AndyFromCB

I remember people telling me I was wrong doing my overhaul with a local shop here in Omaha (Central Cylinder, who by the way does crankshafts and cylinders for most big name shops). That I was going to pay more than factory, that my warranty would be worthless, etc, etc, etc. 200 hours on the overhaul, to new limits, going amazingly strong. 32K vs 58K from lycoming (yes, Bravo engine is nothing but a basic 250hp io550), overhauled the cylinders instead of going new. Compressions as of last friday: 77, 76, 78, 77, 76, 76. No metal. And from everyone I talked to, including a flight school here at KCBF, if there is ever a problem, Central Cylinder guys will go out of their way to be fair fixing it. Warranty was 2 years, 1000 hours. Go with a known small shop in your area...My two cents... Little plug for my guys, really amazing crew, on time, to a dollar on the estimate... http://www.centralcylinder.com/testimonials/

Joe, Great picture. KAPA and KCYS are some of my favorite destinations. If you're into camping but don't want to drag all your gear but still want some fun and solitude, you should check out the Little Brooklyn Lake Guard cabin available for rent in the Snowy Range mountains, about an hour drive from KCYS. We go there all the time in both winter (3 mile snow shoe hike from the road) or summer (most of the time you can drive right to it). $40 a night, best deal ever from the Feds as far as I am concerned. Andy

If it flies, floats or fornicates, rent it, it's cheaper in the long run

Well, they are continental cylinders. The lycoming cylinders on the Bravo seem to now last forever. My Bravo has about 3700 hours on it, two overhauls due to camshaft issues and the cylinders looked so good at the last overhaul, that I could have kept them as is but decided to spring for a full valve job, new pistons and rings to save myself $1800 a pop for cylinders (1AMU to overhaul vs 2.8AMU for new). Now, granted, the airplane always gets flown at 75% (30in 2400rpm), and, take this, about 50 to 100ROP...That gives me about 195knots at FL180 at 18.5 gph. Or I can put around at 155 down low all day long for 12.5 gph or 165 up higher on the same fuel flow. Turbo wise, the only thing that needed replacing at overhaul was wastegate. The original exhaust system lasted close to 3000 hours, it was replaced about 700 hours ago according to logbooks. Two turbo overhauls during the 3700 hours. So no bad at all. Trying to get 220knots out of a Bravo, or 240knots out of a Acclaim is what kills the cylinders. Bravo is a 200knot bird and Acclaim is a 220knot bird if you want to make TBO. Buy a Bravo ;-)

Really easy. Done on lycomings all the time when the camshaft/case/bearing goes. You take the case apart, the bottom overhaul and mount the cylinders back on without doing anything to them.

No reason to freak out. The wing will carry an inch on the leading edge at vrf plus 15 wit no issue. Don't drop the flaps bey

Best part about all of this for me as far as I am concerned, as it spreads to other states and becomes legal everywhere, it will put the CBP folks out of business. Good riddance. It's a product, it has customers, tax it, sell it. I'll stick to ice tea and coffee.

Prop full in, power out to 20" 2 miles out always gets me down to below gear speed (140) in about 30 seconds once level right as I join the downwind. Gear down gets me to 110 flap speed in the next 30 seconds. Never had issues slowing down with the 3 bladed prop. Maybe two blades are different. I go full flaps and 17" once abeam the numbers which will put me right at about 75knots over the numbers, then about two twists out, level off, power out, flare. I usually chew up 2,500 feet landing without hard breaking but that's because I keep some power in until I flare. Had the bottom drop out from underneath me too many times to go idle at 50 feet. Funny how all Mooneys kind of fly the same, J and my Bravo use almost same power settings. As to being ham fisted, unless flying in the kind of environment where I need to be doing 160 until on final, I tend to be the 2inch a minute kind of guy on descents. I'm still recovering from the overhaul check writing process;-)

A waiver like that is not worth the paper it's written on. You simply cannot sign away the rights of the estate.

Trainers/commercial ops are a totally different ball game. Frankly, I was surprised it was only that much. I was looking at doing a leasback for a flight school on a Seneca and the bill was closer to $15,000 so that killed that idea.

It's not insurance, it's a warranty ;-) I don't think RadioShack employees have P&C licenses. I wish the department of insurance would clamp down on this crap. Just like Byron, I had a hail claim that I never noticed until 3 months later, after switching insurance companies and my old company and new company worked together to determine where it happen and which one would pay. The old one, Global, paid without any issue once it was determined it happend on their watch. Issued a check directly to me. Second of all, aircraft liability insurance is a pretty low price to pay for peace of mind and financial responsibility.

Dave, Look at your own raw data. The difference in ICP between 50 ROP and 50 LOP is about 8% while the difference in crank angle is about 10 degrees. Whole lot to do about nothing. LOP is great for saving fuel at a cost of some airspeed and keeping your engine cleaner but no engine out there is going to self destruct at 50ROP if the CHT stay low.

