redbaron1982

Just to add something, in case someone else is crazy enough to give this a try: * Make the punctures right in the letters. It seems that the rubber is transparent, paint with black. If you puncture the black part you'll remove the black paint and whenever the lights are on you will get a bright spot there. If it happens that, you can fix with a sharpie. * When you press the trigger on the contact cleaner, make sure you first hear the liquid going in and wait for it to finish. If you don't hear anything it is because the tip of the needle is still in the rubber. If you take out the needle before all the pressure is released you will get a splash of contact cleaner that you will have to clean.

Hey guys, I want to give you an update on this, just in case it might be useful. First I want to clarify that I did take into consideration your comments and risks, mainly on creating a entry path for dust that could eventually make things worse. I think this risk is not significant because the puncture is so small (and rubber tends to fill in back the puncture) that not even water goes through it. This is how vaccine vial works, you puncture through a rubber cap to get some of the liquid out, and you can do it several times. So I tested today in the morning first in the MX20 (that is an obsolete equipment that I wouldn't be too sad if it breaks) and it didn't damage the equipment and the buttons were much more responsive. With this added confidence I did it in the G430 and same result, unit works perfectly and buttons are very responsive. Now the only thing to see is for how long the buttons will continue to work.

How much of a useful load increase it's expected by removing completely the vac system, the AI and DG? I read that is not much.

I can print to whoever want's them, you would have to pay for the shipping only. I'm in the Houston area.

There are good pictures here (https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!ABSujBZG6gUB7g8&id=8712D784B64E679!95504&cid=08712D784B64E679) from a guy that disassembly it. Why the contact cleaner would help? The actual contacts are this small metal things that with time they get dirty from the same stuff that is used to protect the PCBs. The problem is not itself the springiness of the key, but in my unit once you pressed and overcome the resistant of the rubber pad you need to continue pressing using the tip of your finger to actually make the button work. In the flight school were I used to fly there were 430W units like this (and some transponders as well) but there were others that once the button was depressed it would work, without having to put extra force on it.

Hi, Something that I'm trying to improve is the feel of the avionics buttons (mainly in the 430W). They are really hard to press. Which is not only uncomfortable, but also it adds to the work load when flying IMC. I tried spraying contact cleaner on the side of the buttons, with no success. Which makes sense because the gap between the button and the from panel is small, and there is a rubber membrane underneath as well. I saw a post in other forum that completely took the 430W apart to clean the PCB, which even being an electronic engineer I don´t feel comfortable doing (apart from being illegal for sure). I don´t want to pay an avionic shop what I think is going to cost a lot of money (>1000usd?) to get it refurbished. So I have an idea and want to share it with you to have your opinion (and maybe it can be helpful for some of you as well). I thought of attaching a G25 needle (0.5mm outer diam) to the end of the plastic tube from the contact cleaner, like in the picture below: The idea would be to perforate each button from the side to get underneath it and then send a small amount of contact cleaner down into the PCB. I tested with a TV control remote (which the buttons are the same technology as the 430W) and didn´t break it. You can´t even tell there is a puncture in the rubber. The spray get out of the tip of the needle without problem. So, what are your thoughts? More important this is if you see any risk of doing this.

I'm planning in getting this to touch up mainly around the rivets, that is my where the paint in my Mooney chipped off. My question is, as I can see the aluminum, should I first apply some anti corrosion?

One related additional question. I noticed that the controls in my Mooney tend to spring back into a more or less neutral position if pressure is released, this is both for elevator and ailerons. I'm talking here about deflecting the controls while in the ground. This also happens when testing the AP. I set the AP to HDG and select a bearing that required left aileron and if I hit the AP Disconnect while the ailerons were deflected they will snap back into a more or less neutral position. In the airplanes I used to fly in the flight school that was not the case, meaning that controls would stay in the same position when released. Is the behavior I get in my Mooney normal?

will do. One point, that I didn't mention, is that this test was done on the ground. I'm mention this just in case on the ground it is expected to be harder. Anyway it would explain the jerking movement.

I have a King KFC150. I will double check, I just flew it only once, but as far as I remember it didn't look bad trimming from the wheel. Funny thing is that the airplane just came out of annual, so I would expect everything to be lubricated. I will try to get the service manual check as far as I can myself, if problem is not solved I think I'll take it to a shop to take a look. Question, it would better not to operate the trim like this, correct? I imagine that the clutch slipping would cause premature wear.

Hi all, I continue with my in-depth status check of my new Mooney. On the flight back to it's new home we notice that the trim up command from the switch in the joke was not working. Today I went to the airport, sprayed some contact cleaner in the switch and now it's working, so that problem is solved now. What I noticed now is that although the trim down moves fine, the trim up, although you can hear the motor be engaged it barely moves (I take the trim wheel as reference). Also I notice that when triming down, the joke moves like in steps rather than a continuous smooth movement. Two questions: First, ideas on why this could be happening? Second, in the flight school where I did my training some times if the joke was "sticking" they would spray some lubricant in the joke shaft. Is this a correct procedure? Which kind of lubricant should I use?

