RobertoTohme

Quote: randypugh Well I did it. I had the mx 200 installed and got it back today. I did gdl 69 also. Havn't had a chance to subscribe to Jepp-veiw yet but maybe monday. I purchased the 200 to include traffic but not sure what to do. I've had tis in my last airplane and wasn't impressed. Anyone have ideas on an affordable active traffic?

I use them on all flight regimes... to slow down to Va during cruise if strong turbulence is encountered, to descend in shorter distances, to set up final speed, and over the runway on the flare to assure no bounces...

They both operate and display 12 nm range; performancewise, I haven't missed a single traffic called out by ATC within that range with the L3, whereas some of the distant ones were missed by the Avidyne... Quite frankly, the dual anntenas is just a marketing ploy. When I'm at the FL's, I set it to unrestricted, and pick traffics up to 8,000 ft above me (with the sole bottom antenna, no less). Not intending to bad mouth Avidyne, but my own experience indicates the L3 system is better; a more advanced version of it is what we have on the Lears that comply with TCAS II change 7.

Then again, those RR engines are for helicopters and hence not designed for high altitude flight... If you run a comparo between the RR powered Tradewind Bonanza vs the P&W PT6 powered Rocket Engineering Bonanza, you'll notice that the best speeds and altitudes differ quite a bit, where the RR's best altitude is 15,000 ft and 220 true, vs 250 @ FL250 for the PT6 powered one. I also think that if the speed is less than the Acclaim, they'll find no market for it because being a turbine it's going to cost close to or even north of 1 million.

Quote: Magnum Why did you go with L3 and not with the Avidyne for traffic and stormscope? I want to upgrade, too, and my avionics shop recommended Avidyne. Esp. the TWX670 should be superior to the WX500, do you have more information? Magnus

Forgot to mention... 185 TAS @ FL170 with 12.8 gph!! I know most folks here don't like wearing oxigen, but is easy to get used to it after a few flights. If you keep a cruise climb of 120kts IAS constant, you'll still see no less than 400 fpm climb rate at those levels.

It is on the pricey side, but in my opinion, worth every penny in the performance increase you see, although on an Ovation is not as dramatic as on the Eagle. It is my understanding that if you have already the 3 blade prop, the cost is about $8,000 less than the full job I had done, but can't confirm that. I know no other mod option for the Ovation either. You'll get a bump to 2700 rpm unrestricted, a new tach, and of course higher fuel flows, but my oprational experience is 195-197 TAS between 9-11K ft., with ff of 16.5 gph 100F ROP. Not bad for scooting along in that speed neighborhood...

I've never liked the sea or beach vacations; I'll stick to my philosophy that if a shark is going to eat me, it'll have to come out of the shower.... I'll take my chances with a bear in a mountain, but will never venture into big fish territory!! Bless the souls who venture over water in piston singles...

Quote: mooniac227 Glad to hear all this positive input on TKS. My Acclaim is in Salina right now getting it installed. (3 weeks without my bird! Aaaaggghhh!) At any rate, they told me that the TAS loss varies with the aircraft. 8-10 kts is on the high side. I was told some have reported as low as 4 kts. They believe most of that has to do with the prop. At least that's what I was told. I have a Type-S prop and this is only the second aircraft they have done with this particular prop. They didn't have any feedback from the owner of the first one.

Randy, here are my experiences by type of equipment : 1.- 310 hp conversion : You'll get a 7 kts increase in TAS on an Ovation; my performance increase on the Eagle (244 hp originally) was 17 kts. You'll also get shorter takeoff runs and better climb rates; if your plane already has a 3 blade prop you won't notice anything on the glide rate but if it's a 2 blader now, glide will decrease a little bit but you'll also notice a slight reduction on landing distances. I'm not sure if the Ovation already was certified to the 3,368 lbs. max takeoff weight; my Eagle was 3,200 lbs. with the original hp rating, but with the conversion it was bumped to 3,368 like the Acclaim. Since the conversion ups the RPM limit to 2,700 the plane will be slightly noisier, but I'll take the noise in trade off for the increased performance; I zip along @ 195 TAS, 10,000 ft turning 2,550 RPM with 16.5 GPH. These figures are typical of non-TKS airframes. 2.- TKS : Your speed will be 8 to 10 kts slower due TKS, but the plane will be much more useful year round. It works very well but you do need to plan more on your icing encounters. The FIKI system I have on my Acclaim has taken care of all sorts of icing I've encountered so far, including prolonged exposure at the flight levels, but you have to have in mind that fluid is in limited supply so I avoid more than 1.5 hours of icing with a full fluid tank to have enough reserve for the unexpected. I run the system in high pressure (deice mode) mode to build pressure 2 minutes before getting into the clouds, and then back to low pressure (anti ice mode) for the remainder of the ice encounter; this usually keeps me ice free, but sometimes I had to go back to high pressure to stay ice free. The high pressure mode runs the fluid much quicker, so you must have an out plan already figured out. Coming from boots, this is the major mindset adjustment you'll need to make coming into TKS. 3.- GMX200 w/ GDL69 & Chartview : A must for serious IFR, what else can I say... And last : Welcome to the wonderful world of Mooney! You won't regret it; regardless of vintage, these are the best single engine planes out there.

