Davidv

Wow, kind of like a large carrier landing with those cliffs on either side.

I'm in the process of an avionics upgrade and want to change the color of my panel. I've always liked the factory color used in the Ovation/Bravo GX and Acclaims from the late 2000s. Does anyone happen to know the exact color code or name? Sample photo below for reference (not my plane).

That's really too bad for Don. It's odd to me that no one will do it at any price. I'm not an expert, but isn't insurance all about odds? If you're talking about a plane that isn't extremely expensive, someone with little to no loss history in many years of flying (I don't know Don's background but I'm assuming he's had no major losses) has to be good odds for them if they raise the premium enough.

Ok thanks, I had thought 2500 per G5 but I guess they charge more for the HSI version.

I’ve seen these prices at Lafayette and always found it to be a little Spirit-like but will give them the benefit of the doubt since I don’t have any personal experience with the shop. When you add in the stated extras it’s about $16500 for our planes in a typical 3 servo setup. That’s still a good price but not too dissimilar from other shops. I’d be curious if any other Mooney’s have gotten work done there to see if they exercised the fine print in the ad: “Each particular aircraft may require additional labor, repairs, alterations, or parts not included in the above.”

GNX375 for NAV/ADS-B - $9K installed GTR225 Comm - $3.5K installed PMA450b - $3.5K installed 2 G5s - $8K installed? This gives you everything you need for ADS-B, great navigator, and full approach capability.

Thanks, yes I think the root of the issue was when they pulled off the diode to clean the outside. My alternator had a good deal of something that looked like carbon on it as well as the diode. They removed the diode to "clean it up" and possibly removed the labeling in the process.

Just to close the loop on this, the shop that made the mistake on the diode just sent me a check for all of their original work to install the alternator and troubleshoot the issue. Even though I spent a lot more, I thought that was very fair of them. There are a lot of shops/mechanics who would try to play the blame game and this wasn't one of them.

As @kortopates points out, the huge benefit would be no longer having to source or maintain factory gauges. This is only going to get tougher and tougher as the years go by. With JPI your runway for replacements will be significantly longer.

I wonder how many days before 0001 got a top overhaul after all those flights trying to make book numbers up high

It could be wrong with my physics but I try to be careful about what I put in the hat rack. In the unfortunate instance that my plane hits something, or I break exceedingly hard to avoid an object (and I’m still alive), I believe whatever is in the hat rack is going to fly forward fairly quickly and hit me in the head. May not be worth worrying about, but it’s one reason why I don’t put my needle nose pliers or other tools up there.

Someone will probably come up with a court system run by AI when they determine humans are “too unreliable in interpreting the law on a consistent basis.” Then we are really screwed!

Welcome aboard Glen. You made the right move! I’ve found the easiest thing to do is remove your avionics hatch and bring it to a finish masters so they can match the color. They can sell you a higher quality two stage paint in a spray can for the touch up. Your other option is to buy something like Imron AF400 from them, hardener, and use a spray gun but that’s going to be much more expensive if you are just looking for a touch up to protect exposed metal.

My lightbulb/"I'm an idiot" moment with fitting gold clubs in my plane was when I thought to take the drivers/woods out of the bag and put them in last.

I never considered getting an Apple Watch but now I’m a little tempted with the oxygen sensor. Rather than checking my pulse of every 10 minutes in the flight levels this could be exactly what I need (if it’s accurate). Thoughts from anyone else who flies high such as @gsxrpilot?

Maybe a talk them into a timeshare type of model. "Sure, I'll sit through your hour long presentation on the superiority of MT props while you balance mine for free".

Very happy with my IPhone SE purchased a few months ago since it’s the same size as my old 7 with all of the processing power and camera I need for wing tip photos. It also doesn’t cost $1K.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for prop balancing in the central or south Florida area? I was going to have it done where I got it overhauled but first wanted to see if anyone has had any good experience with other experts out there... Thanks.

Thanks Paul, it was installed the wrong way when the new alternator was put in, so about 2 months until it was fixed. I flew with the left alt field switch off (and obviously the breaker was out). I'm now at 28.7 volts after Don's team made the repair and so far everything working well!

