WaynePierce

The Avidyne works flawlessly with the 275s and the 500, but I bought the Avidyne because I hate the monopoly that Garmin has and wanted to break free. Then a few years later I got the 275s and the 500 (I kept the 430W as a back up Nav and Comm) in hindsight, if I knew I was going to drink the Kool-Aide I would have probably gone with a Garmin Navigator to reap the full benefit of the Approach function in the 500.

That's what my wife and I said, last night after my Commercial flight from San Antonio to Memphis, via Charlotte got me home after midnight!

So I flew my Mooney, N5807T, over to 1T7 (Kestrel Airpark) for Jimmy to sell. I was fortunate that the wind was almost directly lined up with runway 12. Any of you that have flown in to or out of know the beauty of that runway. 12 is down hill and the top quarter is only slightly downhill then it drops rather dramatically for the rest of the way. 40 x 3000 I just barely missed the top of the runway then just let it float until it touched down. It was beautiful. I will miss this time machine, but whoever gets it will be getting a great Instrument platform. 2 GI 275s, Avidyne IFD 550 and audio panel, and the latest installation is a GFC 500. It flies so much better than I am capable of... :-) We were going to retire to the Mountains of either East Tennessee or North Carolina but there are no hangars available and I can't afford to live in one of the fly in communities in the area so we made the decision to buy a Condo on the Ocean and get a 38 - 42 foot SLOW sailboat, currently looking at Cabo Rico's if you're in to that sort of thing. I'm going to miss the time machine that is flying, but especially Mooney flying. Adieu

Everyone on the ground where he landed is dead.... (It's evidently a Cemetery) :-)

Here's how I updated my original panel... Not shown, on the left is redundant airspeed indicator and turn/bank coordinator.

Could not be more pleased. It probably helped that the air was pretty smooth but I was on rails. I departed with my altitude pre-selected and set the climb rate for 110 knots and it nailed both and absolutely no porpoising when I hit altitude. It was completely overcast so I wasn't able to climb higher than 2500 but boy was it nice. I dropped it off at another shop to have a ding taken care of so I won't be able to fly again for probably a month, I am so looking forward to that flight.. xc to Florida.

Thank you, good news for a change...

the one I am referring to is a silver spring loaded switch which is certainly cheap looking compared to what I currently have with the KAP 150.

Skip, were you able to keep the thumb trim switch from your KAP 150 when you installed your GFC 500? Mine is going in to the shop this month to replace my KAP 150 with the gfc 500 and I'm hoping that my trim switch will work and I don't have to have that cheap looking metal thumb switch...

I use a long yellow narrow funnel that I got at a Parts store. I think it's made for oil and so far it drains all the residue while it's in the tube. I try to keep my oil warmish though so it drains quickly. I keep the case in the hangar restroom with the heater on in the Winter. I keep the funnel in a plastic crate in the luggage area.

Make sure you look into their "OnePak" to see if you can save some money... https://fly.garmin.com/fly-garmin/onepak/ I have a OnePak for my 2 GI275's and my GNS 430W.

I went from a PA 28 180C Cherokee to an M20J with just more than 300 hours. I got the complex sign off and enough hours to satisfy my insurance company (it was either 10 or 15 hours). I got mine when I bought the plane from the dealer I went with. AllAmericanAircraft now known as DmaxAllAmerican. It was part of my purchase. You can get the transition training from any qualified CFI but they will have to have enough time in type and possibly model. If you're lucky the plane will be a few hours away from your location ... or more... and get the transition on the flight home.

I suppose that this will no longer be a "viable" option at the end of this month when Amazon will no longer support us choosing our organization, but will give the donations to whomever THEY choose?

I've just signed up with this group and look forward to my contribution and exercising of my J. The question I have, on their tax documentation, it asks for the hourly cost to operate my plane. The plane is paid for, so the only things I can come up with are hourly fuel burn and oil use. I've never had to figure out exactly how much per hour it costs us to fly on the trips we are making. Which, I believe, is probably ok in my mind... What numbers do you all use when you do your missions? I searched for cost to operate and many mention it on different posting but I've not found a "number". Thank you for your help.

I can even remember when you didn't have to get half nekkid to get on the plane. Family could even walk and stay with you in the boarding area...