Greg Ellis

@lakeclarkair, If you search Century 41 autopilot on ebay.com they have some servos listed. Not sure if any of them will work for your applications since I don't have a Century Autopilot but it may be a place to start to find one. Texas Air Salvage has one as well but not sure if it would work with your application.

And to think, at one time, not so long ago, a needle/ball and airspeed and a watch was all we needed to get from point A to point B.... Very nice looking panel!!!! Well done.

I feel your pain and I won't complain about mine anymore.

I would like my airplane back. It's been in the shop since late September.

This is an excellent book that I would recommend to all pilots. I have read through it twice now and learn something new each time. Scott did a great job on this work. I would also recommend his book on the Skew T diagram. Also, quite excellent. I am not a paid spokesman. Just a very satisfied customer.

If this is the case then I think the issue, as has been said many times, was not with you but with poor planning on the guys behind you. Also, if you change your mind and go back to landing faster because of worrying about the guys behind you, just remember, when it comes to replacing your tires more frequently or replacing your brakes more frequently, those guys behind you aren't going to contribute to the funds to pay for that stuff. So, save and protect your airplane and do what you feel is safe.

My avionics shop had a required dealer webinar last week. Apparently, Garmin told them that the fix will be in Q1 of next year, not this year. Don't hold me to that. It is just what I heard from my A&P/IA. They also told my shop that they had to disable the trim. On the service alert it states that "Before further flight one of the following actions must be completed: Disable the GFC500 Autopilot by pulling the circuit braker and placarding it inop or contact a Garmin dealer to disable the pitch trim" My shop says they have to disable the pitch trim according to Garmin. Oh well....

I take mine home in the case it came in. My Lightspeed PFX's were pretty pricey and they have lasted a long time by taking good care of them. When I first bought my airplane I had a set of Dave Clarks and upgraded to my first Lightspeed Zulu's. I used to leave them in the airplane and in a short time, in the Texas heat, even in a hangar the rubber products on the headsets went south and the battery pack became all gummy and sticky. Ever since I always take my headsets home with me.

Once again... us poor little old C model owners are left out of another poll. Of course, I am just kidding....

When you have to remove the 75 (yes...75) screws from the cowl of a 1963 C model....a power screwdriver comes in handy. Not a drill, a power screwdriver.

The KRS website lists onsite car rentals. Whether they have any or not would take a quick phone call to check.

Are these pitch oscillations isolated to the models in this poll? I have a 1963 C model with the GFC500 and I have no pitch oscillations at all but wonder if I am lucky or is that the norm with the older models.

Thank you.

Where can one find the list of STC's from ModWorks? Just curious.

Ron Blum gives the best talk on Aerodynamics at Oshkosh and it is specific to the Mooney. I learned more about why my Mooney was built the way it was in a 45 minute talk than anywhere else I have read. He is awesome. He did a series in The Mooneyflyer that is worth multiple read throughs.

@bknight, You are in luck. There are three for sale on controller.com. There is one for sale in Canada and one for sale by GMax American Aircraft which is Don Maxwell's and Jimmy Garrison's group in Texas and one for sale in Kerrville, Texas. 1996 MOONEY M20M BRAVO For Sale in Longview, Texas | Controller.com 2004 MOONEY M20M DX BRAVO For Sale in Kerrville, Texas | Controller.com 1990 MOONEY M20M BRAVO For Sale in Thompson, Manitoba | Controller.com If you end up buying any of these, I'll send you my address for the finder's fee.

@rickseeman, Years ago, before I knew about Battery Minder, I used a Black and Decker Trickle charger that was made for automotive batteries on my Gill lead acid battery (I now use a sealed Concorde). In one week It boiled out the acid and I had to replace the battery box and fortunately it had not eaten through the firewall although it was close. This was about 16 years ago so things may have changed but if I was going to Trickle Charge a Gill aviation battery I think I would stick to a Battery Minder. And, just if your interested, I may still have my old Battery Minder that I used on the Gill Batteries way back when I actually had a Gill battery. If you are interested PM me and I will go to my hangar this week and take a look for it. The Battery Minder for the sealed Concorde is different than the Gill Lead/Acid one.

How times have changed. About 3-4 years ago, can’t remember exactly, I called them and had mine in about 3 days or so.

I ordered in August and received them in October. Just a little over 2 months. Not bad really. Model 48110-2

At Tarrant County College, they have an excellent A&P school which has an avionics course you can take as an add on certificate. https://catalog.tccd.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=14&poid=3677

If necessary, LASAR sold me mine a few years ago. They may still have them. I had to call because it was not listed on their website.

The FAA website has it listed under Guthrie Group INC. in North Carolina. That may be a place to start. Google can be your friend with this. If you Google Guthrie Group you can get the contact information. Unless you are the Guthrie Group then, of course you know this.

I think the latest Borescope from Vividia is pretty cool. The high res images are awesome and very clear. Just a great tool to have to help diagnose issues before it's a real problem.

This sounds stupid but not all paint sticks are created equal. I had one that came with my airplane made by the previous owner. Whatever the wood was that it was made out of showed a beautiful line when dipped into and then pulled from the tank, much like the one @Andy95W shows in his photo. Well, mine broke and so I just went down to Lowe's and grabbed one of the freebies. Well, it is made out of some cheap balsa wood or something. When you dip the tanks with it, by the time you pull it out of the tank there is no line at all showing the fuel level. A search through some old boxes of paint supplies at my house revealed another paint stick that works. So, it seems that you need to find an older paint stick. Whatever they make these new cheap ones out of does not work. I know, I know, this sounds stupid but I feel that the world will stop spinning on its axis if I did not post this important bit of vital information. And, yes, this is me laughing at myself.

My GFC500 has never unnecessarily adjusted trim. I have only had one issue with the GFC500 and it was an install problem and not a problem with the autopilot itself. It was an electrical issue. In my time using the GFC500 it has never done anything that I did not intentionally or accidentally tell it to do. Most of the time it is an issue with me not programming or using the navigator, the autopilot was following, correctly. The GFC500 has always done what I have told it to do. If it does something wrong it was usually my fault, not the autopilot. All of the advice given by @Skates97 is excellent advice. I will add, that prior to takeoff, when lined up on the runway I make sure to push the HDG button on the autopilot to reset the heading bug to runway heading. I also push the TO/GA button to set the flight director at a good departure attitude for climb especially if departing into IMC.