donkaye

I agree and won't teach instruments in actual conditions unless the plane is equipped with a backup AI. For the availability and cost nowadays, there's no reason to take the risk of flying needle, ball, and airspeed anymore.

That has not been my experience. I've been with the same company since I bought my plane 30 years ago. My insurance went up $350 over the previous year. Although not required, I do the Wings Basic and Advanced every year, and stay very current with flight instructing. I have found difficulty getting added on as an additional insured with waiver of subrogation. I do have flight instructor insurance. However, I have found it necessary to have my attorney of 40 years, one of the sharpest guys I have ever met, draw up an Agreement of Waiver and Release of Liability for Flight Instructing for those times when the add on is off the table. It pretty much covers everything under the sun. While it is no guarantee of not being sued, it would certainly be a discouragement for an attorney to try. Additionally, all my flight instruction is conducted within my C Corporation and I meticulously maintain its documentation. If you want to stay sharp both in life and in flying as you age, I find flying and teaching instruments to be highly beneficial.

I think it is time for a new instructor. There is NO WAY you should be anywhere near doing instrument approaches on your first lesson. The instrument rating is broken up into 4 major segments: 1 Attitude flying ((constant airspeed/rate climbs and descents with more complications (like adding turns to the climbs and descent) added as you become more proficient)). This should take about 8-10 hours. 2. Add the building blocks to instrument flying ( flying a course, compass turns using the magnetic compass, Understanding and using VORs in navigation, DME Arcs, and finally Holding Patterns, both using VOR and then GPS without the benefit of your GPS telling and flying the hold). This should take another 6+ hours. 3. Instrument Approaches. Approximately 15 hours. 4. Putting it all together by adding Communications to the workload. You should not move on to a new phase until you have the current phase down cold. If an instructor is experienced, they will keep the workload just on the edge of overload, but not go over it. By the time you're ready to take the test, it will be a non event. Flying actual alone after you have your rating, from a technical point of view, will be a lot easier than getting the rating because the work load will be so reduced. A good instructor will also have had you fly at least 4 hours of actual during the training. If you know the "Numbers" for each phase of flight (These should be determined at the very beginning of the training, as they differ slightly with each airplane), then it shouldn't make a difference which airplane you use. I've done trainings successfully in the C through the R models.

As a Mooney specific flight instructor, I've got extensive time in all models you are considering. While I like them all, and each has their strong points, I've owned my Bravo for 30 years, am on my 3rd engine, and went through the process of a major upgrade followed by additional relatively small ones as Garmin kept coming out with new "must have" equipment. Doing a major upgrade is really no fun, but the results make it all worth while. As I've said before, the Bravo is probably the best value out there, and once you've had a taste of a turbo, you'll not want to go without one whether you're East of the Mississippi or not. For example in the summertime on a hot muggy day, the sooner you get to 10,000 feet the better you and your passenger will like it. In the Southwest in the summertime around the Phoenix area, it's 12,500 feet before the thermal turbulence lets up. So, not surprisingly, I vote in favor of the Bravo for you.

So, if you have both, and have the extra benefit of not needing ADS-R, why would give it up for a lot of extra labor and equipment cost, and a few pounds of useful load?

You are probably aware of the following included in the Endorsement for the Commercial: "....has received and logged the training time within 2 months preceding the month of application..." You may need to get additional training if you haven't trained within that time limit.

In another word...Why? My answer would be a resounding...No.

Did you mean 978 Out? Then I ask you these questions: If there are so few people that have 978, then why did Garmin make the 345 dual band ADS-B In? And why did the Government modify their ADS-B system to accept dual band Out simultaneously? I personally like having the most flexibility when it comes to receiving traffic. Most people wouldn't have spent the money to get Active Traffic. I did by installing the GTS 800 as part of my upgrade. It works from the ground up and also in areas not served by ADS-B.

When I did my upgrade, the GTX 345 wasn't out. I got the GDL 88 and GTX 33ES. I chose to have the transponder in the panel because it provided some more functionality and I still had a transponder if the GTN failed. The transponder can still be controlled by the GTN 750 in addition to the transponder itself. While I lost a couple of data fields on the 750, they were more than made up for on the GTN 650. However, I did not like the green color of the 330ES at night, so when the 335 came out I sold the 330ES and bought the 335. It had some additional features that I liked in addition to the white characters. If you were to get rid of the GDL 88 you will lose functionality. Right now you have BOTH 1090 and 978 OUT. With the 345 you only have 1090 OUT. Also, some people have had issues with the AHRS in the 345. I have the FS 210 and it is rock solid. Bottom line, even if you gained a couple of pounds of useful load, I would NOT replace the 330ES with the 345. If you don't like the green color of the characters on the 330ES, then I would upgrade to the 335. After sale of my 330 ES I think the net upgrade cost was $500.

