donkaye

AOA is really nice and I have one on my glare shield, but after between 20-24 thousand Mooney landings (mostly in teaching. I did 110 2 weeks ago with 2 transition students), when one G (as in landing), pitch attitude (3°) and airspeed (determined by power setting) are most important. At one G and a 3° nose down attitude until the flare, there is just no way you are going to stall the airplane. Also, if you are turning with a bank angle greater than standard rate in the pattern, you are making your life more difficult than it needs be by rushing the landing and making your perspective change too rapidly. Certainly with experience you can accommodate short approaches which require a steeper bank angle on the turn to final, but not until you have your basic landings down pat.

I thought my panel updating was done, but as new products come to market I find myself continuing to modify it. It's apparently an addiction. So far this year I've replaced the ESI 2000 with the ESI 500 and I now have a GTX 335 on order to replace my GTX 330ES because I never have liked the display of the 330ES. The small losses on resale have been tolerable for the benefits gained.

You can actually see how the Map Chart function works by going to Demo mode setting a position close to the airport, setting a speed and altitude, entering a flight plan, and an approach to the airport. The plane will be superimposed on the plan view of the Chart, georeferenced in track view. You could also go to the Chart itself and see the plane on the Chart, but georeferenced in North up view only. Don't forget to enable Charts in the Map Menu.

Not one in my plane, but one in my car. Gas mileage is a poor 9 mi/gal, so a 26 gallon tank. Also, a little heavy for the plane. :-).

No question that XM is better, as it should be for the money. Pay to have the work done to be able to keep it. If you have or get the Flight Stream 210 you will be able to get XM weather on the iPad, too, for no additional cost. Edit: To get XM on the iPad you need the GDL 69 or GDL 69A

Each person chooses the level of risk with which they are comfortable. A back spring failure is a single point of failure and the gear won't come down or go up with ANY procedure. It's going to be a gear up landing. Do you really want to risk family or innocent friends who don't know any better when they go flying with you over a 1 AMU cost? My answer is an emphatic NO.

These are certified airplanes and as such there are safety factors that must be used in the design. If the maximum gear down speed is 140 knots in the POH, then that is what I will use. These are performance airplanes not Cessnas. I have over 3600 hours on my Bravo, am on my second engine, and follow the book on maintenance including replacing the backspring at 1,000 hours. Tell your mechanic he should get some Mooney instruction.

With System 5.13 using Flight Charts, due to the way Garmin handled them, the old flight Charts files needed to be removed before the new ones could be downloaded. I don't have the SB handy right now on this computer. The issue was fixed with System 6.11 and contributed to my switching from Jeppesen downloads to Garmin because of the free Garmin Flight Charts with their PilotPak. I'll know if I made a mistake on my first download next month. If you time your purchase properly, you can get 14 downloads instead of 12.

For example, if you have an engine failure and know the ground elevation, pitch down until you have the greatest range on the Arc and that will be the best glide. Takes into account winds with no computations.

Dave, several issues here. First is that without Active traffic you may not receive any ADS-B (unless you have a GBT on your field) until you get high enough to receive the broadcasts, usually around 1,500 feet. So I wouldn't count on it until everyone has ADS-B Out, which will be never. Second, TIS-B is just regular radar returns from traffic that ATC sees that doesn't have ADS-B Out, so it will be much slower than the returns of the ADS-B traffic. Doesn't it take about 12 seconds per radar sweep? Also, it is my understanding that while most GBTs have TIS-B capability, not all of them have it. With regards to FIS-B weather as compared to XM weather, XM provides much more resolution over the whole country and many more products with the middle Aviator subscription than does FIS-B. For me XM is worth the money, and if you have the GDL 69A that is the one time you don't have to pay for a second subscription, since the Flight Stream 210 transmits XM weather to the iPad.

I'm now 2 ½ years into my new panel. The options for GPS now are GTN 750, GTN 650 , IFD 540, IFD 440, and the KSN 770. I wanted something everybody is buying. I wanted something that would have an easy interface to other products. I wanted something who ergonomics I really liked. I wanted something whose software would be constantly updated to bring new features to it without the need to buy a need unit. For me it was the GTN 750. It is a hybrid unit in that for many functions you can use the knob or the touch screen. I find I use the knob mostly for frequency entry. There have been several software updates since my panel was upgraded and with each one brought a slew go new great features. Because I went mostly all Garmin, there were absolutely no interface issues and the engine monitor, MVP 50, and the ESI 500 backup attitude indicator interfaced easily with the Garmin units. Also, the KFC 150 smoothly interfaced with the Garmin products. Lots of discounts were available when I bought my hardware, as they are if you purchase around Oshkosh time. Since I did my upgrade, Garmin has come out the GTX 345 Transponder that would have same me a little time and money by requiring one less piece of hardware, but after all this time I couldn't be happier with my setup. Before you start buying a lot of equipment from a variety of vendors think carefully about how many interface issues you might have by trying to go a little cheaper than the Garmin products.

