Skates97

What a great flight, brings back memories of our Coast to Coast a couple years ago in our D. I had no autopilot either. I just had a GFC500 installed and after some flights with it I can't wait to do another Coast to Coast.

I bought my D for $36k and the plan was for it to be a forever plane from the beginning. It fit my mission then and will fit it through retirement which is hopefully about 12-15 years off. It wasn't everything I wanted but was what I could afford and it has a clean airframe and a decent interior. That was 5 1/2 years ago and since that time as I had the extra funds I have overhauled the panel and just had a GFC500 installed. Even though I did all the panel overhaul myself I still have more invested in the plane than the purchase price but I know I'm going to fly it for hopefully the next 25+ years. I don't regret any of the money I have spent as it has been either to increase safety or enjoyment or both. Even if I had to sell in the next couple of years I wouldn't regret it because of the joy it has given me flying.

I checked, forgot that I had already sold it to another Mooneyspacer last year.

Reading that it makes me feel even better about my self installation. I put in dual G5's, a GNC355, and a PMA450B and I think probably had about 120 hours in the job. An avionics shop I'm sure could do it quicker but I went methodically slow and haven't had any squawks from the installation.

I think I still have the one out of my plane, I'll try to remember to look and take pictures when I'm at the hangar tomorrow.

It will also roll wings level. On an approach if you are going missed hit the go around button and add power and clean up the plane like @toto said. On your GPS you will have the option to unsuspend the approach or leave it suspended. If you are going to be flying the missed approach procedure then hit unsuspend and the GFC500 will fly the missed approach including the hold. If you were given instructions to fly a vector after going missed (which often happens around here) then leave it suspended and dial the heading in and press the HDG button. Set your altitude pre-select and you are on your way.

They lost me. I was on a waiting list for the TruTrack install. I finally gave up, put in G5's last year and picked up my plane last Wednesday from a GFC500 installation. Flew from SoCal to St George and back last weekend. After 500+ hours hand flying without even the wing leveler I felt like I died and went to heaven. I'm sure I would have been happy with the TruTrack, but I don't regret spending the extra for the GFC500.

I went through the same when I had the 830 installed and then when I replaced it with the 900. I have times where it is dead on and when it is off by up to a gallon, which isn't bad when I'm adding 40 gallons. I have found a lot of places I'm am not parked perfectly level at the pumps and it doesn't take much to change whether I get the full 26 in a tank or 25.5. I should add that I always stick the tanks before every flight, I don't rely on what the gage is showing even though I have the CIES senders which are very accurate.

Go to @donkaye's website linked below and spend the $25 for his DVD and watch it a few times, then review it as needed. It is worth your money and time. https://donkaye.com/landing-video

Unless it is gusty you shouldn't have to add/remove power on final. In an E you should be trimmed so you are at 80 mph hands off. As Hank said, if you are touching down at 80 mph you are flying it on and too fast. You should be able to pull power when you have thru runway made, flare out, and touch down smoothly. It will take practice. You should also be able to hold the nose off if you aren't releasing pressure on the yoke when you touch down, of course if you are touching down at 80 mph and trying to hold the nose off you will balloon back up. When I was first flying my Mooney (with about 60 total hours) I would let the nose drop right after the mains touched. Practice trying to hold the nose off, it will help improve your landings. You can retract flaps after touching down, but it is not necessary. Some say don't touch anything until you exit the runway others retract flaps. I retract mine on roll out, but mistaking the flap lever with the Johnson Bar is not going to happen. You can also brake with flaps still down, just be gentle on the brakes to keep from putting flat spots on your tires. Use aerodynamic braking first, bringing the yoke all the way back and that will bleed off speed.

I wonder what is a "high turn rate." Apparently steep turns at 45° bank angle doesn't count.

Nope, not sure what it was picking up as returns on flight awarw, there wasn't even much of a marine layer yet that evening. However we are in the May Gray/June Gloom time of year so should be able to get some actual on Saturday morning flights. We're going to St George this weekend so next IFR training flight is scheduled for the morning of June 5th. Crossing my fingers for some actual.

I can't answer the first one. For the battery backup just select that option, it is an internal battery backup. It adds $180 to the price. I haven't been able to find anything saying how long the battery backup lasts. I should just pull the breaker on it on a flight and see how long it will go. I have pushed the button to have it go to battery after shutting off the master and just let it run for a bit, from a short test and watching the percentage of power go down I am inclined to believe it is only about a 1 hour backup battery. I think I will give it a test on battery Friday when we fly to St George.

