exM20K

If the new owners are watching this thread, be advised you have a typo/spelling error on the second sentence of the webpage content.

The LX-7 and Production EVOT are very intriguing to me. Unfortunately the former is next to impossible to insure, and the latter doesn’t exist yet. -dan

Thanks. So if I understand correctly, the auto-thrust is trying to maintain commanded airspeed, the pilot flying thinks that he or she can pull up to arrest the sink rate while the auto-thrust maintains airspeed, which it is not presently doing? Yikes.

@GeeBee what is the auto thrust trying to do during a bounce recovery? Gusty landing?

Yeah, that'll fix it. Datapoint: my speed brakes were removed and shipped to Precise Flight on or about Feb 6. They acknowledged receipt 2 weeks later. They are due to ship back on March 8. The bottlenecks are not limited to labor and bandwidth at the shops. Shipping, outside parts and labor are a significant part of the problem and entirely outside of the control of the shop. -dan

What version were you updated to? -dan

Diamond worked on a landing gear simulator for the DA40: a gear lever, drag device, and warning lights. This never went anywhere, and I don’t recall it ever being installed on a flying plane. It appears that the pro-pilot training world is content with either maintaining a couple of ratty arrows or Cessna RG aircraft, or they go straight to multi commercial in a Seminole or DA42 Private SEL -> MEL -> CMEL -> CSEL add on is how I did it, and that was a pretty efficient way to get the ratings. The CSEL add on was relatively trivial after the CMEL. -dan

Just old receipts. Sorry.

Cleaning out some old files, I came across a bunch of paperwork for planes I no longer own. Here are some interesting datapoints from 1996-8: TKS kit for 231: $19,500 TSIO 360 LB from AirPower: $29,000 ish powertow 35 EZ: $649 labor rate at C&W Aero looks to be about $48/hour. Neil was always so slow in sending out invoices… -dan

Great video from AOPA Congrats @TheMooneyAnomaly

manufactured in 2019, so not likely "Airman" Save! -dan

Remember: it’s not just rain and dew intrusion that can get the insulation wet. Especially for the turbos, a couple hours in the mid to high teens will cold soak the whole airframe pretty well. If landing in a high dew point environment, stuff will get wet from condensation. I see it on the bottom of the wing where the cold fuel is just about every time I land in Florida. -dan

@Ibra that is the right question. looks good:

It’s all splitting hairs regarding performance in the big picture… I balanced the prop at 2400, and it runs acceptably smooth and cool. 2550 runs the TIT significantly higher, so I avoid that. On the other hand, spinning the engine faster should effectively retard the timing a bit, so more efficient work? it is fun to experiment, especially with the capability to record data.

Interesting, Paul... So why do the power charts limit me to 65% ISH power at 2300 RPM and quite a bit less at 2200? I’ve never really experimented in that RPM range. If 2300x30.5 at 16.5 GPH operates smoothly, why not operate there? -dan

It may not be cheaper. CMI or whatever they’re called now got very aggressive in the overhaul market. The factory engines include new exhaust and turbos, plus all the other accessories if I recall correctly. That’s not to say a quality field overhaul isn’t a better build of course. -dan

Actually, believe it or not, there is! my fill tube had a droop in it, which trapped fluid just downstream of the filler. In flight, the avionics bay develops sufficient low pressure relative to the vent-pressurized tank that fluid was drawn back up and out the pin hole on the filler neck. There may also have been tank venting issues, but since that is a big pain to get at, we stopped work after removing the undesired p-trap with some zip ties cured the problem. My cap is snug but doesn’t bind. @Rmnpilot I’d suggest you reach out to Mooney or CAV Aero. -dan

The best takeaway for me from the cirrus crash rate improvement is that training matters. The Nall report records year after year that some mid70’s percent of mishaps have pilot-involved causes. If mishaps are the result of the holes in the stack of Swiss cheese slices aligning, it seems a large majority of mishaps have a pilot-shaped hole in the first slice. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly any of the production singles because of a safety concern regarding the aircraft itself. But I do know I’m probably safer in my Mooney, which I fly 200ish hours per year than in something I haven’t flown regularly or recently. I applaud the Cirrus company and community for emphasizing training at the expense of ego. I still don’t like their planes, though :-) mishap vs accident is a pet peeve of mine from the motorcycle safety and training world. These aren’t accidents. -dan

Present! Simply the finest-handling plane in the air I’ve flown. Ground handling with the cantering nose wheel is fine once you’re used to it. as mentioned above, a demonstration we used was full flaps, idle throttle, and full nose up trim. The plane simply wouldn’t break into a stall. It just bobs nose up and down in a 6-800 FPM descent rate. There is something about a stick that is more intuitive than a yoke, especially the side yoke, which I don’t like at all. Elevator and ailerons are moving in concert with one motion of the control, not pul and turn, for example. Tons of passive safety backed into the cake: flail space no fuel lines in the cockpit braided steel fuel lines Tank between the two spars Seats engineered to dissipate vertical force airbags in front outstanding visibility with a very low sill. Still a big fan, but the company just doesn’t make anything suitable for my mission. -dan

https://www.aviationconsumer.com/safety/cirrus-at-25-a-safer-airplane/ https://www.cirruspilots.org/Safety/CAPS-Event-History

Thanks, this is good to know. Mine was replaced with an off -the-shelf from a major MSC last Spring. The whole actuator was rebuilt as it was grinding. -dan

I have mine on the non-microphone side, mic on the left, boom on the right. O2 in my plane comes from the center, so this lets me trim the tubes quite a bit. Quick disconnect is nice to have. getting the aluminum ball mount to adhere to the Bose A20 was a challenge. I wound up using some JB Weld plastic product, so I’m now fully committed to the air boom. I rationalized the expense of all this stuff as being quite a bit less than buying a pressurized plane. That was four or five years ago, and I’m still here, so…. Count me as a satisfied O2D2 / boom cannula customer. -dan

Mountain High sells flare-tip cannula which definitely improve the flow. https://www.mhoxygen.com/what-is-the-difference-between-standard-and-flare-tip-cannulas/ -dan

@Seth congrats on completing a hat trick of kids. Before abandoning the Mooney, you might consider exactly how many full-family trips you will make as the kids grow up in the next few years. With our 2, once they were into middle school, the activities started to collide with our travel plans- think travel sports, gymnastics, ballet etc. we found it impossible to make the quick trips that we used to when they were younger. We wound up with one or two big trips a year, usually in the RV. The six seaters you mentioned will probably be insufficient at the outset or very soon. Kids, diaper bags, strollers, etc and later they just keep getting bigger. So at first, you cube out, and later you weight out. Depending on you range requirements, a big twin like a Navajo would work, but if your trip is long, it’s too slow and burns too much gas to have a lot of range. I meandered into the pressurized twin Cessna cult for a bit, did a prebuy on a RAM VII 340, and then flew it. I know, not the right orderin which to do things. After the flight, I ran away. The plane was so inferior to my acclaim that it wasn’t even close. If you do go down the twin Cessna route, I can report a very good experience with TAS Aviation in Defiance, OH. They are expensive but also knowledgeable and comprehensive in the scope of what you need for a successful ownership experience. Good luck. -dan

Ditto. Learned quickly not to use block ice in the b-cool. Block slides around and dislodges the bilge pump. also wired a breaker’d outlet to the #1 battery. 80% solution for 1% cost. -dan