GeorgePerry

I found out today that the 3.0 to 3.2 software update is not covered under warranty, even though I purchased and had the 88 installed less than 2 months ago. This is very disappointing. I'd expect more from Garmin.

I'll be sure to post a full report, but based on what I've read and the folks I've talked w/ about Paul and WNM I'm pretty confident it'll go well. Best of luck when you trek out there in August. You should try to match up your trip with the Minneapolis AOPA fly-in. Its on 22 August http://www.aopa.org/Community-and-Events/AOPA-Fly-In/2015/About/Minneapolis-Fly-In

Just got the GDL-88 Version 3.2 software update from Garmin loaded. So far so good! Seems to do the trick. No more false cautions http://garmin.blogs.com/aviationalerts/2015/02/service-bulletin-1501-gdl-88-software-upgrade-to-system-software-version-320.html

This is not another Bladder V/S reseal thread. That grounds been covered, and covered, and covered...Long Body Mooney's with a leak must get a reseal as Bladders are not an option. This post is to inform anyone who, for whatever the reason, decides they are interested in getting a reseal performed. I've been nursing a very small fuel "stain / seep" (Category 1) coming from the bottom of my left tank for the past several months. A small stain would appear after sitting for a couple of days with full tanks and high head pressure, but it wasn't too bad. After flying down to FL recently everything warmed up and the leak stopped completely. No stains at all, even with full tanks and several days of sitting idle. I was happy, its always nice when things fix themselves - but I know that never lasts. After bringing the plane back north I topped both tanks. After a couple of nights with temps in the single digits the plane got a good cold soak and my very tiny "seep" got worse. With full tanks, the leak from the left tank now falls somewhere between category 2 and 3 I de-fueled the the left tank in 5 gallon increments until it stopped. Turns out keeping the fuel below 20 gallons in the left wing stops the fuel from coming out of the drain hole, so the area of bad sealant is above that level. Problem solved - sort of I knew it was time to address the problem. During my research, I found that options to fix leaks on latter aircraft are very limited as O&N bladders are not available for long body Mooneys. ARRRRGGG! So my only option is a strip and reseal. So that's what I decided to do. Fingers crossed. Currently there are a few well known and several less well known shops that perform fuel tank reseals. A quick google search brings up the the list. After doing a fair amount of homework, research and talking with Paul at Weep No More several times, I decided to take my Eagle up to Wilmar MN to have him perform a complete strip and reseal. Even though my leak is isolated to just the left wing, there's no guarantee how long the right will last before it starts to turn blue so I'm having both L & R tanks done. I learned from Paul (and others) that 1999 and 2000 M20's have a REALLY bad track record for developing leaks. Based on Mooney's propensity to leak, That's saying something! Perhaps the crew sealing the tanks in K-ville during those years weren't as thorough or careful as they should have been. I'm asked Paul to take photo's of the process for my records and so I can post about the experience on MS. 16 April Update M20S delivered to Paul at Weep No More. Long trip with a 0545 departure. 5.5 hours later I landed at Willmar. Paul was there to meet me and we were able to chat about the strip/reseal process. He gave me a tour of the facility and showed me several Mooney's that he had there undergoing reseals. They were all in various stages of the process and it was really cool to see first hand! Paul also agree to take lots of photos to document the process. He said a full book of pictures was a normal part of the process so owners have documentation of the various stages. I thought it's pretty nice of him to provide this to all of his customers. We also discussed my posting about this on the forums. He was really supportive of the idea. Delivery Pics Enclosed The old sealant was yellowish / tan 29 April Update Paul started the stripping process and has the tanks "mostly" cleaned out. The method he uses really eats away the old sealant but leaves the metal in pristine condition. it's pretty "goopy" when it dissolves. Some touch up is required to get the old sealant out of the corners and prep the aluminum for the new sealant but it's coming right along! 5 May Update Things are almost done. Tanks nearly finished with reseal. Some final touch ups and then full of fuel for leak checks. Pics attached 21 May Update After a week of juggling schedules I was able to make it back up to Willmar MN to pick up my plane from Paul at WeepNoMore. Wow Was I impressed. The work was top notch, fueled to the brim and not a drip anywhere. That was expected. What I didn't expect was the repaint of my nonskid over the passenger side wing. It looks great. Paul was there to meet me and with a brief overview of all the things he did we exchanged some paper. I gave him a check and he gave me a log book sticker After reading a post from a fellow Mooniac who had a reseal performed which resulted in some "crud" getting into on of the fuel lines, I did an extensive ground run and put at 2-3 gallons of fuel through the lines (both tanks) before taking off. It took about 20 minutes running on the ground at 1500 RPM full rich, but it was worth the piece of mind. The flight back to the east coast went off without a hitch and 4 hours later I touched down and tucked the plane away in the hanger. The only problem that cropped up was the right side visual sight gauge was stuck and showed full with less than 25 gallons in the tank. I sent Paul a text to let him know I'd made it home safely and mentioned the problem. Simple solution. Bang on the inboard portion of the panel and the float will drop. Sure enough, I gave it a nice solid "thunk" with the heal of my hand and that did the trick. It's worked perfectly ever since. 27 May Update I've flown the plane about 15 hours since picking it up from WeepNoMore with several fill ups. Both hot and cold weather and today I took the plane up to 17K (-15 degC). No issues with leaks, the sight gauges work, and the smell of 100LL is no longer present after a fill up. I would recommend Paul and WeepNoMore to any Mooney driver who chooses to perform a reseal. He was great to work with, I am 100% satisfied, and feel like there's a lot of value in the service he provides and the warranty he has to back his service.

