exM20K

The most worrisome aspect of the leadership team photo @1980Mooney posted is, to me, the absence of Kevin Kammer. He was a wealth of knowledge about the business and engineering. -dan

Owning 80% of the equity is like being “the strongest man in Connecticut.” Or maybe the 10,000th strongest. If there is/was a big note out there that originated with Soaring America (or whatever that company was) or someone else, a UCC search would show some info. There doesn't appear to be a Mooney International registered in texas, and Wyoming doesn't have a quick/easy way to search for any leins on US Financial LLC. Whoever holds the debt controls the company. -dan

I was actually thinking of it in the opposite way. Consider the bag of potato chips that goes kaboom in the flight levels. Whatever pressure inflate the door seal to at sea level remains constant, but that differential drops substantially as you climb. the suction cup observation is the same, but opposite: fixed differential (vacuum) equalizes with ambient as ambient drops (and Stratus tumbles to the floor.) -dan

Brian K. was able to get mine pretty tight with a new seal and 1/4” foam on the door jamb. It is noticeably quieter, but it also takes a medium, but decreasing effort to close the door, so there is definitely pressure on the door edge when it is closed and latched. One thing to consider about the inflatable seal would be that if you do climb into the mid or high teens, that seal is going to continue to expand. If the ambient pressure decreases by 1 inch per thousand feet, you could generate quite a bit of force. I have observed this on suction cup mount, which is simply fall off climbing through 10 or 11,000 feet. I look forward to doing a side by side test of my planes interior noise versus yours with the inflatable seal on the floor blade prop. -dan

High demand for pre-heating, esp Sunday morning. Brrrrr. -dan

dumb question: how do you get the arm off, especially where attached to the door frame? -dan

Mine started leaking from the accessory drive seal at the rear at ~800 hrs. Over the next 6 months /100 hours, it got progressively worse. Since a failure here can empty the engine of oil, I elected to replace the drive. If it is only 50 hrs old, the o/h shop should address this for you. -dan

My subscription renewed yesterday, so i'm in for another year at least. Maybe this is the minority/outlier position, but... At this moment, I'm not overly concerned as a user from a functionality and stability perspective. This is obviously very bad news for the individuals terminated, and I'm glad the guy I recommended for an interview a couple years ago didn't accept the offer then. I'm not concerned about the existing functionality because the product is fully developed, and the adding of *new* features often leads to bloat and diminished usability. Intuit's Quickbooks Online would be Exhibit 1 here. It is possible, probably likely, that customer support will be degraded. That is regrettable as I have gotten over-the-weekend responses from them in the past. Pricing is locked in at least for this year, and the availability of a relatively easy competing and already cheaper alternative *may* keep a lid on price increases. However if the AvBrief report is correct, this group bought FF/Jepp for $10 Billion. That is a big number to service - back-of-the-envelope 1% per month. So it's wait-and-see for me for now. -dan

Same. When they made a mistake, they owned up to it at considerable expense to them. -dan

From the product description: https://earthxbatteries.com/product/etx680-24-tso/ FAA approved 24V ETX680-24-TSO certified aircraft battery. This battery has electronic protections (BMS) and built in thermal runaway containment and venting ability built in. Additionally, he ETX680-24-TSO meets all of the DO-311a and DO-160G requirements for a lithium battery in aircraft. This battery is fully protected by an integrated battery management system (BMS). The BMS protects the cell’s from over discharge, over charge, short circuit, temperature, plus cell balancing to ensure charge levels are equal. Additionally, ETX-Hundred-Series aircraft batteries have redundant electronic circuits and battery fault indication. Also, this battery has fault indication that can be programed into your EFIS or wired to an LED on your panel. The fault indicator alerts you to the state of charge and state of health of the battery. (Please see manual for details)

Turboprop batteries are expensive. Here’s a $7500 concord for the Meridian https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/aviall-rg-41.php?clickkey=1181271

That is fantastic. It is astonishing that legacy avionics and lights cost 85#. -dan

IIRC, the ballast for the Xenon lights was pretty chunky. X2 -dan

@EarthX Inc thanks for dropping in. Once approved for the long body Mooneys, this product could significantly expand the utility of the plane. If @Schllc reports back no significant performance loss from the MT prop, lightening the front and back of the plane by maybe 70# is a big deal. Alrernatively, the forward CG shift could be offset with the Kelly aerospace air conditioner for a net loss of 20# of useful load with a rearward shift in CG. I’d view either path as an improvement. As for excess amp hour storage being an artifact of the Concord battery’s sizing needs for CCA: hauling around an extra 50# of battery to provide for 90, 120, whatever minutes of power after charging failure has an element of choosing a one ton pickup as a daily driver to the train station because you tow a camper twice a year. It works but is wasteful. @TNdebdriver welcome to Mooneyspace. -dan

If you still have strobes, incandescent nav/position, and Xenon landing/taxi lights, you can recover some pretty good numbers with the new hotness that @OSUAV8TER peddles. Maybe 15#. -dan

I don’t have AC. TKS is, IIRC, 54#. empty weight is 2478# useful is 890#. -dan

x2 for the long body planes. would need to check W&B as the 2 batteries are back there for a reason. -dan

on their website: E-K models. Eagerly awaiting the Feds to approve the STC for 24V Mooneys. https://earthxbatteries.com/list-of-stcs/

@Yetti in your shoes, I wouldn’t spend the money on a standby alternator. Here’s why. An alternator failure in a (TS)IO 550 is a “Land Now” event for me because if it is the drive that has failed, the engine is likely on short, borrowed time. I can “Land Now” on either of the two batteries just fine. The second alternator is required for FIKI, but I consider it to be of little practical value…. Unless, of course, there is a way to diagnose the failure mode from the cockpit. If so, I’m all ears. AOPA Article POH says terminate the flight as soon as practicable. -dan

Apples:apples, the TSIO 550G is approximately 50# heavier than the IO 550G. https://continental.aero/specsheets/Continental-specsheet-Avgas-550-Engine-Series-v2_WEB.pdf There are some ways to buy back a bit of useful load, but it’s not obvious where the other 200# is lost. I am super jelly of a > 1100# useful load long body. -dan

Do you find the A* less fatiguing? Probably louder but pressurized. -dan

What a bunch of pikers. What’s a go-around? Put the synthetic vision flight path marker on the TDZ, and listen for the landing height system’s “5 feet” callout for flare (well, really “flair” in this mode). Minimums are for quitters. -dan

Sidewinder performs very poorly in the snow in my experience. I don't know the answer to the safety of towing from the tail, but it would probably be beneficial to include something with some stretch in the towing line. -dan

https://fly2lunch.com Come on down to the Forgotten Coast KAAF Apalachicola, FL. No taxi’s or Uber that I’m aware of, but rental and possibly crew cars available. Or PM me, and if I’m down there could get you for lunch. -dan

David, Are you getting a "Data Path Failed" message on the PFD after boot-up? That is sometimes associated with bad connections. I forget what the correct contact cleaner is, but garmin should be able to point you in the right direction. I do recall that it isn't cheap. My #2 GIA failed with this message (along with a roll servo), and o/h exchange unit from Garmin was $3337.00 -dan