FoxMike

Here is a conservative opinion from a Bravo owner with 2000hrs in model. You can get a Bravo into strips which the manual says you can safely use. In the real world, I shop for best fuel prices which are usually located at smaller airports. Many times I have not been in there before and when I leave the tanks will be full. Sometimes the runway surface is rough or has patchy ice or something else that is not written up in a Notam. When I am traveling a leg is 500NM or so and I am not as sharp when I started out. For all those reasons I try to use runways around 3000'. It seems a reasonable safety factor is appropriate when you are choosing an airport for a fuel stop. If you in a situation where gas at home base is expensive and short strip is a few miles away has a better price nothing wrong with that operation. I owned an E model years back and know the lighter E model is much better on short strips but I gave that up for a more comfortable cabin. My advice is to keep yourself comfortable with runway lengths.

Rent at a spaceport in Denver is $400-450 for a heated and lighted T hangar with bi-fold door. Includes snow removal.

Bigger airplanes require bigger hangars and more ground handling equipment. Get an insurance estimate. First year can be rough. I owned a C Baron for a short period of time. I found not much bang for a whole lot of bucks. Maintenance on twins is often deferred because so much is required. If 100LL gets more costly you will lose a lot of value. The last time fuel got real pricey , people could not give twins away.

I got a chance to talk to D. Pool, who is a national distributor for Electroair. His comments were interesting but only one Bravo has been equipped so he has not much experience with the system on the Bravo. I finally found the owner of the only Bravo equipped with the system. He was very friendly and we spoke for a long while on the phone and he followed up with an email. His motivation for installing the Electroair was to aid in starting. As you may know Mooney wired up some of the Bravos megs so that the left mag was grounded when the starter was cranking (left mag has impulse coupling). I had that problem and changed the wiring to correct the problem. At any rate the electronic ignition solved the problem and starting is easy hot or cold.. He reports that he has not noticed any performance increase (climb or cruise). Since his install is the only one his shop had to do some innovating to get all the boxes inside the airframe. In a nut shell the coil pack was installed very near the turbo so it will see some additional heat which may affect its longevity. The other components needed to be away from the engine compartment and were mounted in the tailcone. To do this you have to order a harness which is meant for twins. The owner is happy with kit but is keeping the impulse coupling and mag since their may be a time that replacement parts for the Electroair are non-existent.

Thanks for the information Lance. I have a couple of construction projects going right now but will give him a call hopefully next week. Walt

Have any Bravo owners installed the Electroair Ignition system? I saw some pictures of an Installation on a Bravo but I do not know the N number. Would like a pirep if you have added the system.

That has to be the worst deal in aviation maybe for all time.

One other thing I just thought of is to look at the paperwork (logbook entry) and consider copying the installing shop and Bendix King with your email. I doubt either of those companys will do anything for you and Dennis is you best bet. The former owner might have bought the unit used and installed it himself in which case your only hope is Sandia.

I see your problem. Here is what to do. Email or call Sandia, ask for Dennis Schmidt (dschmidt@sandia.aero). Have the seriall number of the unit and attach the photo. You do not need to say much more than you were expecting better performance. Ask for a loaner and a repair of your unit. If the unit was properly installed a logbook entry and a certificate from Sandia should be in the logbook. You might have to contact the former owner for the information if he did the install. If Dennis agrees to send you loaner wait for it before you remove the defective unit. When the loaner arrives remove your unit and use the box the loaner arrived in to return ship. Next step is to wait wait wait. When you get one back one back (likely a different unit) and you ship the loaner back. Dennis seems to be responsible and he will make it right. Dennis has several emails and he only watches one so if I have given you the one not watched you might not hear from him so a followup phone call. is appropriate. I bought one unit but have now had 5 units so far since reliably has been a problem. They are getting better. the one I bought only worked one day. Good Luck!

Mount the Venturi behind the exhaust pipe. That is the barnstormers did it.

I have a Sandia 340A which is the same as the KI300 without the flight director. If you go to Sandia website you can find a manual for the 340A which can be downloaded. Airspeed and altitude can be added with the push of a button. The manual explains. I had the earlier version called a Quartto updated to the 340A and the conversion lead to a 6 month long repair to make the attitude indicator handle turbulence. Finally it seems to be able to handle the bumps. It does still drift in roll usually not more than 2 or 3 degrees Sometimes when riding in turbulence the drift is more like 5 degree. I am thinking about a KI 300 to wire to the KFC 150 but wonder how the autopilot would react to the drift. Get the manual it will explain how to reerect the attitude indicator by a push of a button. Not much help as you need to reerect a lot and it gets tiring after while.

FYI for those who want to upgrade to the KI300. I just spoke to Sarasota Avionics. They have 10 KI300s and KI310 in stock which they would love to sell but right now you can only install then in PA46 aircraft. Reason they can install in the Malibu is that they did an STC on that aircraft. King plans to use this STC to create an AML which will list all the Mooneys and other airplanes that have King autopilots. Who knows maybe be Sun-n-fun they get some of this done.

