PTK

I would answer as follows: It depends what you are taking out in order to put in an Aspen or ANY glass for that matter, including the overpriced G500 family. If you are taking out a KFC or KAP system the answer is a resounding NO WAY MAN! DO NOT TAKE THIS EQUIPMENT OUT!! If you do not currently have an AI and HSI then its probably ok. Reason is a KFC 150 is absolutely top of the line. Cannot be compared to Aspen or G500. It leaves them in the dust. Also because a lot of people are RUSHING to jump on the proverbial glass bandwagon, an existing KFC or KAP system can be totally overhauled for under $5K !!! Why spend more than double this amount for some glass!!???? And not to forget you still need YOUR AI AS BACKUP for the glass! If you do not have an autopilot you are not doing any serious IFR flying anyway so you might as well keep whatever you have!! Save some money!! Easy wasn't it??

Quote: Sabremech Allsmiles, If you ask the Mooney experts, I'm sure you'll find they can enlighten you as to what a good repair is versus a bad one. There's nothing wrong with having an opinion, but in the context of this post for the benefit of Spanky, a proper repair whether it be on a flight control or a spar isn't automatically a deal breaker. I'm an AP/IA but in no way an expert. It's my opinion that as an A&P, I share as much information as possible to help someone make an educated versus opinionated decision.

Quote: Sabremech Allsmiles, If you ask the Mooney experts, I'm sure you'll find they can enlighten you as to what a good repair is versus a bad one. There's nothing wrong with having an opinion, but in the context of this post for the benefit of Spanky, a proper repair whether it be on a flight control or a spar isn't automatically a deal breaker. I'm an AP/IA but in no way an expert. It's my opinion that as an A&P, I share as much information as possible to help someone make an educated versus opinionated decision.

It's a matter of opinion. My opinion is that spar damage/repair equates to a trashed airplane. I would never consider a spar damaged airplane. Although I agree there is nothing magical about the spar I am not an expert on spars. For this reason I rely on the opinion of experts such as the factory, Bill Wheat, Don Maxwell, Dugosh and the like. Having said that a large part of the enjoyment I derive from flying my Mooney comes from my trust I have in the predictable performance of the machine. I feel like I know my airplane so well that I can place my confidence in it. The Mooney is such a greatly engineered airplane that if you give it half a chance it will astound. It astounds me on every flight. I'd take a gear up airplane before a damaged spar. Of course with no wing strike. In most cases a properly repaired gearup landing with no wing strike comes out better than before. You get a fresh overhaul, new prop and hub a new one piece belly to name just a few items.

Any spar damage renders the airplane useless. Especially if you are unsure what the original damage was to necessitate spar repair. Simply drilling on the spar trashes the airplane. This is why, if you've noticed, Mooney welded little attachments to secure the vertical carpet piece in front of the spar under the rear passengers' legs. They did not just drill on the spar to secure the carpet. In my opinion ANY spar damage trashes the airplane. There are plenty of REAL NDH airplanes out there!

Quote: flight2000 Never heard of an in-flight mag check?? I've only done them on the ground during the ground run (which also gets the prop cycle everytime...force of habit ). Why would you mess with the mags while flying though? Brian

Negative. My interior: All new leather seats and headrests, memory foam all four seats, embroyderry on headrests, brand new carpeting with serging and backing, refinish interior panels with elastomeric color coal (SEM): Grand total $1900 plus I oaid for my own leather and carpeting about 600$ TOTAL 2500$ and change. I removed and reinstalled the plastic interior panels and carpeting. Took me four days, took the shop 2 weeks. Saved a bundle. And you know what they are local to me. I can always visit them if I need something rather than shipping seats across the country!! Give me a break!!

Buy a nice FAA approved leather that you like and take your seats to a local auto re upholstery shop. You will save a ton of money! You can also buy some memory foam if you need it. Make sure you get burn certificates for everything for your logs. If you are doing carpet you can also buy that and have it shipped to you. My advise is don't rush because rushing wastes money. I did mine this way and saved approx $4K over an "aviation" interior shop!!! There is nothing NOTHING an "aviation" interior shop will do for your interior that cannot be done at local auto reupholster. Search around and I'm sure you'll find somebody. I would never ship my seats to someone across the country!! This is the biggest joke I've heard. And even more scary is that some actually do it!! What are you going to do when you need something corrected or some type of follow up. You are going to resend them across the country?

