Marauder

I think using a raised jack would work fine. I would just use painter’s tape and put it in different locations to see what works best for you. Over the years I have flown, I have had a couple of headset failures that required me to switch to a backup set. I’m not sure I would like the jacks in a location that make it difficult to do the swap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was told by Ollie (the O in O&N) to try to keep the tanks full if possible. Since I’ve owned them, I have always kept them full. 31 years since installation. When I installed the new caps and CiES senders, I got a good look at them with my borescope. They looked pretty good for their length of service. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Unfortunately I don’t know what your plane’s panel looks like. My F originally had the jacks for the pilot side in the arm rest area. It was okay but my thigh was always rubbing against the wires. Eventually, an avionics shop made a small extension bracket below the panel. It houses the jacks on the left side and a set of breakers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was based in the Buffalo New York area for a few years and had my fair share of snowed runways, snow that melted and froze as ice runways and runways with zero margin of error from the 10 foot snow banks on the runway edges. I loved winter flying just for the performance aspect of it. I see you are based in Maryland. When this COVID nightmare ends, you should fly up and join us for some of our get togethers. Been down your way a few times for breakfast at KCGE and lunch over at KGED.

The folks at Grigg's are decent people. When we upgraded my original bladder filler caps to the new style, one of the caps leaked when the tank got pressurized a bit. Called them up and with a simple explanation what was going on, sent me a complete set of O rings for the cap.

It depends on what style of yoke you have. On my 75 F, it came with “Mongo” yokes. These yokes were large and made for button additions difficult. I know some of the owners who have made adapters to accommodate more buttons. In my case, I had a reoccurring AD on the yoke shafts and I upgraded them to the newer style yokes. This allowed for better placement of the switches on the yokes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

When this happened to me, it is usually because of rapid weather changes. I found that it only happened a few times a year in my old hangar. A lot of the moisture is condensation that came up through the cracked asphalt floor. My current hangar is new and has sealed concrete floors. No moisture issues. You might want to try a fan to move air. The aluminum is just a magnet for condensation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Sure you can. Just fly over Miami and look out at the mounds of cocaine piles below. [emoji1787] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I’m a 31 year owner of a late F model. I flight plan for 150 knots. I debated for years about whether to upgrade my F to something faster. The majority of my flying is on the east coast and trips are less than 500 nm. Most of the earlier J models are 5 to 8 knots faster than my modded F. A late model J will get you in the 160+ range. As others have pointed out, even at a 10 knot delta, we are talking about minutes difference on a 200 nm flight. I just plugged in what I think are TAS for various models for a 234 nm trip I make periodically. I used today’s weather (7 knot headwind at 8000’). My F: 1+41 A J: 1+36 An Ovation: 1+29 (at 175) A Bravo: 1+20 (at 200)(when I take the Bravo up to FL180, it is 1+35) The advantages of the Ovation and Bravo are speed over longer distance flights. And in the case of the Bravo (or other turbo assisted models) there are advantages of better tailwinds and being above a lot of weather in the flight levels. Now when I take my friend’s Piper Cherokee C on this trip, it’s the 2+31 where you can see tears of pain in my eyes. 🥲 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The new interior was installed back in 2017. I put in new rugs last year. What you are seeing in the second picture is the paper template I made to have Airtex make custom fitted rugs. When Bruce did the interior, he recommended SCS to provide the rugs. Little too rich for me, especially considering they are rugs. AirTex sells reasonably priced rugs. They are not the same quality as SCS’s top end rugs but I can replace the Airtex version 3 times for the same price. Plus Airtex was really easy to work with. They originally sent me “pre cut” rugs that were supposed to fit but didn’t. They said if I would be willing to make a set of templates, they would cut and bind them for the same price. I like the fit a lot better. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Dan - the Cirrus version of the STEC 55X POH shows an altitude limitation of 400 feet AGL before engaging it. Not sure it is the same for your setup but likely is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I think your decision comes down to available real estate, your eyesight and budget. As Dev mentioned, a good engine analyzer is a great tool. I started off with a basic Insight GEM in the early 1990s. Just being able to see all of your cylinder’s activities was light years ahead of the factory CHT and EGT probe on cylinder 3. I evolved to an 830 but knowing what I know now, I would have gone directly to a 900 instead of upgrading from the 830. That said, as Dev also pointed out, having some redundancy gives you some backup in case of JPI failure in flight. I opted for a set of EI primary gauges as backups. I have a MP, RPM and fuel totalizer (pressure, flow and total fuel quantity) gauges as backups. As for JPI and EI service. My 900 has been serviced at least 5 times. Two times for electronic issues and three times for displays. They are using a new display currently. The old displays had some sort of glare protection and the new ones not coated. My EIs have had zero issues. I had the fuel totalizer installed way back in 1993 and when I had the EI MP and RPM gauges installed in 2013, I asked EI why my display on the fuel totalizer looked different. They had gone to LEDs offered to upgrade my 20 year old fuel totalizer to LEDs and check the unit out for $60. They are a good company. As for the new display, you can see the increased glare in this photo. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

So there is still hope for me. All I need to do is become famous. [emoji1787] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I would love to see one that was actually a bicycle. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Back when I went all electric with dual magnometers on two separate instruments, I asked about removing the compass. I can’t remember the explanation but it was due to the original type certificate or the minimum required equipment list that still requires it to be in the plane. Be curious if there is an update to this requirement. I trust the accuracy of the mangometers over my mechanical compass. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Wayne - the screen might need to be calibrated. I seem to remember having the issue back when I had the unit installed. Page 162 of the installation manual: https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2ACTZMSS9019/4478020.pdf I haven’t used the on screen ident button since I had the remote ident button installed on the yoke. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Might be good to ask other Bravo owners what an average life might be. I suspect that the long bodies are harder on the brakes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Well that is a problem. [emoji6] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

And there is that too. Learning to fly at a 141 school with 15 some planes on the line led to some rushed landings and carrier landings. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Plenty of farm fields in central Jersey. In fact I owned a 7 acre farmette 18 minutes from Princeton. Plenty of fields to plow. [emoji1787] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The reason they probably told you the brakes were ok was because they didn’t want to have deal with bleeding them. [emoji1787] When was the last time they changed out the pads? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I went through a bunch of different gizmos. Including this: I also tried the red oil can gizmo and was able to get to bleed with the marinade injector on the right. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

It does have a history. I think the same family still owns it. I left the area in 1990. They had quite a fleet of planes and were a 141 school. I plowed through my private. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro