Wistarmo

Heat seems OK.

Did not improve performance on my M20J.

Have always had good service with TAC Air.

Here are pictures of "Reinforced Baffle Seal" that I have used. It has a fabric/fiber middle layer for reinforcement, as demonstrated by the white line down the middle of the two orange layers. The last picture is of an orange piece on the left that I put on my M20J five years ago. The black piece on the right is original to the aircraft. My mechanic gave me a short piece for free.

Please try a piece of engine baffling. You can probably get a scrap piece for free from your local mechanic. It is exactly the right consistency to work with and is designed for a high temperature environment. I used this to replace my strap a few years ago and it is still perfectly intact.

Not sure from reading the posts--you mentioned this was your first attempt at doing this. The GTN unit will not update until the effective date of the new databases. You can download the next cycle which begins July 21 onto your NavData card now, but the GTN will not update until July 21, at which point it will ask you if you want to update when you power up. This is true of the newer models/software versions.

I have a 7th edition on .pdf from 2000, if you want it.

I can't help you, but this voltage regulator thing is so awful that I carry a second one in my plane so I don't get grounded. It cost me a grand, and I hope I never need it, but it can be really hard to find one on short notice. If you buy find any, consider buying two.

Voltage regulator, like Mooneymite suggested. You can be grounded a long time if one of those goes.

Here are pictures of the original Master Switch on the left and the Mooney factory replacement on the right. There is a 22-year age difference, so the colors don't quite match and the lettering is different.

I have not received a final invoice for the switch but it came fom Mooney and was around $130.00. Even though it came from Mooney it does not quite match the original. Will try and post a couple of pictures later.

I have a '93 "J" model that I try to look after really well, keep hangared, etc. I was grounded for several days this week and missed an important trip when my Master Switch simply crumbled. It's all fixed now with a new switch. What do I do with the other nine rocker switches that also date back to 1993?

Here is a link to a video of the Pre-flight and Bomb Run checklists being performed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCLbNshm7Zg

I purchased a non-functional stabilizer and sighthead in Tampa to begin with, and planned to do nothing more than display them. However, I couldn't stop playing with them and then decided to see if I could make them work. I got my stabilizer up and running, but the sighthead had too many parts scavenged. I took the Mooney up to Delaware and purchased another sighthead in better condition. It still needed work, but my experience with the original sighthead helped me get it fixed. There really aren't too many spare parts, and the tolerances are so unbelievably fine that swapping parts is unreliable. I did have to change some parts out on the bomb release mechanism on my functional sighthead using parts from the non-functional one. The bottom line is that to have a working system, it can't be too far gone. Pretty much your only source of spare parts would be another sighthead. To get it all up and running took me about eight months. The U.S. had an earlier bombsight, the Sperry S-1, and they developed an A-5 autopilot for that. The Norden system started out with the Stabilized Bombing Approach Equipment (SBAE) but eventually they went to Honeywell and developed the C-1 autopilot specifically for the Norden. This formed a complete autopilot system allowing the bombardier to pilot the plane using the sight while on the bomb run. I do not have a C-1 autopilot/system. The largest spy ring ever busted, the Duquesne ring, handed over the Norden plans to the Germans early in the war. They were more interested in dive-bombing and did not have four-engine heavy bombers, so they really weren't interested in making a fully stabilized system. They came up with the Carl Zeiss Lotfernrohr 7 bombsight, with later models having gyro stabilization. I think there are many Norden sightheads out there, and quite a bit less stabilizers. Although the supply of stabilizers is smaller, the demand is much less, so the cost is less for the stabilizer in most cases. Prices are all over the place, some on eBay being real bargains and some way over-priced. It seems that people are really obsessed with cosmetics and sights advertised as "still in the crate!" I have seen sights advertised as "new" or "never used" that did not work, and beat up looking things that ran. If all you want is a cosmetic display, you can get sightheads for $2-3,000 and stabilizers for around $1500 or a little more. These things are usually sold "as is" with no guarantee that they will work. I would not buy a system expecting it to work; I would only buy it after physically inspecting it/powering it up. The Mooney helps you go look at them.

Yes, that is me presenting in the video. This is the first complete system I have restored, both stabilizer and sighthead. I have had tremendous assistance from my local avionics shop (Central Florida Avionics) as well as from kind and interested people around the country, some of whom have far more experience than I do. I know that the Smithsonian and National WWII museums have their own Norden bombsights; I don't know if they would have any interest in a working system. I have all the components bolted down very securely, so disassembling the thing for transport for demonstrations would be a major problem to do it on a regular basis. I think I may be demonstrating this at MacDill AFB's 75th anniversary event on April 16th in Tampa. I am hoping to get another system up and running later this year. As far as the marketplace for these things go, there appears to be very little demand for working systems. 99.9% of people who purchase a Norden sighthead just want to put it on display. I am not sure there is any more demand for a complete working system, but I will test the waters if I can get another one up and running. I plan to hang on to my current system for some time. Also, there may be a lifetime marriage limit on how many of these things you can restore. Having to hang your head and answer, "What time did you come to bed last night?" can be draining. There is a preflight checklist to be performed which is rather lengthy; on the bomb run there was another checklist which was much shorter. I could make a video of putting the system through the checklists if there is interest. I would be happy to answer any questions out there from the group.