Anyone has changed the exhaust? If so which one? Any ideas on the Powerflow?

forgot also to mention closed cowl flaps.

WOP throttle. 2500 RPM (I use 2450 RPM because my prop was dynamicaly balanced and 2450 is an optimum RPM for my prop) 50 ROP (or peak if you are high enough to have 65 horse power or lower). This is what I do and it's based on recommendations from Lycoming and Mooney.

There is no comparison to the M20J. It's in a class by itself in performance and efficiency. It covers more distance in less time using less fuel than anything else.

I have another question. What is the difference of running foreflight on the iPad vs. iPhone. Is it simply screen size or is there anything else? Seems to me an iPhone would sit nicely on the yoke and it does run foreflight skycharts and the like. Just curious. Thanks.

Looks good. How does iy mount on the yoke? And do you find it obscures or get in the way of your scan in any way? Do you wish it was a little smaller? Thanks.

Quote: danb35

Honeywell is keeping their mouth shut and the lid on very tight before Oshkosh. Very prudent. I would bet that a major announcement will be made at Oshkosh. The smart thing for them to do would be to extend some type of trade in program for existing silver crown units for the KSN 770. This is what Garmin cannot do!! Personally I'm in no hurry. I'm willing to wait for the dust to settle.

Such as Honeywell for panel mount (Apex edge line) or for handhelds True Flight comes to mind but there are others. Has Garmin changed anything with the x30 in the last 15 years ???

The consensus is that the J is a great airplane. But yet it's disturbing that some want to mess with it and alter it with cowl, prop, etc etc, For what and to what end??? What will we gain with these mods? Leave th J alone. It's a great airplane!

Can you post a picture? Would really appreciate it to see how it looks. Thanks.

Where are you going to put it in the airplane? Does it mount somewhere or on pass seat?

My point is exactly what I said. There seems to be a frenzy on here regarding G500, iPad, iPhone, Foreflight laptops etc, etc. Everyone has an opinion about something or other. Some have expressed a complaint about the ongoing update costs. of the 696. My point is that Garmin and apple are similar in that they restrict our freedom of choice. Once you buy Garmin you are stuck with Garmin for a couple years and then you hit a dead end. You MUST buy another piece of hardware in order to remain current. This of course on top of the ongoing update costs. Apple is the same way. I would not put an iPad in the cockpit. It's too big and gets in the way. Personally I would consider avionics that do not lock me in one path with the manufacturer.

You would not put any BK in your plane because you can't. It's too late. Garmin sucked you into their black hole of a monopoly and you are stuck with Garmin. They stripped your freedom of choice! Much like apple is doing with their iPhone and iPad. This is insanity!! I will retain and protect my freedom of choice. I will not put anything in my airplane that requires a credit card on file in order to operate.

What I'm saynig carries the assumption that your engine is healthy. Before I deprive it of oil I would be certain its indeed a healthy engine. So starting with a well functioning healthy engine I will give it 8 quarts for EXTENDED FLIGHT. Why? Because the BOOK says so. And this is for EXTENDED FLIGHT folks! Lets not confuse extended flight with brief flight. We can agree I think that a 4 hour leg in the J constitutes an EXTENDED FLIGHT. And for the gentleman making a joke about towels and drenching them with oil, I do carry a pack of shop towels but I have never had to use them to clean oil from the belly!

Quote: ehscott I'm going by the POH. This is my baseline and bible. I also think that all you guys who say it will blow out are being presumptuous in saying 1.5 quarts will blow out in an hour. I'm not sure that is accurate. It has not been my eperience. But even if this DOES happen so what ? Let the engine do it's own determination how much oil it needs and WHEN at WHAT TEMPERATURES AND OPERATING CONDITIONS !!! I would rather let the engine blow it out than purposefully starve it of oil !

The iPad is not appropriate in the cockpit for a couple reasons. It is very slow for weather way too slow compared to XM datalink. And it is too too BIG!!!! Where do you put this thing!! As a moving map it is just barely average. It is very good for GROUND FLIGHT PLANNING. It is also good for web browsing, email etc. I don't browse the web when I'm flying!! For cockpit use it is a good plate reader but there are other ways to access plates in flight better than the iPAD. Of course this is just my opinion!!