Bunti

My local mechanic removed the actuator and the motor from my plane. We sent it to Lasar in California. I paid them 2018 about 1200 $ for the overhaul of the motor and the install of the conversion kit. I delivered the kit as I bought the kit already 2013 from Don Maxwell for 1200 Dollar. That was about 2400 Dollar total for the kit, the install and the motor overhaul plus the removal and reinstall work of my local A+P. 2700 Dollar may be right if it includes the motor overhaul and the gear upgrade kit. Make sure that you also get the motor overhauled. And I think it is a good idea that you do not let your local A+P install the conversion kit into the actuator. This is best done by somebody who did it before: Lasar, Don Maxwell or other experienced Mooney shops. After doing that, the actuator and motor should be running fine for the next 50 years or so. This shall be only a one time investment.

Do not rely on the engine serial number. Look for the plates and the internal wrenching nuts which are unique to narrow deck cylinders. I know about an engine that has a wide deck serial number, but is needs narrow deck cylinders.

This is the original text from your Lycoming pdf: (a) Leaning to Exhaust Gas Temperature. (Normally aspirated engines with fuel injectors or carburetors) (1) Maximum Power Cruise (approximately 75% power) - Never lean beyond 150°F. on rich side of peak EGT unless aircraft operator’s manual shows otherwise. Monitor cylinder head temperatures. (2) Best Economy Cruise (approximately 75% power and below) - Operate at peak EGT. This says that you should never lean beyond 150F at 75 % power and in addition that you can fly at peak EGT below 75 %. There is no margin. That could mean: 150F rich of peak at 75 % is right and at 74.9 % peak would be ok. That makes no sense to me. My understanding of the engine experts and the red box theory is more like that you can lean to peak or so if you are below 65 %. Even leaning to peak minus 14 c (about 50F) ROP is not a good idea at 75 %. I have the IO360, but the recommendations from Lycoming are the same: If I fly with 75 % rich of peak, I usually lean to about peak minus 150F. Lean of peak, I prefer to fly somewhere between peak minus 20 to 50 F. The EDM930 shows a fuel flow of about 9 GPH and % power between 64 and 70.

Since about 4.5 years, I have a set of normal Desser tires (not the monster) installed on my Mooney M20F. In comparison to the tires I used before the Desser tires give me the impression that they last very long. It looks to me that the material the Dessers are made from is somehow better or harder. The old ones used some tread over the time and even developed a spot once in a while. If needed, I would replace them again with a set of Dessers.

I installed the Alpha shoulder harnesses in my 1967 M20F about 10 years ago and highly recommend them. They work like a car seatbelt. Yes, the cover of the copilot belt sometimes disappears when people hit it with the body. It easily slips back on. A few years ago, I lost it. I called Alpha and the nice folks replaced it for free. Great customer service. As long as your budget will allow for the new Alpha belts, I would buy them instead of used or old ones. The material does not get better over the time and those belts are a real life-saver, if you need them. In case of a crash, they have do to a very hard job and you want them to it as good as possible. Install took a few hours, but it is really worth it. Here is a link to a study about the change of the safety belt material over the time, done from EASA, the European FAA: https://www.easa.europa.eu/downloads/1232/en

I just published a video from the Spruce Creek Toy Parade. It gives a great impression about how fun it is to live in a fly-in community.

FMY is a great airport. Nice FBO with reasonable fuel prices. Very friendly people. Also courtesy cars available. During the last months, I found it very difficult to get reasonable rental car rates at several airports all over the country. If I remember right, FMY has one rental car agency with an office at the FBO. It changed ownership not too long ago. Punta Gorda has scheduled airline traffic and several major car rental companies at the terminal which is next door to the FBO. Sometimes, I found a good rate online. Also at one airport, the FBO had a much better rate than online. During these days, I strongly recommend checking the rental car prices and make a confirmed rental car reservation before you fly. Rental cars are still limited and sometimes very expensive or not available at all.

Since I have the LED landing light, I switch it on as soon as the airplane starts moving. I switch it off when at the parking position prior engine shutdown. Same peocedure day and night.

My understanding of the regs is that you have to do a leak test of the static system when you put in a new altimeter. The 24 months altimeter calibration and test up to max. altitude has not to be done until 24 months since production or 24 months since calibration / test at the bench of the manufacturer / overhauler have been elapsed. But this discussion leads to no real value. In my opinion the whole system including all altimeters should be checked and recalibrated at the same time to make sure they are all good for 24 months. It does not make sense that 1 altimeter is due earlier than the other. The only benefit from the regulation is, if your altimeter is broken and the shop replaces the altimeter with a new or overhauled one outside of the normal static/altimeter 24 months check interval, they only need to do a leak test of the system and the new altimeter needs first time rechecked after 24 months since production or overhaul/certification have elapsed. Some shops can replace an altimeter and leak check the system. But they cannot do the full 24 months test / calibration due to lack of certified and calibrated testing equipment. So, for example, if your static / altimeter test is still good for another year and your altimeter fails, it would be a wise idea to replace it by an altimeter which has a minimum remaining time of one year until it needs to be tested again. If it has only half a year remaining, it makes sense to do the complete system and all altimeter test at the install of the new one or wait half a year and do it then. If the installer has the certified equipment to do a full test of the whole system, including the transponder and the encoder, I would do it at install.