A video of my restored Norden bombsight and training video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsr46v8vV8o

Just for clarification, actual bombsight operations begin at 5:18 in the video.

I spend my time restoring these things, even until the wee hours of the morning. Actual bombsight operations start at 5:18 in the video

Been flying IFR 25 years and never shot an NDB approach. In both aircraft I have owned I replaced the NDB with a back-up artificial horizon.

My wife and I fly to various islands in the Bahamas 3-4 times per year. The general rule is that you must land at the CBP POE closest to where you cross the coastline on returning to the U.S. However, if you are based at an airport that is a POE, you can apply for an overflight exemption to return directly to your home airport. For us, that means we return either to Fort Pierce, Florida, or Leesburg, Florida (our home base). I have been flying to the Bahamas for twenty years; in the earlier years, after arrival at Fort Pierce you would stay with the plane until they met you. Now you remove the baggage and take it inside; flight related items (rafts, lifejackets, etc.) may remain in the aircraft. In all this time, I have had my plane inspected once and my bags inspected twice. I have only used other POE's (Miami, West Palm Beach) rarely, and am unfamiliar with their current procedures. The phone call prior to return can be excruciating on the out islands. First and foremost, make sure you have an international calling plan and are set up to make those calls. Just to make sure everything is in working order I usually make a test call back to the states as soon as I arrive in the Bahamas so if there is a problem I can correct it before I really need to make that call when the trip is over. There can be a real problem with cell phone service on the out islands, and it is not uncommon on the out islands to have a power outage. When the island loses electricity, they lose cell phone service, too. The good news is that almost all of the FBO's are willing to help you make that call with their lines.

We travel to the Bahamas several times a year. We are pretty good at making sure our devices are either off, or cellular data/roaming is turned off to avoid roaming charges while over there. I use an iPad Mini with Foreflight, etc., and just discovered that I have racked up some roaming charges just prior to landing and just around take-off time. Last month's trip resulted in $30 of charges for cellular data use. Would recommend turning the cellular data off for those flights, or at least turn it off for those vulnerable times on take-off and landing where you are in range of a cell tower.

Well, we go all over, stay in all kind of lodgings, and enjoy it all. We have been to Bimini, Freeport, Treasure Cay, Hope Town, Harbour Island, and Great Exuma. The only place I generally wouldn't go is Nassau, for it is very commercial. Bimini is the closest, and Alice Town on North Bimini is very quaint, you can cover it all on foot easily. Several nice places to stay. Many people avoid Freeport for the same reasons they avoid Nassau, but we quite enjoy the Grand Lucayan or Pelican Bay resorts. If you don't mind staying in a lower scale room, you can get great deals at the Grand Lucayan, and it really is a good resort for the money. They also have high end lodging. Across the street is Port Lucaya, and there are a lot of nice restaurants there. Treasure Cay was spectacularly beautiful, and we stayed at the Treasure Cay resort. You can go to the marina and get a boat and captain and tour other islands such as Green Turtle Cay and Great Guana Cay. Probably our favorite right now is Hope Town. Fly into Marsh Harbour and take the ferry to Elbow Cay. We would highly recommend getting a bungalow at Hope Town Harbour Lodge. Lots of nice restaurants all over the island. Harbour Island has the Pink Sand Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Nothing on Harbour Island is cheap. The center portion of the island is getting run down. It is a gorgeous place to visit, good places to eat and stay, but expensive. We went to a Sandals on Great Exuma, an all-inclusive resort, and had a great time. Again, not cheap, and Great Exuma is a little further out. Was hoping to check out Staniel Cay, but apparently the airport there is currently a mess. So, for example, this year we did Sandals on Great Exuma, spent a fortune, had a great time. Went to Grand Lucayan in Freeport, spent a lot less, still had a great time, and it was a lot closer. We are going to Hope Town for July 4th, and this will be at least our fourth trip there. We try not to repeat ourselves too often. Based on the above, it probably sounds as if we are always going to resorts, but that is really the exception. We stay in hotels, bungalows, or probably most often rent a place using VBRO. The good news is that 100LL is becoming very common, so you can get the blue gas without too much problem. The bad news is that fees are going up all over. There is an Immigrations departure fee of $29 per person, usually a landing fee ($50) , and a facility fee for the FBO's, and AVGAS isn't cheap there. Please feel free to private message me if you have any other questions.

I live in Central Florida and my wife and I frequently take our '93 J Model over to the Bahamas, it is really part of our lifestyle. We went to an art show in Mount Dora and saw an artist, Mike Williams, who does very beautiful classic paintings of Florida, the Keys, Bahamas, and Caribbean. Many of his paintings include planes, and he really has a great style that captures the adventure of this part of the world. I asked him if he could put my plane into one of his paintings, and he sure enough did. He did a terrific job, and I thought I would share it with you. He would be willing to do the same for any other interested pilots/owners. He has a variety of sizes and prices. I couldn't help myself and bought two canvas paintings from him, and I am extremely happy with his work. His website is www.BlueIslandGraphics.com, and he is very, very nice to work with. Take a look at his website, and imagine seeing your plane on a flying adventure in one of his paintings.

Both FBO;s good, prefer TAC Air.

I do not believe Zeftronics has a 28V regulator approved for an M20J. I believe they have many regulators for Mooneys, but not 28V for the J model. Things may have changed since I last researched.