Quote: randypugh Thanks Roberto, I talked to my shop today and they said the 696 install I seen the 696 was removable. However I agree the mx200 is a better idea. The 696 just didn't look right (it's about 2" deep) and Jepp-veiw is a better product. I threw this out to see what other's thought and I apreciate your response.

Quote: Playinmechanic Old guy, Time to stop shopping this, and start shopping 310 hp.

Quote: Greg_D Roberto: Which airplane did you install the Aspen in? If it was your Mooney, were you able to get it to interface with your autopilot?

Stay away from Aspen!! Give them another year to improve their manufacturing quality control or go broke, whichever comes first... I made the mistake to jump on it when it first came out, and has been very problematic; I'm into the 4th. display already since june this year, and this last one the FD doesn't match the attitude bars.... And, I'm not alone in the complaining; several folks on other forums are also into their 3rd. or 4th. units already, so if you consider that they were released for installation in may this year, that'll make a very crappy record... There's something very wrong with the water in Albuquerque!

Randy, First, one term: TSO. It is not legal to conduct IFR flights with portables... As good as the 696 is, it's still non TSO'd and hence, it could not be permanently installed in the panel; it needs to be removable one way or the other, otherwise the installation is illegal. I understand the part of the cost involved with the GMX200 but trust me, I've flown enough with it that short of a G1000, it's THE best MFD on the market, period. I'm a part owner of a 135 operation with 6 Learjets, and all of them had it installed over the last 3 years because of the increased situation awareness it provides to the crews. If you don't fly IFR then it's not worth the investment, but if you do, the GMX200 is the way to go; it'll also make your plane more desirable when the time to sell comes, and command the premium because of it. Blue skies.

That's excellent news for Europe, Magnus. Is the weather source reliable and accurate (as much as humanly possible)? NOAA supplies the data for XM and sometimes the necessary uplink delay makes nasty surprises with fast moving storms, but still is the best thing to have in lieu of on board radar.

They only have 6 planes listed on Controller, 3 Acclaims (all demos) and 3 Ovations (2 of them demos); the list was much longer a month ago...

Quote: M20BE

Dave, this was a very informative post! The one thing left I didn't like about my Eagle was the taxi/landing lights, but with your input I now have my MSC here in El Paso looking into it for an asap installation...

Congrats, Dave! You'll have a showplane when you're done with the mods... Please post some panel pics, I'd love to see the G600 installation.

Quote: M20BE Yes, but indeed, the Robinsons fly also with lycoming airplane aviation engines :-) hehehe

I inquired Mooney about this 310 conversion and was told that it just improves climb performance, not cruise; MooneyMax has not performed such conversion on Acclaims to date. Perhaps the best way to get the numbers is to call Midwest directly and ask them for the facts, not a sales pitch. I'm delighted with the same conversion on my Eagle, though, where there were measurable increases in performace. Last time I checked Midwest webpage (2 weeks ago), they haven't published any numbers for the Acclaim conversion which strikes me since they do pat themselves in the back for the improvements in performance for Eagles and Ovations. Expect a loss of 8 to 10 kts with TKS, but you'll have a much more capable airplane, and it's a fair tradeoff; you're giving away 4 minutes per hour with TKS at cruise speed, but you increase the usability of the plane in terms of not having to cancel due conditions.

Beautiful interior, George!! Congrats, and wishes for many happy hours on it.

Quote: M20BE The Rolls Royce R500 isn't designed for helicopters, it's designed with GA market in mind. It's revolutionairy, still don't get it why nobody is talking about it everyday :-(

Quote: mooniac227 Would be interesting to know what some of the performance figures are for Bonanza turbo prop conversions.