Schllc

https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2021/19-11-2021-spirit-of-innovation-stakes-claim-to-be-the-worlds-fastest-all-electric-vehicle.aspx?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=sustainability&utm_term=organic&utm_content=image

I’m pretty sure the market for a non pressurized turboprop would be incredibly strong if there was one out there that was efficient, affordable, and had adequate UL. It’s the build it and they will come approach, but there have been so many unfulfilled promises in the past by startups, its kind of hard for anyone to put faith into development. Maybe the technology(money) just isn’t available to accomplish the “big three”, but if it were to happen, I’d bet every nickel I had the market would suck them up. While I’d love nothing more to see it on a Mooney, If anyone could do it today, it would probably be cirrus.

I have owned both the sky tech and the energizer. I didn’t have any problems with either and I fly 200+ hours a year and a few times a week. I replaced starter on my first Mooney less than five hours into ownership. I put in a sky tech because I didn’t know the difference. Two years and 500 hours later I had no problems. Never had to replace another starter, on any of my other mooneys. I have a feeling that hot starts, or idleness are what take most of these out...

No, I didn’t mix it up. Somewhere earlier in the thread someone threw out the number of $3,000,000. I added an extra two mil for profit and overhead. This is all arbitrary anyway, and the general premise still applies. The factory isn’t likely to do it, and most owners aren’t likely to buy it, so it’s pretty much moot.

My understanding through the rumor mill is that the new gear or modifications would fit in the existing wheel well. That seems to be logical, and the in,y practical way you could accomplish this without it costing an exorbitant amount compared to just really expensive. I would be interested in the “around $50k” range. I think it would add that or close to it in actual value to the plane. if $5,000,000 was the number for the research, mod and parts it would only take 100 planes to pay for it, and there are at least 4x that in long bodies. It seems unlikely that it would ever happen, and just as unlikely that there are 100 people would spend the money. But I would.

I’m pretty sure it requires the equivalent of an annual as part of the import requirement. I looked into importing one on two occasions. It didn’t appear to be prohibitively expensive but I budgeted $15k. it’s just another factor, nothing that time or money doesn’t fix. There are some complications getting in and out of Canada though, they have some strict COVID lock down provisions.

I feel no pressure or discomfort from the ANR headset. Other than just the normal clamping of the head and heat that is. I don’t have trouble hearing radio calls or passengers either. I just hear them “better” with the clarity aloft. it isn’t until a long flight is concluded and I remove the headsets that the fun starts. my tinnitus kicks into turbo and both ears feel almost as if they are throbbing inside I would stop short of calling it pain, but it is not comfortable either and it lasts from several hours to several days. It was bad enough to never want to wear the ANR sets if I didn’t have to. I even tried some Sony ANR over my CA, but they with sunglasses was too uncomfortable and I didn’t really notice a noise difference.

I also have tinnitus and high frequency hearing loss in one ear, and I can’t argue to the science of the affects on the ear because I am no expert. But I can tell you if I wear any ANR headset for a 4 hour flight, my ears will ring and physically hurt for two or three days after. I have none of those effects with the clarity aloft. I also find it much easier to understand atc and passengers than with ANR headsets. (I have tried nearly all of them). Lastly, and for me personally there is absolutely not even a comparison to the comfort of the clarity aloft to any over ear headset. I would like to see actual evidence that ANR prevents hearing loss or damage to the inner ear, because it would seem neither can claim conclusive advantage with regard to health and it really seems individually subjective as to the efficacy.

I would wager it’s all the compliance and liability regulation that chokes this business to death with arcane, nonsensical rules that were written for our grandfathers technology. Add idiotic bureaucratic interpretations of said rules and you have a perfect shit storm of ”government progress”.

I would add one goal, noise. I would suggest they make it the quietest piston plane ever made. noise is a huge part of comfort and the Mooney isn’t quiet and the Cirrus is worse. Wonder if they ever tried the same path epic and cirrus did when starting. See if you can get say 500 people to lay deposits on a future production, make It cheap enough to be appealing, but not so expensive it chases away people who would finance. say $25-30k. make half refundable if they cancel prior to production, and 100% refundable after the first 100 made. this provides the factory with $15,000,000 to start production, and enough to cover the other 400 deposits if people canceled or production stopped before they got to all the deposits. even if you only made 100 planes it would cover the operation. commit to higher UL, noise reduction, maybe only one model with standard features to simplify production. price it what it needs to be priced, let the market decide. seems like they could make this offering for no cost.

