Ed de C.

+1 on the new car's worth of business this year. Plenty of doughnuts during the projects, life coaching for the young A/P asking about 529's (I hang out in the shop a lot when my plane is in), pointed out to the owner he forgot to invoice me for a load of fuel for the CIES calibration... Nonetheless, this thread reminds me I should send well-wishes to the shop (and the SAVVY account manager). God has blessed me and this community with the resources to have and maintain our planes. In the end, it's about people and relationships. In that spirit, Merry Christmas everyone Ed

I dug up my notes from last year's trip to the flight levels. Niko182 made it higher than I did (I went to FL220). My results were 200 fpm arriving at that altitude at 105 IAS at 2,700 rpm. I was light, probably around 3,000 lbs (me and middle fuel level). My guess is that if I had pulled it back to Niko182's 100 IAS, I might have seen his 300 fpm given the lightness. Vy is 105, but that's presumably at gross. I leveled off at FL220 and saw 164 KTAS (117 KIAS) on 10.5 gph, 12.3 MAP, 2,700rpm. Temp was -25C. Bood Ox through FL210 was 92 on the canula. The results in climb were a bit better than book (book is M20R 2GX). 310hp and Acclaim Type S prop. I was seeing 500fpm through 19,000 @ 105 KIAS. Even the naturally aspirated Ovation has very good altitude flexibility with a little patience. It would be interesting to see if we can duplicate the IAS performance (but do it down low) by matching the MAP and OAT. Ed

I have a vernier throttle on my Ovation. All of my prior flying was with push/pull. At first, I didn't like the vernier throttle. But as I got used to it, I'd say it's OK. I like the precision of dialing back MAP to set numbers on approach simply with a few twists. The downside is having to push the button to retard in the flair, or for WOT on the go-around. So, at this point, I wouldn't go to any effort/expense to change what's in the plane. Ed

My temps have always run low. CHTs on the above trip were something like 280F max (in cruise). My oil was running around 155F in cruise. Evidently the baffling and sealing are excellent, and all that without cowl flaps on the O. The oil temp is too low (I have installed a non-factory small oil cooler plate). I need to install the large (standard) plate, but even then, oil won't get much over 170 in cruise. We've checked the sensor accuracy and vernatherm. Highest I ever see is 200F right after runup. I have 250 hours on an overhauled engine. Even in summer, most I've ever seen is 380F max in climb out and that was only because I forgot to put the mixture all the way in prior to takeoff (grumble). Usually, this engine is maxing out in the mid-300s during summer climb (full rich on takeoff, followed by leaning to the white bar on the G1000 engine page, as I pass 1,000 AGL). That's a good point about % power and running a bit more fuel through the engine. I would definitely pick up a few knots. I, too, notice a noticeable surge of power when advancing the mixture from 50 LOP. So far, this engine seems to be a textbook example of George Braly's and Mike Busch's applied engine theory. Ed

I guess my O3 is porky. My useful load is <cough> 933 lbs. TKS, O2 (77 cu ft), G1000/GFC700 (no vacuum) Stormscope, Avidyne traffic, Amsafe belts, Hartzell 3-blade prop. I don't have my weight/balance in front of me, but I think it came out of the factory heavy and the few add-ons since eroded it further. I have no idea how you guys are getting those 1,000+ useful loads with similar equipment. Should I figure my plane has charlie weights in the tail and if so, roughly how much might they be? Ed

Recently, at 15,000 feet: 163 kts @ 2,500 rpm, 16.6 MP, 10.8 LOP (about 50 degrees LOP), Temp -19C. 3,100 lbs (2008 O3, 310 hp, TKS, 3-blade Hartzell with the newer blades). A little lower (9k - 12k) I can get 170 kts reliably at WOT, 2,400 rpm and 50 LOP (12 - 12.5 gph). I've run it flat out at 8k (WOT, 2,700) leaned to best power. Best I get is 185 kts. Book says 197 kts. I'm a good 10 kts off book at cruise settings. Probably all due to TKS. I've noticed some recent Mooneys have the TKS installed with black silicone edging that smooths the airflow (like all Cirrus). Planning to contact CAV to see if adding that would make a difference. Also wondering about flap gap seals (I believe the Acclaim has these). I was curious how loud the cabin is in cruise. The cruise conditions above measure 89 decibels on my I-phone app. I have nothing to compare that too yet. Ed

