donkaye

I don't know of any Bravos that ever had AC. I think AC was first introduced in the Ovation. Having said that, I couldn't think of a worst waste of money (unless you lived in Arizona and idled on the ground very long in the summertime). You can climb out of the heat in no time. There was an Acclaim that I know of that had AC, Long Range Tanks, and TKS. That was requested by the purchaser of the NEW airplane. I heard the salesman was fired shortly thereafter, when after the plane was ready for delivery, the buyer forfeited his deposit and walked away because he discovered the useful load was 50 pounds at full fuel and TKS fluid. The Bravo is a great airplane. I've probably owned mine longer than most anyone at 28½ years. However, if you think you are going to get an airplane that's 30 years old and not have unexpected maintenance issues (sometimes large), think again. You can go a couple of months without one and then, boom, you get hit with one. And NEVER think to yourself or say out loud, "I haven't had any issues for the past few months". Invariably within a day or two you will. My plane is going in tomorrow on one of those unexpected issues, the right wing fuel senders need replacement. Personally, while I have GAMIs, I don't like running LOP. For unknown reasons most Bravos trying to run LOP don't do well. The plane is a great airplane flying West to East. Get up into the upper teens and with the usual Westerlies you will easily do over 200 knots GS, in fact usually 220-245 knots GS at 17,000 feet. I've made it San Jose to Akron, Ohio in 10½ hours with I think 2 fuel stops, then on to Hartford the next day in a couple of hours. Flying West is usually an exercise in staying low for lower headwinds. But, if you have to go higher for mountains, you can do that even into massive headwinds to avoid lower level turbulence. A couple of years ago I came back from a complete tank reseal job in Willmar, MN in 9½ hours with an overnight in Omaha due to weather, then Pueblo (3 hours) at 6,000 feet into 40 knot headwinds after a cold front, Milford (3 hours) with 60-65 knot headwinds at 16,000, and on to San Jose in 3½ hours at times at 20,000 due to weather over the Sierras. I personally like modest 2½ to 3 hour flights for comfort. That's going to take you over 500 nm. Factory Remans at TBO; $85,000 including labor. The above airplane looks like it fits the bill for you, however, except for the GTN 650, with mostly 25 year old technology. You WILL need one thing that in not in the description. There is no mention of GPSS, which you just have to have, especially with the GTN 650. Installed, it probably $2,500. And don't get me started on the seductiveness of the new technology. My plane has almost every new gadget that Garmin has come out with. The last thing I'll say that some will disagree with, is the need for long range tanks. The closest I ever came to running out of fuel was in a Bravo with longe range tanks over New Mexico at night helping a new purchaser bring the plane back to California. When I asked about the fuel situation where the plane was purchased I was led to believe there was plenty of fuel to make the trip to Deer Valley (you can't tell by looking at fuel levels in the the tank). After the red light came on for the right tank (3 gallons remaining), I declared LOW FUEL, and made it directly with no delays to Williams Gateway. When I topped the tanks there it turns out we had 11 gallons remaining, not enough to have made it to Deer Valley comfortably. Unless you top the tanks, you don't have a good way of knowing the exact situation of how much fuel is in each tank. There is a guide in the POH AFMS, but the fuel gauges cannot be calibrated to the full amount. So, there is a quick synopsis of the M20M Bravo.

What audio panel do you have? My 760 pairs with the GDL 52, but the GDL 52 won't pair with the GMA 35c. The 760 can pair with one device and the GDL 52 with 2, but the GMA 35c apparently isn't one of them.

No, all boxes are within 1 foot of each other and BT for ADS-B Traffic and Weather and XM Weather are received on the Aera 760. Only audio is missing.

I posed this on BeechTalk and I thought I'd do the same here. Given: Aera 760, GDL 52, Bose A20, GMA 35c Is it possible to bluetooth the XM Audio from the GDL 52 to either the Bose or the GMA 35c? Hardwire, of course, works to both. Bluetooth not successful to either.

