TWinter

My annuals (not even a MSC) usually take a week. My shop recently raised his rates to a flat $2K, plus the cost of fluids, filters etc.. Usually I'm heading home about $2200 lighter in the wallet. I also get to hear him bitch and complain that even at $2k he has a hard time getting the annual done within 40hrs. Not sure how much is fact or fiction, but his annuals are pretty comprehensive and recurring ADs and so forth are kept neatly in typed format folders and returned with my logs etc. I do leave all my logs for the week. It is a smaller shop with only 2 main worker bees and a owner/boss, so as far as somebody screwing up it's not hard to find out who put what where. -Tom

If wanting 100% MSC then Cole Aviation in GA is probably your closest ( I think). -Tom

What's the attendance count so far? My post mount compass was broken during the avionics install. I've ordered a new one from Chief, they didn't have the mount in stock, but they are trying to help me and they are having it drop shipped. It should be here by Thursday pending no shipment issues. Just take a few hours to mount. Not that I need a compass to make it to Cullman , but with my luck I would come across a surprise ramp check that would ruin my day..Not so sure they would like or find humor with my old compass just hanging with zip ties to the center post..lol Hope to see and meet everyone on Saturday if the stars line up.. -Tom

Finally getting my gear put back in my bird and realized I haven't put a finished picture up. Not the best picture, but took it quickly on the way out of the hanger today. Pretty much finished, minus a new compass, apparently it was in the way of someone's shoulder or head when they were finishing up..opps, broke the mounting cup. Not a big deal, a new one on the way. Other than that it's pretty complete and now the only thing left is to learn how to use it all correctly. A big thanks to MS guys who really helped pull this all together when I ran into a few snags. From private PMs, input posts when I had questions and even picture posts of their installs all helped..Eventually it all came together nicely. I'll try to get some better pics, but here you go. Before and after. -Tom

As of yesterday the plane is finally home from the avionics shop for good. As soon as you guys figure out where you want to go and if the weather is good I should be in.. So far anyplace that has been mentioned looks good to me. They are all 200-300 miles from me. I'll stay tuned. -Tom

Congrats and well done..Welcome to the land of freedom!! -Tom

Yes it is above the 750.. Only other option was down low above my right knee. The panel space was getting tight with the newly installed equip. It's kind of hard to describe the layout, but it turned out good and very comfortable for my scan. -Tom

What you see is what I've seen. They sent me this picture this afternoon. I have yet to see it in person. I know they had some software issues with respect to the standard settings..The shop spent some time on the phone and got whatever they needed corrected and sorted. Not sure exactly what information is being displayed after the follow-up tech calls, but according to the shop all is good and it's ready to be picked-up anytime. Just finishing W/B paperwork etc.. -Tom

I haven't commented much on your journey, but certainly have enjoyed the reading and following along. I think you are more than prepared. You will do great! Best of luck -Tom

Shop sent this picture today. Should be flying tomorrow afternoon. Ended up at $2150 +/- installed. The shop cut some slack on pricing because it should have been included in the quote from the get go when we decided to remove the vac system. Oversight on their end so his price reflected a little discount. I have some panel clean up, but will get some good full panel pics up soon. -Tom

Jack Edwards..Lunch at LuLu's? They open at 11 am. Plenty of time for folks to get there by 11. KCMD would work as well. Just thinking there might still be some activity for anyone who might want to fly in and visit Mooney style and then if you want to venture to the beach areas on their own they could. October 22nd looks good regardless of location. http://www.lulubuffett.com/gulf-shores/ Just an idea... Should we start a new thread?? -Tom

Should be finished tomorrow. Rain in the forecasts, so not sure if I'll get to pick it up Friday or Saturday. I looked at it this morning..Not much to it for $2k...Display box, battery, a install backing plate and small wiring harness. -Tom

Just dropped it off this morning for the install. Should be done tomorrow. Not much to it...Most time consuming will be cutting another hole in the panel and running a new CB. -Tom

Have faith in your GTN 750....Last year I was working with a New York controller (don't remember the distance) and we struggled transmitting and receiving with each other..In his most New Yorkish accent he told me over the air I had a "crappy radio" and he couldn't hear me..I had to laugh it off and replied something like, thanks, I'll check it out....He was the only ATC that complained my entire 900 mile trip. Maybe he was on his crappy radio.. It's all relative to conditions. I guess being busy NY ATC and I was just flying VFR w/ FF I was fortunate that he even bothered to keep working me Maybe wait and see how others hear you since it's a new to you GTN750. Just my .02 -Tom

Mine should be installed next Monday. Hopefully Pirep to follow. Shipped last Thursday..Just waiting for arrival and install. -Tom

Great idea..Vegas would be hard to do in the winter and a long ways for us living east of the muddy river. I do see the advantage and perks for you west coast folks. A few mid-south folks talked about a Gulf Shores weekend. My plane has been down for most of the summer so I was unable to put that in the works. Mooney Homecoming is coming up and I'm sure people have that penciled in. I do like the idea..always great to see events lined up. -Tom

