donkaye, MCFI

For the TXi upgrade the only issue I had was with my GTS800 traffic interface. Turned out to be a setting and was fixed in about an hour. When I had the original G500 installed, it took them about a week to get the GMU 44 magnetometer to operate properly while they were doing the install. The strobes and lights in the wing were creating too much interference. Peter completely rewired the lights to properly ground them and that fixed the problem. FF was not an issue, but I have the MVP-50. The EIS wasn't available at the time.

Peter, my avionics person, is always thinking ahead. He centered the right knob of the GCU 485 right under the right knob of the 1060. Yes, the saga is almost behind me. I still have to settle up with the insurance company. I got an advance on the settlement, but need to fly the plane before I'll be willing to sign off on the balance. They were fair to me. No real arguments; a little negotiation; fair. All situations like mine should go as smoothly.

If you are referring to me, I have SVT, but it needs GPS position to work and the plane was still in the hangar at the time the pictures were taken. If Steve doesn't have it, he should get it. It's worth having in my opinion. The flight path marker alone is worth the price of admission.

Steve, your panel is the same height as mine. It wasn't lowered 2" until the mid nineties. My plane has finally been completed, but the weather hasn't cooperated in getting over to it and doing the engine break-in.

It's January 7, 2019. I didn't get the plane back by the end of the year, but I'm told it will be done tomorrow. It's been a long 3+ months. If the weather holds, (it probably won't) I'll go over and break in the engine tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise, I'll wait for a weather break to do it. Knock on wood, except for the time without the plane, this process has gone relatively smoothly--even dealing with the insurance company--so far. Timing worked out perfectly for installing the new, new panel. Peter finished it today, and says everything works. Here's the latest picture. New is the upgraded MVP-50 Display and the addition of the GCU 485 Control unit. I'm REALLY looking forward to that! No more hassle with the clumsy TXi knobs and touch screen, and the PFD is back on the left where it belongs. Next thing on the agenda, either the GFC 500 or the AeroCruz 230. The GFC 500 does advanced VNAV and IAS clinbs and descents. The AeroCruz, if it becomes real, provides easy installation.

Our discussion with the DPE after the check ride was valuable. First off, he turned into a "real" person and really discussed his profession and the current issues with it. I sat in on the debriefing with the student. It took less than a minute. He said, "regarding the debrief, I don't have any to comment regarding the Instrument check ride. You flew it perfectly. I'd only comment that after landing don't clean up the airplane until you're off the runway." This examiner is tough, but fair. He is not prone to no comment after a check ride. Regarding the instrument rating: While this student was exceptional, he put in the time and the hard work required to do a perfect check ride. He showed me that practicing at home extensively on a FTD, even uncertified, was valuable. He verbalized all checklists and approach briefing out loud, but made it sound like a crew member in a commercial cockpit running checklists; believable. He was never cocky nor arrogant, always willing to learn. He should fly for the airlines, but Google is his home for now.

Look, I, too, thought the fee was high until I worked the numbers. In the Bay Area, if you are making $150,000 per year you are in the lower middle class, and can barely afford a nice apartment. Forget about buying a house. I have tenants who are making $300,00 per year who can't afford a home nearby their place of work. No wonder people are leaving California in droves. I would, too, if it were not for the climate and need to be nearby my Real Estate.

We arrived and the examination started at 9:00am. We left at 4:30pm. By my calculations that is 7½ hours and that didn't include the round trip time from Paso Robles to Salinas to give the exam. That translates into $106.67/hour. On an hourly basis I charge $100/hour. His charge was not unreasonable. Although we didn't talk money specifically, we did discuss checkrides specifically with him. This checkride covered all the bases, as it should for a rating that could really get you into trouble if you are not up to the task. We discussed how some examiners (who are not now DPEs) would run through 4 checkrides per day. The FAA investigated and they lost their DPE authority. This Examiner said you could only effectively do one checkride per day. He had a 3" binder with a well planned out plan of action which specifically included scenarios related to the few questions my student missed on the written examination. My guess is that those DPEs who charge ½ the rate and do the exam in ½ the time are not giving a thorough examination. Also, it should be noted that there is a severe shortage of DPEs in our area, which he confirmed.

Next month will be 25 years that I have been flight instructing. Yesterday, I sent up a student to take the instrument checkride who was one of the best instruments students I've had during that time. He made my job easy. Here's a summary of his checkride. Experienced or not, how would you have done on this test? As I expected, he passed with flying colors. Sam Judd Instrument Checkride - Google Docs.pdf

Nice Job! One thing you might consider, if you like a dial type VSI, is a VSI like in the image below. This is a setting on the G500TXi, and works beautifully.

Unless management has changed (or will change) at Garmin, I have asked multiple times and been rejected each time I asked to have the M model put on the list for GFC 600 approval. They continually say it's not going to happen. I just don't understand the philosophy. While the GFC 500 is a good AP, what a pain to install all the extra parts that should not be needed for those of us who have the G500/G500TXi. The cost of the GFC 500 will approach that of the GFC 600.

