Matt Ward

Super cool!

Love it, just ordered one!

I do. I like the 3D view for flying in the mountains. The Trip Assistant is neat but not a compelling enough item to pay for, in my opinion. I don’t think I use any of the other premium features.

I’m here too. If he can get to BJC he can use Greg at Mountain Air. No shop on the field at PUB. I’m sure COS does but I’m not familiar.

...which is what is detailed in the AFD and the DP is NA for 9.

I hate to comment on this, but in case it's helpful to anyone else, the 12:35PM departure certainly gets my attention. I fly in the mountains a lot and never after 11AM. Honestly, I try to be over any big passes or technical flying way before that. People have different experience levels and comforts; mine are quite conservative. A late departure, a fast plane, box canyon potential, an especially difficult route of flight - all things that can add up to bad outcomes.

See if this old post of mine helps, video included.

FWIW, I think Durango and Montrose are great winter airports. Lots of services and relatively easy surroundings. Not in Summit County but still close to good snow!

In the meantime, I got an E that loves to be flown!

Assuming this was in a C model, what would it take to make it work in an IO360 E model? Would it have to go back to JPI?

I’ve seen this question come up a few times; it works without a problem! Safe and secure.

This is something I've thought about too and I just don't know why it would be the case. Rough back of the napkin math: according to Flightaware active flights, after controlling for all the big jets and non-comparables, Mooney's appear to be about 2% of all active flights. That doesn't necessarily mean 2% of the active GA fleet, but it's a starting point. Looking at NTSB data for 2010 to present, airplanes, part 91, non-owner built, landing phase, and with the word "collapsed" in them, there are 666 incidents. Filter that for Mooneys and it's just 14 - which seems shockingly low given this thread and probably means my data sleuthing isn't that great but hopefully the insight holds directionally - that's about 2% too. So very quick and dirty, it doesn't seem like Mooneys are obviously more likely to land gear up given their relative mix of the population. Having said that, I'm 100% with @cliffy that a coordinated behavior change plan is warranted as this issue continually gets cited viz insurance rates. And honestly MS probably has the scale to make this happen as much a different org like MAPA or even AOPA.

I've traveled extensively in my E with my family for four, including cross country trips and many trips over the mountains of Colorado. We're all fairly small folks (135 #, 120, 110, 85) but space isn't a problem. We can carry about 50g of fuel if we want (although 3 to 3.5 hours is really a practical limit) and pack for hotels or camping. We burn 8 - 8.5 gph and true out at about 144 knots at +10k feet. My only watch-out is aft CG loading. We've carried two paddleboards in the back with 4 pax over the mountains a few times and that's as far aft as I want to go. I've never really *noticed* it, but being that close to the envelope gets my attention. If you are willing to optimize (buy stuff that packs small, pack minimally, etc), there is really not a lot you can't do in an E. Having said that, my buddy can put two bikes and two paddleboards in his A36 and that does make me jealous.

Being in the middle in any market is rarely advantageous, and that's no different with light airplanes. I suspect if you take people's stated missions, "not in the flight levels", "some IFR but not hard IFR", "3 or 4 hour legs", "900+ pounds useful", "<10 gph", etc, you'd find a C, E, F, J, etc would work just fine. And you'd be able to stay down market without a problem. But I don't think that's the real issue many folks face. Rather, the more pragmatic $ differences come from "trim or hit an altitude hold button", "see all my CHTs at the same time or not", "fly an LPV", "play bluetooth audio to all seats or not", etc. That's where the middle gets so messy. Suddenly you have a $50K plane with a less-than-accretive $40K spend.

Exactly. An airplane company that isn’t making and selling airplanes isn’t.

Understood! If I were more confident in my MX abilities I'd probably have tried that. For me, the time-to-value just made sense to replace with new. Either way, I'm super happy with the way the plane is starting now!

For reference, I looked into overhauling the vibrator (contact points, condensor, reset to spec) and it's in the ballpark of $200-250.

I’m more and more confident this has solved my starting issues. @carusoam and @Vance Harral, I thought you guys were kidding when you asked me about getting it started in 2 or 3 blades, but that’s exactly what’s happening! Most starts have been cold and they are great. A few hot that have been excellent too. No occasion for flooded start yet. Thanks for all the help!

Right, it comes on with the master, but doesn’t go off with the master! That’s the mystery. The engine provides it power too...

I do have a separate avionics master. The jpi and fuel flow do not seem to be part of its system.

Sorry to dig up a 7 year old topic...but I didn't want to make a new one for a similar question: My JPI 700 is wired to my master. I flip my master on, my JPI comes on. Here is what I didn't know that I just discovered: if the engine is running, and I flip my master off, the JPI (and the Hoskins fuel flow) stay on. Does that sound like a feature or a bug to you guys? On the one hand, I suppose it's getting power via the alternator that's still spinning, on the other hand, maybe I have a master switch/solenoid issue. Thanks!

It was definitely the alternator. Replaced it and the crackling is all gone! And that alternator was *done*! As in, broken blades done. I'm really surprised I got my core charge back but I did.

Quick update: I ordered a new starting vibrator from Aircraft Accessories of OK ($450). It arrived today. I installed it in about 30 minutes. There are two 3/8" bolts that can be accessed through the oil access door on the cowling. The actual vibrator is on the co-pilot side of the instrument access panel. There are two wires. After installing it, I fired up the engine a couple times and it seemed to start much quicker! I'll need to have a few more starts before I can say for sure what the impact is, but so far so good. Here are a couple side-by-side pics of the old and new. If any aspiring electrical wiz wants my old one for research, it seems like there are a lot of SOS-type issues, let me know and I'm happy to donate it. Edit: the sticker on the box suggests Bendix mags. I actually have Slicks. The model number of the vibrator (new vs old) is the same without the final letter. My *guess* is my old SOS far pre-dates on my Slick mag conversion. I called the shop and they didn't think it was any sort of issue but it was something I noticed.

Indeed. My home airport is almost 5700 and we routinely see DA of +8.5-9K in the summer. We have 5000 feet minimum and it's a non-event. I honestly don't ever recall taking over 1500 feet to get off the ground. I don't get the same climb rate as @gsxrpilot but I do see 500 FPM without any issue. I probably wouldn't do touch and gos at 18V (3500 x 60, I think) in those sort of elements but for normal operations I've not experienced any adverse effects.