Ed de C.

My Ovation has the 310hp STC and is setup with 28gph WOT on takeoff. I have no problem with CHTs here in Michigan (max is 370 degrees with OAT of 30C.) My baffling is very good. In fact, I struggle to keep the oil temps high enough in cruise and CHTs routinely run below 300 F (LOP). I lean in climb to the white bar on the EGT on the G1000 engine page (1400-1450) per the manual. I checked my EGTs full rich when departing a sea level airport and found that they settled within the white bar, so, per George Braly/Mike Busch, you can lean to that in climb and be good. I climb out at 120 kts indicated in summer, 140 kts in winter. Both give 1,000 fpm from my home field at 1,000 AGL. Baffles have to be good with plenty of RTV. Oh, one thing the A/P found in the ongoing annual: The timing is set for 20 degrees Left mag, 19 degrees right mag. That's a little under the 22 degree spec on the OI-550-G, meaning the retarded timing will tend to have CHTs run a little cooler (and a little less power). The A/P did not feel it was enough to make adjustment. Your magneto timing is a factor in CHTs. Ed

Thanks William - on the Continental 550, the backup alternator runs off one of the rear accessory drive pads. So, it is gear/spline driven, no slippage there. Lance, not sure what the coupler is. The issue is with the backup alternator, not the main alternator. Main alternator shows no voltage anomalies, but it does exhibit a whine during taxi (that goes away when I turn off the field switch). I've asked the shop to look into that, since I have been told that alternator whine can be caused by a diode problem. Ed

I've been fortunate that I've never been yelled at by a controller, despite a few notable goofs. Maybe it's the Midwest nice thing, or maybe it's that I'm flying a Mooney and there just seems to be a notch or two more respect coming back to me over the radio. Being 60 and pretty good on the radio no doubt helps. A few months ago, I was coming home to Pontiac Michigan from Philadelphia and in Cleveland Approach's airspace. The frequency got quiet and by the time I noticed, I had flown beyond radio range of the controller. The adrenaline kicked in a bit since I'd never had this happen before. I've got G1000 and Foreflight so there are a million ways to get the next frequency, but when under stress the million can shrink to zero. I remembered the Detroit approach frequency for my home airport and hoped I was close enough. It worked. The approach controller started by saying "we've been trying to reach you." I was on an IFR flight plan, and it was a CAVU day. I had not yet penetrated the Detroit class B airspace and was high enough to not have interfered with the approach paths into Detroit. Curiously, the controller simply asked me how I had found the Detroit approach frequency (he asked if I used Foreflight), and I replied that I knew it from memory. I recall he said they tried me on Guard. He was very calm, and nothing came of it. I sensed he was relieved that I wasn't in some sort of distress. Lesson for me was to figure out how to find handoff frequencies if I miss a radio call and I monitor Guard regularly (you hear weird things on Guard sometimes, having nothing to do with radio traffic). Another goof was to turn the wrong way after takeoff and staying in the pattern at the home towered field. Luckily it was 9pm, dark, and there was no other traffic. The controller politely pointed out my error and said, "No problem, just continue." Since we have 2 parallel runways, that was a serious goof since I was crossing the departure path of the parallel runway. I had two minor episodes 20+ years ago in my Lancair, one at my then home field in Romeo, Michigan and one flying in Destin, Florida. Arriving at the traffic pattern at Romeo (uncontrolled) after a long flight, I flew an extra-long downwind before turning base. I was tired. Somebody behind me, barked about me getting on the ground and getting out of his way (no indication that he was in any sort of difficulty). I mentally flipped him the bird and keyed the mic responding tiredly that it had been a long day. Minor league episode, to be sure, but it ate at me that road rage makes its way into the air. The Destin episode had a funny ending (20 years later). I was sightseeing down there (DTS) back before they had their tower. I entered downwind and as I turned base, a King Air cut me off on his straight in. No warning on Unicom. I was grumpy since I believed I had the right of way and had been taught that straight in was not an acceptable arrival when there's traffic in the pattern and it's a CAVU day. (I've since read that actually straight in is not illegal and it's the guy who is lower that has the right of way, or something like that) I said nothing to the King Air, however. 20 years later, I flew down to the same airport in the Mooney, and they now have a tower. The line guy commented "yeah, when you were here last there was no tower. But after too many fist fights on the ramp, we decided the tower was necessary." I understood why. Another thing I do is apologize to the controller when I've screwed up something (wrong heading, taxiing back to parking without switching to ground, you name it). I fess up and always get a "no problem". Best, Ed

