donkaye

Considering the price of an Acclaim, that sounds pretty good.

An example of how NOT to use it: Coming from Stockton, I would not use VNAV Direct to start the descent from say the Altamont Pass to VPEMB, the visual reporting point ATC wants you to be over when going to San Jose. You would definitely hit the East Bay Hills Mountains. Instead, based on my preset descent angle, I set a VNAV constraint the forces the descent to start when there will be no intersection of the airplane with the East Bay Hills.

The CDI should auto slew to the correct course for ILS and LOC approaches. It will not auto slew for VOR approaches.

I'm actually not sure what a Baro-corrected altitude means in the context of VNAV. I'm thinking it may require an air data computer. I tried to Google it with no satisfactory results as related to VNAV. Maybe someone here knows, or I think I'll check with my Avionics shop or as a last resort, Garmin.

I personally never use it, and you should be careful when using it because you might have a mountain in the way of your descent. However if you want to immediately start your descent for whatever reason, you would set the altitude to which you want to descend and the GPS will construct a descent profile to arrive at that altitude from your present position.

No such thing as VNAV calc. It is a separate software routine and is called VCALC. Also, it is one or the other and is set up at the time of installation. Your choice. Also VNAV won't work with VNAV direct, as the descent begins immediately from the present position in that case.

Do you have a Baro-corrected altitude source, one of the requirements for VNAV. I've had students who wondered why their VNAV did't work and they didn't have the Baro-corrected altitude source.

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?