My alternator and wiring issue was finally solved and I thought detail what happened here so others may avoid the same issue in the future. The series of events is somewhat lengthy so feel free to skip to the bottom unless you're having a rainy day like we are in Florida. In Mid-June, I was flying from FXE to BED at FL230 when my LEFT ALT FIELD annunciation went solid red and the LEFT ALT FIELD breaker popped. As many of you know, the Bravo has dual 70 amp alternators as well as dual batteries. My JPI was showing 28.8v. I elected to continue the flight based on the redundancy and VFR conditions. The solid red is an indication of over voltage. When I arrived back in Florida I took the plane to my mechanic who did some tests with a volt meter and determined that the issue was with the alternator. I ordered a overhauled replacement from Falcon Aero through Aircraft Spruce. On a side note, Bill from Falcon Aero (I believe the owner), was great to deal with and I'd highly recommend them for your future alternator needs. I received the alternator in Mid July and wanted to get it installed by my mechanic prior to a long trip. However, my mechanic was tied up so I elected to go to a well known and respected Mooney service center (not in FL). They removed my old alternator and noticed some burning residue around the alternator and field wire. As part of the the installation process they also removed the diode at the end of the field wire for cleaning and examination. The diode was reinstalled along with the alternator. I started the engine, brought the RPMs up and one again the LEFT ALT FIELD breaker popped as well as a flashing red indication on the annunciator panel indicating no charge. They pulled the plane back in the hangar and began to troubleshoot. As part of the troubleshooting they pulled my voltage regulator down from swapped the plugs to the left side of the alternator was going to the right alternator and vice versa. This resulted in 24V at the end of the field on the left and nothing on the right. It seemed that my regulator was the problem. They offered to order me a new one for $2200. Prior to pulling the trigger, @kortopates recommended I get it repaired at Consolidated Air Supply. They made the repair a few days later for about $500. I plugged it back in the plane and sure enough, the same breaker popped. I sent it back to them to confirm that the regulator was still working properly and they confirmed that it was. At that point, I was starting to get in that depressed state where you feel like this problem will never be solved without tearing apart half the plane. I had another mechanic come to my hangar and troubleshoot without success. Furthermore, after their troubleshooting, I started the engine and now my regulator wasn't working at all (voltage would blow past 30v as I increased RPM). I didn't want to do any damage so we shut down the engine, swapped the regulator plugs (left side regulator to right alternator) and now it was working correctly but holding at 29.2 which isn't ideal. I decided I was done wasting time and money so I flew the plane from FXE to Don Maxwell at GGG since I had faith that Don, Paul, and his team could figure this out. It only took them a few hours to figure out that the diode at the end of the field wire was installed backwards and was in fact sending electricity in the wrong direction. At the same time, I had my old alternator bench checked just to confirm that it was in fact the initial cause of my issues. The alternator was apparently toast with brushes nowhere to be found. The regulator was being damaged due to the reverse installation of the diode. Essentially, the new alternator that I received was in perfect working condition and my issue would have been solved months ago if the diode had not been reversed. Don replaced the diode with a new one ($0.23), repaired my regulator which had been shorted out again, and now everything works perfectly. I'm telling this story just to help those in the future and not speak badly about the shop that did the work. I'm still in discussions with them after the thousands I've spent on this but I have no interest in talking about them here because these mistakes can happen. It's unfortunate (and sometimes can be very costly),

There is a trickle charge to the one not being used. Still a good idea to swap them every flight or so.

Also, if the plane is totaled as @philiplane suggests, I hate to say it but another stroke of good luck for the owner who could have been facing a $50-60k engine overhaul.

I use the performance profile 32/2400 peak and then go and manually increase fuel burn by 12%. I’m almost dead on with flight planning based on this adjustment.

It looks like the left elevator was also clipped as it swung around...

If it’s the same guy who I’ve met a few times he’s great. Always thanks for coming on CTAF and his honor snack bar proved to be a good dinner or nutter butters and oreos for my 5 hr flight.