David Mazer

My non-WAAS card wouldn't work with my upgraded WAAS unit. If yours does, that is great for you and I wish I knew why yours works and mine doesn't. The Aspen micro SD card is easily replaced, I've had to do so, but you need to be sure you get the right speed (6 or higher, I used a 10). Then I restored the disk image I made from someone elses Aspen card onto the micro SD card and it worked fine. As long as the cord reads fine, my conscience is completely clear. I finally used a version of super glue and carefully glued it back together using very little glue with no signs of glue squishing out between the parts. It updated fine in the Skybound unit and now I'll try it in the 430. Wish me luck.

I brought my data card home to update it and it fell apart. It fell apart! The metal plate came off and the circuits/chips are about to fall out. I don't think putting it back in the unit is a good idea in case it falls apart inside the slot. So, should I get it fixed, glue it together and pray, replace it? I'd love to replace it but I think Garmin charges $200 for the silly little thing. I'll call Garmin tomorrow but I dount they will offer to fix it. Any suggestions?

Sorry to hear this. You have my condolences. Finding an acceptable replacement at the right price in the right condition is a bear for sure.

Rent a plane!

There is one official sand runway "airport" in the US in Washington. I don't remember much of the details but it is only open for a short period during the day and not all year long.

Good luck to you and Mooney International. I'm sure everyone else on this forum joins me in wishing all in involved with Mooney International congratulations.

The POH does say to do it every flight. I don't. I've only done it a couple times. Also, I mentioned my concern about the high TITs and Dar minimized it saying it can run 1700 for over a min. Just don't sit there looking at it. Lean it to just past peak rather quickly and then rich again.

Lacee, I think you are referring to the STC itself. I have that too but not scanned. I've never really found it helpful but I keep it just the same.

The Rocket POH STC insert is about $150! It's rediculous. I scanned it so if you just want to look at it, here it is. Rocket POH insert.pdf

Dar said the power settings aren't that relevant and one could use lower settings. Glad you checked, I thought it was 1650. Also, Ron, I spoke with JPI about the likelihood of the probe failing if the temp is off and they told me that is unlikely unless I see the temperatures starting to vary at the same settings and they suggested I check EGT, CHT, and TIT temp before starting the engine to confirm they are all reading ambient.

Dar said about 8,000 ft and typical cruise settings. Sorry. I should have mentioned that. I'm not sure about the effect of baffeling or other factors on the TIT reading but the variance from peak shouldn't change regardless.

One year at Sun N Fun I spoke with Dar Conrad about the TIT testing. The procedure is simple, and in the Rocket POH, lean to peak TIT. It should peak at 1650. Don't spend a lot of time there. Just lean it out to just past peak (it will run a little rough), note the temp, and then rich it out again. The peak you get less or more than 1650 is the error. In my case it was only 1580. I was very surprised since I was typically running a TIT of 1510 (1580) without knowing it. Dar recommended not going over 1550 so I now lean to 1480

Welcome to MooneySpace. There are plenty of guys that can help you here but they are all going to start with two questions. What is your mission and what is your budget.

Congratulations on your purchase of possibly the finest Mooney (albeit converted) ever built IMHO. I presume you have a 231 conversion with the Gami injectors. One must remember the manual was written a long time ago and there was much less data available about LOP at that time. I believe Continental still recommends ROP operation also despite all the available information. There are plenty of guys with Rockets on this forum that run LOP as SOP and it is probably fine as long as your total EGT spread is sufficiently small with the balanced injectors. My spread is too large to make LOP comfortable to me and I have not spent the effort to tune my injectors so I just power back a little in ROP. I usually fly at 30" and 2300 RPM and about 18.3-8 GPH for a TIT of 1480 but my TIT is running lower than actual by about 70 degrees (I've had it checked and there is nothing wrong with the probe it just is off) so my actual TIT is closer to 1550. There is an SB out on the engine not to run below 2300 RPM at cruise. I also will dial back to 29" when I'm in no hurry and that takes the fuel flow down to the low 17s. When I'm just flying, with no particular destination, I fly at 25" and 2300 and that brings the fuel flow down to mid 14s. Enjoy your new bird!

Medicines are also produced under the watchful eyes of the FDA and Chinese manufactures are supposed to follow the same requirements. They just don’t. I’m not sure there is enough experience with Cirrus, still produced in the US I believe, to be a predictor of parts made in China over a longer period.