My understanding is for example about the altimeter: You can go to a company (usually an avionics shop) who is able and allowed to do the altimeter test up to a specified maximum operation altitude. Or, you can buy a new or overhauled altimeter. If you buy a new altimeter, the static system still needs to be checked because it was opened during the replacement of the altimeter. But there is no need to test the altimeter. The altimeter test is good for 2 years after the time of manufacture. When I bought my overhauled altimeter, it came with a brand new test certificate.

Here is another approach video: This time I used only one camera. But the camera shows a good view of the instruments and the outside during the approach. Please make sure to watch it in 4k. This gives you the opportunity to read the cockpit instruments. Palatka is a nice little town in Florida, located near the St John's River. No tower, but GPS-approaches. Fuel is not expensive. I like to use the airport also for training because the pattern is usually not that crowded. The video shows again how important good speed management in our Mooneys is. I flew the approach with about 80 knots and reduced to a speed of 62 over the displaced threshold. Touchdown was right behind the numbers. Indicated airspeed at touchdown was about 58 knots with the horn on.

Thanks to everybody for the good feedback!

Oscar, thanks for the great feedback!

I have no information about those 2 planes

I just published a video of a flight from Montauk to Block Island. It was recorded with 2 cameras: One showing the panel and the other under the wing, looking outside. Please checkout the rising terrain in front of the threshold. This makes the flights to Block Island challenging. There may be downdrafts on short final but on the other hand, you cannot add too much speed because of the short runway. This video also shows how important a good speed management is during the approach to a short and challenging airport. As you can see in the video: The approach was flown with about 71 knots and then the speed was reduced to arrive with about 64 knots over the threshold. Flare was short and landing smooth.

I just published a video of an approach to Block Island Airport. We departed Montauk and did the short trip to Block Island. The video contains the full flight. One camera looks outside and the other one shows the panel. In the short final of the approach, you will see why Block Island is challenging: The elevation of runway 28 is 108 feet. The terrain is rising rapidly in front of the runway. This makes downdrafts highly possible during the approach. The cockpit view of my video also shows the speed management: During the final approach, we flew about 71 knots, which is reference speed for max weight. We reduced to reach the threshold with 64 knots. Touchdown was just a little behind the threshold with the stall horn. This is a good example of how important good speed management is. In regard to our weight, we could have reduced the speed about 5 knots more for a very short runway. But due to the expected downdraft and the runway being not like 1800 feet long or so, we kept a little extra speed which was a little less than the head wind component of about 8 knots..

Your photo is the strainer / selector valve. If you need that overhauled, send it to Lasar in California. But if you need your pump overhauled, remove it and send it to http://www.aeromotorsllc.com/ as mentioned before. I did the same with mine. They charge 450 $. You need to prepay the shipping back to you and provide an UPS return label with your pump. Also payment has to be done by a check. If you need it quick, they may have an overhauled one on the shelf and send you that one as an exchange unit. BTW: The pump they overhauled works great.

Thanks! I gave my friend already the number from Alan Fox.

Thank you! I forwarded the information to my friend with a TB20.

Thanks for the clarification!

I am looking for a GNS480 for a friend with a TB20. His 480 is broken. I do not know if there are WAAS and non WAAS units. But he needs a WAAS unit. It would be great if somebody has one on his or her shelf or is upgrading the panel and wants to get rid of it. Thank you.

Is one of the GNS480s still available? I am looking for a friend with a defective unit.

I also need a set for my Mooney M20F

The first few updates had been done free of charge by the shop which did my latest avionics upgrade. I usually combined the updates with other avionics work. The shop charged his hourly rate for the updates. It was about 1 hour or 1.5 in total for the 345, Aspen, Flightstream and GTN 750. In between, some firmware upgrades were free of charge because Garmin or Aspen paid for them. This was the case if the upgrades were required due to an AD or a mandatory service bulletin. One time the shop said something like that they want now charge a flat fee per unit. I disagreed and continued to pay the hourly rate.

I used 2 Gopros (8 and 9) plus 1 DJI Osmo and a Garmin Virb. Magix was the editing software.