Joshua Blackh4t

The beauty of hydraulic flaps is they can be stepped on and will move down without any/much ill effect except the person standing on the will fall off. Its only a spring holding them up, all the hydraulic force is the other way. Its actually quite reassuring when parked outside in places where kids might go investigating. I often put them down for passengers. Again, the manual ones win because no need to use up battery power.

My poor E spends a lot of its time outside and is never tied down. I have seen her weather some major storms. She has never moved. If she was on concrete, I would be more comfortable with a locking device on a wheel so that she wouldn't roll even if she jumped a chock. If you were worried, you should call your insurance company. I'd point out to them that Mooneys are known to resist most winds, and extreme conditions are almost as likely to affect her if she is tied down or not. Keep your fuel tanks full. Little bit of extra weight can help. Also is good for your tank sealant. And leave the trim full forward. Headwind will push the nose down and tailwind will push tail down.

Found online:

As a pilot with the ancient push button audio panel, I'm curious what is better about the new ones. I mean stereo music to everyone sounds good, but everyone has bluetooth. I can hear the radio fine. I can hear other people reasonably. What more do you get?

Annnnnd BINGO... exactly what I was thinking. Except I was going to use a light sensor rather than wired to gear switch to make it less intrusive. Do you have any details about it? As for training, I call BS. You CANNOT train yourself not to be distracted. Many people have gear upped their planes and many of them were extremely well trained. Yes, good training (and more important, keeping current) are great, but one day it will be tired, non standard circuit, talkative panniccing passenger and all your training is forgotten.

Unfortunately nothing can train you not to be forgetful and distracted. Of course, the LHS is what I want. But it costs many thousands and has to be professionally installed. Or semi professional depending on how you feel about it. I was thinking of something that is 100% portable, costs maybe $100 and might save my plane while waiting for an LHS. The Holy Micro talking radar just seems to talk a lot and isn't really portable. It SAYS it gives you gear warnings but doesn't actually check if they are up or down. Also, its stuck out on the wing and has no way to talk to you unless you give up your Bluetooth connection for the whole flight.

I have a trim tab on my E. It isn't meant to, and no record, but it makes tweaking the aileron trim easy. Although the wing leveller also does it, so not too important.

I'm very much in the market for a landing height system. I even considered making my own. While I agree that competition is good, so far, Holy Micro has hardly said anything that makes me like their product. The lidar option for seaplanes seems good though. Questions: in the temporarily installation, how is it attached? To the tie down point? Is that ok? Do you have a kit to do it (remember they are meant to be removed for flight) Is there any way to wire it so the gear warning ONLY sounds if the gear isn't down? That is the only time I want to hear about it. The rest is just guaranteeing I'll turn it off. Do you have any pictures of a permanent install on a mooney? How complex is it to permanently install? Can I get a forward facing one to see if there are any trees on my glideslope at night? Is it certified to be permanently connected to power, landing indicators and audio panel? The LHS is.

The LHS is great, but it will take time and money to install. And has to be done by a mechanic. I just want the function of the LHS for cheap and simple install. I will take any crutch available to prevent a wheels up. The only time I see any issue is if you rely on hearing it to save you. If you never hear it, then thats great. If you hear it once in your lifetime, it payed for itself many times over.

Yeah, thats the idea. Very positive audio alert based on gps derived height agl and gear light status. Could be the down light or up light. Down light is more positive about the gear, up light means it will sound if the sensor is dislodged from the light. Or even both. Light sensors are cheap. Also, would be a terrain alarm whenever wheels are up. So, probably only a couple hundred in parts, not much labour once its programmed, and 5 minutes to fit. Obviously not as good as the LHS, but much cheaper and doesn't need a certified install. Much better than the throttle position one which keeps annoying me at the wrong time.

So I was thinking about the danger of gear up landings and how the better alarms all need permanent wiring when I had an idea for a simple one. The more technical minded can chime in. Arduino or Rasberry pi board, gps sensor, and an open source database of ground levels. Light sensor attached to the gear light. Battery powered, or 12v plug. Audible alarm when the acft is below 500ft AGL with gear light on. Would be 100% portable, so no certification needed, can have status lights to check gps is working and gear is detected. Alarm can be out through a headphone plug, possibly even set at mic levels so it can be plugged into the intercom. I see it as a small box attached to the dash, sensor on a lead stuck to the light, and thats about as intrusive as it needs to be. Thoughts?

I 'know someone' who has flown with worse. Not telling you to do so, but if it was parked outside you wouldn't notice it. But get on to a new or overhauled fuel pump. Apparently Aeromotors in USA does them best and cheapest, but I couldn't take the downtime and had to fit a Wheldon which sounds lots nicer than the Dukes.

Having once left the gear down in my E and not realised until 7000 (i was very heavy, and a hot day. I was stressing about weight and blaming the performance on that) I can attest that the speed penalty is insane So I would be starting with the gear. 100% check everything out that it folds back pefectly. Good luck

My understanding of balancing is they set up the machine, run the engine, get a reading, add weight as necessary and then repeat until correct. If yours is all ok and you decided to do it, it might be cheaper because the first reading will be within tolerance. So that would be my first question: is it a flat rate or hourly. If he's coming out anyway to do a bunch of others, it might be a simple fee and it might make it better. I was told by a mechanic to get it done every 500 hrs, but that was in an area with mainly dirt runways

Or in Australia. I have been told that when my prop is next due (in about 8 years or 700 hours), it won't be able to be ground down any further. However if I keep looking after it, it would be fine for many many years especially with someone who doesn't use it too often and only on good runways. So when it's near end of life, I'd love to be able to sell it for any value to someone in USA. I'd bring it over to USA as checked luggage to save freight and pay for a US holiday