smccray

So- I don’t have a photo but going to try to describe this- hangar elf project I saw in a mid body Mooney somewhere... The mid bodies have two speakers on the ceiling- it’s really one speaker and one sonalert- but it looks like two speakers held in place with 4 screws. Using some aluminum spacers, some longer screws, and some aluminum bar stock, you can create a little handle that’s hangs down from the ceiling of the plane- think a cabinet door handle that hangs down from the ceiling attached into the screw holes of the speakers. Not sure if that makes sense... A pair of handles that doesn’t cover the speakers (very important!!!). Then- it’s as simple as Velcro...

I hope someone has a definitive answer. My guess is that if we're talking about the two tanks alone you're better off setting up the small tank as the low pressure tank first but I don't really know.

6ish? Not sure.

I would plan 40 min to an hour. I just looked at a recent log entry flying from Denton to Dallas executive (DTO to RBD) and flight time was 0.3 over the top of love field. a lot more spread out down here. DFW airport has the same land area as Manhattan...

The air is packed today. Weather down here has been really bad lately (the same crap you flew threw on the way down) plus it's nice out so everyone is up flying. The airports are in south flow today which makes your chances better at getting a bravo clearance and flying over the top of love field at 2500 ft, but they probably won't let you get too close to downtown as it messes with traffic flow into love field. If you want to fly over Love, request it to ADS ground when requesting flight following and they'll do what they can. For a tour I would probably fly around the east side and just stay under the bravo shelf. There's a ton of training traffic between ADS and Mesquite airport (HQZ). Your best view of Dallas is probably staying close to the surface area boundary, but approach probably won't love you there. Traffic will expect you to exit the ADS airspace @ 2000 ft MSL. Fly the south side of the metroplex and you can get a good view of cowboys stadium and downtown fort worth. It should be a good flight. Depending on traffic, you may be able to work out flying over the top of DFW airport. When you're on the west side, request DFW over the top back into ADS (if you're flying back to ADS) at 3500 ft. I don't know a ton about ATC in general, but DFW is organized into quadrants. The north east quadrant is the busiest by far due to traffic into Love Field.

Are you at ADS? I'm at the airport off of taxiway romeo right now.

FIFY

Fly safe . If you encounter any problems give me a call. Forecasting in TX is difficult at times- I recommend reading the aviation forecast discussions by the meteorologists that write the TAFs. That will give you a good idea how confident they are. Lately they haven't been very confident. This morning was forecast at 500 overcast in fog. Ceiling was unlimited when I got my clearance, fog blew in, and it ended up being as forecast when I took off. I was on top by 1000 AGL and it wasn't soupy. I was on instruments not looking around, but from above it didn't look that bad. If you end up tangling with convective activity, keep in mind that it tends to move very fast here. No clue how it compares to the north east, but I suspect cells move much more quickly.

3 blade prop at a minimum- rear window and paint scheme looks like a bravo or an ovation.

I hope it works... but it's a really big project. $120K, pressurized, carbon fiber, redone diesel engine... would be a bargain at twice the price. I hope they're successful. I'd be a customer but I wouldn't be an investor. Maybe it's because I'm not a big enough thinker when it comes to aviation, but I would start with a non-pressurized (design the pressurization into the airframe but skip that effort) and an aviation engine. Expand the project later...

Thank for asking the clarifying question here- I want to be absolutely clear that I’m not doubting anyone’s ability to do the work to install the equipment. I don’t have any reason to doubt your ability or anyone else’s ability. Take the scenario where someone who doesn’t have the ability partners with someone a mechanic willing to pencil whip an install. That person buys the equipment, does a bad install, then bad mouths the equipment. Dynon doesn’t have the experience or infrastructure to support installs in certified aircraft- this is a new business. Open the floodgates and Dynon puts their reputation at risk. If they sell to you, then they sell to the second pilot too. Dynon only has one way to control the quality of the installs, and the quality of the end product is critical to the long term success of the business.

Call me crazy but I I'm Dynon I do exactly what they're doing. Dynon has a great reputation in the experimental world. If the first opening in the certified world opens the floodgates, I can almost guarantee that we'd hear reports about bad Dynon installs online. Tracing the root cause I would bet that it would be an installation issue rather than a product issue. If Dynon enters the market carefully and builds a reputation for good avionics in the certified world, they can open the floodgates later while the company builds the capability to support certified installations (which they don't have today).

That doesn't make any sense to me given the news article. It will take a little time, but hopefully this will become a little more clear. I really hope the person on the phone wasn't clear about upcoming changes to Amsafe pricing.

My initial thought on reading this was "Why?" but I think you're right. It's not so much a CYA to me because you're VFR- but it's a good way to report into the system that there may be a safety concern. It would be easy for the controller to say "fly direct XYZ" then add "Direct Destination" instead of only saying "fly direct XYZ" I get this instruction all the time flying into my home airport- direct a fix- frequently the FAF on the approach. Or- when VFR- I'll check in with approach with the ATIS and tell them I'm direct the FAF and they know what I intend to do as it's a common instruction when IFR in VMC.