Great seeing what others are doing and why. My travel kit still evolving. I've had near disastrous experiences with passengers in turbulence, averted with a good barf bag. So, those are stashed at every seat along with wipe up microfiber towels and water at each seat. Dramamine is also in my bag and works well for my sensitive passengers (I don't need it). I now interview each passenger to check for sensitive stomachs. I experimented with a travel john recently on a Michigan to Florida (panhandle) non-stop flight and found the travel john midway down to be great (relief). It does not convert to a gel, it's still definitely liquid and the bag filled completely. Good seal. The flight back (5 hours both ways) I made with no travel john usage due to very light fluids before the flight. The travel john is a great range extender (inverse of a refueling tanker, I suppose), as this plane will make it from Detroit to Miami in one shot. I found the 5 hours in the seat to Florida to be very comfortable (more comfortable than a 5-hour drive somewhere), so a long trip is attractive (if it weren't for the bladder). I would not try this with my wife on board or passengers; I'll plan on no longer than 3-hour legs with them. A Mooney-experienced A/P commented once that drinks in the back seat spill and wind up in belly areas, leading to corrosion. He singled out sodas as particularly problematic and suggested only allowing water back there. I have on-board Oxygen which I use over 5,000 feet with the MH pulse controllers. My family has been fine with canulas. Spare AA batteries, blood oxygen tester, no food for me (I typically eat one meal a day). I have a tool kit, can or two of oil with filler spout, and for winter, just added a pump sprayer of TKS, snow brush, plenty of TKS in the on-board tank, plus a 100-foot extension cord for plugging in the engine heater. I've learned to cover the speedbrakes with 2-inch wide red plastic tape (have scissors) to keep the rainwater out of the units. My previous speedbrake intermittent inop problems have disappeared. Cowl covers, tow bar, wheel chock, Ipad, Sentry, spare battery to power ipad and phone, and device cables, headsets for all, flashlights, fuel sampler, handheld radio, tie down rings and rope, spare pen, reading glasses, gloves, are all checklist items either before I leave the house or at the hangar. I've experimented with podcasts on the i-phone but find the ATC muting of the i-phone feed makes podcast listening not really worth it (the iphone does not pause the podcast). In the northern latitudes, especially in winter, the sun stays low on the horizon, and some sort of sunshade is necessary. I use green patches from Sporty's that stick on the windows with static electricity. They work well and are dirt cheap, and better for me than the suction cup plastic shades that articulate. I almost never wear sunglasses, since I find the G1000 display is too dim with glasses (non-polarized). Most of these things were added as I realized I needed/wanted them on a flight. You'll build your kit thru the same process, I expect. On my to-do list is investigating some sort of over-water precaution kit (life vests, etc.) or simply plan on crossing the Great Lakes at a high enough altitude to glide to shore (generally glideable at 15,000). Also, some sort of survival kit for an off-field landing. I'm still weighing the probabilities and what makes sense for my trip profile. Ed