I'm looking at an A21 and an A6 that I've had for a number of years. They were not very intuitive, didn't show battery remaining, and I found them to be unreliable when it came to using them because of unknown battery remaining. They're going into the trash tomorrow. By the time you found someone to repair the A22, the cost would be more than a newer model that works and shows battery remaining. Last year I bought a PJ2 from Sporty's for about $200. It's easy to use, has a battery indicator, and uses AA batteries, so I don't have to worry about the battery discharging over time. It is Comm only. I never found the NAV/COMM handhelds were very good at navigation. I have a handheld GPS, the Aera 760, on the yoke for so many reasons, including importantly as a GPS backup to failure of the panel mounted units. So, I'd recommend getting a newer handheld such as the PJ2 and forgetting about the old A22. In the end, I think you would be better off both economically and practically.

It looks like I need a mneumonic for a mneumonic.

1. Mneumonic, "Relating to or assisting the memory". A pneumonic is not meant to be a checklist. "I for Instruments Set and operational" is meant as a memory helper. Your instrument instructor should aid you in what to do for each pneumonic. 2. Each airplane is a little different. The Mooney PPP discusses "Key Numbers" related to engine power. For the Bravo the Key Number for 75% power is 53. That means any combination of the sum of MP and the first two digits of RPM that equal 53 should give "approximately" 75% power. For experienced Bravo owners that is 29" MP and 2400 RPM. 3 of any combination of the above is approximately 10% power. So 26" and 2400 RPM should give 65% power. So the way to set power, for example 75% power, is to set the MP at 29" and the RPM at 2400 and begin leaning the engine. You could lean to 17.5 gal/hr and see what the TIT is. With my engine after an hour flying time, it will be between 1595 and 1605. The first hour, for reasons George Braly of GAMI, couldn't explain, it is higher. I don't want to run my engine with a TIT over about 1605, so I just let the full flow be higher during that first hour. So FF can vary somewhat from that stated in the PDF. I set my cruise power by setting the MP and RPM then adjusting the TIT to 1595 and confirming the FF close to what I expect. If for some reason it is far off from what I expect (it never has been), then I know the engine has an issue. Regarding the "theoretical", as the engine ages performance will change. If you want to have a more detailed discussion of the above, give me a call at 408-499-9910 and I'd be happy to go into more detail.

I disagree with pretty much all of your settings. I recommend using the document attached that I use when teaching the Bravo. I've owned my Bravo for 30 years and find these numbers to be the ones that work best. I'm on my 3rd engine. I recommend going to my website: www.donkaye.com for more information on flying your Mooney. Regarding the use of speed brakes for the NP approach in the document, they are not to be used in any icing temperatures, since they will freeze in the extended position. A few other pieces of advice: Max engine oil at oil change, 9 quarts if you don't want it blown out. Unless on approach near landing, MP never less than 15", since you want the engine running the prop and not vice versa. The only time I run the prop at less than 2400 RPM is on a rapid descent when I don't want the MP to be below 15". Remember. 3" of MP, or 300 RPM is approximately 10% of power. Also 1" MP or 100 RPM is about 3⅓ % Power. So any combination of MP and RPM that gives 10 power works. So, I will set the MP at 15" and RPM at 2000 on a slam dunk, since reducing RPM will decrease the power in that situation by about 13⅓ % without having the prop run the engine. SPEEDS & CHECK LISTS M20M.pdf

I'd recommend getting rid of that useless CO detector and getting one the could actually save your life.

Per Garmin: Optional Yaw Damper (YD) — The yaw servo provides Dutch roll damping and turn coordination in response to yaw rate, roll angle, lateral acceleration, and airspeed. The YD combines 4 inputs in damping yaw. I don't think the BK YD in the Encore does that. The GFC 500 YD can handle yaw in turbulence better than I can. While I can fly the airplane better than the AP in turbulence, I keep the YD on because it does a better job at handling it than I do. For the extra money for the servo and minimal added labor because the shop is already in there, I'd add it.

