ADS-B and Engine Monitor Upgrade

[pfactor]

I think Mooneymite's question is valid. "Why install an AOA in a Mooney?" My reasons are very similar to Don's (I'm Phil Verghese -- who he referenced in his post). My initial interest was to help me fly the right speed for the current weight. In my M20J, there's about a 10 knot difference between the right speed at max gross, to being lightly loaded. Excess speed means more time floating down the runway. My home runway is about 3,000 feet, which is by no means a short field but I was consistently using more runway than I wanted to because I was flying too fast on final. What really happened was I flew at the max gross Vref, despite knowing that I should have been flying slower when lighter. I just didn't do the math every time and probably could have just made myself a handy table on my checklist.

 

But like Mooneymite and Don, I flew my Mooney without an AOA for over 15 years with no problems.

 

After installing the AOA, I discovered the added benefits of having useful indications for being at Vx, Vy, and Vglide adjusted for weight.

 

In summary, I'm not too worried about getting to slow and making the classic base-to-final stall/spin error. I'm more interested in flying slow enough to minimize my float on landing. I'm consistently using less runway after having the AOA installed. I'm sure I could have done the same without an AOA by being more diligent about calculating my weight and Vref every time. Having the indicator just makes it a no-brainer.

 

Do you need an AOA? No. Will it help you make more consistently good landings? I think so.

 

Phil

[Mooneymite]

 

 

Do you need an AOA? No. Will it help you make more consistently good landings? I think so.

 

Phil

 

Now there's a real selling point!  

[Mooneymite]

Here's a question for you AOA guys:  How close to stall, does the stall warning typically sound?

 

I realize that the stall warning does not operate exactly like an AOA, but it operates on the same principle.....

 

Is it 15% above stall in the landing configuration?

[donkaye]

Here's a question for you AOA guys:  How close to stall, does the stall warning typically sound?

 

I realize that the stall warning does not operate exactly like an AOA, but it operates on the same principle.....

 

Is it 15% above stall in the landing configuration?

 

I don't like it coming on too early.  It doesn't in mine.  It come on 5 knots above stall.  Regarding the AOA, it also gives you an audible warning as you are approaching the donut.  Today, before I took my airplane in to the avionics shop to try and get the AP to function the way I think it ought to function, I flew a test of the Altitude Preselect and returned to San Jose.  It was glass smooth so I just approached with the upper half of the donut showing.  This is 1.2 Vso in my plane.  The pitch attitude was quite a bit higher than I had been flying for 22 years and the approach speed with full fuel and only me on board turned out to be a surprising 68 knots, a speed I never would have flown without the AOA.  The landing was perfect and very short, but the comfort level was 100%.  I had to taxi up to the first turnoff.  I am definitely becoming attached to the AOA, much more so than I would have thought.

[aviatoreb]

Well it has begun.  I've got my Eagle in the shop for some much needed upgrades. 

 

Beautiful George.

 

My Rocket is also in the shop getting a new engine monitor - an EDM830 to upgrade my EDM700.  ANd 3 months ago I upgraded my KT76a to a trig TT31 ADSB out transponder.  ANd 2 years before I did the alpha systems top end AoA with voice annunciator and heated probe.  So some of hte similar stuff as you.

 

I almost did the flightstream 210 during this shop visit this week but without the GDL-88 it will not give any ADSB information to my ipad. I have the GDL39-3d.  The 210 is still very useful for the fact that it allows flight plan syncing to my 430w, but I kind of wish they had a flightstream 310 - something that included the adsb in function of a gdl 39-3d and ahars and also the upload-download capability of the 210.  Eventually I hope.  I decided to wait on the 210 for now.

[Cruiser]

I don't like it coming on too early.  It doesn't in mine.  It come on 5 knots above stall.  Regarding the AOA, it also gives you an audible warning as you are approaching the donut.  Today, before I took my airplane in to the avionics shop to try and get the AP to function the way I think it ought to function, I flew a test of the Altitude Preselect and returned to San Jose.  It was glass smooth so I just approached with the upper half of the donut showing.  This is 1.2 Vso in my plane.  The pitch attitude was quite a bit higher than I had been flying for 22 years and the approach speed with full fuel and only me on board turned out to be a surprising 68 knots, a speed I never would have flown without the AOA.  The landing was perfect and very short, but the comfort level was 100%.  I had to taxi up to the first turnoff.  I am definitely becoming attached to the AOA, much more so than I would have thought.

Don,

 

just to be clear, when you setup for landing with the AOA with a higher pitch configuration, is the stall horn sounding as you approach? When does the stall horn sound vs when did it sound the non AOA configuration?

[donkaye]

Don,

 

just to be clear, when you setup for landing with the AOA with a higher pitch configuration, is the stall horn sounding as you approach? When does the stall horn sound vs when did it sound the non AOA configuration?

 

The stall horn sounds the same as it did before, as it should at the same AOA.  At 1.2 Vso the stall horn does not sound on approach until the end of the flare.  I normally won't fly the approach at 1.2 Vso,  No need with a runway of at least 2700 feet.  A comfortable approach speed is the donut at 1.3 Vso with the speed varying with the weight.

[GeorgePerry]

Despite the lengthy thread hijack with AoA discussions, Hopefully anyone considering the GDL88 sees this.  After really getting to see the GDL88 in action I've been extremely pleased.  However there is an issue that is a bit troubling.  During ground operations I kept receiving spurious failure indications.  By the time I got to the GDL status page on the GPS, the warning had disappeared.  Well today I finally got to see what was tripping the warning.  On the status page it said their was a CSA failure.  After getting some fuel and taxing back to the hanger the failure seemed to clear itself.  After discussing with my avionics shop they tell me this is a known problem with the GDL 88 and Garmin should have a fix soon.     Here's info from Garmin's site. 

 

Service Advisory 1463: GDL 88 Software Version 3.00 CSA Failure Indication

20 NOVEMBER 2014  / SERVICE ADVISORIES /

 

AFFECTED PRODUCTS:
 All GDL 88 models with Software Version 3.00.

ISSUE:
 After updating to GDL 88 System Software Version 3.00, an indication that the CSA (Conflict Situational Awareness - traffic alerting) functionality is failed will appear when the aircraft is not moving (has no current GPS track) and there is no source of aircraft heading provided to the GDL 88. In fixed wing aircraft, this typically occurs only when the aircraft is on the ground and is not moving. The CSA failure indication will clear when the aircraft begins moving again. The CSA failure indication when there is no current GPS track and no source of aircraft heading will be addressed in a future software release.

PILOT ACTION:
 No pilot action is required.

http://garmin.blogs.com/files/1463a.pdf

[Bob_Belville]

George, I have had a GDL 88 for over 2 years. I do get, typically 3, warnings about no GPS info on the GTN 750 upon startup but as the SB indicates I have never had an issue once I'm on the move.