Good evening folks - I thought I would share some interesting points about my flight today from Pontiac, Michigan (KPTK) to Philadelphia (KPNE). The weather brief was consistent for the prior few days: A strong low pressure above Maine with dense isobars promising a powerful tailwind for the trip. The specific forecast was about 75 knot tailwind at 15,000. Surface winds were gusty at both departure and arrival. The morning low temperature caught me a little by surprise (12 degrees F), as we had enjoyed milder temperatures so far this winter. Fortunately, the night before I set the SwitchOn to give me 5 hours of engine and cabin pre-heat prior to my planned 9am departure from Pontiac. By now, I've figured out the clothing needed to manage the in-hangar pre-flight and only open the hangar door when the plane is ready to drag outside. (This is my second winter season, but much of last winter had the airplane in the shop for one thing or another.) The arrival at the airport hangar was in bright (cold) sunshine with scattered clouds at 4,000 MSL. Gusty winds were nearly down the east/west runway. I packed the plane with gear I might need in Philadelphia (TKS hand sprayer, 100 foot extension cord for engine heater, tools, etc.) and pulled the plane out with my Sidewinder tug. Or tried to. There was a light coating of snow on the pavement outside the hangar, maybe half an inch, but a dry area for about 10 feet outside the door before the snow layer started. As I pull the plane out, I wait for wing to clear the door then turn the tug to the left to angle towards the taxiway. I got the plane partially out, cleared the wing and started the turn. When the nose wheel hit the snow, I noticed the sidewinder having trouble getting purchase on the snowy nose tire. Then, when the mains hit the snow, enough resistance built up that the sidewinder simply slipped on the nosewheel. Luckily, the tail was clear of the door so that it could be closed. The plane was at a 45-degree angle, so some prop blast would be towards the door, but seemed (and turned out to be) fine. If snow had piled up against the door, obviously I'd be doing some snow shoveling while guessing how the tires would track so that I'd only need to clear the track for the tires. I have a shovel in the hangar and all this dawned on me as I looked at the airplane sitting there at the 45-degree angle. The pavement slopes downward away from the hangar door, so gravity was working for me. Putting the plane back in, up the slope, in snow, may not be possible with the Sidewinder. I remember pulling a club Mooney a long time ago into a hangar with a winch at the back of the hangar. I need to figure this out. The runup, clearance, and take off were normal, albeit "sporty". Once the power was in, I glanced at the airspeed tape on the G1000 and saw 45 knots really quick. Cold and headwind. This plane has the 310hp STC. I push the go-around button before takeoff to set the flight director and prepare for AP engagement at 400 feet AGL. Tower was a little slow to pass me off to Detroit Departure, so I was able to engage AP at 400 feet and was about to select heading when Tower passed me over to Departure. As I was reaching to select Com 2, there was a massive jolt, as if the Fist of God had hammered the top of the airplane. My head (more accurately my Bose headset) hit the ceiling and I was momentarily stunned. Not physiologically, but mentally. You've experienced it: an event that shocks your system and takes a couple of beats for your brain to check in with body systems to assess damage. The Bose crackled a bit, seemingly unhappy with the ceiling impact, but I felt no pain. By the time I wondered about the airplane (a second or two later), my brain registered that the engine had not missed a beat and nothing abnormal was felt in the controls. Before I could think to worry about the structure, the plane was saying "don't worry about me". A few seconds later, I got it together and switched to Departure. Interestingly, other than that jolt, the rest of the climb through 4,000 MSL was fairly mild bumps up to the glass smooth air above the scattered layer. As I climbed, I looked at the seatbelt to cinch it tighter but realized that with the 3-point design, there's not a great way to get much more vertical restraint. Perhaps I can get the lap belt portion tighter. The rest of the climb out to the southeast was uneventful, other than the promising ground speeds that were developing. I filed for 15,000 to get the optimum tailwinds (about 75 knots according to Foreflight) but ATC held me at 9,000 until I cleared Detroit's airspace. Tailwinds were 24 knots at 9,000 feet, but Foreflight said the tailwinds jumped fast a little higher. Sure enough, as I continued the climb tailwinds exploded. By the time I got to 15,000, which happened at about 500 fpm at 120 knots indicated (FLC set to 120) I saw a max of 87 knots of tailwind. Ground speed maxed out at 254 knots. For much of the flight, there was an undercast broken layer and snow showed on the Nexrad display on the MFD. The descent started around Harrisburg and as I headed down at 1,000 fpm the top of the green arc came up and I pegged it there by varying the descent rate. Ground Speed hit 270 knots. The undercast disappeared toward Philadelphia, causing me to forget that there was probably a thermal layer nonetheless where turbulence would start. That happened as I descended through 7,000 feet, and it was pretty rough. ATC wanted expedited descent which I translated to 1200 fpm and speed builds quick into the yellow band. Speed brakes will quickly shave off 10 - 15 knots at a given power and descent rate, and the rest is done with power reductions. Turbulence seemed to exacerbate the tendency to creep into the yellow arc and once I saw the over-speed warning that seems to be triggered about halfway into the yellow arc. Speedbrakes and power management need to be jumped on early. I noticed the left speedbrake would not retract fully (about 1 inch proud of the wing surface) so it would seem some lube is needed. When I looked after landing, it was fully retracted. The arrival into Philadelphia (KPNE) was looking good with one of two crossing runways pretty well lined up with the gusty winds. The Tower cleared me to land from outside of the downwind on the visual approach. Then on the frequency, "Tower, this is Vision Jet XXX, we seem to have had a blowout or something." Tower asked if they could clear the runway and they couldn't. I knew what was coming and it wasn't going to be fun. I was rerouted to the crossing runway and I offered that I'd give it a go. It was a 60-degree crosswind at 17 knots, gusting higher. One of those where your base to final turn overshoots final by a lot. The landing was miserable, the crab and kick out worked OK, but gusts resulted in me plopping it down on the mains, in one of those sinking sensations where the runway is further away from your wheels than you thought when the wing stops flying. The LHS system didn't help much because the gusts interfered with how my mind processed the varying aural heights. The wide runway helped keep the plane from being blown off the downwind side. So, the tailwinds were wonderful, the fastest numbers I've even seen in a plane I've flown. But, there's likely going to be a price to pay at either end of the journey. Ed