It's sad and depressing as I think of some of the people I have known who didn't respect the weather and it did them in. Two were former Instrument students who got their ratings with me. Both accidents occurred many years after the training. Both were aeronautical decision making judgment errors, and both fell under the categories I discussed with each of these individuals. After flying with someone for 40 hours of more in getting that rating, as an instructor, you have a pretty good idea of a person's personality. So, one of the last things I extensively go over with a person before sending them to take the test are the 5 hazardous attitudes. I'll tell them I'm not judging them (and I'm not), but we go over all of them and I put special emphasis on the ones I think may apply to their personality. Many times people will agree, and sometimes they don't. The first one has been written about extensively. It was the Cirrus that took off from Reno one dark and later stormy night on a flight back to Oakland. The plane was not turbocharged, but did have inadvertent TKS. The plane picked up ice and went down by Donner Lake. The pilot pulled the chute way beyond the airspeed permitted for pulling the chute. His last words, casually said, were, "I'm picking up ice and I'm going down." His main issue was Resignation, so when he let things get bad, he let it happen to him. The second one was equally troubling and occurred a number of years after the training. This one involved a well known attorney who was doing a night flight to his second home at Pine Mountain Lake. He wasn't instrument current, but that wouldn't have made a difference to the outcome because the field was way below minimums, like it was totally fogged in. He tried to get in VFR--unsuccessfully. He was the nicest person you could ever meet. You would never know about his anti-authority, invulnerability attitude. We had discussed it. It cost him and his soon to be wife their lives. Then there was the accident that occurred over the Tehachapis in a thunderstorm that took the wings off of a Rocket a few days after I had met and talked with the pilot at a high altitude seminar in Sacramento organized by my good friend Dr. Bob Achtel. (I remember that seminar particularly well because that was and to this date the lowest IFR landing I have made. Adam Fineberg was in the right seat going to the seminar with me. At 200 feet we saw the red approach lights that allowed us to go down to 100 feet where I saw the runway threshold and landed. You couldn't see the top of the Control Tower). Anyway, I digress. He was a software engineer who just had to get to LA. I remember the day. The weather was just terrible. He left a wife and 2 month old baby. And then there was the accident of the Acclaim Ultra near Deer Valley 1½ years ago. Several days earlier Mark had flown me over to Minden to pick up my plane after the GFC 500 installation. OK, that's enough.

For those of us who have pre-ordered, when can we expect that our units will be sent out?

Hi Victor. Happy New Year! While the 605 has the wheel to modify pitch, V/S and IAS, there seems to be no control for Heading and Altitude Preselect. The 507 Mode Controller on the GFC 500 has all the functions in one place. To me that makes the GFC 600 very inconvenient to use. Since I haven't flown the GFC 600 maybe there's a better explanation.

I'd normally be at the front of the line for the latest new upgrade to my airplane. In this case no way. From what I've heard the installation cost differential would be $10,000 in parts alone plus greater installation costs. I've had the GFC 500 for over a 1½ year now and it works perfectly. To date it has never failed due to GPS aiding necessity. Even if it did, an ILS could be hand flown. The GFC 600 has no mode controller that I can tell, so heading and altitude need to be controlled from some display somewhere. Given an already total Garmin Cockpit, the need for the GFC 600 is 0%. For those who don't have all Garmin the extra cost could possibly be justified, since there would be no need to buy other additional hardware. I think that Garmin will be hard pressed to find 40 or 50 airplanes whose owners would be willing to go that route--but I could be wrong. If someone asked me, I'd certainly say it wasn't necessary with the availability of the GFC 500.

After their "Smashing" success with their 10 million CD selling "Smash", Dexter, the lead Singer and organizer of the Offspring purchased a new Ovation. Mooney asked me to help him bring it back from Kerrville. And as they say, so began a long friendship. Ironically, both of our birthdays are on the same day, although a few years apart. After we completed his transition training, he asked me to take the Ovation out on Tour with them. So, I was out on four or five different tours all over the US. What a time that was! I saw a lot of shows. Over time he got his Instrument Rating, Commercial, CFI and CFII with me, and when I was teaching for the Mooney PPP he taught in several of them. I don't think any of his students knew who he was. I do recall one very interesting time when we all went out to dinner in Colorado Springs, and he was mobbed in the restaurant. I think the Mooney people were in shock. In 2000 he bought his first Citation and I was fortunate enough be able to take the training with him at Flight Safety. So, that's what lead to my getting my multiengine rating, MEI, and Single Pilot C525S ATP rating. Flight Instructing has led to my meeting so many interesting people and creating long term friendships.

I decided to change this posting after viewing a number of GI 275s in action on some videos. Although small, I think the display of SVT along with the flight path marker make SVT valuable enough to add it to your installation. At under a $1.000 it seems like a bargain compared to SVT for the G1000 or G500 TXi.

Going into Salina, Kansas over 20 years ago on the way back from one of my rock band tours it was a steady 50 knots straight down the runway. I think that is the slowest I ever touched down in an Ovation. As was said above, the real issue was taxiing in for fuel.

