kortopates

Really sounds like the investigator was an airworthiness inspector and the investigation was concerning the mechanical or maintenance aspects of your emergency - not you as the pilot. Probably had nothing to do with you or when it happened other than you needed to declare. My sense is based on the mechanical nature of what happened someone wanted to to make sure maintenance was being done properly. Could it have been that specific?

Hi personally don't think you can do better than USAIG as a underwriter. They provide excellent coverage and their coverage territory is the best in that it includes Central America and Caribbean. But I just got my renewal and they are now excluding Cuba - I flew there this last January and was covered by them so I was surprised to see that. Also USAIG gives smooth limits at 1mil, and perhaps 2 mil. I personally don't consider 100K per person adequate and I can see USAIG has the best deal for you at $1515 for 1 mil smooth - that would be my choice.

The FAA database shows a VFR Private pilot since 2014 in a partnership on the C182P. Going through the report I wondered why the pilot's flight went as far south west as it did, but then it also looks like he was reversing his flight out from noon earlier that also had weather in the area. His initial climb to 2800' suggested he didn't realize the weather ahead and made me wonder if he was able to check weather or see a nexrad image at the time of departure. Very sad to see these VFR into IMC accidents so common; especially when they take out so many innocent young family members. We had another very similar one a few days later Jan 2, that was a daytime VFR into IMC accident. A VFR pilot, since 2010, in a C210 hit the Mogollon Rim just North of Payson on their way to Telluride. This one took out a family of 4, also with 2 young children. Weather was good at the departure and destination but not enroute. Still waiting on the preliminary with very little info thus far but there was an ADS-B flight track on Flightaware but that's gone now. There was no flight plan or flight-following eitrher: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2017/01/cessna-210-centurion-fatal-accident.html Last year about this time we had a very egregious VFR into IMC that took out a family of 5 when a VFR private pilot with less than 300 hrs (IIRC) actually accepted a pop up IFR flight plan to continue his flight. The pilot had recently started instrument training with 2 flights logged for a total of 0.8 hrs in actual: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2015/12/piper-pa-32rt-300t-turbo-lance-ii.html My personal feeling is that VFR into IMC are so deadly because there really is no way out once trapped. One minute you think you can get around one way or another, the next minute you are totally trapped with barely a minute or two left to live.

You don't need the WAAS upgrade to use georeferenced approach plates. You can get Jeppsen approach plates with a fee to unlock the capability. Your Garmin dealer can set you up. In all likelihood, the reported Bluetooth glitch on the GRX-345 was merely the IOS 10 glitch that plagued us all for awhile. But Garmin released updates for this and I can't recall if they did one for the 345 too. But it's been resolved. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I highly recommend this repair station for our Scott regulator and O2 system needs: http://www.c-l-aero.com/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes [emoji846] We (US) are all members of the ICAO. Each ICAO country allows foreign pilots to exercise the privileges granted by their country's CAA when operating aircraft registered by their country. A few country's go a step further. For example Germany will allow a German licensed pilot to fly an N registered aircraft in Germany - but this is not the norm. Although the ICAO was an attempt to harmonize rules internationally we all know each country has differences which can further restrict us. For example generic ICAO rules forbid night time VFR. So no, a US pilot can not fly VFR at night in such a foreign country like Mexico since their rules prohibit it. Another very interesting distinction that many would think is backwards for US pilots is that here in the US our pilot privileges are granted by a certificate whereas pretty much the rest of the world pilots are granted licenses. There is an important distinction between them. Although recently I read here in comments that someone thought they are exercising their god given rights in the US but the truth is far from it. Legally a certificate can be revoked by the administrative action (I.e. The FAA) whereas licensing requires judiciary action to revoke. So for such a free country, our pilot privileges are perhaps the easiest to be revoked. Sorry for getting off topic but I've always found it interesting how the rules vary between country's. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Garmin pricing is very complicated, especially if you have more than one device make sure you realize the differences between their Bundles, One Packs & Pilot Packs. They are costly differences. The Bundles pricing refer to different databases on the same one device and the option you would be looking at with a single Garmin device. This only applies to the newer GTN, G500/600/1000 stuff. (A GNS user only really needs one database: Navdata. Scorched earth DTED really doesn't change!) But once you have more than one Garmin device that consumes data, your options become the One Packs or Pilot Paks form Garmin (I am leaving out Jepp Pilot Paks from Jep to avoid confusion for now). But whats really important to us is the difference between One Paks and Pilot Paks. I had thought that One Paks might be synomous with one time paks - but no its a full year of updates as well. The only difference is that cheaper OnePaks uses Garmin Navdata and the PilotPaks use Jeppesen Navdata instead - that is the primary key difference. (But there are some portable database options differences I am going to ignore; but if that applies to you, you will want to read up on that.) There really isn't much difference between Garmin Navdata and Jepp Navdata until you get into private airports were Jepp is the most complete and Garmin is not. But they should be identical for public airports. So as an example, assuming as a minimum you want to include Navdata and Flitecharts for at least the US: Garmin OnePak for North America Standard + FliteCharts is $924 or $799 for just the US Standard + Flitecharts. And provides databases for all your "qualifying" Garmin panel avionics (i.e. G500/600/1000... GTN's & GNS's) I was paying $745 a year for just dual GNS430's for America's Jepp Nav data only - so that is really a good deal and I can only utilize North America anyway. Plus the One Pak Standards quoted above include the NOAA Flitecharts. or if someone really wants to pay the premium for Jepp NavData: Garmin US Standard + FliteCharts PilotPak is $934 - so for $210 more, you get Jepp Navdata but coverage is only for US or Garmin Americas Standard + FliteCharts PilotPak is $1172 - this adds NA and SA Jepp Navdata but is now $448 more than just the NA Standard option with Gamin Navdata for $724 Things get more complicated if you want to add Jepp Charts; especially for a limited region like Western US. But with Jepp Pilot Paks, we are comparing with Garmin PilotPaks that use Jepp Nav data rather than Garmin OnePaks. Many different ways you could consider bundling, but here are a couple I considered for comparison: US with full US Charts $990 with 2 mobile site keys America's with Charts for America's for $1230 with 2 mobile site keys America's without charts with 4 site keys at $908, then add on a limited Jepp Charts like Western US for $242 at a total of $1150 - so really the full America's for $1230 or only US only $990 with complete chart coverage are better deals for most people - if you can get by with 2 mobile site keys (which means 2 ipads or ipad + iPhone etc). You could also consider the Garmin Onepak and add the your Jepp Charts separately - this means you'll be downloading data separately from Garmin and Jepp. To display Jepp charts on panel devices you have to pay your Garmin dealer the unlock fee for each device you want to display Jepp charts on and then they unlock the device(s). But once you unlock, you Pilot Pak subscription will display charts on all your unlocked devices with no extra recurring subscription fees. DB Concierge services - If you are FS510 user, currently you can only take advantage of this via Garmin downloads. But Jepp is working on this now and expects within 6 months they will be compatible too - but the details are unknown. But it could be a big disappointment to me if i had to use the Jepp FD ipad app to download and upload since that will take up one of my two limited site keys since I want to keep site keys for Garmin Pilot primary and backup (or you may want to use Foreflght). But I kinda suspect that Jepp FD is going to be their route for downloading but I don't know.

