donkaye, MCFI

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.

A G5 or GI 275 and a GFC 500 and you're all set with your dream autopilot from a company that won't let you down. You only have to set in a second altitude for the Aspen if you want. There are several people who have done that, and for the Eagle you couldn't do better.

I don't know where that posting is, but one way to pay for a Mooney is through flight instructing. I've earned a lot more than the cost of my airplane doing that, helping other people, and having a lot of fun doing it.

Ditto that for me, too.

In your first post, if you're referring to ESP when the AP is off: banks between 45° and 60° turn the roll servo on with increasing torque with increasing bank to "nudge" you back to less than 30° of bank; pitching up +20° or down -15° does the same thing with pitch, "nudging" you back with increasing torque with increasing pitch in the positive or negative direction; and finally when airspeed is above 196 knots or less than 75 knots the pitch servos will "nudge" you back to within the airspeed limitations. If you exceed any of the above limitations for more than 10 seconds, the AP turns on in LVL mode to bring you back to straight and level flight with 0° of roll and 0 fpm vertical speed. It's pretty slick. It CAN be disabled from the G5 (and 2 other ways) for practicing maneuvers such as the Commercial Maneuvers. I was initially confused by the ESP because there is another feature that operates when the AP is on. ESP works with the AP off. Overspeed speed and Underspeed Protection works with the AP on. LVL works all the time.

Unlike Beechtalk where quotes can be layered to 3 deep, Mooneyspace only goes one level. I tried to only get the relevant quote, not concerned with who said it. It would be nice if Mooneyspace could go down another level or two.