donkaye

I agree. That's why I viewed as many reviews as I could find, and flew with a student who had it for over 50 hours. The facts are the facts. The Mooney is a fast and efficient plane and I personally don't think that the Aerozcruz 100 is an autopilot that should go in one. To me having a pitch trim servo for altitude hold on a long cross country is one of the best things in an AP for reduced workload. Currently, this AP does not have it. If nothing else, for resale value, I think you need one with a more powerful feature set.

According to the designer it is a rate based AP. Watch this video. That's where I got the rate based information.

1. Can't use below 700 feet. 2. No ILS or VOR approaches. 3. Will fly GPS approaches but is not certified for any approaches. 3. No pitch trim servo availability. 4. No IAS climbs or descents. 5. Does have CWS. 6. Altitude syncing to backups or other glass very limited. 7. Rate based. Google "reviews for the Aerocruz 100". There are several of them. That's where I got the above data. On the plus side it is cheap. As "Flying Dirty" says, "It's better than nothing". Having flown over 50 hours with a student who has it in a Turbo Arrow IV, I would add, "But not much". It came with the airplane. The partners are waiting for the parts to come in for the transition to the GFC 500.

Has anyone other than me actually flown the Aerocruz 100? If so, I'd like to hear your comment on its operation.

Speed brakes immediately increase the descent rate by 200 ft/min.

You are ABSOLUTELY right. Using speed brakes in a crosswind and gusty situation is VERY dangerous in my opinion. As I mentioned in a writeup on my website (https://donkaye.com/useful-aviation-articles), I experimented with speed brakes on a gusty windy day for extra stability. I hit a downdraft near the ground, and even with full power in a Bravo it was necessary to retract the speed brakes in order to get better control of the descent rate.

Because Excel spreadsheet files are not acceptable on Mooneyspace now, email me at donkaye@earthlink.net for my Weight and Balance Spreadsheet. 2 people and full baggage should enable you to fly 4 hours with VFR reserves. I have a useful load of 985 pounds because I do not have TKS. You can play "what-if" scenarios with it. The critical attitude of the Bravo is over 21,000 Feet, so you should be able to climb full power to that altitude. Remember Vy decreases and Vx increase as you climb to altitude, where they eventually meet. I personally like to fly 2½ legs for myself and my passenger comfort. It does increase the total trip time. i have flown nonstop alone from San Jose to Colorado Springs. I have done the reverse nonstop, too. I did the flights at FL230 Eastbound and FL220 Westbound. Flying KGUC to KDEN I'd be flying the Monarch Pass personally for comfort, always before noon. If there is any convective weather stay on the ground, period, in any single engine airplane over the Rockies. Teaching the PPP Mountain Flying Class we've easily flown Aspen to Colorado Springs direct comfortably. Theres a large plateau between the Arkansas Valley an KCOS that is comfortable to fly over. I've also taken off from Leadville in the afternoon with full fuel and a DA in excess of 13,000 feet with no issue. Leadvile is marked at each quarter length and we were off within the 1,500 foot estimate ground roll. The best bargain out there is the Bravo in my opinion. I say that having flown and taught in all model Mooneys except the D and G extensively. You can check my credentials on my website at www.donkaye.com.

It should take about 7 hours including the switch and circuit breaker.

I use the Aerox Oxysaver Cannulas. I like to see a minimum of 96% on the O2 saturation and will adjust the flow until that value is reached.

I'm sorry I can't answer that question because I never got it to work.

You have one now. It was terrible. I couldn't get my saturation level above 93% even on the highest flow. I also didn't like hearing my breathing over the headset. I sent mine back for refund. In all fairness to Mountain High I have an altitude compensating regulator for which they couldn't compensate.

The K Model SPEEDS, CHECK LIST M20K.pdf

Having done the upgrade, in a word, YES. Much more capability and adaptability for future upgrades, like the recent upgrade to include Smart Glide.

I flew approaches today for 2 hours in coastal fog. I love the LHS and recommend it to everyone, but I had to turn off the audio because of false callouts today. I've only experienced this in fog and sometimes in enroute rain. Still, I think it is the best bargain in aircraft safety equipment today. From experience I think everyone should have one.

You're right. It was my gear warning and stall warning that were both popping. The actuator circuit is different. My mistake. Thanks for catching that.

After checking the wiring and replacing the circuit breaker we called International Avionics in Texas who made the gear and stall warning annunciator and found out it was a known issue. Long ago they had designed a new board that solved the problem. We sent the unit in for repair and I haven't has an issue with those popped circuit breakers since that time.

If it's a Bravo, I potentially know the answer, after having spent several thousand dollars for nothing on a similar problem.

What Mooney model do you have?

Here's the J. SPEEDS, CHECK LIST M20J.pdf

I've flown the Ovation all over the US many times. It's best altitude to fly is 9.500 feet. I've gotten it up to the 15,000 foot MEA to go over the Rocky's before. The climb rate becomes anemic above 12,000. At that altitude you have lost 12" of manifold pressure. 3" MP is approximately 10% of power, so you have lost 40% of your power. There is very little cushion for downdrafts. So, yes, you can get up to 15,000, but it will be slow going above 12,000, with little or no options with any kind of downdrafts. Example: Early in the Ovation's life there was an issue with the exhaust that Mooney required be fixed in Kerrville. I ferried a lot of Ovations to Kerrville. On one return trip to San Jose there was building weather in the San Joaquin Valley. I first thought I could climb above it. There was no way. I had to divert to San Diego where I did the ILS into Montgomery in the hardest rain I've ever flown in my over 12,000 hours to date. I had to stay in the plane for 10 minutes after I landed until the rain let up a little. The weather up North didn't break for 4 days. (We could sure use some of that now).

Here it is. SPEEDS & CHECK LISTS M20M.pdf

The Ovation is not the Airplane to be flying over the Alps. You want a turbocharged airplane for that. The Ovation can comfortably land on runways as short as 2,300 feet, but you need to fly it right. SPEEDS, CHECK LISTS M20R .pdf

The truth is that everything happens faster---if you let it. It doesn't have to be. The dynamic range of the Ovation is very large. The stall speed is 59 knots at gross weight fully configured for landing; less at lighter weights. I've trained people in it right out of the C152. You can fly it as slow as a C172 until you get comfortable with it.

But what about the Installation Manual? I'll still bet it can be changed with an installer card, not just in maintenance mode.

I was responding to a post above about my panel. The first answer to the 2 questions are that neither was available at the time I upgraded my panel. However, I have since flown with students who have the Garmin EIS and I find the characters too small for my preference. I don't want to think about character size every time I try to read something. It also takes up screen real estate. I like the 60/40 setup on the G500 TXi for the PFD/MFD and the ability to change it to 40/60 during cruise. That allows for a magnificent flight plan page on the TXi that gives an unbelievable amount of information, much more than even the GTN 750Xi has. With the EIS that wouldn't be possible. The EI MVP-50 that I have (not the JPI 930) in my opinion is the best separate engine monitor out there with multiple pages of good information. WRT the G500 vs the G3X both are good, but the TXi is newer, brighter, has some additional functionality, and supports more external sources. As I said, I wouldn't change a thing that I have right now.