Thanks dkkim73 - Sure enough, the Ovation service manual in this area is nearly identical to the Acclaim. Key thing: looks like 30V is by design for the backup alternator (text below). (Mine is regulating to 29.9V). It seems I sent my shop on a wild goose chase, which I just fixed. The data logging at runup shows steadily climbing volts and amps as rpm rises through 2000, indicating the backup alternator and its regulator seem to be working properly. Only question remaining is why the blinking low volts light on the panel annunciator is not extinguishing at 2000 rpm as it used to. At runup and 2000 rpm, volts shows 26.2V. Progressing to 2200rpm increases volts to 27. The in-flight test was at 2500rpm and generated 29.9V. I'll collect more data on the indicator light once the plane is out of annual. The service manual says the low voltage blinking indicator light should extinguish at 26.5V and if not, it can be adjusted. Ah, checking prior runup data, I see that backup alternator voltage at 2000 rpm has been dropping over time. In Feb 2024 it was 27.4V, May: 26.8V, June: 26.4V, July: 26.2V. That would explain why I'm noticing the indicator light behaving differently recently. Question is, why would the voltage be dropping over time? "Standby Alternator System An optional standby system provides 30 volts, with 20 amps of power to support continued flight in the event of primary alternator failure. The Standby alternator is installed on the accessory pad location. Panel mounted equipment includes a STBY ALT ON annunciator and two standard pull type circuit breakers (1 amp and 5 amp) and a STBY ALT master switch. Appropriate placards are provided for each panel mounted device. The regulator is mounted in the RH nosegear wheelhouse area on the M20R Aircraft. If the primary alternator fails in flight, the pilot activates the standby alternator." Ed

Good evening folks - Another squawk I noted for the shop during annual (Ovation 3) is that the B&C backup alternator shows 29.9V in flight at 2300 rpm. That seems too high according to Savvy and the shop. Question is what could be allowing that. The main alternator (and its voltage regulator) runs voltage around 28.3V or so. A brief backstory: I checked in flight voltage because I noticed a few months ago that the low-voltage indicator light, when the backup alternator was energized, would no longer extinguish at 2000 rpm as it would in the past (this is during runup on the ground). Amps would go positive as the rpm increased, but the low-voltage light would not extinguish. The engine data trace showed that back-up alternator voltage would rise linearly as rpm increased. I flagged the situation to the shop. Consensus seems to be that the in-flight voltage of 29.9V is a bigger concern than the runup low voltage light not extinguishing. Question is what's the likely culprit here? Our sense is that we have a voltage regulator problem. But, one mechanic working on the plane says there is one voltage regulator controlling voltage for both alternators. If so, why would we have different controlled voltages depending on the alternator engaged? Thoughts appreciated. Ed

Good evening folks - My Ovation is in for its first annual under my watch. Sure enough, the first time is painful (even after a good pre-buy). In my case, a scored engine mount due to a rubbing heat shield around the left front isolator is the $7k culprit (engine has to be pulled and mount sent out for repair due to failing allowed section thickness reduction). So be it. Now that the seats are out, I'd like to clean the carpets (vacuum cleaner and Bissel extractor). One of the A/Ps told me I don't want to bring electric motors or extension cords inside the cabin's steel cage for fear of magnetizing the cage. Apparently, the failure mode is a magnetic compass that always points North, according to the A/P. He said he's seen this condition on a couple of pre-J models, but nothing post J. My question is: should I be concerned about using this kind of equipment inside the cabin? There are plenty of other motors inside the cabin already such as the avionics fans, gear motor actuator in the belly, etc. If this is a worry, then should I worry about that $500 Tanis cabin heater I bought last winter? I'm a mechanical engineer because the voodoo electrical stuff was never intuitive to me. Best, Ed

