Hyett6420

My two pennys worth. Its a really useful video amd helps Mooney pilots greatly. Re quality…well there is a lot of P..n that is older and done on lower quality than modern methods of filming, but it still conveys what it needs to convey. Ne C’est Pas?

Thank you to all for your kind words. If someone can remind me how to post pictures, ill send some from France, assuming of course my Haematologist allows me to go when I see him on the 2nd July!

Well when we do camping we do it in style. We have a Coleman Kitchen, Coleman Gazebo, Outwell tent for 6, but there are only 2 of us, wardrobes, blowup mattresses on a blowup slatted king size bed, 2” feather toppers, duvets, cotton sheets, duck feather pillows etc. it all fits into our Volvo XC90 (with large roof box). . I would add a photo, but cant work out how to. The place we go to is Serignan, France. Miles and Miles of un interrupted sand and dunes.

Just hand flying then , changing frequencies, or adjusting the routing, ie just taking your eye off the ball for a few seconds can easily get you into the beginnings of loss of control.

Flew with a 5’7” pilot last week. He had a booster cushion so he could see over the console well enough, but could reach the pedals just fine. Didn’t even have the seat full forward. I have mentee (Kathan Dudhela, google him I’m quite proud of this kid) who is a bit shorter and he cant reach the pedals, but with the cushion can see over the console. Nb both chaps were in the right seat. First one is a safety Pilot for me, Kathan just someone who loves flying in the Mooney. Hope that helps.

Hi all A quick update. Have had lots of treatment and it is keeping me alive but not forever. Its getting harder each round of chemo. Im still flying baby and @Oldguy joined me a few months ago as my safety pilot and I was able to fly him over the white cliffs of dover. He adored this. Am self certified medically, as I lost my class 2 on diagnosis. My medical team is very happy with progress but as they said later in the year we will need to have some more difficult conversations. Husband Andrew is doing a sponsored swim to help one of the charities that is giving me emoitional support and also research on what I have. Basically in laymans terms there is a protein called P53 that stops cell reproduction going mad. The dna for that protein in my blood is ummm yes broken. Noone knows why it happens but it does. If they can find out why then there is a cure for this for all the others that come after me. If you would like to, please feel free to donte on Andrews justgiving page. https://www.justgiving.com/page/andrewswims4hcc Am currently busy planning one last big camping trip to the South of France in July, something I thought I would never do. Ill send pics when im there. Hope you are all well. Please if you want to pop over and see London and me at the same time, you are most welcome. very best regards Andrew ps MD Andreson knows all about me and said they were happy with what UCL in London are doing and they often exchange ideas about treatments for cancer.

@Alan Fox @Deb @carusoam @Hank @LANCECASPER @mooniac58 @Marauder @Skates97 @gsxrpilot @bradp and lots of others. May I all ask you please to send me an E:mail on Andrew@andrewhyett.com, include your telephone details as well please. 3 weeks ago I was happily flying baby, when I got a call from my Doctor telling me I had anemea, following a routine blood test. Referred to the relevant clinics and a quick Biopsy revealed the worst. We went to the consultants on the 24th October thinking "oh a bit of chemo and it will all be well", but were told "I might make summer, your TP53 genetics are broken as well, we have no cure." I basically have MDS and AML (the doctors amongst you will understand) Needless to say Andrew and I are heartbroken as we were planning our retirement in France etc. If you can all drop me a mail, Ill add you to a mailing list so we can keep you updated on stuff. You have all been great friends to me over the years and Ill miss you greatly, but as the Doctor says "its just S H I T ". Ill never forget the support you gave to me in the refurb of Baby nor the same for when we got married. Lots of love Andrew PS Sorry to put this on here like this, but i cant seem to be able to do private message anymore.

Thats something i so want so thank you for the info.

for europe I would add these two guys, but they are not on Mooneyspace. Avionik Straubing (Martin) and North Weald Heritage Aviation (Chris). Old school, amazing chaps.