I'm not sure, that is what I understand from shop.jeppesen.com, when you get to buy the databases there is a bundle option: And seems to include both the charts and nav data for GNS 400 and ForeFlight.

A clarification regarding Foreflight, what I meant to say is that with the Jepp subscription I would get Jepp plates into Foreflight at no extra cost, I still need to pay the Foreflight subscription though. Regarding MX20, if you go to shop.jeppesen.com and select MX20 it doesn´t show up in the bundles section but it does show up in the "individial avionics databases" section. So this kind of answer my question of one bundle to handle all the avionics. I´d have to separately buy the NavData for the MX20 at $232/yr + the Garmin Bundle for 430W and Foreflight at $491/yr

Hi all, I need to update the databases in my Mooney (it has a GNS 430W and an obsolete MX20). Also I use foreflight. My analysis is that it makes more sense to get Jeppessen databases (nav, obstacle and terrain) that go for around 500usd per year and that would allow me to use them in the 430W, Foreflight and (not sure yet) navdata and charts for the MX20. Am I correct? Garmin databases go for almost the same amount and they would cover only the 430W. Is there anything I would lose by using Jeppessen's over Garmin's?

Will do!

My only experience with TKS is of a recent buyer of an airplane that has it. As many of you know, in the first annual inspection intergranular corrosion was found in the left aft stub wing spar bottom cap. I'm not sure if this was due to TKS. Everything seemed quite clean in the airplane, except for that spot that had intergranular corrosion. Maybe it was a another the cause for it. As an additional point, while Don Maxwell was doing this repair, they found corrosion also in the panel where the TKS tank is sitting. Something I really will put focus on learning as a new owner of a Mooney with TKS is proper maintenance to avoid corrosion. I will be doing IMC flying so TKS is something that will be used from time to time.

I do understand that is not very (or at all) viable for the previous owner to take responsibility. I understand also that even if a shop doing a prebuy made no mistake, can also be hidden problems. My question is, how can we protect ourselves against dishonest sellers or shops who basically take the money of a prebuy, do a crappy inspection and then they are not liable for their mistakes? Maybe the answer is that we cannot protect ourselves and that would render a prebuy more or less useless except you do it with a mechanic that you already know and absolutely trust. And I don't mean trusting the shop's brand but the actual human being that will be doing the prebuy.

Being a PITA is a bit extreme, and I didn't mean to be that annoying, but supervising the inspection I think is a must. Regarding being financially responsible, isn't there insurance for that? Seriously, if a shop is not financially responsible, then basically they do whatever they want and all is cool? You're pointing out an extreme, I give you a more mundane example: my prebuy didn't find things that were marked in the prebuy checklist as checked and found ok, for instance, interior lights not working, elevator trim switch not working, etc. How I protect myself from that? You can say "don't use that shop anymore", yeah, that's an option. I think is not enough. Again, shops should be financially responsible for their wrongdoing, from their pocket or through an insurance.

Thanks Pete for the heads-up, I was not aware of that bug. Anyway in my particular case I think it does not apply because I have only an EIS.

Yes, my advise would be: Legal part: either have a buy agreement with previous owner that any airworthiness findings in the next x months are going to be covered by him or have a prebuy inspection contract that says that any error or omission by the shop that results in you have to pay to repair an item that was not found in the inspection but was listed in the prebuy inspection checklist is going to be covered by the shop. Technical part: I don't know much, my experience was with corrosion, so that should be in the checklist. Engine too (oil test, compression, boroscope). Test flight and autopilot I think too. AD compliance. Also an advice, get the prebuy inspection to be done in a place where so you can be around while the shop is doing it, and be a PITA with the shop doing it to make sure that they check everything and they don't just mark the boxes in the checklist without actually doing the inspection.

I can recommend where not to take it: flight level aviation.

Thanks! That's super reasonable, would be in my quick wins list.

Hey guys, thanks a lot for the quick responses. Yeah, I think I will need a software update. I think my 275 is from early 2021 so it might not have the new version. Does anyone know how much should I expect to be charged for a software update on the Garmin 275 EIS?

Hey, today I finally got after 14 month to fly my Mooney back to it's new home. A lot of things still to work on, but slowly I will keep improving it. For sure I'll flood MS with questions. Here goes the first one: I was really disappointed by the GI275 EIS. The screen were basic nothing close to the ad picture where you see the tank levels, cht, eht, mp, rpm all in one screen. On the contrary this unit was showing cht in one screen, eht in another, flue flow just by itself in another screen. Is this something that pilots can customize? Is there a firmware update? Don't tell me that I have an old unit that I need to throw away because that would make me feel sad. Lol.

I'm not sure if I would generalize, of course there is sort of a "I'm not sure what I want but I want it right now" thing with most of young people, but that's not for sure something we can generalize to all. I have been greatly surprised by a lot of people in their 20's working their a** off to grow and waiting for things to happen and not rushing everything. Oversimplifying things saying "any teenager can do it" is not accurate, but on the opposite side is not accurate either to say "I've been in the business for 30 years, no one can teach me anything and any idea if they are not coming from me are bs". Shops with 30 years in the business (any business) can still improve significantly and also not any teenager can help a shop get better with communication.