Pharmacutical manufacturers in the US are inspected at least every 2 years by the FDA. In China, few are inspected and those that are get inspected only about every 7 years. The number of medication errors from manufacturing is growing rapidly. Are we really interested in putting Chineese parts on our planes? So far, China doesn't appear to believe in the same level of quality that we have come to expect. The comparison of an iPad or iPhone to an airplane or medication just isn't germaine.

Well, it turns out that you are more likely to be in an accident with a teenager between the ages of 16-18 then an octogenarian. With all the complaints about old drivers, they are still safer than teenagers. I also don’t believe we should limit these old (as opposed to older like me they are just plain old) drivers until we raise the legal age to drive to 18. Those damn statistics can be so irritating.

Does anyone know his age? There are many risk factors for heart disease but weight isn't one of them in and of itself (surprisingly). I'm not advocating obesity or saying being over weight doesn't have health consequence but, with heart disease, it isn't an independent risk factor. A fatal heart attack is more likely for people having a heart attack at a relatively young age since the blockage occurs suddenly and doesn't give the body time to build additional little arteries, called collaterals, as it does when the blockages develop slowly. This sounds like the classic "widow maker" lesion blocking one of the main arteries of the heart called the left anterior descending artery that supplies blood to the left ventricle. Just to raise the interest (ire) of our members, I for one am against the physical exam requirements for pilots. Statistically speaking, the second pilot requirement is far more important and there is no statistical evidence of which I am aware that a physical exam requiement has ever prevented an incident or accident. The most recent study after 7 years of a driver's license requirement (sport pilots, a group with a theoretical higher risk for medical events) has not resulted in a single health related event.

I plan a 700 fpm descent from as far out as needed from the flightlevels and ATC is usually accomodating. But, in complicated airspace or near terrain while IFR ATC tends to bring me in very high and then says - okay, land. Might work for smaller engined Mooney's where you can just pull the throttle but I can't without endangering my engine. Speed brakes are very helpful in those situations. I also use speed brakes when I'm flying in and out of cumulous. My cruise IAS is very close to 170s and I prefer to be close to 150s when penetrating clouds. Rather than flying slow the whole time, I just pop out the speed brakes a few seconds in advance and put them away on exiting the cloud. All without having to change power settings. Works for me.

I use only 2 gal for startup, runup, and taxi. Then I use a climb burn (23 gph for my 6 cylinder turbo charged 305 hp engine). Then I use a cruise and descent burn rate. My calculations on fltplan.com are never a whole gallon off.

Is this something you created or is it available on the market?

Lacee, the unit calibrates easily. Turn the unit off, establish a climb, push a button and turn on the unit, wait for it to initialize, establish slow flight just above stall, push the button again two times quickly. The unit rests and your done. No adjusting the probe with multiple flights. I have calibrated it twice (I accidently pushed the calibration button while on the ground requiring re-calibration) and found the closer to stall you are when pushing the button the second time, the better. Chrisk, no backing plate was required. The total force on the vane is only 0.7 lbs at 250 kts and the unit weighs only 56 gm or 2 oz. Three small holes need to be drilled for the screws and the wires. I haven't found any deflection on the inspection plate but my top speed with it so far is still under 200 kts TAS. The FAA has recently decided it likess AOAs and has given Alpha Systems a blanket exemption which is attached to the CYA-100 documentation and General Technics is working with the FAA to provide a similar letter for the CYA-100. The unit works as advertized. No surprises and it really has helped me slow down on approach. I used to shoot for 75-78 over the fence, solo, and the CYA-100 indicates I should be closer to 71. Seven knots may not seem like a lot but my ground roll and tendancy to float is substantially reduced and I'm more comoftable knowing where I am on the base to final turn with it.

Sorry, I wasn't clear about the video. I didn't want to put it some place like youtube where it would be openly distributed. I was planning on putting it here but don't know how.

I recently installed a General Techniques CYA-100 AOA in my Rocket. The CYA-100 uses a different system than the Alpha Systems version and it is much simpler to install and costs a lot less ($400). I installed it myself under the watchfull eye of my IA. It works great. I have a short movie of it initializing but I can't upload it and I don't want to put in open view since it has my tail number visible. Any suggestions how to load it on MooneySpace?

I have flown my Rocket at -40F at 15,000 ft in shirt sleeves very comfortably. I can't imagine what a good heater would be if that is bad.