"Have to go" in a single engine GA aircraft regardless of equipment, engine, or FIKI isn't the right mindset. Using a light single to travel with should be thought of as a 90% solution. It works most of the time but there are situations where a trip in a light GA aircraft should never be attempted. If you use a SE aircraft to travel with you should do some expectation management with anyone who expects you to arrive at your destination. I'd make sure they understand the weather gets a vote. Do this in advance and the pressure to arrive is deminished since they understand the limitations ahead of time. The right mindset is just as important as the right airplane.

Of course Mooney's are the coolest airplanes to fly, but in case you are contemplating or perhaps ready to experience the thrill of flying something different check out the new Air Safety Institute Transitioning to Other Airplanes course. It offers straightforward, important advice about what to expect when making the jump from a familiar airplane or avionics setup to something new. Enjoy your new adventure! http://www.aopa.org/Education/Online-Courses/Transitioning-to-Other-Airplanes.aspx

http://www.aopa.org/asf/asfquiz/2015/150223thealmostils/index.html Yep it's a shameless plug but at least Mooney's are well represented at AOPA now

You might try Wentworth Aircraft Salvage. The usually have a good selection of yellow tagged parts on hand. http://www.wentworthaircraft.com

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Answers to many common ADS-B airspace questions can be found here. Please enjoy! http://flash.aopa.org/asf/ads-b/index.cfm

No diversity…Just the straight 88

SMART…This is the first thing that I can recall that gamin's put on the market that wasn't completely ready to go. Everything else they've done has been much better vetted before consumers get their hands on it. Although you can't blame garmin too much as the FAA's side of the equation [ADS-B, FIS-B and TIS-B] aren't perfect either. I wouldn't stay on the sidelines too long. Most of the avionics shops in my area are already booked up months in advance getting ADS-B upgrades done. Your milage might vary.

The ADS-B check with the FAA is part of the install requirements. An avionics shop shouldn't release the plane until it's checked good with the required level of accuracy. So Yep, mine was done and it's good.

Heard from my avionics shop that GARMIN has released an updated software load for the GDL88 that supposed to fix the CSA failures and ownship traffic warnings. Mine's being updated today. Fingers crossed!

Don, I have this exact set up along with Flight Stream 210 for blue tooth to my iPad. To answer your questions, to get weather on the moving map all you have to do is select it in map set up. Or you can go to the weather page and it always displays there. Traffic is much the same. Traffic should appear all the time on your moving map and give you oral warnings if the target gets close. You can also twist the knob one click to access the dedicated traffic page. Only issues I've seen are a known bug that when stationary the GDL88 shows a fault because it's not sure what the heading is. also a couple of times the GDL88 has given me "ownship" traffic warnings where the TIS-B see's my aircraft as a different target. Good luck with your set up as you get familiar with the 88 and 430 combo. Overall they seem to play together pretty well although not without faults.

They repaved the runway a few years ago. Its very smooth albeit a bit on the short side. The wind is usually blowing so getting slowed down isn't really a problem.

Tangier Island (KTGI) is a fun day trip.