Of course not, at least not as long as you are flying a N registered Aircraft up there you have the same privileges their you have here. But you couldn't be PIC of C registered aircraft until you became certificated under their rules with a Canadian certificate or got a temporary Canadian Pilot Authorization with your FAA cert's (if they do that like many countries do). Also we're really not that different in our pilot certificates for night. Its just that our standard certificate includes night privileges while canadian certs apparently do not. But anyone can get a FAA US cert without night privileges - it just becomes a limitation that night is not allowed (I don't recall the exact verbiage) on the cert. I have yet to meet anyone though that didn't complete the night training requirements here in the US to get their cert without night limitations.

I the primary issue would be how little clearance you have at the bottom of spinner to cowl. And if the clearance is further being reduced by any cowl lift in flight. If you do have any cowl lift you can talk to LASAR about a stiffening kit they sell for the J model. If it's only engine sag on the mounts you can look at re-shimming it if the mounts are in good shape. But in sum, you have different options to address different causes of the lost clearance. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I'd think the pretty deep discount you get from buying a pair of subscriptions make that arrangement unattractive economically. At least that was true with my pair of America's DB for dual 430W's. Secondly, I assume you will loose your crossfill capability if the DB are not the same further making it unattractive. But it would be best to look up the specific "radio's" and DB you are interested in doing this with since pricing varies depending on which one and if you want more than nav data. I am now switching to GTN's 750/650 where pricing models are very different with Garmin packs.

I could be wrong, but its my recollection that Craig here, Mr Mooneyspace, was the instigator of this TCDS change. His early adoption of the 3 panel ASPEN system made him the first Mooney wanting to ditch his vacuum pump.

If you are seriously looking at overhauling the Century HSI (if you have the HSI vice the basic DG) and the Attitude indicator, the cost of overhaul would make a significant dent in the upgrade cost. As for reliability, if you are planning to keep the plane for the long term, you surely can expect to overhaul them again. That's what makes the EFIS solution so attractable. You just need to decide if you are going to keep the plane long enough to make it worthwhile for you versus upgrading to better equipped plane in the future. Both the Aspen and G500/600 provide GPSS, but with either you'll need the vendors AP analog adapter in order to dump your Century AI, i.e. Aspens EA100 or Garmin GAD43 or GAD43E. Assuming all are compatible with your Century AP, the GAD 43E will increase your current AP capabilities way beyond GPSS adding altitude preselect and vertical speed control much like the G1000's GFC700 AP. One additional $ downside to the EFIS solution that most people don't consider at first is that you will require a backup AI to go with it.