Good afternoon, folks - this was a surprise. I had flown from my home base north of Detroit to Easton Maryland for a niece's wedding. Landed and parked last Friday afternoon and admonished the line guy to be careful moving the plane due to the tow limits. With that squared away, my wife, daughter and I packed our gear into the rental and headed off. I remember noticing a Lake Amphibian parked 50 yards from my plane that looked like it had been there for a while. Birds were flying in and out of the engine cowling, which I mentioned to the desk person. "Oh, that plane is broken, he's not going anywhere for a while." We returned to the airport Sunday morning, and I start the preflight. The Lake was still there. as were the birds. First thing I noticed preflighting was bird crap all over the front of the cowling, prop and spinner. I aimed the flashlight inside the right cowl opening and there was the nest evidence. Damn! Luckily, I had a small tool kit with the necessary screw drivers and removed the top cowling. 15 minutes of picking away at the scraps dealt with it. (No eggs yet.) My cousin's bird nest episode in an old Grumman Tiger (a fire happened) caused me to reflect again on the wisdom of preflights. The Pilatus crew that had just taxied in had a chuckle, "Yeah, that's why we do preflights!" Now I know what to do with the cowl plugs I inherited from the last owner. I thought they were just for preheating (my plane lives in a hangar at home). Another adjustment to the checklist. Thinking more about this, I'm guessing the bird nest risk is high in the spring when birds are nesting. Later in the season, the risk should be far less. Also, thinking about other openings that could attract birds: What do you folks do to plug the intake air opening on the bottom cowl? Any worries about the cowl openings at the back of the lower cowl? (Note to self, I better shine the flashlight up the lower cowl.) I see log entries twice that an A/P fished out bird nest material from the tailcone area. How they get in there is a mystery to me. Ed

In hindsight, I'm inclined to agree (that CIES senders to the G1000 is a solution in search of a problem.) The factory gages were right on, except for the glitching that probably could have been rectified with an overhauled unit. But, here I am. I'm running 401.34 software. It seems I cannot upgrade to .37 without the 345(?) transponder that I don't have. I have the 330ES. Ed

Good evening folks - it seems that I am the first CIES fuel sender customer with an Ovation and G1000 install. (Let's make that the first fact check.) I skimmed the other CIES threads and thought I'd start this one based on G1000. My Ovation (2008) had an erratic right-side gage reading that was jumping around periodically. Removing the interior panel on the right side showed some fuel staining around the bulkhead of the factory sender. Advice was to take this opportunity to switch to CIES digital gages. So, I did. I originally called CIES (in January 2024) and a nice lady told me that I appear to be the first Mooney / G1000 combo to ask about this. She mentioned that the Ovation kit had been recently modified to include bends that shops were doing in the field. But the G-1000 piece would be new, but "shouldn't be a problem". I had my shop give me a quote which meant they had to communicate with CIES and the result was about $6k to do the work (including parts, which someone on the Marauder thread found similar). My shop A/P reported that all seemed to go well except that the right inboard side sender needed to be "flipped over" to not snag on something in the tank. They installed the gages, had a couple of calls with CIES about resistors, and calibrated the tanks. I have the 100 gallons usable tanks. Some of you may see the problem coming. The initial test flight with 100 gallons of fuel onboard started with the customary 44.5 gallons a side on the G-1000 screen. Immediately, the selected tank started to burn down on the G-1000 gage. My totalizer has proven dead-nuts accurate in the past and calibrates very well with the wing mounted gages. The CIES/G1000 gages are reading 6 - 10 gallons low compared to the totalizer after 10 hours of operation. The A/P suspected he had been thrown by the fact that this Mooney has 100-gallon fuel capacity whereas the G1000 gages only read up to 44.5 gallons a side. A separate thread explains that Garmin never updated the fuel gage readings to accommodate the higher tank capacities after original certification. The A/P had an idea which was to delete the last fuel calibration entry in the G1000 to see if that would cause the system to realize that 44.5 gallons is the limit of what the G-1000 can accept. Preliminary results after his deletion is that the gage readings remain inaccurate by between 5 and 10 gallons in mid-range quantities that I've been able to observe. Question 1: Have any of you with a long-body and G1000 installed CIES gages? Question 2: If so, how did you deal with the 44.5 gallon-a-side limit on the G-1000 gages? Question 3: Any other ideas? I can live with this until the annual in 6 months when the plane will be back on jacks and can be levelled for a repeat calibration. On the other hand, given what I've spent, I want these senders to be the best thing since sliced bread. Best, Ed

