fantom

I got to play with the GTM 650 & 750 for quite awhile at SnF on Friday...the crowds were very light. Oddly there was more activity around the Garmin Aera display that the 650/750 demos. The GTM demo's were lots of fun, and they seem to be much more intuitive than the 430/530. Many slick features, but nothing earth shattering. The screens are larger, much better color resolution, and the touch screen finger rails may be OK in turbulence, only time will tell. Flight plans, routing changes, approaches, Jepp Chartview, and airways are all quite nice. Installation of either is not an easy slide-in swap 430/530 operation. They both require a new tray, and the 750 needs about 1.5 inches more in height than the 530. WAAS is built in, but no GPSS or synthetic vision. However, if you want to utilize more of the 650/750 functionality Garmin offers a cool built in, flip flop, voice recognition, audio panel (GMA35) and a remote transponder, which will drive the installed price of a 750 up to almost 30 grand. Chump change for Garmin. As I've posted before very slick, but IMO not too slick. If you don't have a decent GPS, maybe you can rationalize close to 20 grand for a 750, especially if you fly lots of single pilot IFR. I, for one, would pay the premium for a 650/750 rather than installing a new 430/530, BUT I would also wait for several months so the kinks can be sorted out. Shops don't have the new boxes yet so installs won't begin for at least a few weeks. Upgrading, if you want to call it that, from a 430 or 530W, is problematic, and I wouldn't want to be a beta tester for either the box or the install right now. I suppose lots of under one hundred grand planes will be getting them soon, and that the used market prices for 430/530's will make value conscious Mooney drivers very happy. It will be interesting to watch the new box progression after the "first kid on the block" rush subsides.

Keep the faith, George. The USAF will take good care of you, your guys, and their families. All of our military is an amazing wonderful family!

Lakeland, Florida -- Lakeland police say while there is major property damage at the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In Aviation Fair, there are no people trapped. Early unconfirmed reports indicated people had been trapped in a collapsed building or tent. Officials dispute those reports and say there are some injuries, but all people have been accounted for. Polk Sheriff Grady Judd says seven people total were injured, including one person with a broken hip. It has not been confirmed if damage was caused by a tornado.

Damn...more dangerous walking into the display hangers than flying into LAL. No sun; no fun...

I never thought flying from Ft. Lauderdale to Lakeland could be such an "interesting" adventure. I'll be at the show until Friday night. I have a Mooney shirt on, a water logged look, and hopefully a slight sunburn tomorrow ;-)

I passed on that group buy from the Mooney mailing list three years ago, but if we get enough people (5?) here who want to buy, we could get the group discount. If anyone else is interested, speak up, and I'll check it out.

I've been spoilt by 13 years with the same Baron. No skidding/bouncing, ever.

There are 3" rudder extensions, and people have been discussing seat pads here. Try PM'ing flyboy0681 (Mike) who, as a low flyer himself, has researched options. Great selection of airplane make, welcome to MooneySpace, and best of luck.

Quote: jelswick Am I alone in preferring the tactile feel of my 430W's buttons and knobs?

Quote: richardheitzman ...I don't want to walk in blindly to some stange doctor...

Me three....LPV approaches are rock solid.

Two of the finest Mooney views I ever recall are the Las Vegas MAPA meeting a number of years ago with about 100 Mooneys tied down is a single straight abreast line. From the open air top floor of the terminal it was an amazing sight that took my breath away. Someone must have a photo of it. The second great view was the first time, in 2000, I landed and taxied to a far group of hangers at this sleepy little airport in Gladewater, Texas, finally spotting an old Mooney logo sign above two of the hangers and about 6 or 7 Mooneys outside. It was a lousy WX afternoon, but Don Maxwell comes out and looks the plane over, we go for a short hop so he can get the feel of her, and as soon as we're back, room has been cleared in the hanger and two mechanics walk her in, all the while checking lights and other stuff that Don is telling them, as the plane rolls into position in the hanger. It was another sight to behold. Mooney heaven Kool-Aide...

THE answer is in: venting a sealed battery yields you nothing! I just spoke to the Concorde Guru, Skip Koss, a very knowledgeable man. The 24 volt RG24-15 and RG24-15M are exactly the same internally. The exterior of the M is higher to make room for the vent nipple, and to ease installation in some planes. Plus it makes some unknowing owners more comfortable to have a nipple to plumb their old vent hose into. So zero technical disadvantage with unvented (non M) Concordes, a better, stronger, longer lasting, maintenance free, and slightly more expensive unit than a Gill in my experience.

Maybe a $10 difference. I have the Concorde RG24-15 arriving tomorrow from Spruce.

Quote: alex I bought mine about 2 weeks ago (unvented) and I could have sworn that when I looked at the description on the concorde site the unvented had more cold cranking amps. I figured this was the reason for the difference in price which was about $50 more than the RG24-15M. I looked today and the description is practically the same. Oh well, I yanked the vent tube off and gained a knot of airspeed.

Looking to replace my battery with a sealed Concorde, and an interesting question came up that Concorde's supposed technical support, Aircraft Spruce, and and two of those exceptional MSC A&Ps couldn't answer. My original Gill 243 was had a vent tube. My last FAA approved Concorde battery didn't and I got it because a vented Concorde wasn't offered at the time. Now Concorde offers both manifold vented and unvented options in many models. So what is the technical additional benefit of venting, specifically??? No one seems to know. I'm beginning to think the vented unit only to make some owners feel good about having something to plug their old vent hose into. I'm looking at the RG24-15 and the RG24-15M, both of which are FAA approved for my make and model. http://www.concordebattery.com/otherpdf/finalfaapma.pdf Does anyone here know?

Quote: Jeff_S

It is an interesting improvement. Not enough I suspect for many G430/530 folk to do an upgrade. But, if buying new, very nice indeed. And yes, our legacy G430/530's will be supported for the foreseeable future.

Quote: richardheitzman ....I am a great mechanic..... Also BTW, Stacy is the only one left in Technical/Customer support at Mooney. If you want answers and help on your technical questions you better be calling a MSC, because Stacey is busy helping MSC questions. He will not have time to answer your questions.

I think it has something to do with how we sign on, so it may only be "a bug" in a perfect world.

Quote: Parker_Woodruff If I was you, I'd fly my airplane to Don every year from Florida for an annual. There's one A&P on this board I'd probably trust, but about 95% of what I hear out of Florida and Mooneys is bad.

Well, they flip it for me, usually IFR, on the east coast around Daytona, regularly. You fly a Bravo? ;-)

Did you use pitch or power to hold 70? Welcome to the "craze".

Quote: WardHolbrook Or you could always just get a wench and let her pull the airplane in and out of the hangar.