Bunti

I also suggest to consider Spruce Creek. We even have a German language website for your wife and her German family. Also you find tons of photos on the website. Checkout: https://spruce-creek.de If she wants to fly to Germany, she can fly direct from Orlando (one hour driving) or from Daytona with a stop in Atlanta or so (KDAB is 20 minutes driving or 7 minutes flying from 7FL6). In Spruce Creek, there are about 1500 buildings and approx. 500 airplanes. Due to the size, even non flying people find a lot of things to do. You can walk/bicycle in the secured community for miles and if you like to kayak, there is a dock in the community. From that dock, you can paddle to the Intracoastal Waterway. And from there into the ocean. In our area you still find lots of wooded areas, where you can walk or bike. In Spruce Creek everybody is very frinedly and helpful because everybody believes that he or she lives in paradise. We like the weather very much because in summer it is not that hot and humid as at the Golf Coast or in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area. In winter the temperatures are still ok. Even after a cold night, the days are usually warming up. Spruce Creek has a paved runway and a private GPS-approach. The new version of the approach will also be available at night. So you can leave and come back any time you want, even on a day with IFR weather. This photo had been taken during the yearly toyparade in December. The golf cart was built from an original Boeing 747 engine. The builder / owner is a Boeing 747 captain. Aerial view of Spruce Creek. In the background you see the Atlantic Ocean.

Same with my Mooney M20F from 1967: My Mooney has the Lasar lower cowl enclosure installed and a Powerflow exhaust system. All CHTs are doing very fine. Except CHT2 during the climb. Shortly after takeoff my EDM930 shows CHT 2 rising to about 380F. Then I lower the nose and trade some of the climb rate for a speed of 110 to 120 KIAS to keep it at or below 380F. In Florida this is normally no problem due to no obstacles. Sometimes the engine monitor shows a temperature between 380 and 400 for about 2 minutes and then with the lowered nose, CHT2 will go back to below 380F. The other CHTs are about 30F less and never hit 380F. During cruise, I fly lean of peak and my CHT2 is the hottest, but always well below 380F. I usually see 320 to 340F for CHT2 and the others are 290 to 310F. I will ask the shop to adjust the cowl flaps as follows: Open them more in the fully open position and keep the acual closed position or even close them more in the closed position. So the complete travel of the cowl flaps has to be extended. Here are the datas from some of my last flights: CHT2 below 380F: https://www.savvyanalysis.com/flight/2377090/f2662206-c173-48b5-8853-f762d38a21e0 This flight departed after 15 minutes of taxitime with high grossweight (CHT2 was for 2 minutes above 380F): https://www.savvyanalysis.com/flight/2377094/278e05d7-5212-4b39-984b-ca90a3245ebf

We used Hendersonville a while ago and it was a nice experience. Due to the weather, we first asked for vectors to an ILS in AVL. Then we broke out of the clouds and we saw Hendersonville. We continued VFR and landed on RWY33 at 0A7 airport. Enterprise provided a car for a reasonable price and parking was about 10 Dollars a night. They had fuel available, but right now (June 2017) they do not have fuel available for a few weeks due to maintenance of the tanks. I recommend this airport and will use it - for sure - again. If you fly to 0A7, make sure to use the asphalt strip. Parallel are a few hangars on the west side and a grass strip with a museum: http://www.westernnorthcarolinaairmuseum.com/ Here is the google-view of Runway 33: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.3045579,-82.429172,3a,62.2y,295.12h,83.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sePcDI1Chh7G_uUr3LSJhcA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Did you switch your ADSB out in the Transponder setup to on?

