Bob Weber

I can help with this, catch me tomorrow around noon TN time. 616 822 1999.

Lance Thank You! I saw this earlier. This is a good example of "stepping into" a final dream suite. I look at an avionics package as three separate systems that are critically reliant on each other. Navigation/Communication, Flight instrumentation, and ultimately, Autoflight. The marriage of the final suite should be very much in mind. It can be made more difficult to continue a "peaceful" marriage with multiple manufacturers software. I would look toward two GI 275's, GFC 600, and run that 430W to feed them until upgraded as a final step. This being said, I can make that system 50 work again, an evaluation will give us an idea of the cost. The Aspen is a formidable piece that should have good value on the used market, and will make a good trade in toward the 275's. I will be available tomorrow before 11am if you would like to get some preliminary questions out of the way. Bob Weber 616 822 1999 8am-8pm eastern webairconsulting.com

Yep, give me a quick call, 616 822 1999 "I'm glad if I can help with a question or two, or perhaps some advice. If it gets more involved, you can decide to proceed at that time." An excerpt from my website... You have a simple issue, I guide people thru the easy ones in hopes they remember me when they encounter the hard ones! Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

If both the HDG bug and CDI track off the same direction, you are a good candidate for a simple roll centering adjust. Has something changed recently? Bob Weber Autopilot consultant webairconsulting.com

While the beatings occurred during training, the concept of the running engine and swinging prop guided me to never step even near the arc reach of a prop, it is always spinning.... We all could use an extra step or two of exercise, never ever think of walking thru where that prop can get you. It will save you a ding on the melon as well. This coming from a guy with the diamond shaped injury from a certain old Cessna flap... Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

Never, ever, treat an aircraft as though it is not running. This was beaten into me by multiple people much of my formidable years. An old, very worn out and abused little plaque with about 50 years of history in my family. It sits prominently above my desk today.

Paul I am very familiar with both the autopilot as well as the airframe, give a call if you would like 616 822 1999. 8am-8pm Michigan time. Autopilot Consultant webairconsulting.com

Any anomaly in an aircraft needs to be attended to, quickly and correctly. Many of them are worthy of AOG until they are resolved. It is amazing the effect of seeing just how small of pieces an aircraft shreds into when it hits the ground after you have lived in and around them most of your life.. Especially multiple times, when there was an acquaintance, Friend, or work mate, lost. Fly Safe and Healthy Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

We need to be replacing the loose rod ends and be very sparingly on the dripping lube, it gathers dirt and grit that tends to accelerate wear. My biggest desire here is to get folks thinking about, and addressing, many issues we are now finding in older aircraft. I just spoke earlier today with a long time Colleague that found another elevator cable failing in a single Cessna. frayed and cut.. Waiting on pics, trying to determine the cause. Fly Safe and Healthy Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

I kept my boat in Holland right next to Heinz vinegar plant for a few years, you could smell it. The long time residents talked of pickles floating everywhere. Becoming aware and assertive in the early 1970's, I followed as the waterways were reported and then mitigated.. The Ohio river on fire was a pivotal sight. Today we get to celebrate the amazing reclamation of our waterways, just in our area alone, Muskegon Lake is being transformed from heavy industry to tourism and entertainment. These changes are having an enormously positive effect on all of our lakes as well as communities. After all we do have more shoreline than many.. We are really chomping at the bit, our launch and slip is 1/4 of a mile from us but can't touch.. Soon. "to internal combustion and wind in the face"

Marie is well known in Freemont, Gerber was huge there.

Back a few decades I suppose now, I read an FAA report of a Mooney crash. It was observed that the trim was at the stop, don't recall which one, but the determination was that it happened during the crash as the airframe exploded. Later theories were floated about runaway trim as the original cause. This was around the time an acquaintance/fellow Pilot died in a Seneca out in Utah running checks for the banks if memory serves, CIII runaway trim. The left wing and empennage departed the aircraft before it hit the ground. Much thought was put into continuing with these bleeping autopilots and having so many souls to feel responsible for when I received this news. I was not involved with the repairs or maintenance of the aircraft at the time, but had nightmares about what the guy that did must have been going thru. I chose to persevere with the notion of education, the more I can educate people, about the how and why, as well the why not, the safer we all will be. Fly Safe and Healthy Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

Perhaps when we look a bit deeper into what caused this incident, we may have expanded insight on the problems we are facing today.

110 polo road, Graduated 1977. Jim Andre was my instructor. The "big D" was where I began to explore RC and became brutally aware of density altitude. My first research was at around 700' msl. A very close friend was well on his way to 80 days at sunlight this year until they closed it, that place and Aspen pretty much destroyed my wrists! Look up Skinny ridge Grand Junction, yet another source of chronic pain.. Far happier lookin at the lake than the mountain...