Oh my Lord, I've run my arrow in the red box the entire time I've owned it (wide open throttle, 2500rpm), peak EGT. It had 1550 hours on a 1400 hour engine before I sold it and zero engine related maintenance costs. My Bravo has run 1600 hours on the last engine, always about 75-100 (depending on OAT/CHT) rich of peak according to prior owner and it wasn't the cylinders that finally grounded the aircraft, it was the usual camshaft issues. I completely agree that ICPs are highest right at 50ROP. I completely disagree that it makes a damn bit of a difference on my intercooled engine. If I was to run my Bravo 200 rich of peak, I'd be putting 25gph thru that engine at 75%.

One, a second pilot makes all the difference in the world, especially IFR. As to twin engine safety on one engine, I said king air not a piston twin. Underpowered piston twins are a handful. A king air on a single engine, with the auto feather and ruder boost is a non-event. And yes, it keeps on climbing even at high density altitudes. But to each their own. How many engine failures have you experienced and walked away from? Corporate flights on twin engine turbo props and jets flown by two pilots fall out of the sky at a rate that's about as low as airlines. Since I've started on this board, we've had more members bite the dust in their mooneys than all netjet crashes combined since the start of the company. Yes, better equipment and better crews do increase the level of safety considerably. We fly toys meant for fair weather and yes, daytime. An acquaintance of mine has a Cessna Mustang and still keeps his Marquis card loaded up for when he feels the flight would be unsafe in a Mustang.

If you win the megamillions, I'd strongly recommend applying the three Fs rule: if it floats, flies or fornicates, rent it, it's cheaper in the long run ;-)

I'd like to see a PC-12 do mid-300 knots cruise. 280 tops. Usually more like 270. Should I win tonight, it will be a King Air 250 for me ;-) Something I can still fly myself when the weather is nice, and something I can kick back with a drink in the back when I'm feeling tired and lazy.

Dead on. Right before my windshield got covered with oil spring this year, I chose to cancel a flight due to weather and just drive to fargo. It was severe clear here in KCBF and KFAR, but in between it was zero/zero. I drove. Guess what. Next flight my engine started dumping oil overboard. I would most likely have been dead. No hard IFR, no night flight for me in a single. To me, that's a job for a King Air at minimum.

Yeah, the lycoming overhaul cost for this engine are insane but it does include new turbo and exhaust transition. However, it's really a 30K overhaul to new limits if you use a smaller shop (like Central Cylinder here in Omaha) and your exhaust transition is in good shape. Don't be scared of the 8K retail price on it. Both Acorn and Plane Exhaust can make a "new one" for around $1,500. When I overhauled mine at about 1600 hours due to camshaft problems, my cylinders were still meeting new specs, so there is something to be said for the oil cooled valves. I still had them rebuilt with all new parts but it was nice to know.

I'm heading to Jackson Hole on Feb 8th. If you see a black and silver Bravo sitting on the ramp, that would be mine. It's one of the few singles that meets the IFR gradient out of there but I still won't depart if it's less than 4000/3 required for VFR climb to IFR. Way too many things to hit should the engine stumble ;-)

What's the story with 14,000 feet? More or less stops anyone flying in the mountain regions or with a turbo.

30/2300 seems to be a sweet spot where I burn about 15.5 for 185knots at 12,000, or about 195 at 17,000 to 18,000. Running Bravo LOP seems to be an excercise in futility IMHO. It works at lower power settings where you can esentially get close to J efficiency, at lets say 24/2200, 155 knots at altitude for about 11 gph, but I've never been able to go LOP at higher power settings. This is one funky engine that peaks different cylinders in different order at different power settings. I tend to run mine like the previous owner, right at 1650 and so far the turbo and exhaust have done just fine in the last 800 hours.

Actually it would probably do just fine like most jetskis and snowmobiles are run at 100% and go on, and on, and on and then cost $600 to overhaul ;-)

Well, since you started, actually, 99% of aviation infrastructure was developed when the country was really socialist, as in 1950 and 1960 when the top income tax rate approached 93%. All the goodies didn't just for themselves ;-)

It's amazing what even a hill can do if it's windy enough. Iowa is mostly flat like a pancake but around here in the Omaha area we have these weird formations called loess hills that stand about 200ft tall out of nowhere. The are exactly on the approach patch of Eppley Airfield when landing to the north on ILS. It can really catch you off guard. Once on a landing in Cheyene I essentially maintained almost full power to about 500ft to stay on the glideslope before things settled down a bit. It was gusting to 40 on the ground. I'm too old for these things anymore, anything over 25knots on the field, I'm staying on the ground.

He used it quite a bit too. Almost 2800 hours before he sold it. Geared it up once as well.