The GTX 330 with the ES update will for sure give you no ADSB IN. It will give you ADSB OUT, if connected to a WAAS GPS. But thats it. I can tell you from my own experience. I had the 330 with the ES upgrade for some years and wanted ADSB IN and traded the 330 ES into a GTX345 and added a GTN 750 as position source. Stefan

The ACU is part of my Aspen. It came with the Aspen unit. It is always needed, if you connect any non digital equipment to the Aspen: A conventional VOR, DME or ADF receiver or a non digital autopilot or Flightdirector. The small transformer is mounted externally and connects on one side Signal COM and Datum EXT of the Aspen ACU with pins D and B (Oscillator to Gyro) from the Brittain DG Adapter on the other side. Pins A and E of the DG-Adapter are connected directly to HDG COM and HDG Datum of the ACU. This works only, if you have the Brittain DG Adapter! This is the box which connects normally a directional gyro with heading-bug to the Brittain-Autopilot-System. To use GPSS-steering or the HDG mode of the Aspen, you have to turn the DG Adapter switch to on. Aspen then sends a heading signal to keep the Brittain on track, even for an GPS approach. For finetuning of your system, on the Brittain DG Adapter you can adjust the DG-gain. Also you can adjust the GPSS-steering Bias in the Aspen setup.

I do have the Aspen together with the Brittain Autopilot in my Mooney. Everything works fine: Instead of the old heading bug of the DG, now the Aspen drives the Autopilot. You can call Brittain and they will send you a wiring diagram. From the Aspen ACU, 4 wires are connected to the Brittain. 2 of the wires are connected via a very small 10k:10k transformer. My Aspen is set to HSI Type 1 for the output.

The better resolution (more pixels) of the GTN 750 in comparison to the IFD was one of the main reasons why I bought the GTN750. I am very happy with it. After I have sent my flightplan from my Ipad via the Flightstream 210 to the GTN 750, there is no need of using the Ipad for the rest of the flight. The only time I have to use the Ipad is during an IFR approach for the approach charts because I did not buy the approach charts for the GTN until now.

I have the 750 without TAWS activated, but connected to my audio panel. I even get no "500" call or so. The only call, the 750 will give you, is something like "traffic 12 a clock low 1 mile", if it is connected to an appropriate traffic receiver. (in my case GTX 345). TAWS on the GTN750 is very expensive, so I opted for the Aera 660. We connected the Aera 660 to the audio panel and it gives me all the audio calls for obstacles, terrain and even a 500 feet call during the approach. Stefan

I think for flying during the nighttime, you have to have some kind of instrument lights in the plane. The parts manual tells us, what kind of bulbs have to be in the sockets. So I would not consider it as the same like an additional light in the cigarette lighter socket or so. But on the other hand, you can just unscrew the original bulbs and put in LED bulbs yourself as owner maintenance. I replaced the shoulder lights with the ones from Tom Anderson from Ohio. They work fine. But due to my Glasscockpit, most of the time, I keep them off. I also replaced the dome light by a standard LED bulb (I do not remember the number). It is very bright now, makes no heat, does not drain the battery and is very helpful if you load or unload your plane somewhere in the dark. For all that, I did a logbook entry with my ATP-number. The IA who does the normal maintenance agreed also to the procedure. There was even no change in weight or function. Stefan

I spoke to Aspen first. But they only said that I should call Garmin technical support. I keep you updated Stefan

Paul, until now, I have weather and traffic on the GTN750, and via Flightstream 210 Bluetooth on my Ipad and the panel attached Aera 660. In December, Aspen released an unlock software that brings weather and traffic also on the Aspen PFD, if you have the GTX345. I ordered the unlock software and the avionics shop discovered now that we cannot connect the Flightstream 210 and the Aspen PFD on one output. Problem here is that the GTX345 has only one RS422 output. This can be connected to the Aspen or the Flightstream 210. They said, that the Aspen and the Flightstream 210 cannot share the same RS422 connection because they use a different data protocol. This is done by setting up the RS 422 data output type at the GTX345. For the Flightstream the protocol name is Flightstream. And this cannot be read by the Aspen. That means, if the GTX345 is connected to the Aspen, I would lose weather and traffic on the Ipad and the Aera 660, which is right now transmitted via the Flightstram 210. The first idea of the shop was to connect the Ipad to the GTX Bluetooth and the Flightstream Bluetooth in parallel (Flightstream for flightplan transfer and GtX345 for weather and traffic). They called Garmin and asked. Somebody at Garmin told them that the Garmin App will not work with this configuration. Today, I spoke to a technical supervisor at Garmin and he spoke to the Garmin Pilot App team. They confirmed that this setup should work fine and will be the only solution for this setup. We plan to do that next week and I will let you know, if it works. Don, thank you for the Info about the Flightstream 510 offer. This may be an option too. But it would be expensive. Stefan

