donkaye

It's one thing to have bought a new G1000 Mooney many years ago before WAAS, when that was the latest in technology. It's just bad luck when it comes to selling it now when even newer technology exists with few or no options for a new buyer to upgrade. OTOH knowingly buying a non upgradable airplane would not be something I would be inclined to do. Even substantial discounts would not cut it for me. There are too many new safety features available like Visual Approaches, Smart Glide, and Envelope Protection on new autopilots to name a few, that should make new buyers take a long look before they buy a pre-WAAS non upgradable airplane.

My advice; Sell the 796 and get the 760. It's such a good unit! The 796 was good, but the 760 is lighter and better in my opinion. I've had mine for 3 years and use it on every flight. I just got back from a cross country from Florida to California with a new student who purchased an Ovation. The Ovation had a GNS 530. I never opened a paper chart, although I had them all with me. With airways included, it was easy to load them on the 760, then add them to the 530 without having to look at a chart. Also, the Visual Approaches proved very useful. It comes with a new cradle. Surprisingly, Garmin cheaped out and didn't include a case. You will need to buy one from Garmin. The cover is light and much better than supplied with previous models. It will require a GDL5X for weather and traffic.

I helped a new owner fly his newly purchased Ovation from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Reid Hillview, California this weekend. We did the trip in 1½ days over 15.4 hours. Route of flight: KFXE-KMAI (stop), KMAI-KAEX (stop), KAEX-KMAF (Overnight), KMAF-KCHD (Stop), KCHD-KRHV. Due to winds we flew low (4,000 feet) the first day. There was a strong crosswind of 40 knots the whole day, but very little headwind component. Near the end of the 1st day I got a block altitude of 4,000-6,000 feet. This provided a fairly smooth ride the whole day. The 2nd day we left fairly early in the morning knowing we'd pick up 2 hours during the day. We chose 10,000 feet for winds and power and flew all the way across New Mexico and Arizona at that altitude. Because it was morning we had a mostly smooth ride all the way. We were going to have an early lunch at Chandler, but the Hangar Cafe was packed and Convective activity was developing, so in the interest of safety we got fuel, had a difficult hot start, and were off on the final leg. By now turbulence was developing, so we went up to 12,000 feet over the desert and stayed there until arriving over the Central Valley of California where we dropped down to 8,500 feet VFR, where we were able to get 75% power and a nice tailwind that gave us speeds of up to 202 knots, and this was going North. Having flown Ovations across the Country too many time to count, the "sweet spot" is 9,000 feet. While you can get up in the teens, the climb rate gets pretty poopy above about 11,000 feet. I choose an altitude that provides the best speed while taking into account turbulence, giving preference to altitude to account for turbulence. Time of day takes precedence over both, meaning fly early in the morning. If that's not possible, I wait until it is. That meant changing this week's flight start one day to let a cold front pass. All in all we had a great trip across the Country, and one of the fastest trips West I ever made in an Ovation. For awhile you can check out the trip and legs on FlightAware under N9171Z.

I guess it's what you're used to. When using a GTN, you can load another approach to any airport in the Country when you're on a missed approach to an airport. It's simple to ping pong off of approaches, as for example, doing multiple approaches to KSNS, KWVI, KOAR, KMRY, all airports within a few miles of each other. The most time consuming part of that is picking up the weather at each airport. I did that a couple of weeks ago. The weather was near minimums at all the airports, so it was good practice. In fact I had wanted to land at Marina, KOAR, for cheap fuel , but that airport was below minimums, so couldn't get in there. My initial response was a way to have your cake and eat it too, but then, to use a trite expression, "you can lead horse to water but you can't make it drink". I can only communicate what 10 years of experience has taught me.

None. Just a former electrical engineer and flight instructor who recognizes and uses and teaches their products after extensive avionics research.

Why not make your life really easy. Sell the Avidyne units. Sell the KFC 150. Use the proceeds to upgrade to the G3X Touch or G500 TXi, GTN 750, and GFC 500. They all interface beautifully and give you all the benefits of the GFC 500 including VNAV and Smart Glide. Add a few more dollars and get the GMA 35c Audio panel that interfaces seamlessly with the GTN 750 and have Telligence. You may say, "But I like the Avidyne better than the GTN". While I admit to not having a whole lot of experience with the Avidyne, a few things I find troublesome with it are: At least for me, the user interface is clunky, too much information on the screen, too small Map Page when all that information is presented, flight plan page harder to use than for the GTN, inability to shut off the audio alerts when near terrain, and more that I can't think of off hand. You just can't go wrong with Garmin in my opinion. I've had that setup and more Garmin stuff for over going on 10 years in my M20M and wouldn't change a thing, even after that amount of time.

