pirep on flying the Aspen 1000 Pro

[fantom]

 

.....I own an Aspen and like it.

Well, give yourself a pat on the back

[chrisk]

 

Well, give yourself a pat on the back

 

 

[Andy95W]

• Good Radios
• Auto Pilot
• WAAS GPS
• ADSB out
• Engine Monitor
• Fuel Totalizer
• Tablet with moving map.
• ASPEN
• HSI (Not needed with Aspen)
• GPSS (Not needed with Aspen)
• ADSB in
• 406 ELT with GPS
• AOA

+1

[Geoff]

Weather kills more pilots than engine failure or loss of communication. You might consider weather input as a higher priority on your list than 11.

[Andy95W]

Weather kills more pilots than engine failure or loss of communication. You might consider weather input as a higher priority on your list than 11.

Not sure I agree. Weather kills VFR pilots wandering into IMC, but you have to try pretty hard to wander into a thunderstorm without a clue that one is out there. A good com radio, an IFR clearance, and asking ATC if they paint any precip goes a long way.

How about we compromise and say that #7 is "tablet with moving map and Stratus/GDL-39 weather".

[mike_elliott]

I thought Aspens have a dubious reputation for quality and reliability, they may be pretty, but if they break, I'm sure they are expensive to fix

I know of one that needed to be fixed. Aspen "fixed" it for the price of a 2 year extended warranty (about 800) sent him a replacement unit, and gave him 2 more years of exchange warranty.  

I know of more than one GNS430 that needed fixing, Garmin was charging 1K flat rate, no extended warranty included, and that's just a GPS, not their PFD's or MFD's.  I don't even want to know what it is going to cost those long body GX owners to convert their G1000 to WAAS, but like Apple owners, it will be worth it to them and them alone.

[PTK]

I know that my hangar buddy has one in his A36. He flies to Florida for the winter. On his flight back earlier this year guess what happened! I believe Aspen calls it "red x blanky " and conveniently just out of warranty too! Bummer! Good thing ihe was in VMC!

Took airplane in and got a replacement unit for guess how much: 2 grand! No warranty!

I can't help it but cringe when people take these things into IMC.

[carusoam]

Mooneys without Aspens sell at a tremendous discount.

That's how I got mine at such a great price.

Now I'm on board.

Going to need a KSN770 to go with that.

Two Aspens or three?

Best regards,

-a-

[PTK]

Go for three Anthony! It's only money!

[fantom]

Mooneys without Aspens sell at a tremendous discount.

 

 

 

HA...HA

 

Thankfully, not in my experience, and not according to Jimmy Garrison, everything else being equal.

[chrisk]

I know that my hangar buddy has one in his A36. He flies to Florida for the winter. On his flight back earlier this year guess what happened! I believe Aspen calls it "red x blanky " and conveniently just out of warranty too! Bummer! Good thing ihe was in VMC!

Took airplane in and got a replacement unit for guess how much: 2 grand! No warranty!

I can't help it but cringe when people take these things into IMC.

 

My Aspen has been rock solid compared to my GTN650.  My first GTN650 worked for 1 hour, then it would not lock GPS in the AIR.    Less than 1 year later, the second GTN650 decided to fail 800 miles away from home at the Denver Mooney PPP.   Lots of excitement.  The display went blank and I could smell smoke.  We pulled the fuses and all was stable.  Too much excitement.  I'm now on my third GTN.

 

Then when I finally get back to the airport and land, the Aspen shows the "Red X".   It turns out that there was nothing wrong with the Aspen, but it needed an external GPS source when the airspeed got to slow.  The same think happened on my next few landings, until I got the new GTN.

[Piloto]

I know that my hangar buddy has one in his A36. He flies to Florida for the winter. On his flight back earlier this year guess what happened! I believe Aspen calls it "red x blanky " and conveniently just out of warranty too! Bummer! Good thing ihe was in VMC!

Took airplane in and got a replacement unit for guess how much: 2 grand! No warranty!

I can't help it but cringe when people take these things into IMC.

 

That is why you need to have old trusty steam gauges as backup when having one of these.

 

José

[Marauder]

That is why you need to have old trusty steam gauges as backup when having one of these.

José

Personally, I would rather have the red X than a vacuum AI starting to do the leans and me only discovering my quarter size vacuum gauge is off the green scale.

[Marauder]

Mooneys without Aspens sell at a tremendous discount.

That's how I got mine at such a great price.

Now I'm on board.

Going to need a KSN770 to go with that.

Two Aspens or three?