For insurance purpose the insurers want make and model, so I have mine broken down that way.

Thanks, I updated my post to reflect that.

I would like to be out watching you make a full flap landing in a 35 knot direct crosswind, no headwind component. I only have 9,800 hours of Mooney time and to make that landing I needed to fly the plane on with no flaps at 105 knots. One of the benefits of no flaps is a higher stall speed by almost 10 knots, something very desirable in a heavy crosswind because the plane is done flying at a higher speed. I know Barry Schiff in one of his books discusses doing it in a Piper Cherokee out at KSMO, but those planes are draggy dogs and are pretty much done flying when on the ground. Not so the Mooney.

It's really important when flying a Mooney to nail your approach speed within a knot. Fly 5 knots too fast and your landing distance will extend an extra 500 feet. The rule of thumb is for evey knot you are over the recommended speed for your weight add 100 feet to your landing distance. Regarding takeoff flaps, every Mooney Model I have ever flown (and that's all of them except the D and G) says use takeoff flaps.

Has anyone ever heard of the term "Stabilized Approach"? In normal wind conditions, why would you want to land with more energy to dissipate than is absolutely necessary? For a stabilized approach in a Mooney at mid weight and no wind, if airspeed is in knots, 90 on downwind with gear and approach flaps, 80 on base with full flaps and 3° slope, 70 on final maintaining the 3°slope. If in MPH, 100 on downwind with gear and approach flaps, 90 on base with full flaps and 3° slope, 80 on final maintaining the 3° slope. With significant crosswind, meaning lining up on final with a crab angle greater than 15°, reduce flaps and increase airspeed until the crab angle is 15° or less and fly the airplane to the landing with power, reducing power and increasing aileron in to the wind until you come to a stop. If, while using this technique, the runway cannot be held with full aileron (I've personally never had that happen), then immediately add power and go to an airport where the runway is better aligned into the wind. Gusty conditions will also alter the use of full flaps, as a gust on touchdown with full flaps can produce very unpredictable results, as I once found out landing at Ogden a number years ago. A 20 knot gust took the plane 20 feet into the air just as I touched down with full flaps. So I was at stall speed 20 feet above the runway where ground effect had no effect. It was only through the immediate application of full power and lowering the nose that the day was saved---barely. Simplicity and common sense about the laws of Physics dictates the above.

I have the G500 TXi with SVT and have flown many Mooney G1000 aircraft with and without SVT and can't imagine not having it, if only for the flight path marker alone.

No problem doing that.

I don't know if it is normal, but it is what I have had to do with all my engines.

If that is true, I am surprised because that spring is not compatible with other gear motors and my understanding was nobody wanted to make them because of the limited number of motors out there. We asked Mooney for years with no success. PS I just called Mark, at Top Gun, and asked him to check into it. He knew Mooney just got in some Avionics Products back springs, but will check on Plessey.

Well, I wouldn't consider buying a Mooney with a plessey gear motor, so it wouldn't be an issue. I have 4,000 hours on my airplane and that means 4 back spring changes. Failure to change the backspacing, and then failure of the backspacing, which as you know makes extending the gear an impossibility, would be a lot more expensive than $18,000. I stand by the requirement of either the discount or find another airplane.

Backsprings are available, just not for the Plessey gear motor--at least not as of several years ago. Tom Rouch from Top Gun used to overhaul other types of gear motors before he retired. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy one of those. Paul, from Laser, also rebuilt other types of gear motors and was selling them for about $10,000 before he retired.

The maker is labeled on the gear motor. Easy to find.

Does it have a Plessey gear motor? If, yes, deduct $18,000 from the purchase price. They aren't made any more and no back springs are available. If for some reason you did find one, they cost in excess of $1,500. http://www.donkaye.com/donkaye.com/Infamous_Back_Clutch_Spring.html Expect to overhaul the turbo and waste gate in addition to needing exhaust repairs at mid-time on the engine. I'm on my 3rd engine and on every one the MP had to be backed off in descent. I've even overhauled both density and pressure differential controllers with no improvement.

When I had the KFC 150 you would just hold the heading icon on the G500 TXi and heading would change to GPSS, however....I have a student who has the S-Tec 55 that has GPSS built in and I think he sets it on the AP. If the -60 doesn't have built in GPSS, then it should be wired into the G500 TXi to just hold the heading icon to switch to the built in GPSS of the TXi. Best yet, upgrade to the GFC 500 that interfaces beautifully with the TXi.