T. Peterson

I recently bought an overhauled engine from Western Skyways out in Colorado. I didn’t send mine in for overhaul as I didn’t want to be down for months. Airplane was down for 5 weeks and I have about 16 hours to reach the 50 hour break-in. I paid a 5000.00 deposit and got 4100.00 back. Apparently the cam was not repairable. I did not fuss about it as the engine had been in since 1991 and the plane had sat in a New Mexico hangar for 6 years. So far I am quite pleased.

Just an update. I did replace my broken PC with a MacAir and have been through one update. At first I could not get the database manager to download. After about the third attempt I got a little pop up window that said I needed to download a particular program and asked me if I wanted to download it. I pressed the download option and then tried again to download the database manager and it worked perfectly. I plugged in the card reader and installed the new update and everything worked fine. I flew a trip to Branson with the updated card and everything was perfect. I apologize that I cannot remember what the was the name of the little program I was prompted to install, but hopefully your Mac will also prompt you if you are having trouble.

Bingo!! Thank you!! There is a MacAir in my future!

I am not surprised. I have the reader, it was a question of curiosity. On a more important note, do you think the Mac Air is compatible? I know Lance uses a Mac Pro, but those are a thousand bucks more and I don’t even use a laptop. The PC I have was only used for the 430 updates. Of course if I buy an Apple laptop I will most likely use it for a variety of things, but the PC only got plugged in for updates. Thank you for putting up with my elementary questions as most folks reading this are probably saying, “DUH”!

Thank you very much! You struck a chord of curiosity; Am I to understand that you can skip the Garmin card reader altogether by using the sd slot in the hub?

I have a Garmin card reader which I recently used with an inexpensive Windows computer to update my 430W through the Garmin Database Manager. Don’t ask how, but I recently managed to break the screen on my computer. I am not a PC guy and only used the computer to update my navigator database. Since I now have to buy a new computer, I would like to purchase the Mac Air 13 or 15, but I want to make sure it is compatible. Garmin lists the OS requirements, but I can’t find that information listed for the computer. Furthermore, the Mac only has usb c, and the card reader is usb a requiring an adapter. I’m wondering if any of you would advise on two fronts: 1) Even though I am much more comfortable with Apple, is it a better or equal platform for Garmin database manager and Garmin card reader? I do realize that my IPad is NOT compatible, and I don’t want to spend a thousand bucks or more to find out that neither is an Apple laptop. 2) Is an inexpensive PC the better way to go? My experience with the PC has been mixed over the past 3 years. Every time I did a Garmin update I would lose the whole program and have to download it again. Probably not a big deal for someone well acquainted with PC’s but for me it could be a a pain. In a nutshell, I just want the easiest and quickest solution to get my 28 day updates on to my card.

I am picking up my airplane this coming Monday. It has been in work for about 6 weeks, but that is due to other factors beyond the engine installation. Without those factors I would already have the plane. I ordered the engine from Western Skyways about 9 months ago. I continued to fly until the rebuilt engine arrived in February. It’s not a factory rebuild but I am not having to wait 3 years either. Might be worth checking out Western Skyways.

Just read through the whole thread. Lots of gainsayers, but I like how you think. I don’t discount some of the other solutions, but I would love to see an answer from the engine side also!

Some folks do T&G’s because they enjoy them.

I haven’t seen any mention of Western Skyways. It may be worth a call to just see what they have to say.

Bob said that he very much enjoys the work and will continue to do it as long as he is able. He has also moved to McKenzie, TN, which is midway between Nashville and Memphis. He has worked on many EDO-Aire units and had no hesitation about mine. He did say that it would be a two week turnaround due the rotor of the Edo. I think he can turn around the Kings in a couple of days. In aviation terms, two weeks is the speed of light! Especially when it involves avionics. I’m delighted!

I believe I have found a very satisfactory solution thanks to @Will.iam. He recommended Bob Bramble at aerolabaviation.com. I just had a very nice conversation with Mr. Bramble and I will send him my AI as soon as I can.

It is a very good option, but in the short run it is thousands of dollars versus hundreds. In the long run probably a much better investment, but unfortunately I am dealing with short run dollars!

Thank you so very much! That eliminates one concern. Now I just have to find a replacement or someone that will overhaul mine. Century Instruments in Wichita doesn’t handle the 52D177 anymore and I am very hesitant to go back to the other place as all 3 of the faulty replacements came from them. I will continue to work this problem through a couple of other avenues and post my final results. Your tracking down the fact that my AI is not an incorrect application is an immense contribution! Thank you!

My autopilot is the Century 41. Because I am currently out of state taking care of my mother, I don’t have access right now to either my plane or the logbooks, but internet pictures confirm what I already knew.