PeytonM

Ok,I’ll bite. Are you willing to share specifics from Garmin? I had some luck by lubing the elevator, but after the plane sat for nearly 2 weeks, I noticed the altitude hunting again. Not much, maybe 10-20 feet.

I really hope Garmin rereads this thread from Page 1. Problems with IAS mode in climb and oscillations in ALT- hold are repeated with similar symptoms across multiple J and at least one K airframes.

Trek has been responsive and he’s looking for data from “a handful of planes.” Let’s help him help us!

I found that you can change the reset of Fuel Used on the EIS from “Auto” to “Manual.”

I emailed a sample of flight data to Trek earlier this week, along with other info that Trek requested. I encourage all of you who have reported issues with the GFC500 on this thread do the same. Thank you in advance.

Trek, thank you so much for your post! I will send flight log from EIS and vid. Br, Peyton

Today I called Garmin Support… twice… about the pitch oscillations. On the first call, the gent told me this was a known issue with Bonanzas and SW ver 3.10 was released in Jan 2022 to fix that. He said I could check my GFC SW version on the G3X: “Menu-Menu, LRU, look for Autopilot.” I went over to the plane and tried. Nope. And of course I had hung up by then. Being a glutton for punishment, I called back, and got a different guy. “It’s a known issue. There’s a fix and your installer will know what to do.” He did not know what the fix was; he muttered something about “configuration.” Hmmm. I asked about accessing SW version, and he said that info was not pilot-accessible. Great. There are too many reports to assign the issues to manufacture, airframe, friction, iPads on the yolk, etc. Like I said, my Century2000 was 45 yo tech and it held ALT perfectly. Bonanza drivers saw it, they complained and out comes a new SW version. MSers need to do the same thing. It is the GFC500! Send love notes, flight log data & videos to: aviation.support at garmin.com

Mooney in Oz has some great points! It sounds like there are several of us who are observing the phenomenon of IAS oscillations in climb and slight pitch changes in cruise. I’ll bet there are many who are seeing these issues and chalking this to normal ops. In fact one poster writes “in fact in smooth air, I can even feel the tiny micro adjustments being made to keep the plane exactly at its altitude without deviation.” These 10 ft +/- pitch changes are what we are describing and IMHO are NOT normal given my experience with the Century2000. After spending $$$, unacceptable. MSers who do not see these issues, please post! I know of Arrow and Skylane operators where these phenomena do not occur. What’s going on over in the Beech world? Garmin needs to hear from us, and as Oz suggests, include videos and flight logs. My installer with be at Garmin the week of June 13 and he will have my data. (Maybe it’s a “Dealer Conference!”) Hopefully, Garmin is reading our posts.

I still have NO resolution to my dim Gear Down light: it’s always dim! Any thoughts? SERVICE AND MAINTENANCE MANUAL.pdf

Why can’t I see the videos?

89 M20J. I’ve been flying w/a new panel for about 20 hours, including G3X and GFC500. I’ve experienced what others have reported regarding IAS climbs: best used when IAS is engaged from an airspeed you are already flying, e.g departure climb. Ride can be interesting if engaging from cruise and then trying to dial it down to 100 KIAS! In those cases, I agree VS is a better choice. About 90% if my initial flying was in choppy air, so I was surprised (read ‘disappointed’) to see the slight oscillations with ALT Hold when I recently finally found smooth air! Only about 10 feet up, then down, but you could feel it. However, trim wheel did not move. WT_!! (My old Century2000 was solid as a rock in ALT Hold until the trim servo quit.) We did the Alt Static Source experiment today and it did seem to reduce/eliminate it (or was it “placebo?!”) Installer is leaning towards static line issue. He stressed changing Gain is a big no-no! It goes back in in a couple weeks. I’ll let you know what happens. Regardless, it’s unacceptable.

Upon discussion with my installer, I have a better understanding of the CiES senders. They are calibrated on-ground for in-flight measurement of fuel levels and account for the in-flight attitude of the Mooney. Today I checked the levels in-flight using “Fuel Remaining” measured by fuel flow, and saw approx 1 gal difference compared to Fuel Remaining, hardly worth a recal. The value of the CiES sensors is balancing the fuel levels. I’ve managed to calibrate Fuel Remaining to <1% of actual fuel used. I wish the the EIS didn’t auto-reset Fuel Used at every flight.

I presume I’ll still get them from the GTN.

I’m seeing the differences on the ground.

My CiES readings are 2 gallons high on both sides. Seems to be consistent as low as I’ve gone, down to about 1/4 full. I’m sure calibration was done, so do I need to go thru a complete recal?