I've got a similar airplane: 2008 Ovation with 310hp STC, FIKI TKS, 77 ft cubed oxygen, Amsafe belts, WX-500 stormscope, Avidyne traffic, maybe a few other things. My useful load is 933 lbs. I can trace that back to the factory specs of this airplane and didn't see any obvious errors in the W/B worksheets subsequent. I've owned this for 9 months and have poured over the POH and the limited 310hp STC data. As the folks have said, you can use the Ovation 2 POH data for most of this. You'll get better climb at 2,700 rpm than the POH says by maybe 300 fpm (I see up to 2,000 fpm in Michigan winter at 120 kts and light). To set your expectations: The cruise speeds on the POH are unachievable in my bird with TKS. I see an honest 170 kts true at 13 gph LOP at 8,000 feet. At 12 gph, it's roughly 165 kts true. I'm typically turning 2,300 rpm for these numbers. The fuel flow is the key number when LOP as that determines your HP using a multiplier of 14.9 for our 8.5:1 compression engines. You can take that HP calculation, convert to % power (make sure to use 280 max HP if you are referencing the POH) and then find your "book" speed expected. I've run the engine flat out at 8,000 feet (2,700 rpm) to see where it would top out at. It's around 185 kts true. Mooney claims 197 kts true for the 310 hp Ovation 3 (not in the POH). A touch of left or right rudder trim can affect my numbers, but I don't have enough data to be sure about that. I'm at least 10 knots slow to book. Most people here attribute this to TKS and Mooney's aggressive test protocols that remove antennas, the passenger step and who knows what else. I've put effort into rigging the gear and the control surfaces appear to be within spec. I find the speed of these machines is more than you need or even want when buzzing around with friends and family. I've never wanted more speed in the terminal area. As someone said, it breaks the sound barrier going down. I'm pulling inches off in the descent to keep it below the yellow arc and love the flexibility the speedbrakes provide. Where we all could appreciate more speed is in cross country cruise. The Acclaim guys have us beat there. I've put away the POH book speed values and have gotten good with seeing 170 kts true on the G1000. The delta against book amounts to only a few minutes on a typical cross country. And when the machine is running well, it's an enjoyable place to spend time. Something that will make you smile nonetheless is the fuel economy. My numbers suggest that the acclaim flying at our same speeds will burn 2 gph more (based on POH fuel burn figures). The catch of course is that the Acclaim can fly at altitudes and speeds that we can't match (albeit at higher fuel flows). Enjoy the new bird! Set your expectations about performance a little lower than book and you'll be happy with what you get. Best, Ed

I thought I'd add my recent experience to this thread. My 2008 Ovation is new to me as of 9 months ago and we missed oxygen leaks at the pre-buy. Reason is that the pre-buy shop focused on the expired tank and once it was back in did not have time to catch what turned out to be 2 leaks. A few months later, I suspected a leak based on periodic gage readings. I had the tank filled to 1,800 psi and started charting the pressure over time. It was down to 1,200 over 30 days. The shop did the easy part first which as to open the avionics access panel in the rear fuselage and spray bubble solution around. They found leak number one at a T fitting. They tightened that up and the leak stopped. They recharged the system and yet I continued to notice pressure loss. A month later when we had the interior out for CIES fuel senders install, the shop checked for leaks at the pressure gage fitting and found the second one. They tightened that one up. Pressure has held steady at 1,800 for two months now (up and down slightly for temperature changes). It feels good to clean up a squawk. Best, Ed