No the failing part is the Attitude Indicator. It has an electronic output to the autopilot that tells the ap that the Attitude has changed (vertical and horizontal). Ours has a failing part in the vertical output. So yes the Aspen WILL fix it, but we want to upgrade the aspen to a max before fitting it. So we are searching for a replacement AI. As for when th AP was failing the test sequence tbh we have no idea what fixed it. We have had a LOAD of avionics works done that required the panel to be pulled apart and the problem (touch wood) has disappeared. We did have to replace the trim switch housing so all the wiring had to be redone so it was possible that that “fixed” it. Andrew

Nope sorry we had done the maths. An Aspen install with a2nd aspen is a damn sight cheaper than a G5 install and a gfc500. We have saved over 6k gbp doing it this way. And why swap out a perfectly functioning autopilot. The only thing NOT working is the AI. So change that to digital and we have a good solution. oh and did I mention i hate Garmin.

Quick update to all on out winter hibernation issues. We found an AMAZING avionics guy, who is an old fashioned electrical engineer. You know those guys who use volte meters etc to measure resistance across circuits. So…. Panel Lights this came down to a blown fuse. - underneath the panel light rheostat switches, you will see two little grey “tits”. If you unscrew these there are two little SLOW BLOW fuses of 5 amp. One of these had blown. Our guy went further to try and work out why. He discovered a rheostat transistor on the panel was overheating, so this was replaced as well, and soldered in. The Tit Fuses were upgraded slightly to cope with the increased current draw that had been added over the years to 6 amp. All now works beautifully. Autopilot. this has been an interesting journey and we have learnt TONS. I can honestly say its been a bit like the no back spring thing. I now know EXACTLY how the BK autopilots work and it really is a brilliant piece of kit. So the issue with ours (KFC150) is that post lockdown the AI failed to erect, (at my age, I'm told this is normal). This AI was swapped out for an “exchange reconditioned “ unit. This unit worked well (ie erected and tracked well) but the AP developed a tendency to porpoise. This was definitely a fault of the new AI so a another recon unit was installed. This one, OMG, flies with the FD perfectly, but the moment you engage the AP will pitch down at an alarming 2+k fpm dive, then correct and do the same up, and on it goes. AP as a consequence is useless, but it has helped us keep our IMC manual skills upto date!!! So Chris (our new found avionics guy) got to work. He setup a vacuum system, put the plane on jacks and connected the instruments upto the vacuum system he had setup so that the instruments could be operated in an inflight mode, but without starting the engine. He managed to reproduce the fault, always a good start…put the AP system on a rig and tested everything. Previously he had gone through EVERY piece of cabling to test for shorts, and unnatural voltage drops etc. The wiring was good. He found a bit of the loom was rubbing on the yoke pushrod so he tied that back. He also found that the bushes that the yoke push rod goes through were a bit crudded up, so he cleaned those up and lubed it (he felt it could have added resistance to the trim servo). Oh boy are the controls better now, a LOT lighter, something for you all to do perhaps. Makes a huge difference…. so the AP… on the rig it was discovered that there was no output from the AI for pitch. The AP monitors attitude and altitude and it does this by receiving inputs from the static system, HSI and the AI. All done by measuring the AC signals that these instruments send to the AP. If for example the altitude is off by a few feet the AP will send a signal to the trim to trim down/up a bit, it receives a signal from the AI via an AC sine wave that the AP reads and depending on the strength, length etc of the wave the AP can tell that the correct attitude has been made, if it does not receive this signal it will just continue to apply trim, because it assumes that the plane has not been adjusted yet. Now the BIG difference between the older APs and the later ones is that in the later ones, the trim is only put in for a little while, then if the AP receives no signal, it assumes there is a fault and cuts out the trim. A GOOD safety feature. On discussing this with our avionics guy, he let us into a little known facet on info. When you AI is reconditioned at a shop, invariably the gyros, lasers etc are checked and replaced, mirrors aligned etc. But very rarely are the little sensors that send out the electrical circuits checked and replaced. Thus you can get a recon AI that you THINK works ok ie it erects, but the important electrical bits at the back have not been tested/replaced. Definitely caveat empor. anyway we are now looking for another exchange unit that WORKS, while we get the Aspen that we have bought of an old saratoga, upgraded to a max, so we can install that and have the cockpit that we want. Ill post an update on here when we have one. If anyone knows of a GOOD recon shop for KI units, I would be interested. Andrew

