pwhicks

Unfortunately, no. I have the same AP on our 201. Century has moved on from any enhancements to that model. The options are to add a separate system such as STEC for altitude hold or replace the entire system. I am going the route of replacement for the Garmin GFC500 and dual 275s. None of the options are cheap and this has option has the best integration and functionality. The Century 21 also does not provide flight director information to our Aspen which is a negative. The aspen will go away in our next upgrade to the Garmin.

I do that route several times a year and just pick a few NAV AIDS that keep me along the coast and let the controllers tweak it in the air if MOAs light up. I have a family with me who like to eat at the stop so KHSA wins quite often as the stop. Pilot gets a free meal and it’s a nice place. KMEI is another popular stop for us with cheap gas and free hot dogs. They will lend you a car if you want better food. Weather along coast usually determines which of the 2 I actually stop at. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would look into a Purple Simply Seat cushion. They designed those to help people in wheel chairs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In addition to high headwind scenarios. It would be pretty easy to stay slow enough to forget the gear when staying in the pattern practicing landings or after a go around. Our J never really gets above 120mph in that scenario as I’m having to back of the throttle to stop climbing. It is also the only scenario (so far #KnockOnWood) that I caught myself not descending correctly and realized I missed it on the downwind. When I’m coming in to an airport visually from cruise speeds, my first step is to slow down over the top or from the diagonal (usually having to climb slightly) and drop the gear to try to get slowed towards flap speeds. With instrument approaches, I don’t find the same conditions and potential issue since I’ve stabilized my settings miles from the airport and am waiting to throw my gear to catch the glide slope. I’d be interested to see what % of gear ups are during visual conditions. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Mine did about the same symptoms until it eventually couldn’t drive my Century AP in a straight line and I was stuck hand flying home from FL to TX. It did turn out to be the Vacuum Pump which had shredded itself internally (hence metal frags on the screen) and was also leaking oil (minor). Maxwell diagnosed and replaced from an East TX shop nearby. It wasn’t THAT expensive to fix. Now that there are other excellent options are out there and more coming, I am planning for a non-vacuum fix in the future if either the ADI or vacuum pump act up again with all money going towards modern options. Your options will likely be a decision tree of goals and interconnected systems. The Dynon etc. will be a great economically positioned option in a stand alone requirement that isn’t connected to an incompatible AP. My AP is fed from my ADI and has rules for compatible sources. If you have a great long term AP today and can use an Aspen or similar to replace the AP signals, then that compatibility will give you a few options to consider. If you need to drive a brand new AP upgrade and, for instance, if you want a GFC500, you need a Garmin G5. If you are looking at the Bendix King as a future path, another set of options exist. TruTrak...other options. I’m dialing in my end goal, which is a replacement for my Century 21 AP to fly coupled approaches with altitude hold and GS capture. That limits my options, but at least it narrows the field to something I can quickly validate or invalidate. Since it’s been 7 years since Rudy’s fixed up my ADI and 3 years since my vacuum pump was replaced, I’m starting to get ready to have to do something on the gremlins timeline.

Me too! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don, I did this with a gallon gas can after tank repair a few years ago. This is on a ‘79 M20J. The stick is the generic stick available from the pilot shops measured from the flat wing bottom. It took 9 gallons to even have anything to measure. It took 33 to fill to the lip. Stick Gauge : Gallons (unusable factored) 1.25 : 9 2 : 11 3 : 13 4 : 16 5 : 19 6.5 : 21 7.5 : 23 8.5 : 25 9 : 27 13.25 : 33 You can see my patience adjusted after I got to the tabs. I didn’t do anything special for grounding since I was using plastic jugs/funnels.