Just like closing the door on a nice car or working the action on a well made firearm, when your fingers and senses encounter a well made machine you know you are touching quality . And when you close the door on a Kia, or work the action on a Chinese sks, you know that too. I believe the Mooney took all those man hours to assemble. I believe they couldn’t make money at even a million unless they were making thousands. I believe they had a flawed business model and people with passion kept trying to make a go. Today’s Mooney owners are the beneficiaries of those mistakes and ambitions. The cirrus is not a piece of machinery made to last. It may be made well enough to serve its purpose, but when you get in it and you fly it, it doesn’t feel like a well made piece of machinery. It feels cheap. Cirrus figured out how to do it economically, efficiently and attractive enough to dominate the market, no one can honestly deny the achievement. Much respect to them for that. However, i am glad I’m fortunate enough to have my Mooney which is a damn fine piece of machinery... The sad reality is that even Cirrus is likely doomed, because the younger generations just don’t want to fly. Less than 500 planes a year, worldwide? These numbers do not inspire confidence. The entire culture is trending to virtual experiences and avoiding real interactions. If it weren’t for the training demand for airline, even Cirrus couldn’t save the industry. General aviation is on life support, and has been for a long time. It’s really sad, but where am I wrong?

No, this SB isn’t relevant. There are two SB’s that address this issue. The one you have referred to requires the recurring inspection, and the other is the rerouting of the breather tube. https://mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-319.pdf My plane has the latter which eliminates the need for the inspections. After speaking to a few well respected experts, I’m confident it’s merely the result of very ROP flight. It’s in annual now with Cole Aviation so we will confirm soon enough.

Can’t get less options than none, which is what g1000 Mooney owners have now! But if there were options, what would one be “upgrading” to? There isn’t a better “ whole system” than the g1000 to upgrade to, other than the nxi? And even if you could rip it all out and replace it, it would cost you north of 100k, and for what? Spending any notable amount of money to change that system wouldn’t get you anything significantly better, or more capable, it would just make you poorer. Aside from flight stream, the improvements have nothing to do with accuracy, reliability or providing functions that don’t exist in the g1000. It is undeniable that the g1000 could be a problem for airframes at some point in the future, but it is not an undesirable platform today, and there is no real danger of losing support in the foreseeable future, simply because the fleet is so large it’s profitable. Even if parts tapered, the airframes that are able to get the upgrades will provide donor parts for years. If someone is wondering what challenges their plane “may” face in 20 years I guess this discussion is relevant, if not the subject is moot.

Better plane? Full disclosure......heavily biased opinion coming When I sold my last plane I couldn’t deliver it on the date necessary so I asked a friend of mine who is a long time cirrus owner and Cfi to deliver for me. He had about 40 hours in an acclaim, like mine, but it was all short hops and local ifr training flights, he had never done a long cross country. When he returned he could not stop raving about the handling, speed, comfort and overall quality of the airplane compared to the cirrus. I have about 80 hours in the newer cirrus, much of that is long cross country. The Mooney is a better made piece of machinery, hands down, and every cirrus owner that has been in my plane has commented to that effect. Its undeniable, kind of like the way a Mercedes or Lexus “feels” when driving, it’s difficult to convey in words. It’s unfortunate that the appointments and strategy, like a parachute, marketing genius, and finance/training system wasn’t available for the Mooney because that’s really what has been cirrus’s success, not the characteristics of flight. I would have to reluctantly agree that cirrus has the best wrapper in the business, but I’ve never been one to buy the wrapper.

