be at 2,000’ all the way to the chart descent point. At the IAF (assuming 15 miles with no ATC restrictions) I select gear down and commence descent from 4,500’ AGL (3 x 15 - assuming no terrain and field is at SL) at a 3 degree profile all the way to the MAP or runway if visual at the MAP. I believe this method also reduces the risk of busting step down altitudes as indicated by the OP in the thread title. By the time I’m at the FAF, the gear is down, aircraft configured, checklist is complete and I’m fully conversant with the missed approach procedure. When inside 5 miles, all I need to do is monitor the descent in accordance with the chart and I’m ready for anything that’s thrown at me. A 5 mile final when visual in a quite environment is mundane, but in IMC during an approach with sudden distractions, time passes incredibly fast. The above is what I was taught years ago by a highly experienced check and training Captain that I’ve carry through to my Mooney flying instrument approaches and works well for me. An afterthought - Commencing an approach in IMC, a gear malfunction is easier to deal with at 15 miles at 4,500’ rather than 5 miles at 1,500’ during the final descent phase.

Notwithstanding ATC runway heading instructions, a rule of thumb I was taught in regard to crosswind takeoffs is to set the heading bug left or right into the wind at half the wind strength value. After lift off, fly the bugged heading until ready to turn. It should as best as possible keep you aligned with the runway with minimal drift. For example, take off runway 36 with a 10 knot crosswind from the left then set heading bug to 355 or if it’s a 20 knot crosswind then set heading bug to 350. The same concept applies for right crosswinds.

I don’t know the stats, however I believe that FIKI was simply an optional extra on the Acclaim and the later Type S that perhaps was not taken up by too many customers.

I had mine installed earlier this year in February as a backup to the G3X and it has worked fine ever since. I let it count down to off after turning the master switch off.

Hello Steve. I can only try to help with the problem you are experiencing with the GPSS failing. Although it’s been years since I’ve operated a G1000, I don’t know if your problem is exclusive to that same setup, but here goes. I used to have a 55X, an Aspen and 2 IFD’s that I retained. I discovered that on the ground, after switching on the avionics master if I switched on the 55X without allowing the navigators to complete initialisation before the 55X fully initialised, the 55X GPSS would not engage after takeoff. Recycling the 55X off then back on and following reinitialisation, the 55X GPSS would work. Following this discovery I made sure the navigators fully initialised on the ground first before switching on the 55X and never had the problem again. This was not written in any manual and even my installer was unaware of this solution. Although I am unsure if the brand of navigators contributed to the problem or you have a deeper issue, it still might be worth a try.

I am not familiar with US IP laws, but to me this is no different to applying Mooney logos following a full strip and repaint or a new panel following an avionics upgrade. Not withstanding that Hector (Aero Comfort) for a period of time manufactured and provided Mooney with OEM interiors, I’d be surprised if he has Mooney’s or any other aircraft manufacturer’s permission to add embroidered logos to private customer interior upgrades.

Hello Philip. Stetson is referring to the glareshield, otherwise known as the instrument panel cover.

I’ll let others chime in with their opinions as to the cause of what could’ve been a tragic outcome. Well done in keeping your cool and bringing you and your bird in to land safely resulting in a good outcome. I’m also glad this didn’t occur during an IMC or night departure.

Before Auto-VLOC tuning came along or if I prefer to do a manual intercept, I found a good habit to get into is set the inbound course after the ILS frequency is entered into the standby or active Nav slot.

Modern systems do (Auto-VLOC tuning), but older systems won’t.

My guess is you have more than just a SW compatibility problem as you have a complete Garmin suite. I’m sure there are many similar installs out in the field flying around with Jepp data, charts and maps without the issues you have.

Provide the already downloaded logs on the G3X SD card for the particular flight to your avionics installer to send to Garmin tech support. The G3X screen going black is not normal behaviour.

Auto-slew is provided when the HSI course indicator automatically slews either left or right onto the appropriate track without pilot input, when passing overhead a defined point in your GPS flight plan or LLZ and is mainly used in EFIS systems. Although the tracks or approaches can be hand flown, for full benefit the system requires a capable autopilot with GPSS roll steering. It is useful in a high workload environment, such as during an instrument approach in IFR conditions, followed by a missed approach that might require a couple of track changes at short distance.

First or last to peak?

Have you recently flown through rain?

I find the Trend Vector feature with the traffic system on the Garmin G3X display to be similarly useful.

Compressions of #1, #2 & #4 seem rather low for a Lyc IO-360.

Any worthwhile information come out of the seminar?