Although removing the KI256 is not to large a problem. The reinstallation is a big problem and requires a King shop. The KI256 needs to be run on the bench with the autopilot computer. If not done there will be little chance the KI256 will run the autopilot satisfactorily. You might talk to Bob Bramble about this. I sent miner in for overhaul years ago I also sent the computer and he set them up (for a little extra money).

On the subject of paint delamaination, I notice after flying today that my blades have a strip of tape about 1/16" wide along the paint line and covering a little part of the leading edge material. I would guess that it takes a lot of heat to get the tape to stick. The tape keeps the paint line from being blasted by rain, gravel and grit that peels the paint. So far it has protected my blades.

For whatever this is worth the paint on my prop blades is not peeling. A friend put an MT on his Arrow about the same time I put mine on. His blades are getting nicked up after 75hrs or so. My blades have several hundred on them and they are smooth as a babies butt. I would not go with the stainless. BTW I ordered right after OSH and the prop arrived in the US right after Christmas. Also, the climb rate is noticeably better and the cruise is the same. Takeoff is shorter. Best reason to buy is the much quieter, smoother performance.

I put an MT (4 blade) on my Bravo a couple of years ago. I went for the nickel steel leading edge. I could not be happier. The only downside is that it will probably take months for MT to fill the order. You could still get the OSH discount (10%) if you order now.

Standard temperature at 16.5K is around 4dF. How much above that temp was the outdoor temp. on the day you were having problems. One way to relieve high temperature problems is to reduce power some. Less power produces less BTUs of heat. Hot days raise the density altitude and test the limits of the engine cooling.

Is the sound a "beep" like a warning or a "squeal" like something electronic gone awry? Does it happen before engine start when the master switch comes on? Do you hear it before the alternator field switches are energized? A few years ago I took off and a few minutes after takeoff I started getting a low fuel audio warning. It repeated intermittently throughout the flight. Fuel was not low but after a talk with Stacey at the factory I determined I was getting the warning from a warning system Mooney had installed in the late M models that was connected to annuncicator panel and set off audio alerts that were recorded in the PS 6000 audio panel. Since the system was not activated I do not know how it was set off but id did once.

Do not want to complicate your planning but consider that you or one of your passengers might not feel well due to lack of oxygen. If that becomes the case you might want to fly lower but not too low, stay well above the peaks. A second consideration is turbulence. I always hand fly in the bumps as the autopilot servos get overworked. Passenger comfort and anxiety is a problem. Unless you can reach cloud tops you are stuck with the bumps (unlikely without Ox). Very unlikely the Mooney will break no matter how bad the ride is but passengers will not believe this. Flying early is best defense against bumps. One other problem is if in clouds at altitude you might encounter some ice. I wouldn't be overly concerned about these hazards but a little thought before you go is worthwhile.

Several years back I was in Lebanon Tenn, for a few days in January. Just before I started the approach into muni airport the controller told me the airport was closed and sent me to Gallatin. I landed there on a slick runway and called Lebanon to check conditions. Turns out a little snow and only the sun to clear the runway ( no equipment). I flew down VFR for a look see and landed. Very small amount of snow and a slightly slick runway. Airport manager had panicked for no reason. A couple of days later we had a real snowstorm maybe 3" or so. Absolute panic ensued schools closed, businesses closed, newscasters warned all to stay home. The few plows that could be found were pressed into service but not at the airport. I had to wait a day for the sun to melt the runway. Tenn. does get not get snow often. If they did they would be better prepared.

Many years ago I put a set on a T-210. I was operating from an uncontrolled field that had student traffic and was close to Class B airspace. I really liked them since I had to follow a lot of 172 traffic and had little room to maneuver to stay behind them. Stall speed was lower and controls were crisp right up to stall. Down side was I lost about 5kts in cruise.

On the subject of wiring. I do not know this for certain but have been told that the wiring should be straight forward. Calibration is done directly on the KI 300 and should not be a big deal.. The KI 256 was a pain to setup. Mounting the 310 may or may not be a project. I have a Sandia 340 it is easy to remove and reinstall. You do have to tap the static and pitot lines which might be a problem in some cases. The concern I have is that my 340 does not always show wings level when the wings are level. It may be off one or two degrees. Hand flying is no problem but the autopilot may start a correction that will be annoying. Also when flying in a lot of turbulence the instrument can react slowly getting back to wings level. Again hand flying is ok but the autopilot may not work as well as you are used to.

I talked to King salesman and some avionics shops at OSH. Apparently the KI 300 and 310 are approved for installation in an aircraft but are not approved to eb hooked up to the autopilot. those approves will be coming along in the future. It is probably to soon to jump on the King Bandwagon.

One other point is that the exhaust system is not very robust and cracks often. The G1000 looks great but I choose steam gauges to get around the WAAS problems.