Looks like you may be expecting too much of the turbo at 30" and only 2200 rpm at a DA over 16K. When it happens again, try a couple hundred higher rpm and a couple inches less MAP for the same power but asking a lot less of the turbo. I should add that's probably getting too lean for such a big spread. I'd also discourage leaning in the climb. Keep the TIT and EGTs very cool at high climb power. But seriously, you need a full engine monitor with that engine asap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Scud running at night is another thing entirely; especially with reduced visibility and dew point spreads of 2 down to zero. It's very easy to get overly complacent about a flight that is both very short and very familiar and then allow yourself to get IMC unintentionally. Not saying that's what happened here, but it happens all too frequently. I love night flying too and learned in the bright SOCAL area. Very Sad loss indeed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am pretty sure the 1/32" stems from the 43.13.b data that allows up to 10% of wall thickness. Mooney could not exceed that. We see plenty of nose wheel trusses fail - presumably after being dented and ignored for sometime. But I don't have any first hand info on that but would not be ignoring it either. Why risk a $40k repair for less than a $1K? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The LASAR rebuild is better than new and really the better option. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just a thought Jon, but Neal Aviation at SEE had KC-192's available and had offered to loan me one when I was having AP issues a year ago. Maybe they have some KC-191's too? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know a few long time pilots that actually pride themselves in being able to fly cross country with out ever talking to anybody. Not an attitude or habit I share since I'll file for just about any domestic x-country flight. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Of course that's the smart thing to do. And from other post you seem like the type that takes safety of equipment and your personal proficiency very seriously. But my point is it doesn't relieve us of needing to practice partial panel with our specific equipment. But it should make it pretty easy with an extra AI, especially when you know how to use your GPS track info. But we continue to see fatal accidents from vacuum pump loss. IMO, it stems from the same attitude of "I don't do hard IFR". They're just planning to descend or climb through a layer so they really don't believe they need a backup AI - after all they are starting with bare bones 6 pack and radio's. They often have other panel priorities. And they don't think they need to maintain their partial panel skills to do casual IFR either. But they are the most likely to become a statistic when they loose their vacuum pump and need to descend through a layer - as we saw again just this past May. On the other hand, those that train for true IFR even though they may never be planning to get into it are the ones that will do fine. And since they are working hard to maintain proficiency they know how hard it really is without a standby AI and are the most likely to install them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not worth it in my book - not until the vacuum canister is beyond repair and Britain doesn't come through with the replacement they've been talking about. Otherwise we'd be looking at $6K for new brakes plus installation cost for few days of labor. At least you can still pull your electric standby vacuum pump from the avionics bay and get some useful load back like I am doing; that's more significant than the weight of the engine vacuum point too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's a 231 STC mod to firewall forward give it the 252 engine (TSIO-360-MB vice the -GB) with a real turbo installation. Something everything 231 should have gotten from the start. The marketing label has nothing to do with speed. I don't recall if it actually got the FL280 service ceiling but that's really not that practical for most of us. But it kept the original 14V system.

Nice Paul. I am doing pretty much the same with G500 & GTN's, GTX and also doing the EDM-900 w/ CIES senders. You could also do the WX-500 if you find the spheric's sensor valuable while ditching the WX-10. It's going to be a nice Mooney XMAS for us both! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is a Mooney Radio master switch retro-fit kit. It's not a Klixon CB switch but a toggle, like the gear switch, usually installed at the top of the right hand side. Doing this is more than a switch though. A relay is used so that it fails with the avionics always on rather than introducing a single point of failure. But these days modern avionics don't need an avionics switch. Current production just has a master switch. So probably not worth the expense to do it right. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice video Mike. XM NEXRAD weather does cover Cuba, but of course no METARs or TAFs, but coverage does not extend much west of Cuba (say going to Cozumel). In the cities we visited, we were able to get internet at all nice hotels (whether we were staying there or not) and public squares using internet cards which you buy for each hour. The bigger hassle for us was getting the cards. Internet WiFi was pretty available in the towns we visited. But some areas we went too, such as the Bay of pigs, either didn't have it or I didn't find it. I also had no phone access. I would have had to purchase a SIM card which I am not sure would even be possible for a tourist but it didn't seem worthwhile for just a week. Of the 3 airports I used, only two had weather services, but I asked and was granted access to see the current nexrad. But there was real weather too so they were understanding and accommodating. Yeah, the horse carriages were a hoot as were the 50's cars. Mike mentioned earlier that the food wasn't anything to get excited about. That's very true because they don't have access to spices and herbs. pretty much just what they grow locally so it makes for very bland meals. Food is rationed to the locals as well. I forget exactly, but locals don't get enough eggs per week to even eat one every day. If they earn extra money, such as through tourist, then they can buy more. But Cuba excels in providing live entertainment in just about every restaurant. A live band is the norm in restaurants every night and the walls are covered with local art. Of course all these businesses are operated by the government except for very few private ones run out of their kitchens - but their food is just as bland presumably from the same scarcity of spices. Luckily the Cuban liquor and entertainment tended to make up for the bland food. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk