cliffy

Here's an email I just got form AC Spruce "I have been contacted by purchasing department and have been informed that the vendor has cancelled this order they are unable to produce this product and have no ETA on when they will have the materials to produce. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you."

As I mentioned a long time ago that the money looking fwd in small autopilots like TT/BK is NOT in civilian airplanes but in the drone world for deliveries. This was even mentioned to me 4 years ago at OSH by TT. BK/TT may/might/are actually looking at that world and using us to keep the system alive while the other world matures. Just a guess on my part as the production of useable STCs for the A/P is almost non-existent and makes no sense from a business stand point and that BK has a total vacuum on any public commentary to the contrary They're position/communications with the public makes no business sense what so ever. If there was any reasonable cost effective alternate I'd be there It doesn't serve BK much good for extension to their other product lines by this fiasco I just wonder how much of their other products they actually sell?

Visa has a 120 day dispute window that I am following If I hear nothing in 90 days I'll be cancelling the order with Visa for non delivery

For an independent assessment its well worth the cost and time to access Savvy Aviation for this situation I agree with PT20J in that a lot of the old timers at Lycoming are gone so that body of historical information is dwindling Having had several conversations with Savvy over the years you can trust his judgement He sees a lot of difficult issues every year and he's been around a long time. In the end the cost of his service for this issue will be minimal compared to the possible repair cost. Money well spent for peace of mind in the decision.

Pictures are worth their weight in gold here! :-)

Be REAL CAREFUL when you take the lens out. Make sure you have a table with padding under the light before you loosen the screw. Dropping the lens will cost you a fortune They are glass and will break when they hit the concrete.

Why not try swapping the location of the probe to another cylinder and see if the problem follows the probe. Mine did! Have a bad probe by 25+ degrees which is going to be replaced. Also check the connections on the probe for corrosion before you jump to costly maintenance.

OK then that makes more sense THANKS for this reply!

STC has to be able to transfer and the servo mounts wouldn't work but it is a nice offer. THX

Just got word from A/C that they need payment for the Aerocruze A/P now so they can send it to BK for shipment They say its a "special order:' and payment before shipping is needed. Anyone else in this boat ? I don't know if I want 6K hanging out there hoping that the stuff will ship "sometime in the future"

Just heard from AC Spruce and they want payment to send to BK for the Aerocruze for my airplane Has anyone paid for their equipment right now and awaiting the shipment?

Some people are just lucky and many are not.

Never never buy the first airplane of any type you look at- NEVER ALWAYS have a planned purchase looked at for a prebuy inspection by someone familiar with that type airplane NEVER TRUST WHAT ANYONE TELLS YOU ABOUT HOW GOOD ANY PLANE IS- ALWAYS CHECK EVERYTHING YOURSELF OR WITH A GOOD MECH CHECK WITH YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY BEFORE YOU PUT MONEY DOWN ON ANY AIRPLANE TO SEE IF THEY WILL INSURE YOU IN THAT AIRPLANE Lots of info here on MS about what to look for on Mooneys Comanches have a 1,000 hr landing gear AD that is a big one (watch out for it if you look at those) A 3 year landing gear bungee replacement AD (not so big a deal) is required also For Bonanza consideration watch this video

If you get a used flap make sure you get the donor aircraft info yr, model, N number for your log book sign off. This keeps the air worthiness continuity chain complete.

Haven't looked at that yet but I will I'll decide on changing to the Dynon servos if and when they become available then sell the TT if I want to. My main purpose is for straight and level travel and the auto level flight button for the wife.

Spruce contacted me on my long time order I hope they can deliver

Good deal Yours was as bad as I ever seen.

I'm in the same boat with you !!!!

I tried that many years ago but I didn't have a monitor Its on my list to try again Long time ago there was some writings about going LOP on R-985 radials with carbs and they found that a little carb heat worked fine for them

Not very far As soon as it shows LOP the temps start to spread Remember I'm a carb engine so even distribution of fuel is not real good but it is interesting to not that at PK they all seem to have even FF Its quite dramatic I need to check other power settings to see if it stays with PK or moves

Did some playing around today in cruise (2400,WOT, 8500') and when the EMS showed ROP the temps (CHT and EGT) were within 40-50 degrees of each other BUT when I slowly leaned it out and saw it go to PK (peak) ALL of the temps came with in 15 degrees of each other (EGT within 15 and CHT within 15) As I pulled SLOWLY to see LOP on the EMS the temps spread out again and of course the engine started to stumble a little with lean misfire. This was a repeatable event . All the temps stayed well within limits at any mixture setting. FF went from 10.1 ROP to 8.1 PK Don't have a good track on the GPH reading yet to see if the K factor is close to accurate. More testing to come

If you do change the small one be sure to use a brass tool to remove it from the hole bore. Do not use a sharp pointed pick (like the pink handled ones from HF) to try and pry it out If you do you will scratch the groove it sits in and it won't seal A piece of 1/8 brass welding rod hammered to a spoon like end works well and won't ruin the cap bore.

Did I miss something? How did you fix the bent tubes?

Slow down and smell the roses Flying a Mooney is supposed to be fun and not a marathon I've done 5+15 once in my C model and that was 30 years ago and I vowed never to do that again. At least when I did 5+ in Boeing I could go back and take a leak properly ! :-) Did know one guy in an E model that did PHX to Columbus Ohio 8+ standard fuel, big tailwind, LRC power