First flight went well this afternoon. The were a few small issues with one of the Aspen units.,power on, self check and then shut down. The shop was aware of it and working on it prior to my test flight, so I flew w/ only one operational Aspen. The Stec AP worked well, electric trim was good...I still have some learning to do with the remote Garmin audio. All in all things worked as expected..The JPI 930 has a huge amount of info to display and the engine parameters looked good in flight. The shop has a few things to button up and install of the G5 next week. That should do it for a while. All in all a good trial run this afternoon. Certainly felt like a different plane. Pick it up tomorrow and really give it a shakedown tomorrow evening. -Tom

According to them the G5 will meet the requirements..He gave me the option of the Garmin G5 or the Sandia. He was leaning toward the G5 so that was what I went went with. As far as the Aspen and the back-up/extended battery..yes we did do that so we have that base covered. They just had the oversight on the requirement of the separate AI. I was surprised when they hit me with that about the G5, but they admitted and apologized for the misquote. hence the discount he offered. I'm not really sure how the oversight happened, because they do Aspen installs on a very regular basis.They have been in the avionics business since before most of us were born. I think what threw the wrench in the mix was the fact I had all the vac instruments removed. Not something that is done all the time. They also had a twin in the shop they were also taking all vac components out and they also notified the owner of that plane about the need for the extra G5 requirement. They were just getting started on his so he opted to keep the vac components and not go with the G5. Not sure the shop extended the discount since they were just getting started and his still had much of the vac system still in tact. It's early and only one cup of coffee so if this runs on or is not making sense..I'll re-read after cup three. Trying to wake up so the owner of the shop and I can meet up this morning and give it the flight trail. Absolutely nothing in the plane is the way it was..all the way down to yokes, interior, panel and avionics..I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't a little apprehensive. Probably need to cut the coffee to 3 cups instead of my usual Sunday morning 4-5. lol -Tom

Several days of minor setbacks. Today I was informed that since we decided to remove all the vac components there was an oversight from a IFR standpoint. We are now going to have to have the new Garmin G5 installed. The shop admits the oversight and knows I'm getting frustrated with the delays, so they we are doing the G5 installed at half the dealer cost. Total installed should be about $850 +/-. I wasn't really liking the way the panel came out with the modern style Mooney logo in a vintage bird above the GTN750 so that looks like a good spot to install the G5. I also plan to apply a matte or satin to the finish of the panel instead of the high gloss of the clear. The clear has too much uneven glare. It's been quite the project, but feeling proud of the outcome. Really anxious to get it ALL finished. I should have the plane back tomorrow (Sunday) for test flight of everything else. The shop had preordered 2 G5 units and delivery is expected next Thursday. Install is pretty straight forward so they will install in one day the following week. Reseal of the tanks and calibration was a slower process than they expected for the JPI. On the brighter side the tanks are re-sealed..Going to keep an eye on the fuel senders and see how well they work with the JPI. One is lagging slightly, might be time for a rebuild on them...time will tell. We are closer to the finish line though. Test flight tomorrow afternoon. -Tom

Just showed up as a advertisement on my FB page. https://www.groovebags.com/pilotshoes -Tom

We all like to wear comfortable footwear when we fly.. Welcome to my world of funkadelic. Always appropriate for the pilot who flies a plane with a backwards tail. If we are able to make it to the Mooney Homecoming this year I'll be the guy sporting these bad boys Got to have some humor in today's crazy world. These are just funky cool. -Tom

I have the GDL88 and like all it does, but I've always kept the Garmin Portable (usually 696 or 796) because the I like the XM weather slightly better over ADSB and I also like the XM radio. The SXAR1 was always available to get XM weather on the IPad, but they had a proprietary aviation app that had to be used with the SXAR1, couldn't use ForeFlight or your favorite app. Well I got a email today saying ForeFlight is now capable of connecting with the SXAR1 for XM weather on the IPad. To me that's great news..I can drop the portable use free up some cockpit space. I've been waiting for this for a while. Great move by ForeFlight. Cleaner cockpit with less clutter and still get the XM info. Only bad news is they don't have XM radio capability yet and the monthly subscription is $39 a month. You can stream your XM music through your phone through the XM app, but then there is the use of data..I like it, but with the XM radio would have been a nice add-on. Something to ponder. -Tom

I like the location of the AccuTrk... The breaker panel looks very clean as well. I had my AT below my dash on the pilots side..Mine did not look near as factory as you have done. Great job!! -Tom

A few more days and we will be good to go. Fuel calibration by the end of today, finish minor wiring and hopefully a test flight Wednesday/Thursday to set the AOA on the Aspen. It has taken a while but very close. Quick picture from this morning with the Aspens and JPI displays alive. -Tom

That seems high on the JPI. On my E the temps would creep around 210 +/- in hot TN summer at lower altitudes just cruising around, but never saw 260. When you try to cool by cracking cowl flaps open do you see a substantial drop on the JPI (when I say substantial I mean 15-20) ? -Tom