Hi guys. its been a long time since I jumped on here. I do hope all is well with you all. I miss you, especially the Summit. Im having a little issue and need your help please. Baby is having a few winter gremlins. We discovered that the flight instrument lights (panel lights) have not worked post summer. I think they are still sleeping and have nit come out if hibernation. We have so far done the following:- reset relevant CBs a few times Checked the glareshield lights all working. NB as part of the instrument install we installed a gdc31, and the switch that flicks this between hdg and gps is connected to the rheostats for the glareshield and panel lights (not sure which though) below the rheostats are two little grey dome covers that cover two fuses. We have removed and “looked” at these fuses, but nothing else. so questions:- are these little fuses available to buy anywhere? has anyone ever lost all their panel lights and what was the solution any other ideas? Its a tad annoying. thanks in advance Andrew @GlennT this is “our” ongoing thread by the way. I post all baby things in here, so its easier to find for all.

Yes we were gently listening to Jean Michel Jarre Oxygene as we flew across the North sea. I love how it fades the music back in after a transmission. It got a tad busy over the east coast of the UK so we turned off the music. My only complaint would be that on the panel it has CP as Pax instead of CPX. I had to read the menu to see what CPX stood for when it would be easy for them to display what CPX actually is. :). As for GPSS oh that really is the dogs bollocks, I LOVE it and am so glad we spent that little bit extra to put it in. Only next thing is to plan AP upgrade to the Aerocruze. We will stick with the vacuum stuff for the time being till it fails again and then go for a full glass panel. Ah planes, no wonder my bank manager hates me. :).

So that day arrived on Friday (almost 4 yrs to the day when i started writing this thread) when the weather gods and the install gods were in alignment. Covid-19 restrictions allowing I and my co-pilot flew commercial to Holland, took the train from Amsterdam to Roosendahl, my co-pilot then bought a shed load of beer and we took a taxi to Seppe, just down the road to pick up Baby after she had had her final upgrade of what I planned all those years ago when i first saw her in 2015 and bought her. She now has full GPSS and a FMS (ifd540) new audio panel (oh boy that is soooo sexy, thanks @gsxrpilot for insisting I went for a PM450B). The sound is amazing. The Avidyne 540 is so good, with the GDC31 interfacing into the autopilot. Put the flightplan into IFD540, activate flightplan, press the little GPS/heading button for the GDC31, put the autopilot into hdg mode and she flies the route steady as a rock, turns on the waypoints, flew down my makeshift approach into my home airport. Love it. Total cost a DAMN sight less than the GFC500 rip it all and install Garmin approach. The IFD540 even comes with a little keypad. I thought gimic when i first saw this but its extremely useful. Trying to input things in turbulence becomes a doddle with this little baby. My co-pilot for the day (which made it a commercial flight so we did not need to quarantine) sat there typing away. He normally instructs in VFR so when we flew into a little IMC half way across the North Sea he said “im scared”. Made me laugh, as I love IMC and we had made sure all the stuff was working as expected before we launched from VMC to IMC. Oh did I tell you he also managed to break the bracket on the P2 seat back. Fortunately before we had even started the engine, so the wonderful people at Aeroskill Mastenbroek are doing their aero skills and fixing it for us. He’s a big rugby player and used a little too much muscle when leaning backwards! Now we have some old fully functioning radios and things to sell.... see later post. photos of installation will follow later, we were too busy playing with our new toys.