I think Craig McGregor set it up many years ago, He had owned an M20J and lived on the Big Island of Hawaii until he moved to New Mexico and bought a Malibu. We're lucky he continues to maintain it. I think MooneySpace is valuable enough that I donate more than the minimum and, if you find the forum useful as I do, I recommend doing the same.

Paul, I totally agree with you, since it appears be a paperwork issue, but as of now it is not correct on the GFC 500 to have Transition to Approach Enabled.

Marc's persistence paid off, but it's not what I wanted to hear. Here is what Garmin said today about "Transition to Approach" for the GFC 500. From: Aviation Training Webinar <AviationTraining.Webinar@garmin.com<mailto:AviationTraining.Webinar@garmin.com>> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 8:15 AM To: Marc Breen Subject: RE: Transition to Approach with GFC500 The GTN by itself and when coupled to a GFC 600 is capable of using VNAV all they way to the final approach fix. I may have misspoken about transition to approach when paired with a GFC 500. (my highlight) As it stands right now the GTN install manual has the installer turn off transition to approach when paired with a GFC 500. I have been talking to both the GTN and GFC teams to see if this can get updated but so far this feature has to be turned off. If and when they update this, then it will simply be a setting on the GTN that will allow this feature. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. If you have any other questions please let me know and If you want, time permitting I can still give you a call. Best Regards, Matthew Clark Senior Aviation Pilot Instructor 1200 E. 151st Street | Olathe, KS 66062 Email: Aviation.Training@garmin.com<mailto:Aviation.Training@garmin.com>

Several GTN System Updates ago Garmin resolved the issue and VNAV works through GP intercept where [V] changes to [GP].

What's wrong with losing a half hour versus the bathroom issues discussed above?

Here's an idea; limit your legs to 2½ hours. Never had a bathroom issue with that. New airports, new experiences. Quick stops, get out and stretch your legs. You're refreshed for the next leg.

I have another point of view, but I must be the only person who sent his O2D2 back. It was a total and utter failure for me. In addition to it being annoying to hear everyone's breathing, I couldn't get it to provide an O2 level over 93% even on the highest flow rate, plus I found it to be just one more item to clutter up the cockpit with hoses. My plane has an altitude compensating O2 regulator that the people at Mountain High said probably caused the issue.

In my opinion, if you can afford to buy an Ovation you can afford to buy all the databases to keep everything current. I prefer Jepp Plates so buy the 4 seat for the iPad and for another $60 get Jepp Plates for the Aera 760 that I have on my yoke and use as primary for approaches. As an active flight instructor I have both Forelight and Garmin Pilot, so that takes up 2 seats. I also have a 3rd seat of Jepp FD that I really like the best because it's so easy to bring up a plate for any airport is a couple of seconds, but Boeing, who owns Jeppesen, saw fit to stupidly in my opinion discontinue it at the end of this year. For all my Garmin avionics I buy the OnePak with the Government Approach Charts that I find useful and that automatically pop up as I run an approach.

Friends and Family. Venmo? Zelle?

You may be right, but if someone has (for example) 12,000 posts vs someone who has 1, I think it likely that the name is real. I wouldn't be sending money to anyone who has 1 or 2 posts. As for me, I'll use my real name. Most posts I make have something to say that may benefit some people. I'm also in the business of teaching aviation and enjoy passing on some of the knowledge I've gained over the past 56 years of flying. Not providing my name could be a hindrance to that endeavor. I guess it's a risk benefit decision.

I guess I'm a control freak. I know my ethics, but not someone else's. For example, when I sell a landing video, I don't feel right until I ship it out, usually the same day as the money arrives. I've sold higher priced items such as my GTX 330ES and my complete KFC 150, and got them shipped immediately. If I'm the buyer, I will buy on eBay up front for small priced items if the reputation of the Seller is 99%. Anything over $100 I'm not buying online except for a big company like Costco, and only then with a credit card. Luckily, Air Power is a big Company. Those were a couple of the biggest checks I've written without having the merchandise in hand. The most uncomfortable I've been was writing the check for my Garmin product to the avionic's shop because I'd been involved with a shop that wasn't ethical many years ago. I gave them my Stormscope to send out for repair to a company in Reno. The company got it fixed and wouldn't release it to me when the shop went bankrupt owing them money. My Stormscope had nothing to do with that, but I got extorted to get it back. A lawsuit just wasn't worth it. My avionics company with my Garmin product had been in business for nearly 50 years and offered to let me keep the product when it came in until it was installed. I let them keep it, and that trust was respected.