When it comes to the primary navigation in your airplane to be used for many years, it might be worth going off budget a bit. Because of the many new things it can do (VFR approaches to all runways of public airports (not sure about Canada), Vertical navigation, Temperature compensated approach altitudes given the temperature of a destination airport, interface capability to all Garmin products, and many more things), you should consider getting the GTN 650, or even better, the GTN 750 that allows for Approach Charts. You definitely won't be sorry. P.S. I can't comment on the IFD Avidyne series of GPSs because with all my teaching I've never had a student whose had one.

To those new to the Rocket: It is a great airplane but special attention needs to be given to weight and balance. I just can't understand anyone putting in long range tanks in it. I would like someone to show me how with even one person and full extended range fuel you will be within the CG range. You almost certainly will be out of CG, and at most it would be a one person airplane. Even with factory fuel tanks it is a 2 person airplane. You can get 3 people in weighing 200, 180, 180 with as maximum 25 gallons of fuel. With 4 people weighing 200, 180, 180, 180 you could have a maximum of 30 gallons of fuel. Many people just operate outside the CG range. That is bad news. So, please be careful with this airplane, or you could be in big trouble. Play "What if" with the below Rocket Weight and Balance Spreadsheet to see what I mean. wb Version 3.8 231 Rocket.xls

Because backup AI's are relatively inexpensive now, I am one of those instructors who won't do an instrument rating or fly in instrument conditions with a student unless the student has a backup AI. Can you fly the airplane with needle, ball, and airspeed? Yes. In todays world, though, do you really want the added risk associated with it? For me, the answer is, No.

My new prop finally came in last week from Macauley. It took about 8 weeks.

FWIW, in 26 years, I've had 3 issues with the KFC 150, not including replacing some lights in the KC 192 computer. One was a pitch servo in 2001 (repaired), the trim servo in 2003 (repaired), and finally the trim servo in 2014 (exchanged) that I didn't know wasn't operating up to par. On landing I always manually set the trim back to takeoff trim so as not to work the servo and it seems to have paid off. Also, since I can fly the airplane smoother than an autopilot when turbulence gets to a certain level, clicking the AP off at that time also saves on overworking the serves. If the KFC 230 becomes real next year, I would seriously consider it as an economical and less time consuming install option (especially since my plane has been out of commission for 3 months this year). As the above shows, the KFC 150 had been pretty bullet proof over 26 years, and with everything staying the same except the computer and another interface part, looks to be a promising, reliable alternative to the GFC500. The 2 year warranty on the servos would be a bonus.

I've asked Garmin multiple times about certifying the GFC600 for the Mooney. Each time its been a firm NO!

Less. No envelope protection.

It's not.

Reasoning of Garmin on requiring GPS with the GFC 500. Still, I don't like the fact that it doesn't have CWS..

Even with the New, new panel, I never gave a thought to go with the Garmin EIS. Except for downloading to Garmin Pilot the MVP-50 does much more than the EIS. And the new MPV-50 display really increases the resolution of the old display. There are so many things I like about it. One is particularly useful to me, and that is its dual fuel use registers. One keeps track of total fuel used while the other resets at the end of each flight on shut down, thereby showing fuel use on each trip without doing any calculations each time. Another is simple setting for two fuel levels. I have one for 100 gallons top off and the other for 89 gallons to the bottom of the neck. I keep the Shading at the 89 gallon level, since the calibration was done for 89 gallons. So the fuel tank level indicators on the MVP-50 (separate from the totalizer) don't start going down until below 89 gallons where they will roughly agree with the Shading. I recommend it above all other engine monitors.

The old engine is off and the new one is going on. It doesn't look promising for having the plane back this year. However, I took the opportunity to what I consider upgrade the panel upgrade during this down time. After months of playing around with the awkward altitude and vs preselect on the G500 TXi, I just bit the bullet and am adding the Garmin GCU 485 Controller. I think I mentioned it on another post somewhere on MS. All parts are in and the new panel just arrived today. It still needs to be powder coated and painted, but this is a preview of what it is going to look like. When it's installed I'll post the completed panel.

Nice clean panel. When I did my original install I put in the MVP-50, since the EIS wasn't available for the original G500.. It didn't make sense to change over to the EIS now. I did upgrade the MVP-50 display instead. Big improvement in resolution.

There was a thread on Beechtalk that answers, most, if not all these questions. Certainly Garmin should be able to generate software to run on the G500 TXi to run the Autopilot instead of running the AP software in the G5. You still need the interface GAD 29b. In reality the best AP is the GFC 600 that's packaged all in one, but that is not meant to be for our airplanes. Since all units will be sync'd to each other, except for the AP functions, I plan to use the GCU 485 for most of the control. Beechtalk link: https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=161026&start=15

That's going to be a great setup.