My Bravo, Serial number 27-0106, a 1991 model, has electric speedbrakes.

I flew down to San Diego for Thanksgiving. The flight took 2 hours with no help from the wind. The flight back took 2.3 hours into a 30 knot headwind. Based on where I was going in San Diego the "all time in" time would have been at least 3 times my flight time had I gone Commercial, assuming the flight wasn't canceled. On the way back, I noticed a little "I!" in the lower corner of my G5. Actually, I think it may have been there for some time, maybe since it was installed, but things seemed to be working normally and I did't follow through on its meaning before. This time I did, and the message was "no RS 232 input". I thought, maybe it was tied into the electrical issue I had a couple of weeks ago. I called my avionics guru and he said to come on over, that it shouldn't take long to fix. I thought, "no way" and was prepared to have him say I needed to leave the airplane with him. He pulled up some Garmin data on his computer, went to the plane, pulled the G5 and GTN750Xi, and did a continuity check. It checked good. He went back to the computer, did some more looking and came back out to the plane, put both units back in, and went to the setup in both units. All the while, he never said a word. He changed a setting on the GTN, and said, "It's fixed". I said surprised, "What do I owe you". He said 20 bucks. I said, "No way", and gave him $60 and felt guilty about it. A couple of days later I went to have my oil changed and a few other minor items fixed; O2 fillup, seat belt and front panel correctly installed from an error done by an avionics shop that did my electrical repair. Cost: Over $600. My out of pocket cost: $0. Why? I had done a couple of engine break-ins and used my charge as a credit against future work on my plane. In fact much of the costs associated with my aircraft ownership over the past 30 years has been paid for through my flight instructon, an endeavor I really enjoy. What I'm saying is: "Where there's a will, there's a way". Along with that goes my motto to not spend more than 10% of your net worth on your "toys". That way some of the "crazy" costs will not interfere with your sleep. Bottom line: For me, I can't imagine not owning an airplane, truly a "Magic carpet".

Without giving your name and aircraft number, l’d contact the Board of Equalization, ask for the aircraft department, and describe your issue. They’ve dealt with it before. At one time, I considered moving my plane out of my corporation, and they were rather helpful. I decided not to do it.

My degree was EE. The CB Panel is a nightmare in the Bravo unless it is totally removed during a panel upgrade.

Hi Don. Please look up a few postings to see my comments on the reasons.

In doing the battery test this week, it showed over 7 hours of battery capacity. Garmin says 4 hours, but that's what it said.

The Aera 760 would be used for Navigation only. As I mentioned, the G5 battery backup provides Attitude.

As a last resort, if you have lost all attitude information and all backups to attitude information in IMC, the magnetic compass would be your only salvation, and a very poor one at that. It might be good to do a little training with it. No heading change > level flight. As an ATP, I'm surprised he didn't try that. He would only have had to do it for a couple of minutes to let the GI275 realign. If the airplane had been trimmed for hands off, a light touch on the controls would have maintained altitude. Here's a question: Assuming no power changes, what headings would be best to fly in such a circumstance and why? Also, why did I make that assumption?

LAC in San Jose towed my plane to their hangar last Monday. I got it back late Friday. All issues seem to be resolved including my problem with the avionics master always being on, as of a few weeks ago. The problems were probably inter-related. but I won't know exactly until I see the work order. From verbally talking to them, it appears a strap became loose along with screws on some circuit breakers. The issue is still very disconcerting, but probably shouldn't be, as the plane does only have a single bus. Still, I am amazed that the whole electrical system can be taken out so easily. This whole thing confirms the decision to put the Aera 760 on the yoke with its battery, and the GDL 52 on the glareshield with its battery. With the G5, the Aera 760 and the GDL 52, I have Attitude, Navigation, ADS-B In with traffic and weather (although not Out), and SXM Weather. I performed the G5 Battery test, and with a 3 year old battery it indicated over 7 hours available power. At the time of my upgrade I was talked out of putting in a Comm antenna switch for a Handheld, since it would add a point of failure to Comm 2. That's out the window in my mind, and I had LAC order the Kit to add it. So, that would add extended range on the Handheld Comm I have. If it was going to happen at some time, I'm glad it happened when it did--on the ground. It called my attention to the possibility and gave clarity to the process I would need to follow to orderly transition to the backups I have and safely and comfortably land. BTW, all databases updated properly after the fact.

I have the MVP50, so don't have any additional information to contribute.