Marauder

I have the 650 with a 10W transmitter and I am willing to bet is close to a 2/3 improvement over my 5W radio. I did check out the 16W, but the quotes were really high....

I have an email out to my avionics shop. It definitely is not switching and I am trying to find out why.

What did it come out of?

You mean you wouldn't use a 1000 ft/lb hammer drill running in reverse to loosen all of Dave's properly tightened screws?

I am waiting for more players to get into the ADS-B arena. I would love to get it on my iPad, but it is funny how all of the ADS-B manufacturers are selling them for the same price! I said this before, the first manufacturer that comes up with an antennae that can be used with anyone's app AND it costs less, far less than $799, will get my business.

Another thing to keep an eye on is if you have Bluetooth running when you are not using it. If it is an WiFi only unit, both WiFi and Bluetooth will be running in the background at minimal power settings (if you have turned on). This is why when you go to the use the iPad, there isn't a boot up process to establish the connection. Unlike a PC that loads all of the drivers and powers up the wireless and Bluetooth. Holding the power button until the red slider comes up is the only way to really power down the iPad. The apps running in the background is more of a memory allocation issue. If you have too many open, you may get an error message saying the system is low on memory, I get this when I try to run the GTN trainer on the iPad after I have opened some apps like ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot without terminating them. They really shouldn't be drawing much power being in the resident memory. If your iPad has a cellular service and you use it, you may also experience what happens to cell phones in low signal areas. My iPhone runs down quickly when my cellular service is marginal.

All of the plane's currents will be in DC (either 14 or 28 VDC). The problem isn't the DC or AC current, it is the magnetizing of the steel cage where our compasses mount. If you ever did that experiment as a kid where you ran a coil of wire around a screwdriver and got it to become magnetized, it's the same concept. In my case, we believe we found the problem. A series of current carrying wires were physically mounted to the cage. Time will tell...

I think the difference is where the current is going. In the case of the engine heaters, you may be magnetizing the engine mount but it shouldn't affect the compass. The steel cage surrounding the cockpit is a different beast. For years I struggled to keep a wet compass swung, even went to the length of having the plane degaussed. But in a few months, it was wrong again. Eventually, I bought a vertical card compass with the balancing balls option. It was the only and easy way to keep the compass swung. It wasn't until this past avionics upgrade that the root cause may have been found (current carrying wires strapped to the cage). I have been spoiled as well with both Aspens having remote compasses. No doubt now.

I guess people don't use reserves any more? Back when I bought my plane, I figured that if I could make it to 1,800 on my engine (I'm a realist) and I needed to reserve $2,000 every year for future avionics needs (repairs or upgrades), it equated to another $20 to $40 per hour flown. With the recent overhaul prices I am seeing, looks like I may need to jack that a bit.

For me, typing away makes my wife think I am working. Shhh... Otherwise that ever growing "Honey Get It Done" list will show up.

The good news in all this Jim is that there are viable options today and based on how we are a fickle bunch, will continue to be so. I think back on the days of NOAA and Jepp charts (there were others though) and how limited we were in IFR options. Since this is an electronic switch making it easier to go from one platform to the next, I am happy to hear and see the competition in the marketplace. It is good for all of us whether we choose ForeFlight, WingX, Garmin or any others out there. We should support them all. What I am seeing from Garmin is a reaction to the changing dynamics in the market. Back in the days of paper, we had limited options. Garmin's recent increased attention to their Pilot apps (both on the Nexus and iOS formats) has convinced me that they are looking to be a significant player in this market (how long before we see a Connected Pilot version for their navigators?). Whether that translates into "we're going to gouge you" mentality, time will tell. If it happens, I'll switch to something else.

Our steel frames can be magnetized by current passing over it, so in theory yes. I have had to swing my compass numerous times over the years. When my up avionics upgrade was done, they did find current carrying wires running over the cage (tie wrapped to the cage).

Who makes it?

Did not know that. I have the STEC 60-2.

I took the GTN trainer for a ride on my iPad. Loaded the ILS I was having problems with and did duplicate what I thought I was seeing in the airplane. Like your situation, when I activated the ILS approach, the ILS freq was loaded in the standby slot. I had it fly the course reversal (tear drop entry). It did not put the approach into suspend mode. It flew the tear drop, turned inbound and did not move the ILS freq into the active position. It continued on in GPS mode until just outside the FAF and a message popped up to switch the ILS freq to active and to switch the CDI. I will keep plugging away with my testing...

Now includes multi map overlays, TFR enhancements, SFRA flight planning, location alerts, stopwatch and trip planning altitudes improvements Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

You get the gold star! Very few people, even in pilot communities know about the B-26.

I have never had one pop open. I heard a story once that all kinds of dust gets blown up from your supposedly clean rugs. Any truth to that?