Best regards,

-a-

Dang Anthony! Have you forgot you are a Cheap Bast$&d at heart? Remember, I saw your little homemade ramps you built to get your plane in and out of your hangar. Instead of paying for an asphalt repair job, you must be saving up for that G500!

[Marauder]

That is why you need to have old trusty steam gauges as backup when having one of these.

José

Make sure you include the G500 and the G1000 when you lump these glass panels together. They need steam backups as well.

[Marauder]

IMAG0128.jpg

Ain't it magic when you press that little GPSS button? I'm still amazed at that function. Sure swingy the course heading at every waypoint isn't that hard -- but it interferes with my nap time.

[Marauder]

Well, give yourself a pat on the back

Well, I own two, can I give myself two pats?

[Marauder]

Criticism is the activity of making careful analysis and judgments about the good and bad qualities.

It's a good thing.

Not being able to take it is not! And you can't take it!

Oh I can take it Mr. Garmin, I would just prefer the criticism to be based on some resemblance of actual experience. Go out and buy some glass, experience a red X (doesn't matter which brand red X) and then let's talk.

Or better yet, since we are both Cheap Bast&$ds, come over to my airport and let's go fly around in my red X generator so we can say the criticisms are based on actual experience using the product.

Then you can buy me a beer afterwards...

[Danb]

These avionics failures bring to mind the necessity to keep current on our training,more importantly training for failure of our instruments whether round or square ok rectangular...at the PPP in Roanoke Jerry J was nice enough (no) to turn off the left side of the g1000 about 2 miles from the outer marker, then he said oops lost your electric out goes the other one which was in front of me now...the round gauges are stupidly on the extreme right side again stupid of Mooney..then I flew on the backup round guys..point it get your friends or cfi to practice these failures....I have a simulater and do these but in the rain turbulence you need automatic movements of your next move no time to think...ie. Practice for all these failures vacuum, electric on and on... It's no time to freak out when the red x or vacuum goes out..keep our Mooney stats. Low...

[PTK]

Oh I can take it Mr. Garmin, I would just prefer the criticism to be based on some resemblance of actual experience. Go out and buy some glass, experience a red X (doesn't matter which brand red X) and then let's talk.

Or better yet, since we are both Cheap Bast&$ds, come over to my airport and let's go fly around in my red X generator so we can say the criticisms are based on actual experience using the product.

Then you can buy me a beer afterwards...

 

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." ...Douglass Adams

 

 

 

Enough people have gotten shocked by sticking their fingers in an electric outlet to tell me not to do it! 

 

Beer is on me anytime Chris!

[Marauder]

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." ...Douglass Adams

finger-in-socket-1.jpg

Beer is on me anytime Chris!

I will take you up on the beer! And BTW, thanks for sharing the photo of yourself. I know a lot of people were wondering what you looked like.

[fantom]

IBTW, thanks for sharing the photo of yourself. I know a lot of people were wondering what you looked like.

I've heard the dent is even shorter than Timmy Explains a lot.

SOME Human beings, are unique in having the ability to learn NOTHING from USING THE SELECTIVE experience of others.

[Steve Dawson]

My Aspen has been rock solid compared to my GTN650.  My first GTN650 worked for 1 hour, then it would not lock GPS in the AIR.    Less than 1 year later, the second GTN650 decided to fail 800 miles away from home at the Denver Mooney PPP.   Lots of excitement.  The display went blank and I could smell smoke.  We pulled the fuses and all was stable.  Too much excitement.  I'm now on my third GTN.

 

Then when I finally get back to the airport and land, the Aspen shows the "Red X".   It turns out that there was nothing wrong with the Aspen, but it needed an external GPS source when the airspeed got to slow.  The same think happened on my next few landings, until I got the new GTN.

Who installed the GTN 650 Chris?

[chrisk]

Who installed the GTN 650 Chris?

I'd prefer not to say. It is a well know shop, and I believe it was installed properly.  The issue seems to be the quality of the units, not the install.  So far, its been a warranty issue, and nothing that has caused a dangerous situation.  But thinking about flying a GPS approach around mountains and loosing the GPS is uncomfortable.  There is a serious down side to integrating everything in one box. 

 

Anyway, I am hoping the third one will be reliable.  If not, I may end up with a King or Avidyne.

[fantom]

I'd prefer not to say. It is a well know shop, and I believe it was installed properly.....

Two questions:

1. Believing it was installed properly, why are you uncomfortable naming the shop?

2. What facts do you base your 'proper installation' assumption on?

Good luck getting it repaired.