The Flightstream 210 gets weather and traffic from the GTX345 via a RS422 bus cable. This cable needs to be disconnected at the Flightstream and connected to the Aspen PFD instead. I use the Garmin Pilot App because WingX is not working with the Garmin hardware. I just spoke to Garmin. They suggested to disconnect the wire from the Flightstream and connect it to the Aspen. To have weather and traffic back on the Ipad they said that I have to connect my Ipad to the Bluetooth from the 210 and the 345 in parallel to get weather and traffic from the 345 and Flightplantransfer from the 210. According to them, the Aera 660 can only connect to one Bluetooth source at a time. So I would have to chose here between Flightplantransfer (210) and Weather (345). Did somebody try this before? Stefan

Today, I travelled 1.5 hours with my Mooney to the avionics shop to get the Aspen software unlock to display weather and traffic on the PFD. The software unlock was released by Aspen in December. The shop checked the wiring and finally found out that they have to disconnect the GTX345 connection to the Flightstream 210 to get the weather and traffic on the Aspen. Doing this, I would get rid of the traffic and weather on the Ipad and the Aera 660 and keep the Flightplan transfer function between Ipad and GTN750. The weather and traffic on the Ipad and Aera 660 may be restored by using the Bluetooth connection from the GTX345. But then I would lose the Flightplan transfer function. So I decided to fly again 1.5 hrs home without installing anything. I like the Flightsream data transfer functions very much and want to keep them. But I would also be able to see weather and traffic on the Aspen. One solution may be an upgrade to a Flightstream 510. But this is an expensive solution. Maybe somebody has the same issue and found a better solution. Stefan

Steve, the 300XL will never provide vertical guidance during an GPS approach. If you want vertical guidance during an GPS approach, you need a WAAS GPS. If you have a classic ComNav installed or a 430 Non WAAS, you get vertical guidance during an ILS approach, but this does not help for an GPS approach. So if you want vertical guidance during an GPS approach, you need to install a WAAS GPS. An additional COMNAV with Glideslope receiver and indicator will not change the situation. It will only provide a Glideslope, if you fly an ILS approach. Stefan

Stephen, only WAAS GPS-units, like the 430W, GTN750 or similar ones, will give you a GPS-glideslope indication. All non WAAS units, like the 155, will only provide lateral GPS-guidance. Stefan

My EDM930 install was installed a while ago by a local shop (not the avionics shop) and I agreed before the install on a flat rate based on 38 hours for the install. There was a lot of panel work involved because all the old gauges had to be removed. For this purpose he had to redo parts of the right panel. I do not want to fly without an engine monitor any more. It showed me already several engine problems early, like an induction leak on one Cylinder or a fuelpump which was starting to break down. The photo shows the panel after the 38 hour EDM930 install: The above photo is now history and the cockpit got a complete panel update and looks like the following photos:

I had a good experience with Tomlinson Avionics in Fort Myers (Page Field/KFMY). Ralph Tomlinson and his team installed a GTN 750, a Flightstream 210 and a GTX345 Transponder for me. Also, they installed a RAM-Mount for my Garmin 660 GPS at the location of the old Narco CDI, which had been suggested by them and is really really great. They removed a Narco MK12 COM/NAV and a Garmin 330ES Transponder as a trade in. In February they will install the new Aspen STC that allows traffic and weather from the GTX345 also on the Aspen. I searched for a long time for a good shop and Ralph made the best impression. The final bill was exactly in accordance with the estimate and the plane had been ready on time. The plane was all the time stored in their hangar and did not sit outside. (This was very important for me and could not be guaranteed by several other shops). I am very happy with the install. Stefan

A while ago, I had a shop doing an annual and additional work on my Mooney M20F. I was wondering about their prices for parts. They explained me that they add 30 percent to the prices they pay. For that amount of money they keep a lot of parts in stock and have them ready, when you need them. Also they guarantee that the parts are working fine. After that experience, I started buying most of the parts myself, including oil, filter ... and bring them with the plane to a shop. In May, I experienced a vacuum pump failure during flight. I was already enroute to a Mooney shop. My first question after landing was: Do you have the pump available. He had a new one ready on his shelf and installed it immediately. In this situation, I was happy and had no problems to pay more money for the pump as at Spruce. In regard to the annual inspection, my IA gives me a detailed list of discrepancies with information, if it is more or less important to fix those things. The list comes also with information about time to fix it and prices for parts. Then it is up to me to order what I want and there are no surprises in the final bill.