My autopilots have been a passion for 40 years, learning the different airframes and idiosyncrasies of them, though a challenge, I developed an understanding of the balance that must be achieved between an airframe, an autopilot design, and the pilot. The balance between the autopilot and the airframe has become the greater challenge lately due to age. During my racing days(the reason they will not let me anywhere near an aircraft engine), I preached blueprinting. Put it back the way the engineers designed it, as I'm still saying today. You are flying a 40 year old aircraft, with your family, in the bumpy soup. I Love old things, we just have to understand and respect them. I started flying models in my front yard at the age of 7, my first lesson was flying out of Glenwood Springs CO in 1975 and spent the rest of the time flying broken aircraft for troubleshooting and about a million cert. flights beginning with KN 74's. I still learn with every experience, anyone steeped in this stuff knows this as a life... Your really going to be mad when I bring up the wiring harness, the central nervous system.

Nope, but both airframes deal with a jack screw, as well as just about every other airframe out there. Wear happens, those that have learned to recognize and react are who I want to be around.

Alaskan airlines ring a bell? I have lived this and guided multiple people thru dealing with this on several different manufacturers of aircraft. I would love to see your experience and data to back up this claim.....

I've watched some of the finest pilots manage a malfunctioning aircraft, justifying some pretty crazy "approaches" to "manage" a malfunction. It's the little things you should be paying attention to. A 30 or 40 year old aircraft will have "new and improved" problems, we need to focus towards this concept... And react accordingly. Fly Safe and Healthy Bob Weber Autopilot Consulting webairconsulting.com

As an aging airframe wears, we find different effects of this wear. Every airframe I flew always settled into a pitch attitude other than neutral if you were to measure it with an inclineometer. The point here is that the trim tab will always deflect to put the aircraft in a balanced pitch attitude to fly level. Over the years/hours of flying in this configuration, wear occurs on the pressure side of the threads of the jack screw creating a considerable disparity of friction between adjusting for nose up trim vs nose down trim in the range of flight neutral, with a wind load on the tab. Being immersed in autoflight for so many years I found myself dissecting even the most subtle of command errors out of "my stuff" and realized this disparity becomes much more important as it progresses. Thankfully, with Mooney's, we use a chain and sprockets to tie into the trim system instead of "V"belt technology, but we do move the entire empennage rather than a little tab.. We still have to balance the friction of the trim system with the clutch setting of the servo. In flight, at cruise speed, hand adjust the trim a bit up, and a bit down. If it feels pretty much the same you are probably fine, if not, look a little closer. The challenges and responsibilities of maintaining an aged aircraft...

After takeoff in an old T210 from 17 out of GRR I was right seat and not running the radios against what I always insisted on. I heard the chatter of an approaching aircraft on 26L just before I heard the instruction to make a 180° turn to the left and contact departure. I looked at the pilot as well as out to the east and told him not to turn. delayed responses from both of us resulted it the controller yelling at us for not turning quick enough. The call was made and the controller walked off the job. Situational awareness... Today we have amazing amounts of information available, begging to be managed safely. Fly Safe, Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

Replacing these should be elementary as indicated above. I would be more concerned about where the loss occurred. If they failed when removed or reinstalled, and not "lost", replacement should be routine. It's when they're lost and floating around the belly of an aircraft among components that don't react well with things like this.. These are one of the most common things I found while cleaning bellies, I was a stickler for "debris free under the floor" and often presented the client with a bag of such that "people behind me" had missed during their work. The older and more sloppy maintained aircraft can get pretty scary when dug real deep into. Fly Safe Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

During a big project I was involved in at Weststar Aviation a few years ago, they offered "Super Soundproofing". The theory was to change the resonant frequency in the areas of the skin of the aircraft that spans any structure. I remember minimal weight increase, and enough of a result that the C441's for sale today still boast the upgrade. There are strict burn test requirements that would be insane not to follow as well. Fly Safe Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

There is an alloyed metal "spring" sized and alloyed to heat and release, over the decades this spring will lose tension. The biggest culprit I have seen over the years to cause this was corrosion and arc slag causing a resistance across the contacts which then becomes a little heating element. Under normal conditions, for a surprising length of time, the system will function correctly until the long term Annealing process reduces the over center friction as stated above. Not only is this working against us, but it also reduces the temp needed to trip the breaker causing it to trip at a lower current.. I'm working on an article for the Mooney Flyer trying to cover things like this, watch for it "The challenges and responsibilities of maintaining an aged aircraft". The most neglected component The one "component" of an aging aircraft, and arguably the most critical, is the wiring harness, it acts as the central nervous system of your aircraft. Our "new and improved problems" reach new levels with this component. There are multiple fronts of battle with maintaining and troubleshooting it as well. Fly Safe Bob Weber webairconsulting.com

Castellated nuts, designed primarily to have a cotter pin installed to lock it. https://www.albanycountyfasteners.com/Brass-Castle-Nuts-p/129000-002.htm

The screw was more visible in another shot, it was lodged a row below and close to the buss. It was located within an hour or two of the initial evaluation call, from Australia... Bob Weber Autopilot Consulting webairconsulting.com