donkaye

By this logic, jet, corporate, and airline pilots should keep their YD off to become better pilots---not. I like having the YD. It is much better than the ones that came with the BK autopilots because of the additional sources that control the servo.

If you can afford to own the Ovation, you can certainly afford to have the GFC 500 YD. You'll be happy you got it. It's a small price to pay for a smoother ride in turbulence. BTW, Garmin has had the GFC 500 out for the long body for over a year and a half. I've had mine for over a year and know of a number of long body owners who have installed it. As opposed to some other YD, the Garmin unit takes inputs from multiple sources to damp yaw. From my AFMS: 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.

Well, you got me. That's what I did. No upgrades except for a stereo audio panel for 21 years. The KLN 90B was just too good. I'm glad I passed on the GNS series GPSs. But then I amortized the cost of the 21st Century avionics with all those non buys for 21 years. It was worth the wait. I would have to say getting the Instrument Rating now with the new avionics is trivial compared to what is was like 25 years ago. DME Arcs, Holding in strong winds, ADF Approaches in strong winds were challenging, unlike following the magenta line with your GFC 500 autopilot engaged.

I recently got my quote for this year. I have been with Falcon since I got the plane in 1992. I am over 70 years of age (how time flys!). I was interested in seeing what this year would bring. The quote came back from USAIG with a reasonable 12% increase, smooth, and the same full value as last year. I'll be staying with Falcon.

Normally the longer the Moment from CG position to rudder, the more benefit a YD should be. However, the C Model is very light and in turbulence bounces around more than a heavily wing loaded airplane does. So, I think it would be beneficial even on the C model. However, when it comes to APs on the older short bodied Mooneys, the cost/airplane value ratio is pretty high. So you would be buying it based on value to you in cross country flying and not on a return on investment.

That's the right way to do it. I just can't understand people who don't have the YD commenting on how it is not necessary when they've never experienced it in action. The Garmin unit also works to coordinate turns, although with the Mooney, not much rudder is necessary anyway.

Getting sick in the air when you're not sure you would even like to fly, is probably a traumatic experience. Pilot's like Bob Hoover experienced it, but he continued flying until he got over it. I would think, it would be pretty hard to get over. I think it would take a lot on your wife's part to continue flying until she flew enough to not remember the first bad experience, but I think that is what would be necessary, and that may not be a possibility. Any way you look at it, buying a non turbocharged airplane while living in Arizona, I guarantee would NEVER work with her. Turbulence, often times moderate, is with you anytime after about 10:30 am until you get to about 12,500 feet. So, assuming you get through her fear of getting sick, if you want to buy an airplane, it needs be turbocharged. You have to get good at understanding the weather. Flying it yourself is important. Reading books like Robert Buck's, Weather Flying and Severe Weather Flying by Dennis Newton would be a good start. Getting at least 1,000 hours flying cross country with an experienced pilot or friend would start getting you that experience. For me it was after I was teaching a lot, ferrying planes all over the Country, and going on three Rock Band Tours with an Ovation all over the Country at various times of the year, and implementing what I learned from all my reading, that I got good at knowing the weather, especially as relates to turbulence. Now it would be the exception if I was wrong in predicting whether a flight would be smooth or rough. A quick tip that you probably already know; if there is no frontal activity, then flying in the early morning and being done by noon will eliminate most turbulence. In a turbocharged Mooney Bravo, for example, that will take you almost half way across the Country. So good luck getting some more weather experience by yourself, and, if possible, working with your wife in smooth conditions to get her through her previous bad experience, to enable you to enjoy your passion of flying with her.

Treat yourself well. Get the additional servo. Since it is installed side by side with the pitch servo, the cheapest you will be able to get it is with the original installation of the GFC 500.

That's crazy, since the servo alone is $1,500. Having said that, the install is well worth it and should only be about $3,000 extra.

At least as related to the M20M that if incorrect.

Where did you get your incorrect information? The M20M was provided by a former student of mine, Andy Rutherford.

While it may not be necessary, it is REALLY nice to have. It is fairly inexpensive compared to the ones associated with previous autopilots. It, also, has more inputs compared to the older ones, so is much more effective. From Garmin "The yaw servo provides Dutch roll damping and turn coordination in response to yaw rate, roll angle, lateral acceleration, and airspeed." You definitely should get it. You'll be happy you did. I've had mine for over a year now, and it completes one of the best autopilotsIi have flown.

Aera 760 Pilot's Guide190-02674-00_b.pdf Put this on the iPad. If using Garmin Pilot, you can put it in the Documents folder.

That's the way the GFC 500 seems to work, with the exception in APR mode the AP follows vertical guidance, too.

Yes. It was all over for you when you switched from GPSS mode to APR mode before you were on the final approach course. At that point there was no navigation to the final approach course. Pre GPSS, HDG mode guided you to the final approach course and APR was armed. With HDG in GPSS mode, when you switched to APR mode you lost the HDG guidance and the AP didn't know what to do. So with the older autopilots with GPSS emulation tied the HDG mode, if in GPSS mode with either a T IAF or a hold in lieu of a PT, NEVER switch to APR until you are on the final approach course. This does not apply to the GFC 500 where GPSS is built in.