When I decided to buy my first airplane a year ago, the first thing I did was sign up with SAVVY's free program to advise you how to make a purchase. I believe they looked over the logs of the candidate and gave me a thumbs up (or down) at no charge. They had advice on how to make an offer. After I decided to make an offer and got that accepted, I signed up for SAVVY's pre-purchase inspection program ($750 I think). This program helped arrange the pre-buy and disposition of findings and who should pay for what. Once we got through the pre-buy and the plane became mine, I signed up with SAVVY's maintenance management program to continue the service. If you like the idea of some hand-holding through the process, check out SAVVY's website for yourself. If you've done this several times, you don't need much outside help. My purchase was an import from Canada. Luckily, I was buying from a seller's broker in Canada who was very familiar with the export process to the US, and we negotiated that he would do all that work (customs, getting US airworthiness, etc.) Even then, I did a lot of research to figure out what had to happen. Your situation is easier (a domestic purchase). The nice thing about working with a broker of some sort is that you don't deal directly with the seller. The broker screens both seller and buyer to make sure both are serious. Of course, someone is paying for that benefit in the form of the broker's fee. It worked well for me. As others have said, a call into Jimmy Garrison is well worth it. I made such a call when I was thinking about buying an Acclaim. He said, "So, if flying in the flight levels frequently is you, then go for it. If that's not you, let me suggest you look at an Ovation. If you ever want to sell, the market is 3x larger." He knows things that you may not think about, and he's very easy to talk to. If he had the right plane at the time, I would have bought from him. Setting up an escrow account with one of the several firms out there is easy. You call them and they tell you what to do and they handle it. In my case, the selling broker gave me the contact info at an escrow company in Oklahoma which worked flawlessly. They even knew the rules about import. It'll be several hundred dollars depending on aircraft value (I think). Ed

For my M20R I bought the cigarette lighter adaptor sold by Mountain High Oxygen systems. Idea was to power the EDS modules and MH said the quality mattered. The unit is probably overkill at $55, but it works fine. I'll note that at night, the voltage display is too bright, so I yank it out. I think I have a cheap adaptor kicking around from my wife's car that also worked fine to power an i-phone. Mostly, it's my i-pad that needs power mid-flight and I plug that into my portable battery in the pocket by my left knee. Ed

+ 1 for the Switch On solution and setting it to come on 5 or so hours before flight. The Switch On app allows you to schedule the turn on time well in advance. I have the engine heater and Tanis cabin heater on the circuit to warm the interior (there's a thread here on the cabin heating). The Switch On unit was $249 and after a year you pay $50/yr for the cell service. I wouldn't fuss with anything else. Ed

When my Ovation was in annual, I noticed that the overhead vent tube is largely accessible through the main access panels behind the baggage compartment (where the oxygen bottle is.) In fact, I recall that the actuating valve was accessible too (well, at least it was visible). You might want to start there. Ed

