Marc_B

It’s a matter of the experimental arm of Garmin vs their certified team. G500 and GI275 came from the certified side. For the most part this doesn’t matter but sometimes you find quirks with how they are set up, color differences, different location or order of items that reflect two separate teams working siloed. But I have a G500TXi with a G5 standby. My panel is all squares and rectangles and most importantly the GI275 wasn’t available and was more expensive. I still like the setup and battery life of the G5 better than the GI275 although the 275 is a more capable unit that can fill in other needs in the right situations.

I have a GTN750/650Xi and love the remote radio control where I can send freqs from either GTN or the G500 (or G3X) to each other. I can pull up destination waypoint page and send ATIS and ground to comm2 and add tower to comm 1 in standby while I’m speaking with approach. Buttonology is identical between the 750/650 but also along several of the garmin units. For an IFR traveling machine I like having two nav/coms. But that being said I’d speak to your shop about the integration (or not) with the various options. You’ll likely be doing most of your “work” from the G3X or GTN750.

Hope everyone got home quickly and safely. It was fun meeting some of the people still at Mooney and putting faces with many here on MooneySpace. Was wondering the lineage of Mooney Aircraft Company Test pilots over the years. Bill Wheat (50's-60's?), Bill Hurley (60's-70's)...got to meet Bob Kromer (83-91)...Not sure what years Mike Miles was test pilot for Mooney? I got back home and checked my log book to see who took 8MA on it's maiden voyage. Is this Mike Miles? Came across this video about Mike and seemed pretty special. Had several pictures that now have a lot more context after the factory tour and hits a lot harder to think back of the ghosts of Mooneys past. We actually saw a door on one of the experimental aircraft sans wings that said "Capt. Mikey" but I didn't realize the significance of this at the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liHnuFjv3jk

I can't remember the last time I actually flew an ODP. Leaving Greeley it's always "upon entering controlled airspace fly..." runway heading or a vector to fly. I've gotten SIDs a few times but usually vectors to a waypoint with an ATC assigned altitude constraint. My thought with programming an ODP was purely a mental and physical exercise of do you know your equipment and how to turn written or graphical instructions on into a GPS box. In that respect, the Garmin Aviation Trainer (or similar ipad/PC program) is a great tool. The example I gave just happened to have VOR, course to, and a hold in a nice efficient package. My thought with this thread was a list of "good things to work on" ranging from tasks in the aircraft, in the simulator, on the computer, practiced solo, etc. Most of these tasks have 3-4 ways to do it, and there in lies the finesse and skill/experience to do it efficiently and smoothly. But I like the thought process of being competent to use your GPS, but being proficient enough that you don't "need" it.

i.e. Program KFOM ODP departing runway 22. You don't find this ODP in the GTN. But you can program KFOM DTA..., then "direct-to" button and choose both the "course to" (332 deg course to for the R-152) as well as build the hold either here or from the flight plan by selecting DTA waypoint and "Hold at Waypoint" to build the hold. The PFD is immaterial in this other than to confirm that your programming sequenced correctly. I need to start building a list of tasks to program in that uses processes/programming/etc that we don't do routinely as a refresher. Some procedures might not exist locally to train with an instructor, but would easily be able to set up with a PC trainer or simulator.

I was just primarily thinking of the GTN programming, direct-to/course-to, holds, etc. So could probably do what I was talking about through either the PC Garmin Aviation Trainer or the iPad GTN trainer. I went to the TXi/Xi garmin onsite course, and probably most of what they taught could be replicated with the PC GAT, given that loading approaches, departures, arrivals, building flight plans, course-to, direct-to, etc are all done through the GTN. For the PC GAT, you can choose from G500 TXi, GDU 620 (G500 legacy), GPS 175/GNC355/GNX375, GTN 750/650, GTN 750/650Xi. I think that would capture quite a bit of the Garmin side of modern upgrades. Of course doesn't include GNS430/530, and I'm surprised that they don't include the G3X with the PC GAT for flight display.