One of the things about the GTNs that I like the best, probably use the most, and is not available at this time on the IFDs, are the VFR approaches (even AP coupled) to nearly all airports and runways in the US. Prior to the VFR Approach software update I used to have to switch to OBS mode and set the course selector to the runway heading for situational awareness or set up an instrument approach procedure (there wasn't always one for the preferred runway). This took time. That's not needed anymore.

How long did you wait before giving up? My experience has been that it could take around 10 minutes before data starts transmitting. Prior to that I was getting the not authorized message just as you are getting when I had the legacy G500. I don't know why it takes so long for the database sync to start transmitting. Of course this may not be your problem. It was mine. Even when it worked Charts would take forever to transfer unless you flew over an hour. It did transfer over immediately the Charts associated with you flight plan. The whole thing is pretty Kludgy. With the G500 TXi I just download the data to the card and upload it. I use database concierge and then database sync to get data to the GTN 750 Xi and then the GTN 650 Xi. It even takes 5 minutes before database sync kicks in to the GTN to GTN transfer on the new units.

Walter was sharp as a tack. I think he was the one who put together the engine operation demo for the online class. He wasn't that old, or maybe the years are just going by too fast. A big loss for the community.

Paul, I'd never be able to convince you differently, but your flying life would be so much easier (and although you don't thing so now, more enjoyable) and everything would interface if: 1. You sold both Aspens, the IFD, all your round gauges, the preselect, all autopilot servos and the KC 192 autopilot computer, (you'd get good money for all that stuff) and; 2. Bought another G5, installed the 4 servo GFC 500, bought a GTN 750Xi (or a used GTN 750 for less money), GNC 255 (your KX 155 needs new displays that, if you could get them, would cost around $600), and had a new panel fabricated. In turbulence the knob on the 750 will do everything including swapping frequencies, and Telligence will change pages.

They had to repair my annunciator a few years ago, too. The low/high alt lights wouldn't go out. That was costly, too, as I had to verify the alternators were good.

Every time in flight. In the beginning I only noticed them when I put the gear down and the light didn't come on. After a few missed heart beats, I looked down at the floor indicator and it showed the gear was down. Then I looked at the circuit breakers and they were popped.

Over the past year (or two) at various times I've had the gear warning and stall warning circuit breakers pop--together. It started getting worse this year, so I decided it was time to solve the problem. I realized that it didn't happen in the wintertime; only the summertime. This year it was happening every time I flew when it was reasonably hot. I took it in to an Avionics shop hoping it wouldn't take them too long to diagnose the issue. They spent a lot of time trying to track down the problem and finally decided to just change out the circuit breakers. The first flight after the new breakers were installed both breakers popped again. That money was down the drain. Nobody understood why both breakers popped at the same time. Time to call Top Gun. It turns out that the only place where the two circuits meet is the Tone Generator box located by the left rudder pedal. Mooney still sells them--$2,000+. That's a lot of money to spend on a guess. Turns out the product is made for Mooney by International Avionics Incorporated in Addison, Texas. They do repairs and quoted about $650 to look at it. I had Top Gun send it out to them. A week later I called them to see if the problem was diagnosed. Ken, their tech who has worked there for 30 years, said he was going to work on it the next day, but in the past they had had a number of them returned for the same issue, and as such they redesigned the power supply. I gave them the go ahead to replace the card if necessary. They replicated my problem, so the card was replaced. Today, Mark installed the unit in about 15 minutes. We tested it on the ground and with the new design the circuit breakers are independent of each other. (In the past if you wanted to disable the stall warning you had to pull the gear warning breaker as well). I feel comfortable that the problem is solved. I'm posting this to save anyone else the expense of troubleshooting this issue should they have it. Just send in the Tone Generator for repair and your problem will be easily resolved. PS Just got the Bill. Less than new, but $$.

If you're an Instrument rated pilot, its time to get a WAAS GPS and be able to fly approaches to nearly all airports in the US rather than be limited to airports with only surface based equipment.

Any way you look at it you will need either the GI275 or G5 if you are going to fly IFR and install a G3X. You really are going to need a new panel fabricated, since your current panel is not a T configuration. If you plan on keeping the M20C indefinitely and don't mind over improving it, then the large flat panel G3X with backup G5 and GTN 650Xi would transform your airplane into a modern day wonder and set it up for the GFC 500 if you ever wanted to add a full function autopilot. For less money, but to prep for a future autopilot, you could do 2 G5s or for more money 2 GI275 and in either case the GTN 650 Xi. You would still need to fabricate a new panel. To get rid of the engine instruments you would additionally add either a JPI or EI engine monitor, or a Garmin EIS. For "cheap" ADS-B In, you'll need one of the GDL 50 series receivers. Regarding Garmin or Avidyne, although many on this list love their Avidyne products, to date I still haven't had one student who has had one, and before Covid I was pretty much teaching full time. As many on this forum know, though, I'm rather pro Garmin, having gone full Garmin 7 years ago, and have upgraded every time a new Garmin product has come out that looks interesting.

I spoke extensively again with Mark Rouch from Top Gun about MP ranges for the M20M. He also has the equipment to set MP. It takes quite a bit of time to run the setup and requires flying the plane. From experience he knows where it is going to and up after many setups. He has seen MP vary 3" over a wide range of temperatures. That's why setting it to 38" as a base line is so dangerous. When it's very cold the maximum MP might be 34". When it is very hot it could be 37". Therefore, the baseline setting of about 35". Certainly Mooney could have written the POH for a much better understanding of engine operation.