I'm a little behind on my blogging. Flights 13 and 14 were April 28th and May 1st and for the first time since beginning my IFR journey I made it through a whole flight without help on the radios. In the Aviate, Navigate, Communicate order of things it felt great to fly multiple approaches and have enough brain power to do all three of those things. The plane has been in the avionics shop the last 3 1/2 weeks having the GFC500 installed and I pick it up tomorrow afternoon. After 500 hours of hand flying and 15 hours of hand flying simulated IFR it will be nice to have the added benefits the AP can provide. https://intothesky.com/2021/05/25/ifr-training-breakthrough/

#102-403-11-09, Pitch Sync, Slip/Skid, Turn Rate, Battery Backup, no pitot/static. I haven't noticed any errors, it has been solid. We have done quite a bit of unusual attitudes during my IFR training and I haven't noticed any issues. For flying on instruments it is easier to fly than the G5 as there is nothing else on the screen. For "partial panel" work he turned off both the G5's and I just flew the 2610, the compass card, Air Speed Indicator, and Altimeter. The 2610 made me feel like I was cheating.

I replaced my turn coordinator with an RCA 2610-3, it is a simple install of power and ground and very easy to fly. Comes with a battery backup and has slip/skid as well as turn rate. Well worth the money in my opinion to have a solid backup to the G5's in my panel.

You can count on it, the money goes to a good cause! If someone else wants it they know where the bidding will start.

I pay $464 for a T-Hangar at KFUL, but the waiting list I think is in the 12-18 month range right now. I have a friend that has been on it for at least 6 months and hasn't moved up on the list at all...

Hmmm... Last Summit I was fortunate to get the Aveo Ultra Galactica wingtip lights, I guess I know what I'm bidding on this year.

In 2019 on our cross country trip @neilpilot picked my boys and I up at Dewitt Spain and took us on a tour of Memphis including a stop at Central BBQ. We still talk about how good that BBQ was! Blog writeup from 2019 - https://intothesky.com/2019/07/12/coast-to-coast-mission-tour-day-3/

I have a lot of hours here in the LA Basin but before every flight I still carefully review my route and the altitudes I need to be at for everyone's airspace. The VFR transition over LAX is convenient and easy. The airspace here is crowded but easy enough to navigate if you have a tablet in the plane. SoCal is really good about flight following, I haven't ever had them deny it but sometimes it takes a little bit to get your call in. I don't know how SMO does it but at KFUL, Ground will get you setup with a squawk before you taxi so it is an easy turn to 120° on departure and contact SoCal.

I use my phone to listen to music or books, glancing over at that has reminded me on long flights that I need to plug my phone in and charge it for a bit.

I have a Garmin transponder, dual G5's, a GNC355, GFC500 currently getting installed, but I put the 450B in as my audio panel. I love it, can't say enough about it. The isolation modes, co-pilot as Pax setting so my son doesn't have to hear the radios when it's just the two of us flying and he wants to listen to music, two Bluetooth inputs plus direct audio input so everyone can listen to something different, the setting where you hear one radio on one side and the other from a virtually different location (I can't remember what it's called), making crystal clear calls on my phone through the headset, and recently found that if I'm receiving a call on my phone the phone number pops up on the 450B display like caller ID and you can answer or end the call with the soft keys on the audio panel. I know there are more functions, but those are just a few. I know Paul @gsxrpilot is a fan of the 450B as well.

About a month ago we flew up to Redding in Northern California for my granddaughter's baptism. To escape the LA Basin we headed east to find clear skies and get on top of the marine layer. I'm still working on the IFR rating or it would have been an easy climb up through it.... I didn't have cameras going but flying past Mt Wilson with the marine layer pushed right up against the mountain I pulled out my phone for this quick video.

Yes, no problems at all with them. The first one I bought was on a lightning deal with Amazon and I think was $80 so I thought what the heck, I've thrown that much money at stuff that didn't work before, why not give it a try. Even at $100 it's not a bad deal to try out, the jump to the 4K at $250 is more than I would want to roll the dice on. From what I have read unless you are planning to put it on a big screen TV the 4K isn't noticeable. Even watching the videos from the Ghost X on my 75" TV they are crisp and look good. I'm sure if I watched the 1080p side by side with 4K I could tell, but for what I'm doing I'm very happy.