Marauder

Please do. My windows need to be changed out and like Tim's Mooney, I would be interested in the single glass look.

would you? I'm not as limber as I use to be!

Nice video! What was your TAS? it looked like you were screaming along. When you do your next video, could you do a longer segment on the JPI. Really never seen one in action. Thanks for sharing!

Probably the same way Harry Houdini got out of straightjackets. Dislocate a shoulder! I suspect they are pulling up on the adjustment tab to give themselves slack. I do like you, I unclip it.

But what an airplane! I saw one in person once. Looked like a Mooney on steroids.

Going from one brand of an ANR to another I got the same sensation of something "different". When you fly with one headset for a while, you get accustomed to the background noise of your airplane. When I went from my original ANRs to another brand, things just sounded different.

And that is certainly true as well. Especially when the product starts with a "G"...

I didn't read it as a knock on glass retrofits Jim. What I saw was a question on the long term support life of the glass stuff. My point was that I had a fair amount of issues with relatively new non glass stuff. Time will tell if glass (and the OEM support of it) fairs better or worse than the previous generation of stuff.

I think the trust comes from years of established performance and meeting industry standards. Oils must meet an ASTM standard for the specifications they seek. Additives are a different beast. They are considered enhancers and most of the companies that produce them don't go through the process to prove their formulations perform to any standard. That is why I asked to see more data, something based on industry standards and done by an independent testing organization that operates as a regulated and approved testing facility. For all I know Cam Guard could add 1000 hours to my TBO. If you want a similar scenario, look up HPFP and diesel additives. They all have claims of increasing the SCAR rating of diesel. When ULSD was introduced, the lubricity rating of diesel went down considerably because of the reduce sulfur content. If you look at the HPFP manufacturer specs for the SCAR rating and what U.S. ULSD specification are, you can see the problem. I use additives in my diesel just for that reason. When you research the diesel additives, you realize that their SCAR improvement levels are all over the map. There is no standard they need to meet. So it is buyer beware. Not saying that is what is going on here, but if I am going to stick something in my $30k engine, I want to make sure at a minimum, it does no harm. The Mobil 1 synth scenario is a great example.

As a long time Mooney "steam" gauge owner who just joined the "glass" generation, I think there are merits to both. I have flown a lot of hours behind analog with nothing more than a portable GPS for situational awareness. Worked great to a point. I have had my fair share of issues over the years with the King KX-170s, the TKM, the King ADF, the LORAN, DGs, TCs, AIs, heck anything that had a knob or internal moving parts had given me problems over the years. I could wallpaper a room with the number of yellow tags I collected over the years. It became a question of reliability. My belief is in redundancy. In the picture above, you can see I had dual glide slopes. What you don't see in that in this picture (which was taken right before my upgrade), was that the TKM didn't work, the ADF didn't work and the StormScope didn't work. They all must have known their days were number and failed within a short time of each other. Maybe my situation was unique, but I spent a lot of money over the years repairing old technology. Time will tell if the decision was a good one to move partially to glass. Reliability is important and if this glass hardware starts to shatter, I will undoubtedly be second guessing myself. So far, "glass" is living up to the hype for me. I flew an ILS recently and was told to expect an extended hold. One button push and I am watching my GTN show a parallel entry to set me up for a perfect holding pattern. One more push and I am watching the AP fly a perfect holding pattern using GPSS. And I mean watching it both on the Aspens and the GTN. In my analog days, a clearance like that would have me turning knobs, timing, watching my drift and trying to get an update on the weather -- and hoping I am staying within the protected space. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't trust ANYTHING and I have a nice set of "steam" stuff to back up the glass. But it sure is comforting with the additional information available visually to me that wasn't there before. IMHO if I was a VFR only pilot, I think the situation would be different and I would most likely stay steamy...

That's why I opted for the Aspen PFD/MFD.

You mean this stuff?

