ikeanddee

For the tags, I used Shutterfly. I wasn't sure if they were worth the $10 each I spent, but as it turns out, they are much better quality than I expected. They are light weight with a fairly robust aluminum substrate and excellent printing that is both crisp and appears well bonded to the aluminum. We've put 50+ flight hours on the plane and been through annual now; they've held up without a scratch - as have the plugs - woohoo!If anyone wishes to just 'buy' a copy of the tag with out making their own, or wishes to use this tag as a starting point, follow this shutterfly link: ShutterflyTagTailwinds

Good News, the right angle connectors off the old seatbelt worked perfectly. The mechanic pulled off the plastic housing and put it around the old connectors - voila. It's a match. I've also cooked up a tag for the cotter key to warn folks to disconnect the airbag wire before removing the seats.

On a private thread late yesterday, a kind soul offered to mail me their OEM bag connector. Apparently when the OEM bags time-out, they have to be replaced, leaving this husk behind. Yesterday I contacted AmSafe tech support. The design between the SOARS STC bags and the built in OEM belts are electrically different. The built in bags have a sensor to ensure the belt is buckled; the SOARS bags have no belt buckled sensor, just a G sensor, so the SOARS bags can trigger weather the belt is buckled or not. At any rate, AmSafe had half a dozen reasons why the parts are not interchangeable, but did admit that the squib connectors are the same. The squib end requires some disassembly to recover and the black connector shown above is a right angle vs a straight through (for the squib end). That all said, my mechanic and I believe it will work on the squib end. The mechanic's plan is to disassemble the plastic housing and put it on my cable / contacts since the contacts were thankfully not damaged. So long as the keying is the same and the clearance permits the right angle (it should), then we expect it will work. At any rate, I should have the parts mid-next week and best case will have a final answer by next weekend. I'll catch folks up on the thread once I have that answer.

Nick - thanks for the lead on the alternate part - the one side does look like it might fit. For the folks on this thread: Doeman clock spring PN 525-101. Other Beechtalk folks recommended checking with Textron; Amsafe is a factory option on late 182 & 206 aircraft and they stock a fair number of bits for these systems.

@carusoam I sent a message to Paul Maxwell, I'll let you know what he says, @tmo, I have not found any alternate part number to cross reference. @Mark89114, the auto guys need to know the make, model and year of the auto; but I have not been able to figure out what autos use this connector.

2 years ago I installed airbags as a little feel good insurance. We went with AmSafe "State of the Art Restraint System" (SOARS), Part Number K7336. Unfortunately, if someone pulls out a seat without first disconnecting the electrical cable between the sensor and the seat, the cable connector breaks at the squib. AmSafe sells a replacement cable, part number is 513047-405-18 but it is a shocking $531.89 with 6 week lead time. The connector itself is automotive, manufactured by Delphi TTI (now Aptiv) in a connector family type ABX-3 with part number 47304601. The connector retails for $3.97 but it is backordered with a minimum quantity of 400 which would be $1,588. I've called the big aircraft salvage yards (Preferred, Dodson, KRN, Beegles) and none have airbag parts. If I could find the automotive application, we could potentially find an alternate. A 90 degree or 180 degree (straight) connector would work. Does anyone have a lead on this part or a working alternate to share? I've attached a few mediocre close up shots of the connector; it's fairly small.

Denver for me (of course, I live here

Wow, what a topic – love the posts! After reading the replies on the updrafts, I felt like I need to ‘splain a little more. On a normal day when I’m not full gross and there isn’t a nasty downdraft we can comfortably climb to FL140 with plenty of climb rate remaining to continue beyond. How far beyond? I don’t know since I don’t carry oxygen. But, hot, heavy and unfavorable winds left us looking for alternatives that day. I should mention even with the heat, the flight home was fully uneventful. Normal climb up and over the same pass. Of course, that's not really very interesting to read. Glider training? No, but I did have a great hands on mountain flying course. My 201 is a rocket ship compared to the carbureted C-172 used for the course. The rental with full tanks and 3 souls left that trainer struggling well before the hills. But the course taught how to read the hills and where to expect downdrafts and how to find and use updrafts to your advantage. At any rate, I love my 201; if I had it to do over again I’d buy 'er again. Great speed, all-around affordable initial price, modest recurring maintenance. It's a good value (the best I could afford

This thread compelled me to join MooneySpace and share my thoughts. Not to mention, since Allen called out my N# (N202PC), it seemed appropriate to jump into the fray and share my opinion. For me, I went Normally Aspirated purely for economics. My research confirmed a general truism of turbos: you’ll need a top end rebuild at about 1000 hours and it will typically cost more. Beyond burning more fuel, you’ll likely have to lug Oxygen along on your trip to really enjoy all the high flying turbo benefits, lowering your useful load and cabin space. And refilling the bottle costs money too. I went NA Mooney to get what I think is the best balance of speed and economy – 155 Knots true on 9.5 GPH at FL-120 for nearly 6 hours endurance – that’s pretty tough to beat. Enough stats, let’s talk about the NA version of the “never summer” fly in so you can compare my experience with Allen’s. Normally, I fly a few hundred pounds under gross and have fair performance over the big rocks. But for this trip, I was at gross – the whole family of 3 plus mother-in-law in tow along with all our camping gear and fuel to tabs. I left home base of APA (5800 feet MSL) around 10:30 local and it was already hot – at least 85 degrees. The ground roll was much longer than normal and the climb rate was barely 500 FPM that day. To clear Rollins Pass (the locals call it Corona Pass) you need to be at least FL-125 to clear the rocks. On top of that, the wind coming over the ridge that day was creating a pretty fair downdraft. It was clear that we weren’t going to clear the pass on the merits of the Normally Aspirated engine alone. I turned back from the pass, found a ridge making a nice updraft from the wind, banked to 45 degrees and rode it up like an elevator. We stepped off the updraft at FL-140 and cleared the pass with plenty of air to spare. I explained the procedure to the mother-in-law before the updraft and bank; she thought the ride up was a hoot. Of course, she was also on board with camping out of an airplane At any rate, I love my Mooney and the only time I wished for a turbo was the 1 or 2 times I wanted to file Instrument over the big rocks and the MEA was FL-160. But, I was able to find a lower altitude route further around the hill. It took longer, but we didn’t have to lug any O2 around and were less likely to pick up ice. So, there you have it – happy shopping! Bret Lowell