BravoWhiskey

Finance only when money is cheap and/or if you have to… I used Banterra.

I have a similar issue. I think my float has a leak in it and is allowing fluid inside. If I fill it all the way the meter starts to go down, when about half full it seems to be accurate. it will also change during long climbs and slowly correct when back at level flight.

My turns are so perfect the fuels thinks it’s in level flight

I’m going on memory here but I think my POH says aircraft has not been tested for takeoffs using less than 15gal per wing. I’ve landed with less than 10 in each but I don’t think I’d try to takeoff with that amount. When I get below 15 in either wing my master warning comes on.

I usually like a cruise setting of 30”/2300. With a FF of about 18. Motor runs smooth, temps where they should be and at 16-17k I am at about 178-184ktas. I climb to this alt at 34/2400 full rich and between 500-700fpm unless ATC asks for better. Where I run into my issue is once I level off and start pulling the MP back it will drop abruptly. I start very slowly with this process. But the drop is so significant you get a brief feeling you are losing power. The drop may go from 32-23 in a second or two. So I start increasing MP , again slowly. It will hover at about 27-28 then jump back to 33-34. This process of corrections takes a while. And if a jump occurs when I am busy with another task my temps creep up on me. I use mouse milk on the waste gate but this seems to occur much more frequently than it should. Does this sound like a Wastegate issue, or could this be an actual turbo issue? I would think a turbo issue wouldn’t be sporadic like this. Anyone else experience this?

I was on a flight from Tokyo to NY several years back. We flew straight across rather than over and made the trip in 10 hrs.

I have a few days of city hopping next week in TX and need to find a cheap fuel/good food somewhere on way down. The fly 2 lunch site seems to not be updated regularly and ForeFlight doesn’t have a filter for restaurants on field (that’d be a nice feature I think)… Any known recommendations for a breakfast or lunch stop? With the headwinds forecasts looks like I might need to stop somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee…

I don’t remember the exact details but I was a bit of a smart ass and asked him to read the next part of the approach to me. I was surprised when he read it to me and said “correct, when in doubt just ask ATC”. We later had a discussion about it. You should have and know the approach but things happen. You forget, or maybe get rerouted/diverted. ATC will do what they can to help you.

From the comments it seems most IFR capable pilots have a plan of action if something like this happens. When I took my lessons for IFR my CFII took the plate from me and said ok, now what? The take away here is, have a plan and a backup plan. Oh, and maybe if you are not current or proficient then don’t risk it.

The capacity check is part of my annual, which is 2 months away. My batteries were not installed at the same time so I don’t believe a staggered replacement is unreasonable.

Ha! Well in my POH it does say it must be installed and in operable condition.

I was unaware, and have already received the new battery this week.

I understand not legal to fly, nor is it smart… but at what point to you recognize such a discharge? Is there a discharge rate we should be looking for? I’m already swapping out the battery. This is more of a diagnostic question.

My #2 Battery is pretty much shot. I was loading a flight plan before firing up and saw the battery drop down from 23.4v to 13.1v in just a few minutes. It gains back voltage from alternator but then drops again quickly at low RPM or when the engine is shut down. So I have a new battery and replacing in the next day or so. My question here is about legal flight. POH min Equipment list says I need 2 batteries for all flight conditions. So at what point is flying with this battery not legal?

Yep… it was about 30-40 hours and a @donkaye video on landings that got me in the zone

The route I went before buying my Bravo was PPL, IFR, Complex. I was lowtime pilot and Bravo was a lot of plane for me at first. And it intimidated me at first. That’s not a good way to feel when flying.

I have the MT 4 blade w TKS on my Bravo. I played around with 31” 2200 and 29” 2400 but recently found 30” 2300 is really smooth and gives me best performance. No reverse.

I’ve had my non WAAS Bravo for about 2 years now. Haven’t had any issues, but I think it might depend on your mission. In my case, my typical business mission takes me into class D and C airports which usually have ILS. My home base doesn’t have LP or ILS but the nearby D does, so that’s my alternate. ILS and LP minimums are also below mine so I am not as concerned with that aspect. I have not yet experienced a RAIM outage that impacted my flight. Things that were more important to me were FIKI, weather and traffic… all of which have come in so incredibly useful. If I find the WAAS upgrade I’ll probably do it but it is not a priority for me. I evaluated all of these before making the decision to buy. If you are looking at a Bravo with engine concerns be prepared to drop big money and lots of downtime. Engine overhaul and prop replacement cost me 9 months. Exhaust 2 months alternator 2 months… I hold the field record for AOG time.

So if I had to wear an adult diaper to save 30 minutes of travel time I am almost 100% certain I would spend and equal amount of time showering and possibly changing after landing… double that time for the wife and daughters! luckily my useful load has some amazing relationship between allowable fuel and number of passengers on board. So I don’t get the opportunity to test any of their biological limits.

So I flew commercial into BNA last night for a business meeting today. A beautiful evening and a late start today lead me to sit outside in the hotel courtyard and relax a bit. While there I kicked up a conversation with another younger gentleman and an older couple. Lo and behold both of these gentlemen were non-airline pilots. One had 18000hrs and the other 1600hrs…. And then you had me and my humble 350. Anyway, we ended up sitting outside for 3.5hrs sharing stories, experiences and frustrations. It was a unique evening and certainly something I did not expect. I travel quite a bit for work and often forget where I have been or what my evenings had been like. But what a treat that was! What a great community!

Right… CO not CO2. Anyway it’s a $30 cigarette lighter plug in with USB port I got on Amazon. Brand is Fasohere. I didn’t hear the alarm but noticed it high when my wife was unplugging my daughters phone charger before landing. Usually it’s high when idling on the ground with window and/or door open and drops to 0 when moving and during run up. Regarding the repair I have been in touch with both AWI and Acorn. Hopefully won’t be down too long.

Ugh… Little crack in the weld there. Picked up a little CO2 reading on one of those digital cigarette lighter plug-ins… then saw this.

I also use Weber and will continue to do so.

Understood but I was primarily comparing this to Mooney. If I was doing a true business comparison I would narrow this down to 4 seaters. There are a number of 6 seaters for both Cessna and Piper on there. But even that might be pointless. I could start adding a bunch of categories and then you realize each brand stands alone in their own way.

Cirrus sales and marketing found a way to tap into a few different markets. Airlines use them for trainers. Their transition training is well established for new buyers. But something I am noticing is the number of used Cirrus on Controller. Seems to me to be a lot of inventory. I don’t know if that means their owners a less attached to the brand or if they have a lease or buyback program. IF Mooney were to try and re-enter the market they would need to look at the various ways to regain market share. I think a short body to compliment the Ovation and Acclaim models would be smart. Have Fleet sales for some schools and promote the idea of getting their clients the IFR ticket with complex and maybe high performance endorsements. Have A Mooney transition training program. I don’t think trying to create a new model is going to help the company do anything other than lose money. I don’t even know if my ideas above would work… but if I were adventurous enough those are a few snippets of my roadmap for Mooney.