I just took the preloaded M20J Weight and Balance from the App. The envelope is the same and even the stations of seats, fuel ...for my M20F. But you can modify everything for your plane

It is attached with a ball ram mount. It has been done by the avionics shop. The mount is installed in the place where the old Narco CDI had been removed. If I remember right, the mount is about 25 Dollars. In addition, I bought the bare wire mount for the 660. You just need to push the release button on the 660 to remove it.

If you want a second display for weather or traffic or notams, you can use the Aera 660. It is talking to the 210 and to the 345. The display can even show taxi charts, frequencies or a synthetic vision picture and warns you about close obstacles or terrain. You can connect it to the audio panel and to your aircraft power. In my Mooney, it is attached to the panel via a removeable ram mount. With the 345, you see all the traffic with ADS-B out: They send the position on both ADS-B frequencies directly to the 345. Also, you see the normal traffic with a Mode C Transponder, which is received by an ATC radar antenna and redirected to you. As long as you fly in the US, this works fine. Only if you fly somewhere in the US, where no radar coverage is available and the traffic has only a Mode C Transponder without ADS-B out, you will not see it. Also traffic without Mode C Transponder will not be seen any time. But this is the same with an active traffic system: No Transponder, no traffic information on any system. Only ATC may be able to detect traffic without a transponder as primary radar target, if they search for metal in the sky. Latest in 2020, almost everybody in the US will have ADS-B out. That means the 345 will receive all the traffic directly, even in rural areas with no low altitude radar coverage. I considered, buying the active system, but decided against it because most of my flying is in the US. Stefan

I had the same question before my final avionics update. I decided for the 345 instead of the 9000. Reason 1 is that I wanted weather and traffic anywhere: On the Ipad, Aspen, GTN750 and on my Aera 660. Reason 2 is that it works with the Flightstream 210, which I wanted for flightplantransfer. I will pay the unlock fee in December to get it on the Aspen PFD. On the other displays, it is alreay available. Also, I like the remote control for the 345 via the GTN 750. The 345 has the same size as the 330, which it replaced in my plane. I assume that the 327 has also the same size. I would not buy the remote version, if you have room in the panel. If you need to remove the 650 or 750 for service or if it is broken, you would not have any transponder control left. The price of the remote unit and the normal one are almost the same. I love my Flightstream 210: It is really great to plan the flight on the Ipad, start the engine and say send to 750. The flightplan will be available in the GPS immediately without entering any waypoints or airways. You just need to verify and activate. And if I do flightplan changes on the Garmin 750 GPS, they are visible on the Ipad (if I want) and on the Aera 660. Stefan More photos of my panel are on my website: http://spruce-creek.de/galerie/n6377q/mooney-final-panel-upgrade/

After an upgrade of the interior of our M20F from 1967, our seats are very comfortable. The longest trips we did with the new seats have been about 5 hours non stop in the air with no problems. Sometimes we even continued the flight after a restroom and fuel stop for a total of 7 hours flight time. The new seats are custom made. The backs of our front seats are extended, so no headrests are required. The rear seats are split. On most longer trips, we use the rear seats for baggage and put our folding bicycles in the trunk. With the original seats, I got back pain after flying for more than one or two hours.

In 2010, our local shop (normal maintenance shop / not the avionics shop) charged 38 hours for the install of an EDM930 in my Mooney M20F. This included all needed work, including exchanging the fuel transmitters and a rebuild of the right side of the panel. He used some kind of plastic to match the old style Mooney panel on the left side. 5040 $ sounds very expensive. Sometime later, I got the whole panel redone by the avionics shop. The price was about 3500 $ for the right and left side of my Mooney M20F. You can find some photos on my website: http://spruce-creek.net/galerie/n6377q/ During the same time, he installed some new avionics. For that work, I got an additional bill.