FoxMike

Having been a Bravo owner for more than 15 years let me offer a little advice. Since I fly the Rockies sometimes IFR, the airplane works for me. If you do not need to fly over 8K you are going to find the cost of ownership mostly maintenance to be excessive. The Bravo makes sense when flying in the teens but if that is not required for your flying I would keep looking for an Ovation. The Ovation, Acclaim and Bravo are comfortable airframes especially for long trips. They all drink more than the 4 cylinder models but you get slightly more speed. If you have no experience with turbocharged airplanes the Bravo can get really expensive. No matter what you buy be sure to find a competent instructor.

I upgraded my Quartto to a 340A a month or so ago. Like the features of the 340A but found during a trip to AZ. that the 340 failed in some moderate turbulence over the mountains. I t did it twice. I stopped in ABQ on the way home and got another. The second seems to work better but I only have a few hours on it and only a little time in the bumps. If you are using this as your only artificial horizon better be careful until Sandia finds the problem and gets all of them fixed. The failure I experienced twice was the AH rolled into a 30d bank and sat there for about 15 minutes. It did erect itself after the 15 minutes. It might be I got the unit that had a bad component but maybe not. This happen in VFR conditions but a failure in the clouds when its bumpy could be lethal.

Keep in mind that I 70 is going to be rebuilt from the mousetrap to I 225. Construction will continue till 2022. Travel east /west across Denver is going to be problematic for quite a while. BJC can be a tough place to find a hangar (I based there for 25 years). Also traffic on the Boulder turnpike can be tough. If you can figure a good answer to the I70 construction FTG could be a good answer. Generally, traffic in Denver is a bitch 20 hours a day.

I just got my Halos and am still in the trial stage. In the bag of foam tips are some black, domed ear plugs. I tried one on my right ear and could not get any audio. There are no straws inserted in the earplug so I attached them directly to the soft plastic tube. Has anyone figured out how to make the black tips work. these are a little different from earlier black tips that used to be sold on Halo's site. Let me now if you have figured these out.

I put VGs on a 78 T210 i owned years ago. I liked them in the low speed regime but they did cost 5Kts in cruise. I think on a Mooney it would give a very pleasant low speed performance but you would lose cruise. You might also find you lose value on your aircraft because most buyers salivate about the speed and are willing to live with resulting takeoff and landing performance.

I looked at a Bravo that was equipped with one when I was shopping for a Bravo. I asked several shops about them. None thought they were all that reliable and said repairs would be at KingAir pricing. You could find a replacement unit for your KI 525A as many pilots have traded for Aspens or Garmins. You might also get your unit overhauled. Also the KI 825 has an awful small screen.

Blower match is a big deal. A turbo used in an unpressurized should not have the capacity of a blower designed for a pressurized one. Turbos run efficiently in a narrow rpm range usually above 90% rpm. A big blower would be running at low rpm and cause lots of back pressure. I have no idea what was used on a Rocket but that TSIO 520 was used on lots of aircraft so different blowers are probably available.

Thanks for the information, I ordered a set last night. I have been waiting months for availability. Hope they work satisfactorily.

If the mags were properly rebuilt 320 hours ago I would not touch them I fly my vac pumps till they break. I normally get 1200hrs out of them.

Someone might had a problem getting two parts of the exhaust to fit and decided to use some brute force with a hammer. Watch that for leaks.

After looking at the Savvy data I would think water could have been the problem. It looks to me that you need to have the red EGT cylinder looked at. Injector nozzle may need to be cleaned or upper deck pressure might be leaking. It could also be a valve. On the water issue you may need to change O rings on the gas caps and you need to determine if the holes in the ribs are open. I do not think you need to open the tanks but you need an A&P with Mooney experience to look this over throughly.

Any chance you got a load of water when you bought gas? A lot of Mooney tanks have been repaired over the years and sometimes the holes in the rib that are to let the water move to the low point get blocked during the repair. Water does not get to the quick drain until some of the fuel is burned as it trapped behind the rib.

A couple of comments, maybe ideas. Airspeed changes of that magnitude could only be caused by fuel starvation if the engine lost significant power, like going from 70% to 20%. You certainly would have noticed a trim change. It could be you were experiencing up and down drafts that could cause a the fuel in a low tank to unport (flow away from the pickup). If this is the problem more fuel is the fix. If you have had this problem on other occasions when the tank was fuller you might have a mechanic drain all the fuel and remove the quick drain and see if a large piece of junk in in the tank that could cover the fuel pickup.

Looks like a piston would have been faster. Maybe we are starting to see saturation of Class A. I was going to Kerrville IFR during the time Reagan fired all the controllers. I needed to make a quick stop in KAMA for fuel. Once I landed I had to get back in line for another clearance. I had to wait till the next afternoon to get one (about 24 hours). I had to hang around the FBO and wait for the ground controller to call the FBO.