I am not trying to change your mind. If you think having a g1000 in a Mooney is going to relegate it to scrap aluminum we can agree to disagree. I was trying to provide my actual ownership experience with owning several legacy g1000, and one nxi Mooney. Among these I have close to 1000 hours of ownership and PIC with this platform. I have also done the Waas upgrade on two of my previous planes. To say it’s impossible to do, or prohibitively expensive is not correct. While it may take a little looking and time, the boxes are not difficult to find and the upgrade is simple and can be done for under 20k if you’re patient, and under 30k if you have to have it now. One plane cost me 12k and the other 16k. With regard to upgrading, I don’t really know what one would want to upgrade it to, assuming the nxi wasn’t available. The integration of all the components, ease of use and reliability is in many ways superior to collection of individual units and much easier to service and repair. The g1000 is really an amazing platform, both with the gfc700 and the stec, I’ve owned more than one of both models. Spending 100k to put in another set of avionics for marginal functional benefit doesn’t seem like a wise choice. There are, I’ll admit, some cons, the processors are not as fast, it doesn’t have some of the fancier menus or a touch screen, but that doesn’t make it less capable. Maybe not as convenient or intuitive, but not complicated or antiquated by any stretch. If garmin stops supporting them, that’s a different story, but there are thousands of planes out there with legacy g1000’s and there is no end in sight for support. The g1000 isn’t the latest and greatest, it has its faults and challenges, and is obviously not perfect, but suggesting it’s useless , outdated, or ruins the value of the plane just isn’t correct. I think you may do a disservice to people trying to gather information about buying a plane when you conflate opinion with experience. I was a little wary for this reason before I bought my first one and I can confidently say, I am glad I bought and currently own a g1000. In fact the only thing I really miss about the nxi, is the flight stream. I think garmin is intentionally making this unavailable in the legacy platform to force upgrades, which sucks for people like us who don’t yet have that path. I believe it will come eventually.

I didn’t say upset, I said regretted owning. All systems have things some people don’t like, or wish they could change. That being said, I agree the lack of a waas path, as well as the inability to use flight stream is idiotic and upsetting. But I would still prefer a non Waas g1000 to steam gauges. if a g1000 from a diamond doesn’t have features available in a Cessna, that is 100% the manufacturers choice. Garmin configures as ordered. It seems to me the g1000 should have come configured the same for every plane, rather than having different interfaces. Fly a Mooney and then a cirrus with the g1000. It may as well be a different brand. This never made sense to me, but I’m pretty sure manufacturers drove these choices.

I find the argument that 70 year old technology is preferable and/or superior to 20 year old technology, somewhat confusing. I have yet to meet a single person who owned a legacy g1000 and regretted or didn’t like it, but lots of people who have never owned one seem to enjoy bashing. There is complete and total support for repairing of these units, and with the existing fleet that is equipped with them, there is no end to the support in sight. Mooney is both the solution and the problem regarding upgrading to the nxi. They could choose to invest in the upgrade with garmin, or if they were to go out of business, garmin could, and likely would facilitate the upgrade on their own. if Mooney went out of business, it would also be possible to remove the entire platform and replace it with standard avionics. The airframe is stc’d with myriad of options. Simple? Probably not, but certainly possible.

It is not rust

But I don’t fly rop either...

It has had the sb done, right around the same time as a top, which was about 150 hours ago. 450 total time. I put more time than the total on my first acclaim and didn’t have this much buildup. I haven’t pulled any plugs yet, due for an annual in two weeks. it runs well, all temps, and egts are where you would want them. It does not have gami’s but runs lop well without them. I did not do a prebuy. Will be bringing to Cole Aviation for the annual.

Cleaning the hangar and found a cover I forgot I had. it is in very good condition and while it was made for an ovation, it fit my acclaim as well (a little snug). I would like to get $250 shipped to you (upper 48 only, elsewhere I’ll quote shipping). That’s less than half price, and will ship same day I’m paid it has a tail number on it, but it’s silkscreen, not embroidered and is about half off already. PM me if interested

I haven’t seen this before in my other planes. Not sure if it’s normal or indicative of a problem. the person who owned it prior to me flew pretty rich of peak, as I can tell from the year or so of uncleared belly.... the left exhaust does not look at all like this, it’s only the right. anyone know what this is? it’s pretty thick inside the exhaust, I’d say close to 1/8” and difficult to scrape off but will with a screwdriver or blade.

I had the same issue with both of my ovations. The pixie hole appeared on one of mine, it didn’t really help that much. gami injectors did help, but the biggest difference was as soon as I got to safe altitude I would level off or go down to 200-300’ a minute climb until the temp was trending down, then resume normal climb and it would stay within normal ranges. I have always understood that 380 or under is perfectly acceptable, and have never had issues. I have never had to replace a cylinder or even have cylinder work. Bore scopes and plugs always look very good. I don’t ever lean in the climb (nod to mike busch), and I fly almost exclusively lop. I do fly very frequently and about 250-300hrs a year. if you were never seeing more than 405, and that was only short moments, i would say this is normal and not a big concern. 350 is not even worth noting.

Flew a 180 with a pponk conversion from Louisiana to Idaho with the suction cup attachment the whole way without a problem. not sure why it wouldn’t work on the Mooney.

two thumbs up for precise flight system. i suppose any on demand system will be better than factory, but i will install the precise flight on anything that i own.