BravoWhiskey

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.

N201EE… but fade out when saying the second Echo

I just got back to DYL now. It was definitely wastegate in need of lube. That’s what the guys from Bold Aviation did for me. Everything was perfect for the flight home. But to answer the other questions my MP was 27 and RPM was 2570. I didn’t look at FF. I aborted immediately and got off the runway. Since my oil changes are every 25hrs that’s when my line intervals will be. I don’t know when the last time it was done. I don’t see an entry in my logs for it and I know I have not don’t it in the 2 yrs I’ve had the plane.

I guess I’ll start to add the Mouse Milk to my wastegate during each oil change. Turned out that’s all it required. Thanks all for the useful intel.

I’m not saying this is the reason but was your request to date the IFR certification a phone discussion or an email… looks like you/they have a record of an email. Just sayin’

#6 CHT was normal.. the engine is about 125hrs SMOH. Tough trying to find someone on the field to diagnose…. Still working on that

Leaving IND I only was able to get 27” Out of my typical 37” MP. #6EGT was running 150 deg cooler the day earlier. All other parameters were normal. I decided to abort my takeoff and figure out my next steps. Called Anderson over at IAD so I will probably see about getting over there next week. I’m hoping it’s not a whole turbo overhaul… what does that #6 EGT indicate?

With the reservoir there that airport gets fogged in often too. I used to live in that area. Loved the convenience of commercial flights vs NYC but hated the weather delays. given the rate of climb, sporadic altitude and speed changes my first thought would be frame and carb icing. Tough airport to divert to at night with LIFR and emergency situation.

Terrible news to wake up to… they were so close to getting back to HPN https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/306024

Once in a while the CB in us might cloud our judgement if only for a moment. I flew from KTPF to KDYL with a planned fuel stop at KSIF… the weather there slowly deteriorated during my flight. 700 overcast. Shooting an actual IFR approach at night. No big deal, right? But when I came out of the clouds I saw… well, nothing. No streetlights, no runway lights, and very few house lights. Tried repeatedly to get the lights on to no avail. It wasn’t until I was over and a little left of the runway that I saw very faint runway lights. Flew the missed and contacted Approach. For a moment, the cheap gas almost looked better than the bright lights of Roanoke… I was ready to set up a second approach, but then I thought about the difference between that $150 savings and the cost of disaster… ROA won quickly! Signature had the fuel truck ready for me as soon as I pulled in… and a txt from my wife “why were you diverted?!?”

It was an actual circuit board within the s55x computer… so because of that the computer was telling the servo to operate a little differently than it should. They believe this was why the amperage draw on the servo was outside it’s normal limitations. It would appear this computer could have been using the wrong board since it came off the factory floor. Serial number for the s55x and servos were always correct though, it was just a wrong board within the s55x. It is kind of disappointing that no one prior to this looked at the issue a little closer, but it is what it is. Weber, Lancaster Avionics and Genysis diagnosed the issue together with the goal of determining why this was occurring instead just replacing.

I used Weber Aircraft at LNS just this month. Same plane. 2005 Bravo.

I was fortunate that Lycoming had the part. Weber tried a number of suppliers. But after learning about the AP computer issue I was less concerned about the clamp cost and more concerned with whether they were going to be able to fix that.

The clamp had a large crack in it and was hanging on by a hair. 1950 from Lycoming.

Well I did not see this one coming! annual is complete. Hats off to Weber Aircraft and Lancaster Avionics again. The 7 weeks wasn’t their fault because the AP and elec trim was serviced… again! But this time they may have finally found the bug that has been plaguing this system for years. Apparently the computer in the STEC55x was actually for a Cirrus. So now I have an Autopilot and servo that is specific to my airframe… how nice. I did notice some differences in the reaction time and direction today. On the prior system the aircraft would sometimes start the turn in the wrong direction for about 5-10 degrees then correct itself. I’ll play around more tomorrow when I have time to fully test everything out. oh… and about those v-bend clamps… not cheap!

My insurance was a bit strict… required 10 hr transition + 25 hr solo b4 pax. CFI minimums we’re 1000hrs, 100hrs in Complex and 100hrs in Bravo, and between 25-65yrs… so… I had really no choice but to go with Mooney specific CFI

I don’t know that I have flown a plane yet without something being INOP… Cliffy, in reading you OP, is your concern that you have aircraft come through your shop (I assume it’s your shop or a shop you work at based on your wording) that aren’t airworthy from neglect. Or you are concerned that some items make it past a basic preflight. Or that a squak list just gets ignored or grows over time? I’m also curious if there are certain aircraft you are referring to or if this is Mooney specific…