I haven't had any issues...so it's a question of extended warranty + 6mo vs replace but now only 6 months warranty left. My shop suggested I wait. But really not clear of the probability of issues with current servos... "Due to a supplier issue, there is a chance of reduced service life of one of the GSA 28 internal components resulting in servo failure. The servo failure can happen in flight with an annunciated "AP DISC" indication, or on the ground during a preflight check. In either case, the autopilot is rendered inoperable until the servo is replaced."

I came across another good thing to add to the advanced avionics IPC...probably good to review even if you don't have advanced avionics... ODPs, Diverse Departures, and VCOAs: These all have quirks that sometimes are difficult to integrate with the GPS. i.e. an ODP may not appear in the GPS database but CAN often be programmed into the box. i.e. a climbling turn to altitude X, then on VOR radial Y to the VORTAC and climbing in holding pattern different from the radial you just flew to the VORTAC on. This allows reviewing and instruction on "Course to" as well as building holds. Both of these things are something that we don't do frequently, but can be trained on the Garmin Trainer from the ground. Follow up question...for all the CFI-I's who do IPCs/BFRs, how often do you pull in the Garmin Aviation Trainer into your ground instruction?? I would think that a list of tasks to demonstrate proficiency on with the trainer would be great instruction (and remediation) as well as a good look into the knowledge base of the pilot prior to hopping in the aircraft!

52 Mooneys, great weather, very smoothly done by all and a great year. Here's a video from YouTube; caravan starts around 7:30in

Basically you were given a 2 year warranty when you first purchased, and it was extended to 5 years with up to a 6 month extension on top of that. Most of the things I've purchased have an original warranty from the date of purchase and if you need to warranty an item the warranty on the product isn't extended, but rather still applied to the existing warranty from the date of purchase. So it's actually up to a 5.5 year warranty (or more if you purchased before the SB was released 5/4/2023, since warranty extension was 5 years from that date (not from date of purchase or install).

I looked back in my POH and noticed that the performance charts have a line that goes up to 10 kts for the tailwind component and stop. I take it that this was intentional, but not sure if this is similar to the 12 kts demonstrated crosswind that is "not a limitation"... Does anyone happen to know the history of this with the Mooney factory???

For those of you with the GFC500 AP, how many of you have already had to replace the servos with Mod1 servos? If you haven't had issues (but have affected SN servos), when are you planning on getting the servos replaced...do you replace them now, towards the end of the warranty period, or a specific time in between? From the service bulletin you have until 5/4/2028 to have these replaced under warranty. https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=y ... iNr8uLLUA6 GSA28 extended warranty service bulletin info link if you need it. From Garmin FAQ: How will my Warranty be impacted? The standard warranty applies after the exchange of the servos. 6 months after the exchange OR the balance of your existing 2-year warranty applies, whichever is longer.

Colorado has a few mandatory tailwind if that’s what it takes. I.e. KGWS Glenwood Springs Rwy14/32 3305x50. To the north terrain rises quickly so the preferred approach is landing 32, departing 14. And for a mountain airport the runway is unusually short for Colorado. This is a place most pilots really have to do some calculations for. It’s also a great reason why a turbo Mooney is a great Colorado Mooney BTW Colorado Pilots Association puts on a great Mountain Flying Course every year. If you haven’t taken it, you absolutely should (the optional flight component includes a stop at GWS)!!

@thomas1142 keep us posted on how things turned out! Has to be exciting to pick er up!

So how about an AI interpreted Skew-T Log-P? Would be interesting to see how accurate (or not) an AI chart to text would be. Would it pick up the nuances? The biggest downside of the Skew-T is that it takes some education and experience to interpret, but it usually has good nuggets of info.

In my mind this isn't that much different than a practice approach or traffic coming in on instrument approach. But if at an uncontrolled field you have to be even more vigilant that you are watching and take into account aircraft without radios or ADS-B. It's one thing if it appears the pattern is light/empty (no radio calls, no ADS-B traffic). But if you see that the pattern is chocked full with ADS-b traffic, then that's another story. Personally I find straight in traffic with a full pattern usually not a safe option. If that's the case I'm usually overflying the field at ~1000 feet over TPA to get a sense for flow, then coming back around on a 45 entry with my best guess on spacing. Sometimes the better option is a straight in on the non-intersecting crosswind runway to avoid a packed pattern. Sometimes the best option is to come back in 15-20 min.

