Daniel

Mine was done, and no problems. What I found really interesting--frightening?--was that the Des Moines FSDO called me personally to make sure I was aware of it. Apparently, the FAA is truly worried.

Rob, Ive had similar issue with an Acclaim. Repair work done by a shop in Canada. I think it is called Acorn. Seems to be very well known and well respected. Price? Well, it is an airplane . . . . Dan

You might be right. I suppose the only to choices are to use that speed for all flaps or to say without limitation published you can use T/O flaps at any speed. But that second interpretation is hard to accept. Ive flown a lot of aircraft models in 30+ years flying, and I can't recall another model that didn't publish an airspeed limit for first notch of flaps.

In the limitations section of the POH, Vfe is listed as 110 KIAS with this remark: "Do not exceed this speed with flaps in full down position." Further in the same section is description of airpseed marking. The white band, from 59-110 KIAS is the "Operating range with flaps fully extended." Twice the POH refers to the 110 KIAS limitation in relation to "full" flaps. It raises the inference that there is no speed limitation on 10 degree flaps. Hence my confusion.

When I took flight training in my Acclaim, I recall the CFI advising that top of the white arc was the book limit for full flap extension. He also advised that without a book speed for T/O flap settings, the best thing was to use that same 110 KIAS as a limitation for T/O flaps. Fair enough, I thought. But now I'm thinking about it again. I reread the limitations section recently, and now I am wondering: if there is no speed limit listed for T/O flaps, does that mean that they can be extended at any speed? What have others learned when they transitioned to the Mooneys?

Dave, Interesting information. Have you seen (could you upload or reference) the SB? Dan

Mike, I fly two G1000 equipped airplanes. The Mooney has SVT and the TBM does not. When flying the Mooney, I notice it, but it changes nothing. When flying the TBM I forget that it isn't even there. All of which means that it is pretty but of questionable value. I would not have bought it on my own, but the Mooney was used and came with SVT installed.

Really, John, that is just too damned funny.

Quote: aviatoreb Hi Daniel, Why did you always fly ROP in the 340? Was it something special with that engine. I ask because I have a rocket and you may know that the rocket conversion uses the exact engine and prop from the C340. I hear you on the speed brakes. My speed brakes are at the factory right now getting "retreaded" the rubber got old.

Joe, I've owned an Acclaim S for about 18 month, and I've been flying turbocharged for thirty years. Here's what I have gleaned: First, in the Cessna 340 with Continentals we always flew ROP. Didn't help; the airplane was always a maintenance hog. (But I loved it anyway.) In the originalMalibus with Continental, we started flying LOP, and we never had a problem with that airplane. That was with only a TIT gauge. No individual cylinder EGT or CHT gauges. In the Acclaim, I have flown ROP and LOP, and I agree with a previous writer who observed that the difference in fuel consumption could not be justified by speed difference. As far as what the engine likes, I notice that in the summer at 12,000 feet the cylinder heads will get up in that 380-90 range at 29" and 2500 RPM (and that is at 100 ROP--I think 50ROP is crazy), but you will take 20-30 degrees right off the CHT when you go lean of peak. Also, the cylinders seem very well balanced in my airplane, which is to say that when I go 50 LOP on the TIT gauge, each cylinder is at least 30+ cooler on the individual EGTs. So I know that I am LOP on every cylinder. That was always one of the big bugaboos years ago, that when LOP one or more cylinders would be at or near peak. Try this in your airplane and see. Bottom line on the LOP question is that the book calls for it, Contiental calls for it, all CHTs and EGTs show engine cooler, and my most recent annual (last week) was a clean engine with good compressions. (Note: one cylinder replaced a year ago under warranty for bad compression.) Engine now has about 525 hours. The prior owner always flew the airplane at 26" and 2500 RPM LOP. The flight instructor at Willmar who did my checkout was a big believer in that too, though others in Willmar prefer 27" and 2400 RPM LOP. I detect no difference except noise. My instructor also preached that for high speed cruise to run 29"/2500 ROP as it was only a couple of knots slower than 30.5" and that 30.5 was hotter. Heat bad. Recently, I have taken to flying at 29" 2500 RPM and LOP. As I said, cool and airplane seems to like it. Finally, a word of caution. Watch the exhaust transitions into the turbos. They have a propensity to crack. Should be carefully inspected at each oil change. My airplane had one crack when relatively new, and again in the last year. I posted the story and pictures on this forum--search my name and you'll find it. I think you can pull off two inches per minute in descent. I do, and (touch wood) no issues yet. That's what we did for years in the 340 too. And the Mojave (though little could hurt those big bad Lycs). Best luck. Fly safe. Don't trust the speedbrakes--they fail just when you going to impress the Citation driver on the parallel approach.

I did not want to mention the service center and give an implied black eye. Let's just say it was a shop with that kind of dedication to detailed exhaust examination. Assuming that they did that careful of an exam 20 hours before failure, what are we to learn? Perhaps only that this is a significant issue which even careful maintenance will not prevent. We Acclaim pilots had better be ready for this and also hope that there is a good fix coming.

I thought I would post a recent experience here as it may help someone. I am flying a 515 hour TT Mooney Acclaim. It is very well cared for and came out of annual 20 hours ago from a service center. While flying at 19,000 (2400 RPM and 27") I began to notice a slight reduction in manifold pressure. I adjusted, but it was soon declining again. I switched from LOP to ROP, but that did not help for long. Only when I tried to run a higher power setting did I realize that I could not hold even 29" MP at 2500 RPM. Soon it was back down to 27" at full throttle. This was not good. I requested a descent to 11,000 ft. where I was able to hold 28". I continued my flight, which the AFM says you may do. It does have some other advice, and I'll come back to it. I continued onto my destination another hour's flight away, and as I began to descend I was getting cold. Heater could not keep up. Long and short of it: There are two turbochargers, one under each bank of cylinders. They tie together on the upper and lower decks (with a single waste gate on the lower deck). On the right side, the two forward cylinder exhausts tie together and come into the forward part of the transition. The rear most cylinder ties into the top. The cross over line to the left side joins the back. At the bottom of the transition piece there is a flange that connects to the turbocharger. My transistion piece had broken off completely just above the flange and onto the part that leads to the forward cylinders. I'd say it cracked in flight and the crack continued until it was a complete disconnect. Continuing the flight was a large mistake, and I was very foolish. That was 1600 degree exhaust gas leaking out of the break, and the fire risk was real. The AFM warns of this, but I guess I did not want to take it seriously on Sunday morning. As the mechanic said, I was lucky to be in the maintenance hangar the next morning talking about it. This is apparently a known issue on the right hand side for Acclaims, and there is a service bulletin. Be careful.

It is also common practice in high performance aircraft to press the Go Around button before take off. This presents a flight director display that is straight ahead and an appropriate pitch up attidute for departure. Fly that attitude with gear coming up, and if you hold that attitude you will accelerate and raise the flaps. Engage the autopilot and then engage the appropriate heading or nav mode, and as I accelerate to climb speed in that attitude, I then engage FLC to climb at that speed.

Quote: KSMooniac Fuel flow * 13.7 = HP when LOP.

Does anybody have a chart showing percent of power for the TSIO-550-G engines in the Acclaims? There is no percent power chart in either the POH or the engine manual that came with the aircraft. Oddly, though, the Emergency Procedures advise to reduce power to "75%" or less in the event of engine-driven fuel pump failure, there is no way to determine what 75% is from the POH. I spoke to Continental requesting a percent power chart. Their answer was to consult their manual IO-18, which I could purchase for $35 and which may (or may not) have the information I requested. It would not be appropriate to discuss my thoughts on that suggestion.