Personally, I don't send anything I'm selling on any site until payment has been received and cleared. Having said that, it is apparent that, after this amount of time, this person has no intention of paying, has no integrity, should be "outed", and banned from MooneySpace.

I wish real names were required here, as they are on Beechtalk. It might make this type of thing less likely to occur.

As everyone knows, while I fly and teach with any avionics, I have the complete Garmin package in my airplane. I have the G500 TXi with G5 for backup and a GTN 750Xi and GTN 650Xi. If the TXi doesn't fail, the autopilot can be switched to run off of either GPS. If the TXi fails, the autopilot will be fully functional, but can only be run off of the GTN 750 Xi. Garmin will not allow the G5 to be fed from 2 sources. In that case in that emergency situation the autopilot could be put in Heading mode and flown using the GTN 650 Xi, Aera 760, or iPad. I haven't tested that, but will.

Russell, It's been my pleasure!

There are a few days in a lifetime that are especially memorable. In my case it would be my birthday, Shirley's Birthday, the day we met 41½ years ago, and the day I closed on N9148W, 31 years and 12½ thousand flight hours ago today. Little did I know at the time the life changing event that would be. Before I bought it, I was in awe of anyone who owned an airplane, and anyone who owned a Mooney TLS had to be in a different league than me. I remember sitting in the airplane that day and thinking, "what have I done?" Will I even be able to learn how to fly this thing? It was intimidating. I had, Suzanne, Top Gun's pilot and a flight instructor, fly with me down to San Antonio where I took the Flight Safety Mooney M20M Course. After the course, I was still uncomfortable and had, Paul Arrambide, my flight instructor fly back with me to San Diego, where I showed my family what I had done. My Mother had not a few reservations. A PPP the following March in Fresno, where I flew with Jerry Johnson and met my soon to be mentor instructor, Robert Goldin, who fortuitously lived close by me, changed the direction of my life. Who ever heard of someone changing from a Real Estate Developer into a Flight Instructor? I did it. Real Estate became a sideline and Aviation took front and center. It still does. It's a passion and never gets boring. Along the way I've met hundreds and hundreds of people who became my students and later my friends. I've met many top educators in the aviation field. Most of them were dedicated teachers. What an experience it has been and continues to be. After all this time, buying my airplane was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It's a special day indeed.

Where does this post come from? I said I had my suspicions, but wasn't accusing anyone of anything. While I'm sure Continental has their reasons for having return lines going back to their respect tanks and not just on Mooneys, I think they are more prone to vapor lock than the Lycoming engine which doesn't have the return lines. So, while I would and have taken off in my plane in above 100°F temperatures, I personally am uncomfortable doing so with the Continental Engine, thus staying overnight in Scottsdale on my last transition training. Maybe that wasn't necessary, but it made me feel better anyway.

I've done a number of Acclaim Ultra transition trainings since that accident. I spend a significant amount of time discussing the use of the low boost pump. While the cause of that accident does not blame the use of the boost pump, I still have my suspicions. The last training I did involved picking up the plane in Chandler, flying to Scottsdale, and then coming back to Hayward. I had it planned such that we would leave Scottsdale before the temperature got near 100°F. Issues with the plane in Scottsdale precluded leaving before the temperature had risen to 109° and rising. Although I've taken off from Chandler at temperatures around 102°F in my airplane with its TIO540AF1B Lycoming engine, I didn't want to take a chance with the Continental engine of the Acclaim Ultra. We stayed overnight in Scottsdale and left at crack of dawn with the tower opened and temperatures were much lower. Our flight back was uneventful.

Since you do a physical install of the FS210 you get a stable AHRS with it. The FS 510 doesn't have an AHRS. OTOH the 510 doesn't have any installation costs, while the 210 does. The the 510 can do database concierge. The 210 can't. I got the 210 when it came out and followed it with the 510 when it came out.