PT20J

I was always amused by the Radio Shack Realistic brand. What were they trying to communicate? Not quite real, but realistic enough? Skip

I saw that note when I was planning to install LED lights. I wonder how many the Kerrville K-Mart sold to Mooney over the years? It appears that the purpose is to spread the taxi light beam farther outboard. Skip

You might look for a leather punch in the correct diameter.

Where have folks been mounting this? Skip

The problem is the autopilot. Because Garmin builds the autopilot logic into the attitude displays, you have to have a Garmin display (G5, G3X, Gi 275). At some point, if you want the GFC 500, it becomes easier to go with two G5s or a G3X and a single G5. Skio

That’s because the big G wants to sell you a Flightstream.

Electrically, yes. But Garmin’s STC installation instructions show it mounted on top either screwed down or with Velcro.

The G3X STC requires a GPS antenna. Both the glareshield mounted and GA 56 are approved for connection to the G3X per the Maintenance Manual, but the STC only covers the glareshield antenna, so the GA 56 would require a field approval. It turns out that the GA 56 has the same mounting hole pattern as the Aspen RSM that I would be removing, and I don't fancy attaching a glareshield antenna to the flimsy Mooney glareshield. Has anyone had any experience installing a GA 56 (or other Garmin-approved airframe mounted antennas) with a G3X? Skip

Never a bad idea to look through the service documents on Mooney’s website and see if there are any that haven’t been applied. You can sort them by model.

Actually, that procedure is well documented in the service and maintenance manual. Trailing edges can be bent down slightly but not up. This is the last step after the rigging has been verified. And you are correct -- it doesn't take much. Skip

Hard to tell without seeing it, but a common problem with Mooneys is that that small gap where the wing trailing edge meets the top leading edge of the flaps is too tight allowing rubbing of the flap leading edge attachment rivet heads against the wing. I have seen a number of airplanes with the rivet head half worn through! The shop may have applied the tape to fix this. But any reasonable thickness tape should not deflect the flaps significantly. Don Maxwell fixes the problem by lowering the flaps slightly and putting a wood shim over the flap and using a stiff putty knife placed between the

Shoptalk - rigging.pdf

My problem turned out to be a bad card. Garmin support told me that there are no known issues with FlyGarmin updates. Skip

I believe Cirrus (at least the one’s I flew) used the autopilot roll servo for aileron trim and it was too aggressive and easy to overshoot. I’m not sure if they did the same thing in pitch. I never had much trouble trimming in pitch, but roll was frustrating. Skip

Garmin has the worst documentation ever. Everything is in some manual somewhere, but not where you might first look. It’s like a treasure hunt. I think Garmin tech writers spent too much time playing adventure games in college. But, at least there are manuals. Microsoft quit supplying them when Bill Gates said they weren’t necessary because all features were “discoverable.” Skip