You're VFR- see and avoid. You're required to follow ATC instructions, but unless ATC gives you an instruction to hold at a point (which doesn't really make sense but it has happened to me) you fly on. Fly to the point as instructed and proceed on your way. You're required to maintain communication in the class Charlie airspace, but you're not on a clearance and there wouldn't be any good reason not to continue.

Or you can picture option #5- whatever plane your wife likes and you can afford.

+1 if my memory is correct we were looking at $5k for a mid body STC’d kit. At that price point it didn’t happen, and I have to admit I was a little reluctant. $2500 + install- yes.

At the risk of wading in... Field upgradable enhancements aren’t the same thing as new hardware. I bet you’re both right... enhancements to existing hardware...

For a second I thought that was my ex wife... then I realized it’s her mother...

Avidyne is private equity owned- deal was done before the G1000 was announced and Avidyne was the only game in town in Cirrus aircraft. Investment timelines are such that I doubt that the current owner would have much interest in buying another company. If instead we look at Avidyne as the seller and Aspen the buyer, the value of Avidyne is contingent on the timeline and the success of a retrofit glass product. Avidyne charges big $ for its PFD extended warranties and repair business of that equipment. It's my impression that the Entegra systems don't have a strong reputation for quality and longevity. If Dynon (or Garmin) offers a quality retrofit product that would replace the Avidyne equipment, the long term viability of Avidyne's business in at risk and it will be difficult to pay a high enough multiple for Avidyne. I believe things are lining up as Dynon as the budget player with Garmin at the high end. Garmin has everything; Dynon does not have a GPS IFR navigator. Dynon does all its demo panels and panel photos with Avidyne navigators even though the Dynon equipment is compatible with Garmin as well. The rationale for Dynon's decision is obvious. I believe it makes more sense for Dynon to do one of two things- and it's a fairly straight forward make or buy: Buy Avidyne: use the navigator to create an integrated panel just like the forthcoming Garmin solution that integrates a branded navigator Build an IFR Navigator: The WAAS antenna inside the Dynon HDX system is good enough to provide a position source for ADSB out. It doesn't seem like a big stretch to me that Dynon could upgrade the software in the HDX system to add GPS approach capability and to get it certified. If Dynon goes down path #2... assuming they get the system STC'd eventually... then Avidyne is toast altogether. That's a big IF. I don't have any knowledge of the development path at Dynon, nor do I have any inside information about any company mentioned above that affects my analysis.

If Aspen is competing with the G500TXI then I agree- there's a market. I would offer that the competition is at the G600 level (larger aircraft) where Aspen does have an offering. Garmin pricing does leave some room for competition at that level. I suspect this is a pretty tough sell- the aircraft run $50-100K+ per year to operate plus the capital cost of the plane, so presumably the owners have the scratch to do what they want to do with the panel. The G500 / Aspen others have to make investment decisions with Dynon breathing down their necks. Dynon has been making promises on timing, but I wouldn't make any incremental investment in products without some certainty about the future market. Certainly there will be some aircraft owners who will choose G500 with Garmin engine instrumentation, the certified GFC600 autopilot and other certified equipment. There is zero doubt whether products from Garmin, JPI, Aspen, others are valuable; they are. Rather than evaluating the value proposition in the products themselves, the value proposition must be evaluated relative to other products. A GFC500 TXI, Garmin engine instruments (or JPI), digital autopilot, stand alone transponder has a retail cost of ~$60K plus installation. Is that setup worth 3x the cost of the offering from Dynon? If Dynon offers that package for $16K for a single panel system, is an aspen worth $12K for only an EFIS? I suspect there will be some people who will see the value proposition of the non-Dynon offering, but again that's not the right question. The real question is what happens to sales volumes / profit margins at the competing companies, and can those companies survive. It's kind of a vicious circle because if the stand alone company isn't viable long term, the value of the product today is even lower.

Too much square footage for one? Looks like a great hangar to me. There's an automated lawnmower on the market: http://mashable.com/2017/04/21/robotic-lawnmower/#evmMQ7eq4Oqm

Seems reasonable enough to me. I would be reluctant to pull the trigger on anything that isn’t part of one of the combined systems myself. If I were looking at options in the near term I would look at the Garmin G5 and a portable mfd (e.g. 796) and make do. Add the autopilot when you can and then expand as you are able. If Dynon is successful Garmin will have a competing product. I would bet $ that it will be built on the same CAN bus protocols that underly the G5 and the GFC500 installation. i’ve said it elsewhere- Aspen, Avidyne, JPI, other stand alone instrument companies are not in a good competitive position. I wouldn’t put any $ into Aspen as I don’t believe they have a long term viable business model. Edited to add- I hope i’m wrong about Aspen et al- the companies all provide tremendous value to GA

Equipment cost for a 2 screen system with redundant gps, dual adahrs, ADSB in and out, engine monitor including probes, and a 2 axis digital autopilot is $20k in parts. STC will hopefully be 2-3k, plus the cost of install. If we’re lucky we get out of the shop for $30-$35k.

Looks like a really nice plane. I talked to Jimmy about it a couple months ago.