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chuck459

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About chuck459

  • Birthday 01/02/1942

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  • Website URL
    www.cgraines.com

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Camarillo, CA
  • Interests
    Airplanes, photography
  • Reg #
    N4796H
  • Model
    M20J

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  1. I have a Mooney M20J with an Aspen PFD1000 Pro Max and a Century 41 autopilot. This equipment works perfectly except for the flight director display on the Aspen. That used to work perfectly until it started jerking and bouncing all over the place and is now totally unusable. My avionics tech has little experience with this equipment, but feels the problem is with the autopilot. I have had difficulty finding anyone other than the factory that can expertly trouble shoot and repair a Century 41 autopilot. My avionics tech has given me bad info before, so I am a little reluctant to fly all the way to Texas and find out the problem is minor or possibly does not involve the autopilot at all. Does anyone know of a shop on the West Coast that is knowledgable on Century autopilots and might be able to address this problem? Thanks in advance for any info.
  2. Observation confirmed. I check the Ovation ads often because I LUST after an Ovation. I own a very nice “J” which would be easy to sell. I also have a friend who owns a “J” who happens to be an accountant. We often talk of upgrading until he puts pincil to paper and brings me back to reality. Here are some “R” vs “J” numbers that seem reasonable based on my airplane and a very nice Ovation GX I was recently looking at. Initial cost: “R” vs “J” +120% Speed: “R” vs “J” +20% MPG: “R” vs “J” -30% Maint: “R” vs “J” +50% Eng OH: “R” vs “J” +10K Time saved on a 500 nm flight: 45 min Lust is a powerful vice however.
  3. Wow! That is a beautiful installation. The 650's however would almost double the cost of simply adding LED bulbs to my existing fixtures. If I did not already have good wingtip strobes, that would certainly be a consideration. I have changed my mind on the tail light; I think I will now go with the Whelen 71554.
  4. I am interested in replacing my stock nav lights with LED’s. I like the Whelen Chroma Position Lamps for the wingtips. While a little expensive, they seem to be well made and have a good warranty. These lights only come in red or green. The documentation says they can be installed under the existing colored lens. That seems a little strange. Would not the brightness be considerably increased if the colored lens was replaced with a clear one? If anyone has installed these lights, I would appreciate an impression and any suggestions. As for the tail light, I am leaning toward the Aeroleds Polaris. chuck459@mac.com
  5. I am considering replacing my Garmin 430W with a slide-in Avidyne IFD440. After spending some time with the IFD440 simulator, I am starting to feel that the small screen - particularly in map view - is so cluttered that I question how useable it would actually be. I also miss having the frequencies visible at all times. The unit is so smart and makes so many decisions automatically, I find it difficult to confirm that it is doing what I want it to do. I am impressed with the features and speed of the unit, but it sure felt comfortable going back to the 430W. What have been the impressions of those who have made this upgrade? I don't have space for a IFD540. -------------------------------- Charles Raines chuck459@mac.com
  6. I would avoid Autopilots Central. Maybe they have their personnel problems sorted out by now, but in the year I worked with them, they changed shop managers five times. There was only one technician that knew anything about a Century 41 and he was simi-retired and only worked part time. They cost me over $14 dollars and months of down time trying to correct a pitch issue. They kept my airplane in TUL for six weeks and replaced or overhauled every component in the system that had anything to do with pitch. They never did fix the problem and eventually stopped returning my telephone calls. I ended up taking the airplane to the Century factory in Mineral Wells. The problem turned out to be an intermittent wire inside the attitude gyro which they fixed in a few hours. They also found loose parts in the belly of my airplane which Autopilots Central had left behind. What a difference in attitude and knowledge of the Century AP. If you have a problem with any Century AP, my recommendation is to take it directly to the factory.
  7. My airport is in such turmoil due to the fires in So. Cal. I am not in the mood to start working on this problem right now. I've taken notes on everything posted here and definitely appreciate the helpful advise. At least I know how to proceed. Thanks again.
