vasco

Thanks guys. I will try leaving the prop at 2700 until cruise and 2550 in cruise on my next flight. Yes, i fly 40-60 LOP, but i am only getting 179-183 ktas in cruise. What is your fuel burn at cruise? Thanks again!

i have been reading on another board that the 550 engines are more efficient at lower RPM, like 2300 in cruise. My typcical settings are: 1. Full power until i start my descent 2. Reduce prop from 2700 to 2550 after 1500' AGL 3. 2500 for cruise. i typically get 179-183 ktas buring 11.5 to 12.5 gph at 11-13000' in cruise. Would i be better running at 2300 versus 2500? i thought i would ask before playing with the settings. Thanks in advance for feedback.

A couple of weeks ago, the manifold pressure guage (2007 Ovation 3) on all screens began to wildly fluctuate. Fuel flow and RPM did not change and i could not discern any difference in the way the engine sounded. I called Matt at Midwest Mooney and explained the symptons. He suggested the problem was either a bad transducer or the transducer was vibrating too much. On my last trip home, i dropped in on Midwest Mooney. He tighted and re-secured the transducer and the manifold pressure guage has been steady as a rock. He said it had to do with the 'crystal in the transducer...'. Anyway, a simple 15 minute fix. To make things even better, they did not charge me and gas prices at KFOA was $4.52/gallon. Just made my day!

This is a very interesting thread. i am reminded that at the party to celebrate me pasing the PP check ride, my instructor burst my baloon and said, "...now when you get your IFR ticket, you will become a real pilot....". Well i proceeded to get my IFR over the next 10 months and i am happy with that decision. While i love flying, when i fly, i am going somewhere. i use my O3 almost exclusively for business. The O3 provides outstanding utility and would she not get much excercise from me if i could only "go somewhere" on VFR days. i think it just depends on your mission. i know a lot of very happy VFR pilots. Different strokes....

Bob H. is correct. I too drive a 2007 O3 and you can use the FMS knob on the MFD to customize your normal and emergency procedures. To access and edit the emergency procedures, use the "EMERGCY" softkey on the MFD. This softkey is only available after you select the "CHKLIST" softkey. Hope this helps. While i was made aware of this last year during transition training in SAT, i have not taken the time to play with this functionality. PIREP would be appreciated.

"With the fuel prices the last 2 years and Obamanomics killing my biz I put the 340 up for sale and am looking at going back to a 201. "' i was referring to the above post. I agree this forum should not be for political discussion.

Welcome to Mooneyspace!! What brings all of us together on this forum is our interest, love, passion, etc. for Mooneys. I think this forum is much to the better if we keep our focus on what brings all of us to this forum. I believe that any reference (positive or negative) to our current or past President is inappropriate. This is my two cents. Thank you.

A better option may be the Avidyne DFC 90. it is designed as a plug and play replacement for the Stec 55x. They are currently STC for only Cirrus, but i have heard others say that they are committed to moving to other airframes. The cost is around $10k.

i drive an 07 O3 and get similar fuel flows as "borealone". i typically get 180-184 ktas at altitude. Borealone, what is your typical ktas?

3rd quarter (2010) GAMA results: Cirrus sold 61 new planes bringing them to 188 for the year. 80% of those airplanes are/were the GAMI/Turbo normalized model. I believe that the data will support that current generation turbo airplanes are very reliable. I am not going to report how many Mooneys were sold during that same period..........

Jose, i drive an 2007 O3. It is an outstanding airplane. Having said that, at least a half dozens times in the last 5 months i could have used the Acclaim to go higher; to avoid enroute weather and take advantage of tail winds. Having talked to several Acclaim and Columbia 400 owners the problem described in this thread are rare. The reliability of the Acclaim and other current turbo systems are very high. Take a look at the Cirrus sales the past two years.

Yup, $90K is much too expensive for WAAS. While the Garmin autopilot is better than the Stec 55x, it is not $90k better.... We would be better off moving to an Acclaim with GFC700 and WAAS.

Just learned that the early 2007 O3's with Stec will need to be upgraded to the Garmin autopilot in order to get WAAS. Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks. i will call Mooney. We have the O3 with Stec 55x.