While I appreciate different points of view, to call someone dishonest is uncalled for and rude. The narrative isn't supported by anything other than the pilots claims as stated in the NTSB's initial report. It may or may not be upheld when the full investigation is completed. Once again, stating you know why this accident happened without first hand information or investigative data to support your assertions is not helpful.

I'd be careful stating an opinion as fact. Since rotor wash is "invisible" there's no way to know for sure and to what degree turbulence caused from the rotors were or were not a contributing factor, however, here's what the NTSB had to say. Additionally the winds at the time of the accident were reported at only 3 knots, so crosswinds effects on the approach were likely minimal. http://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20141208X21730&key=1

Recently completed the ADS-B upgrade and installed a GDL 88. Hopefully anyone considering the GDL88 sees this. After really getting to see the GDL88 in action I've been extremely pleased. However there is an issue that is a bit troubling. During ground operations I kept receiving spurious failure indications. By the time I got to the GDL status page on the GPS, the warning had disappeared. Well today I finally got to see what was tripping the warning. On the status page it said their was a CSA failure. After getting some fuel and taxing back to the hanger the failure seemed to clear itself. After discussing with my avionics shop they tell me this is a known problem with the GDL 88 and Garmin should have a fix soon. That's disappointing esp considering what they are charging for the box. I'm going to call Garmin Customer support and find out when the fix is supposed to be out. Here's info from Garmin's site. Service Advisory 1463: GDL 88 Software Version 3.00 CSA Failure Indication 20 NOVEMBER 2014 / SERVICE ADVISORIES / AFFECTED PRODUCTS: All GDL 88 models with Software Version 3.00. ISSUE: After updating to GDL 88 System Software Version 3.00, an indication that the CSA (Conflict Situational Awareness - traffic alerting) functionality is failed will appear when the aircraft is not moving (has no current GPS track) and there is no source of aircraft heading provided to the GDL 88. In fixed wing aircraft, this typically occurs only when the aircraft is on the ground and is not moving. The CSA failure indication will clear when the aircraft begins moving again. The CSA failure indication when there is no current GPS track and no source of aircraft heading will be addressed in a future software release. PILOT ACTION: No pilot action is required. http://garmin.blogs.com/files/1463a.pdf

Despite the lengthy thread hijack with AoA discussions, Hopefully anyone considering the GDL88 sees this. After really getting to see the GDL88 in action I've been extremely pleased. However there is an issue that is a bit troubling. During ground operations I kept receiving spurious failure indications. By the time I got to the GDL status page on the GPS, the warning had disappeared. Well today I finally got to see what was tripping the warning. On the status page it said their was a CSA failure. After getting some fuel and taxing back to the hanger the failure seemed to clear itself. After discussing with my avionics shop they tell me this is a known problem with the GDL 88 and Garmin should have a fix soon. Here's info from Garmin's site. Service Advisory 1463: GDL 88 Software Version 3.00 CSA Failure Indication 20 NOVEMBER 2014 / SERVICE ADVISORIES / AFFECTED PRODUCTS: All GDL 88 models with Software Version 3.00. ISSUE: After updating to GDL 88 System Software Version 3.00, an indication that the CSA (Conflict Situational Awareness - traffic alerting) functionality is failed will appear when the aircraft is not moving (has no current GPS track) and there is no source of aircraft heading provided to the GDL 88. In fixed wing aircraft, this typically occurs only when the aircraft is on the ground and is not moving. The CSA failure indication will clear when the aircraft begins moving again. The CSA failure indication when there is no current GPS track and no source of aircraft heading will be addressed in a future software release. PILOT ACTION: No pilot action is required. http://garmin.blogs.com/files/1463a.pdf

Thanks for the kind words. AOPA is changing for the better. We want to make sure our members know we are accessible. Your comments really reinforces what we're trying to do - Create a community, reestablish AOPA as a welcoming place for pilots and hopefully rebuild some bridges to bring members who've lapsed back inside the tent.

Hard to say but it's pretty clear the rotor wash was a contributing factor.

Read the article, watch the video, take the quiz. This could have been much worse. The pilot suffered a few broken bones but is expected to make a full recovery. Its a powerful reminder that wake turbulence from aircraft and rotor wash from helicopters should be a concern for pilots, especially those who fly light aircraft. A pilot’s best defense is knowledge of how wake turbulence propagates and the time required for it to dissipate. Accident Summary Rotor Wash / Wake Turbulence Cirrus landing accident video Air Safety Wake Turbulence Awareness Quiz

brightness adjust for my CGR-30