If anyone is interested, I am selling all the above. They are in good working condition, having just come off of my airplane. They are being replaced with the kit used on the long body aircraft after my serial number, 27-106. Due to that kit cost I venture to say few people will be purchasing it. So, if you haven’t trained with me and you’re planning on having a gear up landing (NOT), or you want to look at the parts to remind yourself not to have a gear up landing, these parts may just be for you. Email me if interested: donkaye@earthlink.net

You still need a WAAS GPS (not in the Transponder) to fly LPV approaches. Also, I still don't think there is a Mooney G1000 solution to ADS-B IN. All in all very expensive problems to rectify.

Like I said, I have no experience with the new Avidyne products so can't personally compare. I just like the fact that I have everything available today and no interface issues, as many have working with different vendors. I also like that like Avidyne, Garmin does spend the money to continually upgrade the software in their products to give me things I didn't even know I wanted. Totally agree that the G1000 being certified with the aircraft presents real problems, unknown to me and many others when the first G1000 Mooneys came out. I really feel sorry for those non WAAS G1000 owners who are having major issues with the new ADS-B requirements. For those with those aircraft, deep pockets are going to be required.

"When it was time to upgrade my avionics I went with Avidyne. Not because I was pissed at Garmin, I really think the IFD series is a better product and just about everyone who's bought one loves it. I use the GTN650 at work and I just don't like it. I'd prefer to have a GNS product with knobs rather than a system that's primarily touchscreen based." The GTN IS a hybrid. I do most of my frequency entries via the knob. However, I am using the GTN 750 as my primary GPS. The 650 does serve its purpose for me by giving me 6 data fields on the default page, fields that I gave up by having the GMA 35 and Transponder interface to the the GTN 750. By cross filling, easy frequency call up on the 650 is possible. There are so many other useful advantages to having the 650 that I can't name them all here.

Is that like cutting off your nose to spite your face? I went with Garmin precisely BECAUSE you can count on their interface working with all their products--eventually on some. I have had no students who have purchased the Avidyne GPSs so I haven't had the chance to learn it. That should say something about the market. I can't think of anything I would want my GTN 750 or 650 to do that it can't do.

Thank you for finding the link!

Luckily, my shop who's been in business over 40 years doesn't go along with that interpretation, although, if they thought a field approval was necessary, they could have gotten one. The L-3 ESI 2000 had previously occupied the same location.

Sorry, but you won't find a reference. A certified backup is a certified backup, and the ESI 500 is a certified backup. I don't have the AML, and unlike Garmin with their STCs, L-3 hasn't published it. You should contact Jim Keeth at L-3. He has been super helpful to us and very responsive. His email address is: Jim.Keeth@L-3com.com and phone number is: (616)285-4436 Office. My installer installed it in 2 ½ days due to the extra complexity I added to the job with a transition from ESI 2000 and the extra switch to switch between the GTN 750 and 650. I was really fortunate to have a student who owns a machine shop and who fabricated the interface module shown below. The outer dimension was the ESI 2000 and the inset inner dimension the ESI 500. So the width of the ESI 500 is slightly smaller than the ESI 2000. BTW the large knob on the ESI 500 has the best tactile feel of any avionics knob I've ever had. Setting the barometric pressure and moving between menu items with it requires almost no pressure.

Hi Dave, Mine was approved with a logbook entry. The ESI 500 doesn't need Garmin's approval, although it will probably be approved by them soon. It is approved as a backup by L-3, and has an approved AML STC that includes our Mooneys. https://www.l-3avionics.com/news/press-releases/031016PR The database updates are relatively cheap by database standards. The Terrain database is updated at most once per year for $105/yr, and the NAV database monthly for $265/yr. I bought the package.

Yes.

All waypoints in the flight plan should be both on the flight plan page of the G500, and on the Map Page with the exception of VTF on an approach where only the final approach fix is still displayed on the G500, whereas all waypoints are displayed in version 6.11 on the GTN 750. I've questioned Trek about this, but haven't gotten an answer, yet.

Well that would be depressing to anyone reading Peter's analysis. However, there is no reason for a relay for these signals and there isn't one, so all those points of failure are out the window. Any switch is a point of failure. Any wire in a complex system such as mine is a point of failure. I simply have a switch that switches both GPSs and I'm happy to have it. Cold solder joint? Not with this installer. The purpose of the backup is to protect against PFD failure of the G500 screen. In the unlikely event of total electrical failure (I have dual alternators and dual batteries) I have the ESI 500, Aera 796, and iPad all independently battery powered.

That's why I can do just about anything to my Bravo. The cost spread for a slight difference in speed is just so much. If you are interested in an upgraded Bravo that is not on the Market but could be shortly, send me a private email. (NO, it is NOT my airplane)

In my opinion Dave is the exception. I personally want to fly my plane, not work on it. In too many instances items were found by my experienced MSC that I don't think the non Mooney mechanic would have found. Also, while some like to get into the nitty gritty of maintenance, time is all we have in life and there are other things I would rather be doing like flying and teaching in airplanes.