McMooney

just my opinion but leaking after 20 and 30 years in service, can't see how that would be labeled a defect.

mines ran to the luggage area by the rear hatch. thinking about rerouting to come near the step

Quick update on the AeroCruze 100: I’ve put about 2,500 miles on it so far. Can’t speak to long‑term durability yet, but functionally this thing is fantastic. Aside from needing a GPS source to drive the autopilot, it’s easily the best money I’ve spent on Birdy… you know, ignoring annuals and anything that prevents me from dying. Total cost was around $12k installed, with the autopilot itself running about $8k from Duncan. Their service has been excellent — any issues have been fixed within hours, which in aviation time is basically faster than light. I was originally worried about what I’d be giving up by choosing the AeroCruze over the pricier GFC 500, but after putting real miles on it, I’m honestly not sure what the GFC could do that would be meaningfully better. I actually prefer the AeroCruze’s simpler setup. The avionics shop, however, did not share that enthusiasm — apparently the installation involved a heroic amount of cussing. Performance: It does exactly what you’d expect. Tracks like it’s on rails, holds altitude perfectly, plays nicely with the G5s and GPS, and has one big advantage over the GFC 500: it can run independently of the rest of the avionics. Kind of like the old Brittain system, just not full‑time. A few operational notes: Set your altitude before startup. This mostly affects folks with G5s. In “EXT” mode, the AeroCruze gets altitude from the G5s — great until you switch to GPSS. If you didn’t set the altitude beforehand, the autopilot may decide you should be somewhere very different and start climbing or descending like it knows better. Lube your control yokes. I had a slight porpoise at first — nothing dramatic, but enough to make me wonder if I could tune it out. While poking around, I realized the yokes didn’t feel smooth. Probably never noticed because the Brittain was always masking it. Reached under the panel and found the yoke shafts were basically wearing a coat of sticky gunk. Cleaned and lubed them per my IA (insert all the jokes here). After that: test flight was perfect. No more porpoising, and the plane felt amazing to hand‑fly.

how many hours on the engine? how much oil was left when you landed? on long trips i try to start with about 6.5quarts knowing i'll have to top it up when i land

they had to use boards under the mains then let the air out the nose to level birdy.

i did mine, went from a kma20 to pma8000g, didn't spend 33 hours but it was def costly. they ran all new stereo jacks to 4 seats, disconnected and reconnected all the avionics, basically tore the inside of the plane apart. think i paid like 2k to 3k for the install. If tight on money, i'm not sure the audio panel is the best place to start, yes it sounds slightly better and i have bigger buttons but it still serves the exact same purpose. I do have bluetooth to everything so that's a plus. still, not sure it was really all that of an upgrade. to be clear the audio panel is AWESOME, just wasn't the biggest bang for the buck, for me. also, stero only really matters when i'm listening to music or when using the hrtf function, whis is really nice. don't they have a pma7000 that's a drop in replacement for the kma24?

question, if it's a capable and solid plane, why give it away at 63k? the avionics cost that

look what just popped up on the interweb https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/02/02/2029212/a-century-of-hair-samples-proves-leaded-gas-ban-worked

omg that thing has 102 gallons of fuel, thinking 51 gallons of fuel > 1 other person. oohhhh hmm, how to find 500k

hmm, i suck. I keep the batteryminder connected pretty much all the time i'm not flying. figure battery lasted atleast 7 years so not horrible

shrug, go with less than full fuel, you'll be good

Brian @ KAXH, Marshall does good work Dewayne Jones mobile Houston I just had my autopilot and gps/nav/comm done at CAM avionics @ KFWS, i know not houston, but not horribly far. i'm also at ksgr btw

gi-275 i would do, just kinda makes sense. autopilot of course, well if its actually used and not thousands of dollars i'd say really depends on cost for the DME, it can be tuned manually and was probably never hooked up due to not really needing it after the 430 install. if the dme is only a couple hundred bucks, why not. i connected my dme btw, never really use it though

If Gill is def saying no availability, try KTME or KIWS. KTME is kinda like an aircraft HILTON

where are you trying to go in Houston?

strange they used to have a couple t's reserved just for that, maybe they are full. do you need kdwh ? ksgr should have a few, def keld. actually, it's supposed to be pure sun with little humidity, do you really need a hangar

I've used aeroshell 15w50 for the last 6 or 700 hours, seems to work well. currently using about 1 quart every 10 to 15 hours so not bad all compressions normal. unfortunately, i don't believe there's anyone who can tell you what's best. there was an article a few years back, unfortunately i can't remember where but the gist was long as it's a reputable brand and you don't let it sit for years at a time, you're ok.

All ILS i've ever used have an associated DME and if i ever actually need a VOR that's working and if it has DME, i want that to work also. keeping it actually made my IR checkride super easy, DPE failed the GPS on an ILS approach then questioned what i would do at that point. I pointed at the DME continued the approach, walked away IR rated.

I kept my DME, couldn't figure out a reason to get rid of it, it does exactly what it's supposed to do. ILS absolutely VOR don't care, most i would use are notam'd out

rather new to having 2 gpss/comms, tbh, the second unit is mostly used as a more complicated radio or ignored. heck, when ifr, even the primary unit is only used for the flight-plan and to select procedures, i don't really look at the units all that much. i'll glance at airspace or hit the nrst button at times, that's really about it. if i'm doing an approach to a field with an ils to the same rwy as the rnav, i'll dial the loc frequency into the second unit.

I did the IR and flew for a number of years without an autopilot, it's not difficult at all. Actually, might've been beneficial, I tend to fly more precisely even VFR. installed an aerocruze autopilot and wow, AWESOME, I now understand everyones AP arguement. instead of spending most of my time/energy flying the plane, i now focus more on monitoring and planning. flew 1800 miles in the last 8 days and not really tired at all, before the ap i would've been exhausted. one thing, i make a point of manually flying parts of each leg, unfortunately, i can see how having an autopilot can also become a crutch

could be garmin, cloud provider, content delivery provider, internet who knows. I've noticed speed can be pretty random. android downloads work better than apple

I couldn't tell you the lumens but the thing is BRIGHT, there is no way to miss it. I'll take a video when i get back from my trip.

Samsung Galaxy tab, if you can find one in an acceptable size. GORGEOUS screen, was always bright enough for the cockpit. well better than the ipad at the time. I had an s8+ till someone decided to walk away with it

this is the one i have.