FlyDave

Sure is..

I thought you said there was a HUD in this airplane!

The best part is his flight originated from "Kissimmee". That can't be coincidental!

Jose, Great video! Yesterday I had a couple of beers with a colleague then drove 1h30m home but stopped at the Trader Joe's to pick something up and take a leak. Both bathrooms were "Ocupado" and I swear I had 75% of these guys dance steps down! There was a guy waiting for one bathroom to open up but he looked at me and said "my wife is in the other one. I'll just wait for her". He's a good man! Dave

I'm going - sounds like a great Mooney time!

I used Bob Bramble a few months ago for my KI-256. No BS kind of guy. He's not the cheapest but he has a long list of satisfied customers. But I also agree with CCowboy (does he studder? no, wait, his name is Chuck ). I have an electric AI in place of my TC and it has been flaky since I bought the airplane. I'm in the process of replacing it with the RC Allen 2600-3 with inclinometer. I AM THROUGH REPAIRING/BUYING MECHANICAL GYROs! If that KI-256 craps out again I'll get something solid state (maybe an Aspen).

I use Wash Wax All - you can get it from Aircraft Spruce: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/washwax.php?clickkey=5275

I think it has something to do with the altitudes that oxygen is required at: Between 12,500' and 14,000' for more than 30 minutes Over 14,000' So, if you need oxygen to breath because of standard atmospheric conditions you need a medical? What schmuck thought that up? And now pilots that can fly without a medical can't go to a safe altitude when crossing the Sierra's or other high mountain ranges? Wow, now that's keeping people safe, eh?

Andy - Thanks for the panel tilt. I called Mark at Top Gun earlier this morning and he said it was zero. Jerry - That was my thought as well and I placed the order from Chief Aircraft this morning. Chief doesn't stock them and it's 2-3 week delivery time - but no tax on the order since they're in Oregon - so I'll wait. Pushes my IPC out.

I'm ordering an RC Allen 2600-3 attitude indicator but I need to know what the panel tilt is on my plane. I can't find that spec anywhere. Does anyone know what the panel tilt is on a 1989 Bravo?

Oh, and a.......

My first plane was a glider. 3 years later I started flying power planes (if you can call a 152 a power plane ) and we soon bought a Cherokee 140. When I bought the Cherokee I knew I wanted a Mooney. Six years later and knowing every J model for sale in the US I found a great J 50 miles from my home drone. It was an excellent airplane and I miss the fuel burn terribly since In moved to a Bravo. The Bravo is a great airplane and satisfies or exceeds every reason I moved to it (except the fuel burn ).

Top Gun installed one on a Bravo a couple of months ago. I asked Mark to have the owner contact me but I haven't heard from him. When I hear from him I'll ask him to post here on MooneySpace or I'll talk to him and post what he says.

Mike, If that girl will sit in the airplane with you for over 6 hours - KEEP HER! Dave

Issue finally resolved. As previously stated, I took the plane to Executive Autopilots in Sacramento. They ended up replacing the bearings in the pitch servo but I was not going to pay $600.00 for the bridle cable. When I asked them if they'd install a cable made by McFarlane they said they would not install a non PMA'ed part. They did however charge $395 in labor plus any parts (bearing in my case) to rebuild the pitch servo. I heard anywhere from $900-&1200 from other shops. I spoke to the maintenance shop on my home field and they said they certainly would install a cable from McFarlane - they do it all the time. I shipped the old cable to McFarlane on a Wednesday and got the replacement back the next Tuesday for $123.00 including shipping (2nd day USPS) - GREAT customer service! My local shop installed the cable today and jerry-N5911Q and I did a quick test flight with climbs, altitude hold and GS capture and all worked perfectly. Thanks to FBCK for the McFarlane recommendation and KSMooniac for going through the equipment from his parts plane for a cable that might work. I'm starting a new practice; every time I save ANY amount of money using info gathered on MooneySpace I'll make another "donation" to MooneySpace. This site has saved me many many AMU's in both buying 2 Mooney's as well as maintaining them. Craig - Thanks for providing such an excellent resource to the Mooney community!

I've been using LogTen Pro for about 3 years. It's a decent product but constructed with a different organizational thought process than I would have used. Also, you have to have a Mac to use a desktop interface. I don't have a Mac and I'm not buying one for an electronic logbook. Doing everything on an iPad kind of sucks - I can't think of a better way to state that. Last October the manufacturer, Coradine, introduced a subscription pricing model of $80/year and an up front cost of somewhere around $80-$90 even for existing users. The user community pretty much told Coradine to drop dead. Coradine dropped the entry price and the annual subscription but the user community puked again. If you read the reviews in the app store, you'll see all this for yourself. Reviews also stated that Coradine has a history of promising "lifetime support" and dropping the support when an update comes out. When I saw this post last week I started looking into MyFlightBook. Here's what I found: Pro's It's available in web format for Windows or Mac as well as iPad, iPhone and Android apps Very automated on phones and tablets - logs flight takeoff time, departure airport, destination airport and landing time automatically Tap of the screen sets engine start time and engine shutdown time Easy to use This app is FREE on all platforms Backups can be saved locally as frequently as you want and can be automatically saved to a drop box account for a $25 "donation". Imports are easier to do because there are less fields (Not as laden with potential data fields). Con's Data is stored in the manufacturers cloud. If you don't have a data connection in the plane you can save flights locally and they will be uploaded to the cloud when data connection is available App's and reporting aren't as pretty as LogTen Pro but I think that may get better as it gets developed more. So far I am VERY impressed with this app. I'm using it parallel to the old version of LogTen Pro for a month or so but I'll switch completely if all goes well.