Just a different perspective on this discussion. I did go the glass route (Aspen) and a GTN 650, so I do have some skin (okay, a lot of skin in the game). When Garmin announced the GTN it also announced the discontinuance of the 430/530 series. They backed off of that when fleet operators began complaining about switching cost. Since then Garmin has taken the industry standard support position (we'll support the product while parts last). Most electronic companies do an annual failure rate analysis during the years the product is in production. Based on the AFR, if a product is discontinued, we normally make a lifetime buy of components needed to provide a set length of continued support. It is costly to hold and maintain this Out Of Production Support (OOPS for short). Beyond OOPS parts are recycled or alternatives are found if needed (either going back to the original supplier and asking for an additional production run or using newer technology). The need for recycling of used parts or alternatives are usually as a result of something that fell outside or the AFR analysis and beyond a normal life expectancy for the product. Like someone holding onto a really old piece of technology (anyone have a KX-170 in their plane?)

As Hank points out, your oil reading could be off. On the F I fly, it takes a long time to come off the peg in cold weather. It eventually does and even on the coldest days, the gauge will read on the green, often barely. If your gauge is accurate, the only thing I would be worried about is the engine getting warm enough to burn off any moisture. Even if your oil temp is 180, there is enough heat to disperse the oil. I take the original engine gauge readings with some reservation. If they still have the original probes and meters, determining how accurate they are is challenging unless you have some way to compare. As I mentioned earlier, my factory CHT was in the non green area but my GEM was showing temps in the 350 range. I have a tendency to believe the newer data.

Got any final pixs yet?

I just finished a trip on the east coast with my F model. The air temps were in the high 20s and my factory CHT never saw the green. My Insight GEM 602 showed the temps in the 300 to 350 range (mostly on the lower end). My oil temp was barely in the green. I have been flying this way for 22 years with this plane. If your oil temp doesn't reach temp, I would be more concerned with this number. Running cool CHTs is not a bad thing. Running too cool of oil, is more concerning.

Hi 201er, I think it would help if you could provide some of the data for this discussion. I am neutral either way on the topic. I have seen way too many wife's tales about the pro or con on so many topics, I'm just tired of looking. I think the bottom line is that we all want to make or exceed TBO. These engine overhauls are not cheap and anything I can do to extend it, I'm willing, if not lazy to listen to. For my Missouri friends, "show me"...

It is called Loctite.

I'm glad I am not the only one who saw this phenomenon this week! Wasn't breaking in a new engine, but even though I have flown in cold weather before, the plane was just scrambling. I had the ASI rebuilt, wonder if that had anything to do with it.

Link to Mooney's AD site: http://www.mooney.com/index.php?keywordsearch=&option=com_servicepdf&modelid=3&Itemid=46&sort=modelid&direction=ASC&model=all&categoryid=1 AD 98-24-11: looks like it pertains to cracks on the ailerons links. Doesn't specifically call out in flight issues. http://www.mooney.com/images/pdfs/sb-pdf/sbm20-264.pdf I would still look over all of the flight controls and inspect for anything that could vibrate.

Looks like 98-24-11. I will confirm for you.

It could be anything in the breeze. The fact that you could get it to stop by moving the relative position of the airplane through the controls, suggests it could be something aerodynamic related. Control surfaces, gear doors, loose sheetmetal (I would not think a loose inspection panel could do this) should all be looked over. If you told me you changed power settings, blade pitch, I would expect it to be power plant related. I think just going over the plane completely looking for anything that looks loose is a good starting point. I mentioned the Heim joints because of the fact they are attached to the flight controls and I believe there is an inspection AD on them.

You're too funny! Love the thread BTW.

When I read your first post, flight control imbalance came to my mind first. Have you checked over the Heim joints carefully on all the control surfaces?

Michael -- I echo Jim's sentiments. 14 years ago I was standing in your shoes. I debated long and hard with myself and friends about what to do (the internet had not begun to introduce me to my new friends ). What was the turning point for me was my logbook. I was flying routinely 150 to 200 hours per year. I counted the number of times each year that I had taken the entire family on trips which required an overnight stay at my destination. I found that with the obligatory family events around holidays (some of which I remembered canceling out of because of weather) and the two family vacations a year, most years I could count less than 7 trips (totaling less than 35 hours per year -- Mooneys are fast!). I had other day trips to the shores/beaches but it was just a matter of fuel trade-offs. It was only on those holiday trips with extra weight due to the Christmas presents that I needed to rent/borrow a bigger plane. I think you are going about this the right way. Just keep the emotions in check when you are negotiating the deal!