Oscar Avalle

The enforcement in Europe of the US rule of two people in the cockpit (flight attendant has to stay in the cockpit while one of the pilots leaves) may have averted this tragedy, or at least made it harder to implement...

According to CNN: One of the pilots on Germanwings Flight 9525 was locked out of the cockpit when the plane crashed Tuesday, a senior military official told The New York Times, citing evidence from the cockpit voice recorder.

I bought my M20C in 2002 and then stopped flying from 2008 to 2011. I found MS once I had decided to take N9341V out of storage and get her flying again. The advice and support from the group, as well as the virtual friendship has been great.

Strange accident descended 14k in minutes without any warning and without declaring an emergency. Good weather, experienced crew... Sad day for aviation 150 people died...My thoughts are with their families. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/24/europe/france-plane-crash/index.html

I use the same procedure.

Amazing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let me increase mine to 1045

Absolutely, I have two screens in my office and one is most of the time linked to mooneyspace.

Hank, yes, I did throw the towel, at least until I am back in the US. My LASAR ignition is dying. I talked to Joe at Champion who has been working with the LASAR ignition for more than 16 years... and his diagnosis was clear. He offered me to send the control box to the factory for them to look at it and tell me if it is broken or not. However, the thinks that the control box is most likely broken and Champion does not fix it anylonger. A new box would cost above 3k, if I could find one. His recommendation was go back to Magnetos. I also tried electroair, but my CHT went through the roof (it was a probe issue) but my local mechanic is now saying that the system is not compatible with Mooneys (Total BS..) and that he would not work on the plane anylonger if I were to install the system. Unfortunately he is the only guy in the country who knows Mooneys. Overall, I would say that there is a lesson... unless the technology is mature enough, if you move and become an early adopter you may end up without adecuate support....which is what happened to me with LASAR. So I had it! To say the least I am very frustrated, but I also think that at some point you have to stop trying and stop pushing the boundaries if the capacity is not there. So I decided to go back to magnetos and in the future once I am back in the US I may try electroair again...

thank you!!!

Guys, After several back and forth I decided that I had enough of electronic ignitions and I am going back to magnetos. Question: What are the part numbers for Slick Magnetos for the Mooney M20C:? Engine O 360 A1D Thanks!!!!

Very nice job!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LOP or ROP?

My plane has been grounded now for three weeks...despite great weather!!! Just a sign of solidarity to you guys!

Indeed, I changed my AP and I grounded my plane until everything has been worked out. The engine is in good shape (145 hrs since overhaul). I had it borescoped, compression checked, etc. and everything came out ok. On the JPI 830. I reused my old probes, they are GEM and not JPI. According to JPI's tech support these may read significantly above of what they should. So we replaced one CHT probe with an analog probe to see what was going on. While the analog probe read 330 the JPI (GEM) probe read 420.... So we went to each cylinder and did the same with the same result. Thank you for all your help and suggestions!!!

Well, just to provide you with an update. It seems that the problem are the CHT probes! I used my old GEM probes and I did not reprogram de unit! Thus they were showing much higher than the should do. With the new ignition the cylinders were working hotter, thus the high CHT.

My first plane was a PA 28 160. Then I bought my M20C.

Yes he did set it 25 degrees...but I don't know if BTDC or TDC... We had a discussion this morning basically about setting it to 20... I suggested he should call electroair Mike on Monday. I just talked to my mechanic and they are going to look into this on Monday. I will report back... Needless to say I am rather disappointed... Sorry my silly questions but here in Guatemala they have never seen one of these systems and I am basically the troubleshooter.

Well after some back and forth I decided to swap my LASAR ignition for a newer electroair system. Why did I do it? Well LASAR is no longer being supported by anybody and I had heard many good things about electroair. BIG MISTAKE, don't mess with things that are working.... After an installation that took a little bit longer than expected, the bird was ready and I went flying this morning. The plane started well (two blades) and it was running like a kitten... wonderful. I just noticed that all CHT were raising, but well, it may change was my thought. On take off I noticed that I was not getting the RPM I was expecting (2600 instead of 2700) and power did not seem as it was with the LASAR, the plane felt sluggish, but I was committed and took off (mistake). After take off I noticed that CHT on cyl 1 and 3 were reaching 480 degrees and the plane was not climbing! At that point I requested to return to the field and landed safely. I turned off the plane and tried to start the engine, and it took several turns and before it started it backfired! Then it ran again well, but it did not produce the expected RPM (static full power 2500) and CHT raised to the sky! We checked compression and everything above 70! No leaks... so it is a real mystery... any suggestions. I asked my AP to adjust the timing to 20 instead of 25... if it does not work I am going back to my magnetos... Any suggestions, ideas....

Where I fly out from ATC radar coverage is rather low (to say the least) and there are several high mountains around here that may become a risk for your health, in particular in low vis. In this environment I love the ASPEN Synthetic vision. It really makes me feel much more confortable and safer. Obviously, the importance of such an instrument is much lower in many parts of the US where there is good radar coverage and flat terrain.

Wow... lucky you!

After my interesting experience with the Salvadorean ATC, I flew back from San Salvador to Guatemala. I was given the Ilopango departure (again not in the GTN 750 nor in the 430 database) and the the approach into Guatemala. Nice flight... very hazy. Enjoy http://youtu.be/URfD0RrLCO0?list=UUuBPKyU-fEOZGWKutpVtFKw

Jajaja....

Here goes my video for my flight from Guatemala to El Salvador. Oscar http://youtu.be/TWSJwToNeZQ

I don't think you can be 100% without draining the tanks. Also it is not to complicated to do it. Just time consuming.