Must be those Rosarita refried's.....

Mark Rouch at Top Gun told me a few weeks ago that he just put an MT 4-blade on a Bravo based in Santa Barbara, CA. I have to call Mark tomorrow and I'll try to get the guys contact info and ask him for a pirep or ask him to join MooneySpace and have him post his experience and thoughts here.

Have you tried loading the plane with a lot more weight in the baggage compartment/aft CG? If the CG moved forward and all else is equal I'd try that and see if it makes a difference. I know that an aft CG in my Bravo is faster than the forward CG I initially flew the plane at.

I don't have a problem with any of the questions you ask. I asked many of the same questions of the owners when I was looking for planes. I have a word doc with all the questions I asked (trying to find that doc) and had one filled out for every airplane I was interested in. But the logs can tell you a lot about a plane. Obviously maintenance completed but also hours flown per year, oil change frequency, recurring issues, etc. I also have a spreadsheet that I use to record info from the logs and list all maintenance so I can can sort or search it as needed. This is pretty handy because one tab is a list of all items needing periodic maintenance (mags, fuel pumps, tires (I have ~350 hours on my mains!) etc) and with a cell that lists tach time I know right away how many hours I have or have left on each item. I'll see if I can find clean copies of these docs and post them in the downloads section. Also, why wouldn't you try to learn from other people's mistakes? I absolutely would and do!

Yikes!

Another place to expect severe turbulence if the winds are blowing out of the west is the Banning Pass as you go from Palm Springs to the LA Basin. I have gotten the ever lovin' shit knocked out of me 10-15 miles east of that pass. It's no fun and will turn a non-pilot (and even some licensed pilots) off to general aviation. If the winds are forecast out of the west more than15-20 knots, go very early in the day or wait until the winds subside. Avoiding severe turbulence will make your wife a much better Mooney traveler!

I usually fly the same altitude range but two different power settings but have always kept TIT below 1600. 29/2400, 18.5 gph and in the summer CHT's can go over 400 without cowl flaps trailing a little. At FL180 I'm running 198KTAS and faster with a aft CG 26/2400, 16.5 gph and no problem with CHT's staying under 400. At FL18 I'm running around 189 KTAS and again, faster with an aft CG I'll try 28/2400/TIT of 1650 and see if I can keep CHT's below 400. Your temps make me wonder if I need to adjust my baffling. Also, I have had a vibration at the higher power settings and I believe it's the engine. My engine is definitely not turbine smooth. I had the prop dynamically balanced a few weeks ago and I it was about as balanced as it can be. I spoke to Cody Stallings (great guy!) and I need to have the prop tracking checked by the prop guy. But I do think it's the engine that's generating the vibration.

Andy, Awful_Charlie is the only one I know that can run his Bravo LOP. I certainly can't. I can achieve his FF's but at a greatly reduced power setting than he states. I'm envious! What are your typical power settings, temps an FF? Dave

Zibolks1, Congratulations on buying a Bravo. It's an amazingly capable and versatile airplane. Don Kaye was by Bravo instructor. He said to keep TIT below 1600 dF and CHT's at 400 dF max. Don is on the second engine in his Bravo and got somewhere in the area of 2300 hours out of the first engine, so he has a good history of Bravo engine management. I have flown my airplane to these specs since I got it in December 2013 and haven't had any engine problems (180 tach hours). In climb I monitor CHT for temp. In the winter I can lean a bit in climb, in the summer (depending on OAT) I may not be able to lean. In cruise I lean to TIT. Keeping TIT at/below 1600 dF my CHT's will be below 400 dF. EGT's are not something I concern myself with. From what I understand, EGT's don't mean much if you're monitoring TIT (Turbine Inlet Temperature). Also, I don't think you should typically be pulling more than ~35" MP on takeoff - per Don Kaye. I'd have this looked at. As an aside, Mark Rouch of Top Gun Aviation in Stockton, CA - a well known and respected Mooney Service Center, says that he would run TIT up to 1650. I may try this but have not as of yet. The Bravo engine is not a fuel efficient engine. My thoughts on fuel flow are I'd rather burn a bit more fuel and have a healthy engine than save a gallon or two an hour and have an engine or component failure in flight. I would definitely get this looked at by a Mooney Savvy mechanic. This could turn a nice day of flying into a, well, not so nice day. Get it looked at right away.