Tailbeacon - Who has it?

[Planegary]

Well my mistake. After a buddy brought a test box to help set up the tail beacon the Xperia’s was getting interrogated sitting on the ground so we got it set up in just a few minutes. What surprised me about the ground interrogation is that radar won’t pick me up until about 2000 -2500 feet

[SantosDumont]

Got mine installed this morning. Seems to work great. ATC reported they were receiving ADS-B reports, and I was able to run a report from the FAA when I got home. 

[MinneMooney]

I ordered my Tailbeacon from Chase at Avionics Source (he’s a great guy to deal with) and received it about a week after the STC had been approved. I contacted one of the Uavionix Qualified installers listed at my home airport to install. Installation went quick and easy except we had to substitute a #6 screw for the top mounting screw as the #4 was stripped out. The A&P placed the ground wire under a mounting screw, but it works fine. (if the ground was good enough for the original incandescent nav light, shouldn’t it be fine for the Tailbeacon?)

Unfortunately, that first Tailbeacon apparently had a defective barometric pressure sensor. Uavionix quickly shipped me a new Tailbeacon and the replacement works correctly.
 

I made a short flight and got and printed my PAPR with no discrepancies. This couldn’t have been easier!

[carusoam]

Great detailed follow-up, replete with pic!

Go MinneMooney!

Best regards,

-a-

[Two7Victor]

Update--

TailBeacon from Sporty's received and installed (also had to replace the top mounting screw as it was stripped).  Test flight same day went well and  Public ADS-B Performance Report (PAPR) & GA Incentive Rebate Status (GAIRS) Report came back clean with an incentive code.  Used all this to file the rebate online but about a week later received this message with an additional unpublished step requiring a bill of sale, packing slip or copy of Form 337 before they will approve my "successfully claimed" rebate. 

Maybe they are worried I used a loaner beacon to make the claim or used the non TSO version?

+++

 

Our records indicate that you have successfully claimed your rebate.

Please email us the documentation showing that you have installed certified uAvionix skyBeacon UAV-1001856-002, or the TSO’d version of the TailBeacon. We will not be able to approve your rebate claim without the documentation. Please send us a jpeg file if possible and make sure it does not exceed 5 mb.

 We will need evidence of new ADS-B avionics installation with following methods:

1.Clearly visible bill of sale indicating the owner’s name, equipment and part number, serial number and date of purchase or uAvionix packing slip or

 2. A copy of the FAA Form 337 that includes the above information.

Documentation should be submitted to ADSBRebateHelp@faa.gov.

 ADS-B Rebate Program Office,

+++

[chriscalandro]

Can someone explain why a 337 is required?  Seems like a pretty minor modification. 

[Andy95W]

Because it's STC'ed, which by definition (it is supplemental to the original Type Certificate) is a major modification.

(Not a Random Dingus remark, A&P/IA remark this time.)

[HRM]

On 10/18/2019 at 7:14 AM, MinneMooney said:

I made a short flight and got and printed my PAPR with no discrepancies. This couldn’t have been easier!

Now you have my attention...and BTW, a huge 'Thank You' for posting. The tail of The Mistress is exactly the same as your C. So after all the fuss over the W&B, flutter, etc., etc., etc., what is your take on the mod having flown it about?

[MinneMooney]

2 hours ago, HRM said:

Now you have my attention...and BTW, a huge 'Thank You' for posting. The tail of The Mistress is exactly the same as your C. So after all the fuss over the W&B, flutter, etc., etc., etc., what is your take on the mod having flown it about?

I still think the Tailbeacon is a great option, given the difficulty and cost in getting into an avionics shop install a new transponder. Ask me again in a couple of years and I hope to have the same answer. My plane lives in a hangar near Minneapolis so it is protected from the sun and weather. I might be concerned with long term UV exposure if it was tied down outside. I have heard (from a pilot at our local EAA Chapter) of a few reliability problems.

I am not concerned with flutter as it is attached to a non-movable surface on my plane.

[RobertGary1]

Can you still see your dimmed gear down and gear warning lights during the day now that you have to run with nav lights during the day?

 

-Robert

[MinneMooney]

I don’t remember having any problem seeing the gear up/down lites, but I don’t think it was a very bright sunny day.

[kortopates]

Can you still see your dimmed gear down and gear warning lights during the day now that you have to run with nav lights during the day?
 
