Criticalcarecohen

Good to meet all that went as well - that's me in the red shirt in the first photo! See y'all around N57FM

I live in Chattanooga and just had lots of work done at Forge and just brought my plane home today- I would only use their avionics services. They are only a "Mooney Service Center" for avionics and not airframe per their team and out source their maintenance to a third party. My aircraft is maintained at Cole Aviation in Dalton at DNN which is an "official" MSC. I trust Joe Cole with my aircraft implicitly. I'm happy to connect with you about my experiences with both Forge and Cole as I have used them extensively. Just send me a DM or something.

Hey Everyone, After a very long panel upgrade, an inflight emergency due to inappropriate rigging of the trim system after GFC500 install, the GFC SB which delayed delivery and a myriad of other issues..........N57FM, my screaming eagle is about to pounce back to the real world. During this time the number 2 battery "died" and I was told it wouldnt hold a charge. I was planning on replacing the battery at annual anyway as it would intermittently show low voltage (we were planning capacity tests and such per Concorde first). Anyway - I decided to replace both of my RG24-11M's since they are 7+ years old and hard to find. However, as I'm sure everyone who has needed a battery recently has noted - out of stock. I purchased the RG24-15 (non "M") and I'm aware that the non-M models are simply lacking the manifold vent plug from the old need to vent batteries, even though the -11M's were sealed and my understanding is they just include a little "dummy" plug to connect the battery vent into. So - Do we just plug the vent? Curious from those of you who have made the change to the non-M variants what, if anything, needs to be done. Happy to get flying again AC

Hey! Welcome to the Mooney World! I am local to you if your from the Chattanooga area and my plane is based at FGU for now. Let me know if you need anything. Are you training at CHA? Crystal Air? All the best AC

Thanks everyone! Based on the discussion we've decided to eliminate the GI275 EIS. Flew up to TYS yesterday and I'm getting a quote on the following combos: -G3x 10" with EIS and keep a 275 as the backup - this may be over budget seeing as we just did the dual 275's last summer. -Garmin MFD only as EIS ( I wasn't aware you could have this separately of the main G3x/g500) -JPI930 I think @LANCECASPER hammered home the point of getting rid of the moritz gauges no matter what and I'm sold on that. Since we planned on a new piece of metal for the panel and the GFC500 already the crux will come to price vs availability (as we all know Garmin has stated some components may have 6 month+ lead times). I used the Garmin EIS/MFD in a bonanza the had in the shop and it was nice, plus it can show the map or traffic from the GTN. If it'll be months and months we'll go JPI regardless. One issue the shop was worried about is the replacement of the Mooney annunciator, they seemed very concerned that they had to keep it since it's a certified piece of equipment and has the gear annunciations, speed brakes, electric and fuel. The Garmin EIS should mirror these (I assume since I've seen the Garmin ovation demonstrator) but they weren't sure about the JPI. I asked just for a set of LED lights but that went down a rabbit hole of legality that I can't speak intelligently on, so if anyone has the experience and requirements I'm all ears. Thanks again everyone, Happy Mooney-ing to all. AC

Hey braintrust, Last year I stripped out the older malfunctioning Aspen and replaced it with 2x GI275's, added a GTN750xi. This year it's time for GFC500. I still have the E.I. RPM gauge from the eagle to screaming eagle STC, a JPI 700 and my AP is the older STEC 55 with the two annunciator panels in an impossible to see mounting at the bottom of the panel. The shop is recommending to cut a new left half panel since the removal of the two annuciators combined with the removal of some of the vacuum instruments will leave a lot of holes. I'm fine with doing it but they recommend if I want to do an engine monitor, do it now with the new panel metal, so here's a question: Has anyone used a GI275 Engine monitor as a primary instrument? My Moritz gauges are starting to go (digits dont light up, the fuel level digits are completely black at night, the factory RPM gauge is blocked due to the STC RPM increase). Does it have the blue EGT band? My shop is worried it won't be able to display all the alerts but to my knowledge it does because it's STC'd. Screen size could be an issue but I'm a sucker for staying in the same ecosystem and it would consolidate the upper factor gauges, the JPI and Tach on the left into one screen. JPI 900 series instead? Add an advisory model to replace the JPI700 to something newer. Skip the engine monitor part of this. Let the opinions fly! I've attached a pic of my panel for reference. Of note, my panel lights dont work (the background ones, not the glareshield) and so my ASI, backup altimeter etc dont light up at night. All the best, AC