Flying the rocks requires some skills and equipment. Need an O2 bottle (above 12.5K and maybe lower), a good idea of the terrain your route will take you over, skills in leaning the engine from startup to shut down, a willingness to put up with a very rough ride, etc. Some instruction is worth the time and cost.

A 201 does OK in the Rockies but you need to operate with some care. IFR is not a good idea. Colorado Pilots Association teaches an excellent mountain training course (ground and cross country). It is well worth the time.

Might be the oil control rings are worn-out. Compression test will not normally reveal worn oil control rings.

It seems they put a new prop. on it in 2014. I wonder why?

I have owned a Bravo for 15 years. You asked about Bravo vs. Acclaim. If you fly an Acclaim like the salesman describes you will be topping the engine every 300hrs or so. If you use less power the cylinders will last longer. The Lycoming engine in the Bravo has a system that pours oil around the exhaust valve guide. The "wet head" does a good job of cooling the exhaust valve and adds lots of life to the cylinders. I have just over two thousand trouble free hours on mine. Downside to using high power on the Lyc. is the exhaust pipes crack. High power at high altitude adds measurably to the cost of operation of either airplane. My take on the Bravo is that it is the best bang for the buck in a high performance airplane. Being an old guy I do not mind flying steam gauges. I have read that getting compliant with ADS-B with a G1000 is problematic so I would think you not want to open up your bank account to high robbery in the next year or so. I have a KFC 150 autopilot and have had not problems with it. I have had the KI 256 and KI 525 overhauled. They went 1800 before overhaul. The KFC 150 seems to be plenty adequate. I keep my airplane in a heated hangar which maybe one reason why these gauges have done so well. As was pointed out earlier neither model carries much. You really need to stick someone up for a ride. The long body Mooneys are more difficult to land than the smaller models. Plan to find an instructor who has experience in the long body. Any CFI would not be a good choice. Good Luck!

I have TKS and have had a problem with stall warning squaking on every takeoff since I bought the plane. I tried to adjust the switch to no avail. It seems the TKS panel changes the airflow slightly and the switch activates with higher margins before stall. I have had nervous passengers who wonder if the plane is going to stall on takeoff.

Don, I ordered on Monday after OSH and the prop arrived in Deland in early December. It took another week for MT Deland to get it assembled. I flew down early January to have it installed. My McCauley was serviceable. I have since sold it. What made me aware of the MT STC was a few of my friends owned them on other aircraft and raved about the smoothness. I looked over the STC on the MT website and decided to give it a try. So far no regrets. If you decide to do it you will probably have to rent a prop for a while. Maybe someone starting an engine overhaul might want to rent you one for a while. A prop shop might have one in stock you could use for the months it takes to get one from MT. It probably will be worth the extra hassle. If you come through Denver on your way home I will take you for a ride. I will be in Caribbean from Nov. 7th til the 19th.

Books are written on this subject so a few lines on the internet will always lack sufficient depth. I have a FIKI airplane now but flew for years with just a pitot heater to fight ice. A lot of preflight study is a good idea but knowing where the tops are or a reachable layer is the most helpful. Normally aspirated airplanes can climb thru ice if the tops are low but you need a good climb rate and a good idea where the tops are. To my mind the best piece of equipment you can have is a turbo , others might disagree but my turbo has bailed me out on several occasions. I had a run-in with freezing rain one time. The boots on T210 did not help much but the turbo saved the day. The full story is quite a lengthy and involves a controller/CFI saving a nearby airplane with a panicked pilot. If you fly IFR much you are going to bump into some ice. It is a serious problem but with knowledge of the weather system you are flying in you should be able to manage the situation.

I do not use checklists for cruise, decent, prelanding. Landing is GUMPS. I would recommend for cruise remembering to trim Stabilizer and Rudder as you set the cruise power. Close cowl flaps as oil temperature drops below 205. I try to plan the decent for 300 to 500fpm using reduced power or speed brakes sometimes both. I try to arrive on downwind (gear down) at 100Kts and set 10d flaps on the downwind. At big airports I may need to go faster, at small airports might want to go 90 or 85 but not much slower. Downwind is the time for GUMPS. Try not to run over the slower airplanes in the pattern. They are going 60kts so you need to space yourself appropriately. It takes a reasonable amount of time to get comfortable in a TLS. It would be nice if all instructors had "heavy " Mooney experience but very few do. A friend tried to move into a 252 from 172s..Tried a hotshot instructor who was maybe a good 737 pilot but totally lost in GA airplanes. He talked a great story but could not teach because he had no knowledge. Result was a 252 getting pranked a couple of times. Their are Mooney experienced CFIs but you might have to bring one in for a few days so you can do some intensive training. Getting some time with a knowledgable instructor is well worth whatever it costs. Good Luck!

Here is the checklist I use. Fold in half (vertically) put laminate over it. When I had a Mc Cauley prop I set the power to 28/2300. Set the TIT not more than 1600 and the exhaust will not crack. Good Luck! Mooney Checklist Rev.pdf

I understand the whip antenna can be installed under the dorsal.