-Robert

That depends on whether you have one of the modern Mooney annunciators. I don't know what year they started but I can't see my gear down light in daylight if I flp on my nav lights. But I understand you can simply wire this to come on with the master to avoid that problem - or so I have heard. Piper Arrows are even worse.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MinneMooney]

I also have the worlds most glaring gear down indicator, the Johnson bar.

[mike_elliott]

1 hour ago, MinneMooney said:

I also have the worlds most glaring gear down indicator, the Johnson bar.

...yet maxwell has repaired more gear ups on johnson bar equipped planes. Dont be lulled into thinking it cant happen to you. Very few Johnson bar equipped planes have not been geared up already.

[HRM]

15 hours ago, MinneMooney said:

My plane lives in a hangar near Minneapolis so it is protected from the sun and weather. I might be concerned with long term UV exposure if it was tied down outside. I have heard (from a pilot at our local EAA Chapter) of a few reliability problems.

Here you go.

[MinneMooney]

My SOP GUMPS check always includes grabbing the J-bar and pulling to verify that the down-lock pin has engaged so I don’t have an inadvertent retraction after landing. My plane has a newer Lasar downlock that was installed a while ago after a gear problem/prop strike in 2001.

[HRM]

20 hours ago, MinneMooney said:

My plane lives in a hangar near Minneapolis so it is protected from the sun and weather.

The little cap protects against those, but many have voiced concern, and this holds for the SkyBeacon as well, about theft--especially tied down at an airport somewhere overnight, or even a couple of days. It's an expensive little bobble poking out there.

I am wondering about replacing one of the screws with a tamperproof one. Like avionics in the cockpit, if they want it they'll get it, but a tamperproof screw would slow someone down or make them reconsider the theft.

[Brian E.]

8 hours ago, HRM said:

Here you go.

Cute---reminds me of the Red Hot Chili Pepper sock era....

I couldn't find a safer for MS pic, otherwise it would have been game on!

[Ned Gravel]

I got one as well, but I have been on the road for over three weeks and no chance to get at it.  Sheesh!!!

[SantosDumont]

On 10/31/2019 at 12:29 PM, HRM said:

Now you have my attention...and BTW, a huge 'Thank You' for posting. The tail of The Mistress is exactly the same as your C. So after all the fuss over the W&B, flutter, etc., etc., etc., what is your take on the mod having flown it about?

 

I can’t feel a difference it Tailbeacon installed.  It weighs less than the strobe that was there. 

[Hank]

On 10/31/2019 at 3:29 PM, HRM said:

Now you have my attention...and BTW, a huge 'Thank You' for posting. The tail of The Mistress is exactly the same as your C. So after all the fuss over the W&B, flutter, etc., etc., etc., what is your take on the mod having flown it about?

It's not so simple for all of us. This is the tail of my C, which would require all sorts of extra scrutiny:

The flashlight bulb in the trailing edge has weight similar to its effectiveness--negligible!  

[HRM]

3 minutes ago, Hank said:

It's not so simple for all of us. This is the tail of my C, which would require all sorts of extra scrutiny

Yep, those of us with the split tail get a bye. The whole thing with the SkyBeacon is the antenna; i.e., fin. Of course, the operative question is whether that fin has any effect when flapped back and forth with the rudder.

[MinneMooney]

20 minutes ago, HRM said:

Yep, those of us with the split tail get a bye. The whole thing with the SkyBeacon is the antenna; i.e., fin. Of course, the operative question is whether that fin has any effect when flapped back and forth with the rudder.

The Uavionix Tailbeacon STC Installation manual does say that you need to comply with AC43-13.2B and refer to the Mfg. Service manual if installing on a moving control surface. I would definitely balance the rudder if I installed a Tailbeacon in it.

[mike_elliott]

3 minutes ago, MinneMooney said:

The Uavionix Tailbeacon STC Installation manual does say that you need to comply with AC43-13.2B and refer to the Mfg. Service manual if installing on a moving control surface. I would definitely balance the rudder if I installed a Tailbeacon in it.

Exactly, why not do it right?

[Raptor05121]

On 11/1/2019 at 2:45 PM, HRM said:

 

I am wondering about replacing one of the screws with a tamperproof one. Like avionics in the cockpit, if they want it they'll get it, but a tamperproof screw would slow someone down or make them reconsider the theft.

I remember when the $2,000 LED Whelen wingtip lights came out people were clamoring the same thing. I've read 0 reports of anyone finding them missing. If anything, why would anyone literally steal something that is hard-coded to YOUR airplane and its sole purpose is to transmit its location?