Where are you located? I just had Sal in DFW rebuild my four cylinders. One was the first to show major signs and 2 others also followed soon afterwards. Oil consumption was up. Mag checks were different. Oil traces on bottom plugs and oil on the exhaust side of plane. It still flew Mooney fast out of climb. Have you looked at the plugs on that cylinder? Stuck and shot ring for me. Also when they were previously rebuilt 500 hours prior by a previous owner, Sal was not impressed with several things as he inspected on tear down and the bore was worn to tolerance on the 3 that showed blow by. I saved the piston that the ring was digging into that needed replacement. Glad we found it before it let go in IFR with my family, which would be normal Murphy law. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I bought our 201 on eBay before I had a license after 1 hour of student training. I don't recommend that as an example! I didn't quite realize the extent of that abnormal decision until I heard people at the airfield restaurant talking about THIS GUY who... I joined them in the convo for about 15 minutes until I said...I think you are actually talking about ME! Priceless moments in life...they are now the chatty Kathies that are super friendly now. Fortunately, my instructors and now Mooney family friends did everything possible to train, help, challenge decisions, and support. This forum can help you connect with that Mooney family. We have been blessed with a great plane that we upgraded quite extensively and have definitely experienced the ownership experience of wet wings as you have been initiated in earlier posts. The plane is wonderful. I trained on the typical Cessna fleet and transitioned right after. IFR immediately following. Less than 5 years later we have 500+ hours on our 201. The family loves it. Does the plane have an autopilot that will satisfy you for the future (AKA alt hold, glideslope capture, etc)? Replacing vacuum gauges on an older frame is normal. Replacing AP too has been expensive estimate. TruTrak please hurry! I agree with the previous poster on historical repaired damage incident. That is far different than recent damage and recent repair. You have to have faith in the machine or pass. It is your life and those you cherish most. Things that we also had to do over the years to get her (aka Alpha) back to proper shape was gear disks, nose gear dent damage, starter, alternator, voltage regulator, prop maintenance, wear items...there will be extra bills once in a while. Alpha had very few hours for about a decade. The Mooney is a phenomenal plane that you can transition to as your first and potentially lifetime airplane. It's been a great experience for our family! We are off to the beach tomorrow! You REALLY need a Mooney CFII as your transition instructor. MAPA has an active list which will have someone in your region. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly the same thing happens with our '79 J. I emailed our avionics shop last week about it. Easy way to excite everyone by dialing the fuel guages to zero. I impacts our fuel gauges, fuel pressure and oil pressure. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll try to dig up my panel pics, but did a similar project. Our end result for part 1 was Aspen removing turn bank and hsi's. At the time, Aspen didn't have a certification to control the Century autopilot so I had to have vacuum to the artificial horizon. That has now changed and someday I'll G5 or second Aspen and let the Aspen control the AP. Added 750, flight stream 201, gdl88, GTX transponder and GMA audio while keeping kx155 for secondary radio. All worth it. Had to recently replace my vacuum pump which only controls my auto pilot aka the secondary artificial horizon. Will be happy when I can remove that too. Flight Stream 501 would be nice for updating the 750. Since our project, the Garmin audio has built in blue tooth available. Wish I could have that too now but its rip and replace. If the options were available when I had the panel open, hind sight would have done it all that single event. If my artificial horizon starts to act up then phase 2 will begin...g5/or Aspen 2 along with altitude hold. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^^^^^^ This shutdown process works very well. I do the same every time except I settle to about 1200 RPM when I shut down. Cold Starts are always simple after a 3-5 second mixture full rich Boost. Hot Starts are also very simple with only having to smoothly add mixture when it fires.

I fly my family of 4 from DFW to NY and FL a few times a year in our '79 201. They were adolescent when we started that. They are now full sized young adults. (5'6" daughter and 6' son). The kids still happily climb in and go see Grammy! It has impacted how we pack and fuel load now involves planning vs taking 64 gallons every time we fuel as we used to be able to do. It usually works out since we get hungry too! My first and only trip to Denver with passengers had high DA in the afternoon in September and that was not an experience I enjoyed with the mushy climb. It validated the advice of morning take offs and light as possible. My lesson learned for upgrading the plane we bought is that finding a good condition plane with the autopilot you want already installed is a good idea for your wallet. Finding one ADS-B updated with a 750 would be an even better bonus saving the labor cost part of the upgrade. The options to date for AP in the 201 have stayed pricey. Maybe the new FAA changes will help with competitive options. The 201 has been a great choice for us since we can afford to keep it maintained and fly it with the budgets we have as a family. I plan for 155k TAS and fuel plan 11 GPH. We usually do better on the TAS 158k to 162k and also on the fuel while flying with settings based on avoiding the Red Box theory dialed in with the JPI. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm troubleshooting a similar issue. The UP trim works great. The DOWN trim, I hear a click and the clutch engages which makes the trim wheel stick, but I can overpower it to manually trim down. For a while it only worked in the air...now it is UP only and DOWN has a click. My AP suggested the motor is tired. '79 M20J has a Century II AP no Altitude Axis.

http://wsvn.com/news/local/south-florida-couple-who-crash-landed-in-flagler-county-shares-ordeal/ Here's a follow up interview which was later in a comment on a Facebook post from a witness. Great ending to a scary moment.