I'm happy to lend my voice to this thread extolling to virtues of this system. I ordered it in February a couple of months ago, received it quickly and presented it to my shop that had no prior experience with it (LHS system with gear warning option). The avionics-skilled A/P elected to wire it to the AUX circuit of the G1000's audio panel. We tested the audio messages from the LHS system against streaming ATIS to make sure it would not mute out (which it did not). He also wired the power to an unused breaker labeled "Radar Altimeter". We thought "close enough". The installation was relatively painless, given we had the interior out for CIES gages anyway. We mounted the laser in the rear access panel inside the left main gear. As you folks who have this already know, the big win here is the aural altitude callouts during the last 15 seconds of flying. I've flown with it for 15 hours so have not yet really focused on matching up my flair with a specific altitude callout. But what's immediately clear is I no longer bounce the plane on due to misjudged height. I'm rotating when I hear "five" and have arrested my descent when I hear "two". Now, 100% of the landings are at least good, whereas before, 50% were at least good. If you are coming down too fast or in gusty winds, the callouts tell you where you are relative to the pavement. Your hand on the yoke does the rest. My field (KPTK) is at 980 feet msl and so immediately upon touch down I get a "1,000" callout. The A/P riding along with me got a chuckle out of that. I'll be disabling the GPS altitude callout feature soon. Well done Microkit! Ed

Looks like we have this on solved. The Savvy guys and John Paul at GAMI said they've never seen this before. We swapped in a new mixture control cable to no effect. Upon advice from Savvy and GAMI, in mid-February I had the shop pull the fuel pump, fuel metering unit at the throttle body, and the flow divider and send out for IRAN. I didn't want to sneak up on this one given the downtime. The fuel shop reported that they found a "bad spring" in the fuel metering unit. All parts went back in and the fuel system was adjusted. First thing I noticed on the test flight was that the "Check Gear" aural warning (and red light at the gear switch) came on at 16 inches of MAP. That's no good since we spend plenty of time at 13 inches with the gear up descending into the traffic pattern or slowing before FAF. I was pretty sure the A/P neglected to set the throttle cable switch for the gear warning correctly. The shop owner suggested I carry a sharpie next time I fly and mark the throttle control where I want the gear warning to activate. I set it for 10 inches MAP, the A/P made the adjustment and we're set. There's still more travel to go so the gear warning will sound as I pull power off to start the flair. Good news is that after 15 hours of flying, the fuel flow anomaly has not returned. Best, Ed

Getting around to wrapping up this story on the dead PFD. I went with a Garmin overhaul of my unit. Probably a mistake, since it cost me about 6 weeks of downtime with the Christmas holidays between Garmin and my shop. They had to reload software anyway, so next time I'll pay the extra $500 for the Garmin exchange to save time. The shop installed the new unit in mid-January. As luck would have it, the PFD was stuck in reversionary mode due to a failed reversion switch on the Audio Panel (G1000 unit). The A/P found it by ringing out the wire harness and confirmed by test-swapping in a known good Audio panel from a nearby DA-40 rental. So, my audio panel went to Garmin, this time for factory exchange. Once that was back in the plane later in the month, all was well. I was observing at the shop as all this was going on. I'm realizing: Stuff just breaks. All we can do is treat the equipment well and hope the failure probability Gods look upon us with favor. Then carry extra cash in the wallet. Best, Ed

If you want a turbo, get it. When I queried this group 9 months ago about what to get, there were basically two camps: 1) The Ovation should do the job, or 2) you want a turbo. I'm a flatlander in Michigan with no missions out west. But, even Mike Busch says he would not own a non-turbo. I was on the Acclaim bandwagon and called Jimmy Garrison to see what he had and advice. He said, "Look Ed, if you think you'll want to be flying a lot in the flight levels then get a turbo. But if that's not you, let me talk you into an Ovation. The market is 3x larger for Ovations than Acclaims, the cost of ownership is less, dispatch reliability is higher, and below 8,000 feet the Ovation is just as fast." My research indicated that at the same speed/altitude the Ovation will be 2 gph less than the Acclaim (the Bravo will be worse, but less expensive.) The catch is that the Acclaim (and to a lesser extent the Bravo) can fly speeds the Ovation cannot and altitudes the Ovation cannot. But as the turbo guys will point out, don't let my rationalizations dissuade you: if you want the turbo capability, and are OK with the debatable tradeoffs, get the turbo. 100% of the turbo guys say they have no regrets. There are some non-turbo guys that quietly say "sometimes I wish I had a turbo." For me, the jury is still out. Best, Ed