I have spent a lot of time with both. The biggest difference is in the user interface. The ForeFlight uses a series of buttons on the bottom of the screen to get to where you want. The Garmin uses a "Home" key that pulls up the sub menu. If you are familiar with the Garmin panel mounted GTN series navigator, it looks and feels like that. It is a matter of preference. A lot of pilots like the buttons being on the bottom, for me it really didn't matter. Function wise there are differences between the two. One feature I really like on the ForeFlight is an IFR routing feature that shows you both preferred routes (someone actually filed it) or a recommended route. If you have a long flight being planned, it saves you some time. That said, the Garmin routing is simple enough. Enter your departure and destination, pull the rubber line to the points you want or pick an airway and select the entry or exit points. Garmin is constantly improving their product and I would not be surprised this is added. One feature on the Garmin I like is the split screen. It will allow you to see widgets which contain weather or other items along your route. You can drag a slider and see the changes in weather along the route. Or if you are going to enter controlled airspace, it will show you that. The split screen can also has a panel display for airspeed, heading, VSI, etc. The ForeFlight can show you multiple items on the map (like TFRs and weather radar). Garmin is currently limited to one item. My suggestion is to download the free 30 days trial they both offer and try them out. That is what I did. I bought the full ForeFlight earlier last year and then picked up the Garmin in the summer. The price for both is still cheaper than my old paper charts from Jepp and I get more features than the paper ever gave me. As a long time iPad user, it has taken me a little bit to get comfortable with the Nexus 7. It is different than the iPad, but as far as accuracy, they both are fine. I will be converting over to the Nexus as a yoke mount chart tool because the full size iPad is just too big in my Mooney. I looked at the iPad Mini, but just couldn't justify dropping that kind of money on an iPad that got me no more in terms of function that the larger iPad 2 I own.

Yes, that helps. It looks like (at least I am hoping) that what I saw was the 1%. I was inbound on the localizer for an ILS and unsuspended the unit about a mile out on the inbound leg. When I crossed the FAF, it still had not switched and I switched it manually. I think I waited too long on the "suspend" mode. I read in the manual that it automatically switches from 2.0 to 15 NM from the FAF. Since I was closer than that, the manual says it won't switch. As for the suspend mode; if I understand you correctly, I don't need to do anything when entering the PT. It will automatically enter suspend mode when I cross the holding fix. Let me know if my thinking is correct... If I am flying an ILS with a holding pattern at the FAF and I am doing a parallel entry, once I cross the fix, the unit goes into suspend mode and will stay there until I take it out of the mode. So, if ATC tells me to expect to hold there for a period of time, I just continue to fly the hold and won't need to unsuspend until cleared for the approach. Once cleared, it should automatically switch to VLOC for the ILS unless, I am inside of the 2 NM window. I got this right?

Thanks! A good starting point. I mentioned it to the avionics shop today and they indicated that bleed over can cause it. I know what freqs I was on, so I will try to duplicate it.

I had an exhaust stack stud fail (believed to be from overtightening) in flight. The other stud's nut vibrated loose and the entire stack came off. I had an early warning with the GEM reporting a problem with that cylinder's EGT (started dropping a few minutes before the stack came off). Where the emergency came in was that I was above IMC in north central PA (anyone familar with the area between Williamsport and Elmira, NY will know how wooded the area is). Once the stack came off, it sounded like I was on a Harley. The GEM cylinder temp inverted to red, so I knew I still was producing power, but had a concern that my exhaust was now unleashed in the cowling. I declared and was given a heading to fly to the "Grand Canyon airport" -- now known as Wellsboro. I had one of the early Garmin portables on board, but needed to provide the identifier to find an airport. Fortunately, a Baron familar with that airport filled me in with the details I needed. Although the controller wanted me lower, I requested to stay at 8000' to keep my gliding options open. When I knew I could make the field, I let them lower me and fortunately broke out on the approach 1000' AGL. Nothing like that experience to wake you up to the seriousness of what we do.

I have both the ForeFlight (on my iPad and iPhone 5) and Garmin Pilot (on my iPad and a Nexus 7). What would you like to know? For me, the ForeFlight has begun taking a backseat to the Garmin Pilot because I have started using Pilot on the Nexus 7 because of its smaller size. I still like the ForeFlight routing, but the split screen stuff on the Garmin is much more of interest to me. What you will find, is that everyone values things differently. What is an irritant to one person, is an asset to another. Let me know your concerns and I will answer what I can from my perspective.

You are a brave man for tackling such a large project! Looking forward to the updates. What was the story behind the plane? Just saw your last pictures! Nicely done!

I remember years ago flying safety pilot for a pilot who was working on her instrument rating in a Mooney. The Mooney did not have brakes on the right side. She had flown a VOR approach poorly to a short runway airport. After setting it down, I realized quickly she was not using the brakes at all! It was the only time I ever wished for brakes on the right side of a Mooney! (BTW -- me screaming was enough to get her out dazed phase and stop the plane). She told me she was trying to mentally figure out why the approach went so badly during the landing rollout...