@Jetrn One other option that may be applicable. Mooney had a retrofit VR that for a while was offered by LASAR that I believe was the field adjustable replacement for the IAI regulator 800270-503. The downside for this was the cost. When I did my panel upgrade, I just had IAI service my VRs. But given that you're running into issues this may be an available albeit pricey solution. https://lasar.com/electrical-instruments/voltage-regulator-retrofit-replaces-800270-503-940170-503?rq=940170-503 From Mooney Retrofit Kit List: The Mooney Service Manual is pretty parsed about the VR other than giving specs for max voltage (28.3 +0.2/-0) and saying that the Mooney voltage regulator wasn't field adjustable. Although from the pic on LASAR website it looks like retrofit was also made by IAI...any chance they have one on the shelf and given the issues might give you a discount??

This is an interesting question...as I suspect: 1) if your AP is engaged, a trim switch malfunction would disengage the AP and run the trim, or 2) if your AP off, a trim switch malfunction would run the trim. BUT...the big take home is that the servo IS the autopilot. So in all circumstances pulling the AP breaker stops the problem. So my default is pull the breaker for the autopilot FIRST while holding the AP disconnect on my yoke. If you had one of the two events above, I might consider troubleshooting the issue and seeing if I could localize it to the trim switch. But I suspect that I'd probably just hand fly with the AP breaker pulled until I got on the ground.

@Jetrn I wonder if there is any chance that Ken Pethe (IAI) could speak with Don Maxwell to get your VR's overhauled given the circumstances? When I dealt with this before, I called Maxwell and he said he could overhaul them unless they were labeled IAI and if so they needed to be sent back to them. If there is an issue with getting this done at IAI, perhaps Maxwell's tech could still do it with approval from IAI?? Not sure the reason or background as to why Maxwell wouldn't service IAI VRs? I suspect that the boxes are simple electronics that could easily be serviced with the specs found in the Mooney Service Manual. I also called Zeftronics and Plane Power and they said they didn't have a 28V VR for a dual alternator system that would work in my Mooney...or perhaps they just said that as they didn't have one that was STC'd for the M20K dual alternator??

The two other ways I've added a user waypoint... From Home --> Waypoint Info --> Create Waypoint. From the Map you can touch an area of the map to enable either Create Waypoint & Graphically Edit FPL Regardless of how you start the process, it takes you to the same "Create User Waypoint" screen. There you can define the user waypoint by Lat/Lon, Radial/Radial, or Radial/Distance. If using the map page pointer, that data will be prepopulated on the best way it comes up to define that, but you can change to whatever you'd like...so if you're on the map page I just use that on the fly.

@201Mooniac exactly. No mention of a trim breaker as it is just the manual trim switch and doesn’t control the trim servo. The thread I linked was @PT20J’s description of testing pulling the trim breaker and the AP still ran the trim and the autopilot still functioned as before, controlling/trimming automatically. The only change was that the manual electric trim switch in the yoke didn’t function, and also important to note that the trim switch wouldn’t disconnect the AP like it usually would in that case.

Absolutely. It’s my understanding that with runaway trim with the GFC500 you must hold the AP disconnect and pull the AP circuit breaker. If you pull the trim breaker the electric trim from the AP still will run. if I have a runaway trim there’s no way I’d just pull the trim CB hoping the cause was the manual trim switch alone. But with pulling the AP breaker the servos are inactivated, because the GFC500 autopilot IS the servos. So pulling the trim breaker doesn’t depower the trim servo. If I’m understanding this correctly.

I only collared the AP breaker. The trim CB only controls the manual electric trim with the GFC500. But doesn’t affect the AP or the trim servo.

I’ve found that both gear and speed brakes both slow down by about 20-25 kts each. Cowl flaps slow by about 4-5kts.

Can confirm with G500TXi and G5 that the baro syncs to the G5 when adjusted on the TXi, but for some reason doesn't go the other way...i.e. if I adjust on G5 then the baro doesn't change on the TXi and it highlights in yellow to tell you they don't match. With remote radio control enabled, you can control GTN 1 & GTN 2 freqs from either GTN as well as the TXi.