Good evening folks – I thought I’d post some notes related to my first annual on my 2008 Ovation completed a couple of weeks ago. Might be useful for somebody. The backstory is that I purchased and imported this airplane a year ago from Canada. Some of you may know that the import process essentially requires an annual inspection be done at the time of import so that the DAR (inspector) will agree to give the plane a new US airworthiness certificate. In my case, this was done right after a pre-buy occurred and I agreed to buy the plane. So, I guess technically this is my second annual. Early on, I found a shop on my home field at Pontiac, Michigan and began working with them on some squawks and improvements. This shop is locally known to be thorough. My better decisions were to add the LHS landing system (love it) and GAMI injectors (can lean now to 100 LOP with no roughness). My new Whelen LED taxi and landing lights are fabulous. My mistakes included switching to CIES fuel senders when simply overhauling a troublesome factory sender would have done the job and factory accuracy was fine. That cost me $8k in parts and (lots of) labor. Fortunately, we have the CIES calibration dialed in well enough finally. I also had the shop do a couple of oil changes and had them troubleshoot (and IRAN) much of the fuel system to chase down some fuel flow anomalies. After all that, I figured the official annual would be “a walk in the park”. My report to the shop when I dropped off the plane for annual was mainly “just sort out the fuel senders”. Well, maybe I had a couple of additional items: 1) the EGT prob in the collector driving the EGT gage on the engine summary display was inop. This M20R chooses this 7th probe for the engine summary, whereas the detailed engine page shows the standard 6 EGT probes. The SAVVY data analysis calls this the TIT probe (M20R is normally aspirated). 2) Landing gear feels wobbly at high speed on landing. 3) The B/C standby alternator seems to be not charging as strongly as it once did (voltage at a given RPM, flashing low volts stays on) and it shows 29.9V at 2,500 rpm in flight (seems high). 4) The main alternator emits a distinct whine on the ground, not audible in the air. 5) The Stormscope displays spurious signals at the 12 o-clock and 6 o-clock positions. 6) Check the fluids and top off… (O2 and TKS) I like to hang out at the shop when my plane is there to watch and learn. I bring enough doughnuts to buy that access. The morning after I dropped off the plane, I got the bad news from the assigned A/P: “Hey Ed, we found something on the engine mount. It almost certainly means we’ll have to pull the engine and send the mount out for repair.” Boy, that sounded expensive and time consuming. Sure enough, the engine isolator on the front left side had a heat shield that was contacting one of the mount tubes and had rubbed a slot into the tube. Evidently, there’s a certain amount of section reduction allowed, and this exceeded that. The shop owner explained to me that the 3 options were to a) find a new mount, b) send the mount to a turn-key repair shop, 3) use the services of his local certified welder to patch the spot. I looked at the mount and the groove and said “I’m a recovering mechanical engineer. That structure there is plenty over-built to handle the loads. A patch weld is more than fine.” Well, the estimate for even that was $8k. One guy sand blasts the paint off, another welds the patch, a 3rd paints it. Then 40 hours of labor to take everything off and put it back on again. Sadly, my pre-buy photos showed this problem existed at least as far back as the pre-buy a year ago. Likely it was an installation error on the part of the shop that installed the overhauled engine 2 years ago. I also noted another weld on the engine mount done some time in the past. Seems this is not an uncommon occurrence. Lesson to all of us: have your pre-buy A/P check the engine mount carefully. Fortunately, the engine went back on with no glitches and 8 hours of flying indicate it has never run better. Lesson: pre-buys catch a lot, but they don’t catch everything. The rest of the annual involved a fairly long list of minor squawks and paperwork. All told, it came in at $20k, or about 5% of the purchase price of the airplane. It took 7 weeks. All agree that this 2008 Ovation specimen is very clean, a testament to the Canadian climate and quality of prior maintenance. It could have been worse. The lesson here oft-repeated: your first annual is painful. The SAVVY tech advised me through the process that the quote and invoice were reasonable for the work performed. Regarding my original squawks above, we solved the EGT problem with a new probe. Strangely, 2 of the other probes proved inop on the runup, but cured themselves later during a test flight. The wobbly landing gear was addressed with new bolts in the nose gear assembly. The B/C alternator was actually performing normally at 30V according to the service manual (and by that point I was fine to “defer”.) We left the main alternator whine alone for now. The Stormscope was deferred since I realized I needed to do some of my own troubleshooting (turns out the screen is clear when the strobes are turned off, so that’s where we’ll focus at some point.) The TKS panels all wetted out normally. Now, the plane is just about squawk free. I get an intermittent “GPS1 needs service” alert on the G1000, and I still have the alternator whine and stormscope noise to address. We’ll de-cowl at the next oil change and make sure all is good in the engine compartment. Best, Ed

Have you thought about an Ovation? It's normally aspirated but significantly more power at sea level than a J and will carry that up to the altitudes. I find 15k feet is achieved easily and 20k is doable, albeit slowly achieved. You get a few other advantages due to the more recent model years and it's a long body. Might be comparably priced to a 252/encore depending on year/condition. Of course, why stop there when there's the Bravo and Aclaim...

I use the sidewinder but with a 3-blade prop on my O. In my case the engine always stops with a blade vertical up and the two down to the sides. There is a lot of clearance between the sidewinder and the two lower blades, since the turning limits are pretty narrow. I would expect it to work fine with 4 blades, just like a manual tow bar would need to. If not, you can always move the prop a little.

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