  8. Thanks everyone for their most appreciated info. This isn’t going to be as expensive a job as I had feared. Chuck
  9. The right fuel quantity gage in the instrument cluster of my 1979 M20J has developed a problem. It will not move below a half-full indication. My shop has swapped gages and found both to be working properly. The outboard fuel quantity transmitter also seems to be working properly. That indicates a problem with the inboard fuel quantity transmitter which is extremely difficult to access. My shop is not a Mooney Service Center and has never accessed this part. They were more than happy at my decision to continue flying the airplane for a while with the hope that the sender may “unstick” and began working again. I realize this is simply putting off a problem which is going to have to be fixed eventually. To help me better understand what is involved in accessing this fuel sender, could someone explain the correct procedure of reaching this component. Can the fuel sender be accessed from below the wing, or will the access plate under the wing-walk have to be opened? Since the closest MSC is over two hours away, it would be nice to fix this problem locally. Any ideas would be appreciated.
  10. Thanks everyone for the info. I have flown a lot of hours behind this mag and have never had any problems. When I overhauled this engine I never considered converting it to single mags. That is why I was surprised to hear that it might no longer be supported. I will definitely have another talk with my mechanic. Thanks CARUSOAM for catching the title error. A Freudian slip I suppose. I had a Debonaire for twenty years before I saw the light and switched to a Mooney.
  11. I have a 500 hour IO-360 with a dual mag in my M20J. I asked my shop today to send the mag out for the recommended 500 hour inspection. I was told that this mag is no longer supported and that there is no guarantee that parts would be available should repairs be required. This really startled me. This is a low time engine which I expected to last for many years. What am I faced with and are there any reasonable options?
  12. I have just removed a Castleberry Model 300-14EL electric attitude gyro from the panel of my M20J. It is in near perfect condition and has only about 100 hours on it since factory overhaul in Dec 2012. It is a 14v model with ball-bank indicator. I would like to have $1200 which includes shipping and insurance within the U.S. Unit is in my hangar at KSZP. References on request. See the unit at www.pbase.com/chuck459/castleberry. Charles Raines cgraines@verizon.net (805) 484-9057
  13. Marauder – Thanks again for the comments. My airplane has no flight director at all. My avionics tech called Century and gave them the P/N of my autopilot computer. Without any hesitation, they said that it was a two-cue unit. This surprises me. I would have thought that it would have only been a pin swap to reconfigure the computer from single-cue to two-cue. After the holidays I plan to discuss my options with Century. As for single-cue vs two-cue, I spent over twenty years flying Boeing aircraft equipped with single-cue flight directors. I loved them – until I began flying a DC-10 which had a two-cue system. I found that _much_ more intuitive and easy to use. I guess it all depends on what one gets used to. Unfortunately it looks like my new Aspen may not have _any_ FD. If Century wan't too much to swap computers, I think I will just pass and fly my approaches the old fashioned way.
  14. Thanks for the input, Marauder. My instrument panel is in such bad shape, I'm going to have a new left half fabricated by a shop that does nothing but build new panel blanks. Since the panel is going to have to come out anyway, it won't cost much more to recess the Aspen. I also have to cut a new square hole to move my Century attitude indicator. It would be pretty hard to do a clean job of that without removing the panel. I do think that a flush or recessed Aspen looks better than a surface mount.
  15. I am about to install and Aspen EFD1000 PDF and plan to recess mount - not flush mount- the display. My M20J has a yoke mounted Garmin 396 which I plan to keep for receiving XM weather. With a surface mount, the right knob of the Aspen extends over 1 1/2 inches from the surface of the panel. This knob is directly behind the GPS and restricts the forward movement of the yoke. As someone previously mentioned, the buttons on a flush mounted Aspen are difficult to operate in turbulence. A Beechcraft owner recommended that the unit be recessed 85%, thus leaving enough lip to steady one's hand. This seems to make sense, so this I what I plan to do.
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