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Trip Report: bringing 2XM home to PNW


shawnd

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2XM is finally home! It was a fun packed "vacation" that included few hours of familiarization flight in the Phoenix area, finding squawks that had to be addressed, and then finally making the trip up on July 2nd. Can't thank Frank at Chandler Aviation enough for working with me and getting this plane back in shape. Took roughly five weeks from start to finish and we covered a lot of issues! Also thanks to the instructors that were part of this journey and helping a newbie getting started on the right leg.

The return trip was planned from KCHD -> KHND -> KLMT -> KPAE. First time up above 10,000 ft and with O2. We were sailing smoothly at 16,500 ft and heard pireps from pilots below for turbulence :-) The turbos kept a steady 800-1000 ft / min climb despite the hot temperatures of the desert environments. Of course, there are squawks but they will be addressed over time. But does anyone know where I can get my hands on the Mooney switch covers, esp. the RECOG LIGHT one. The switch itself is in working condition. Also, Bruce's Covers fit the plane like a glove. I was worried about the antennas but they seem to able to take the information from the antenna worksheet and photos and come out with a perfectly fitting cover!

One last thing - any recommendations for a 28V ground power unit for the 252? Need it mostly for playing around with avionics or updating them but wouldn't mind trickle charging if possible.  I am looking at a hangar.

Enjoy the pictures:

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Depending on how deep you want to go on the power supply...

Using a BatteryMinder is a popular device for all things Concorde battery related...

If only using a battery charger, running your full electronics suite may slowly drain the battery....

Did you get a pair of Concordes with that?

:)

Best regards,

-a-

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36 minutes ago, carusoam said:

a 252 at altitude is a thing to behold...  skipping engine details can leave a viewer hungry...

:)

@carusoam Will keep in mind to take pics of JPI next time :) I need to download the data off it too. It's a barebones 730 so it only has EGT + CHT. Planning on adding more probes in the near future. Switching to Concorde battery is also top on the list. I am planning on plenty of flights in between avionics only usage so it should keep the battery charged.

@elimansour thanks for the tip! And yes - it definitely feels different than just another cross country. Good thing I got the aircraft treated with corrosion X as within a couple of days of being back here, it poured.

 

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14 minutes ago, shawnd said:

Planning on adding more probes in the near future.

You should have a Hoskins FF read out in the far right of the cockpit. Be aware you can wire that in parallel to your EDM. But rather than upgrade the 730, I'd just use the 830 color display upgrade through Spruce for about 1K after you return you core 730 display. Then you can truly easily add more sensors. But without even FF, the pre-cambrian era monitor is pretty worthless. The 830 needs a bit more panel space to accommodate than the 730 but oh so worth it.

Eli's suggestion for APU is great one. But, I'd get that battery minder first; unless you plan or expect to replace the present battery any time soon anyway. And also be aware you can buy a 24V 20 AMP power supply on Ebay really cheap and then buy the aviation connector and wire from Spruce and make one for probably less than half the cost of a new one. I think I had ~$150 into mine. The Power supply to get a small computer rack mountable power supply and they work great, you can precisely set the voltage to the same output as your voltage regulator output - not that you have too.

Edited by kortopates
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44 minutes ago, kortopates said:

You should have a Hoskins FF read out in the far right of the cockpit. Be aware you can wire that in parallel to your EDM. But rather than upgrade the 730, I'd just use the 830 color display upgrade through Spruce for about 1K after you return you core 730 display. Then you can truly easily add more sensors. But without even FF, the pre-cambrian era monitor is pretty worthless. The 830 needs a bit more panel space to accommodate than the 730 but oh so worth it.

Yep got the Hoskins FT-101 FF gauge. I thought the 830 was the same as the 730 with just more probes included by default?

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Yep got the Hoskins FT-101 FF gauge. I thought the 830 was the same as the 730 with just more probes included by default?

Yep, you're right. When it has essentially only CHT and EGT I'll tend to assume the first generation 700 series even though I said 730. Sorry.

 

So hopefully all you need is to have someone wire your FF transducer into your monitor, it'll support both displays. you don't even need to buy a new transducer.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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With just the 750 to learn I’d skip the GPU and download the trainer. Then I’d spend time with an instructor or safety pilot to learn the rest. Now if you just want to spend time sitting in the plane listening to the spinning gyros with a smile on your face I think that’s great. Interesting it took so long to get it sorted out. Thought the seller just put it through an extensive annual and substantially bump the price to cover that. Good job finding a shop that knew what to look for. Also completely agree about a hangar. Couldn’t imagine keeping a nice plane outside in Seattle, not a good environment for a Mooney. 

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9 hours ago, MIm20c said:

With just the 750 to learn I’d skip the GPU and download the trainer. Then I’d spend time with an instructor or safety pilot to learn the rest. Now if you just want to spend time sitting in the plane listening to the spinning gyros with a smile on your face I think that’s great. Interesting it took so long to get it sorted out. Thought the seller just put it through an extensive annual and substantially bump the price to cover that. Good job finding a shop that knew what to look for. Also completely agree about a hangar. Couldn’t imagine keeping a nice plane outside in Seattle, not a good environment for a Mooney. 

I do have the trainer app, but lately I have found myself turning master on and off + avionics to diagnose a GTN 750 issue. Certain database updates, though being accepted and stored in memory, didn't persist across power cycles. After troubleshooting, Garmin suggested formatting the internal SD card and sure enough we can't. A replacement one is on its way. Hence doesn't hurt to have one of these around. And the spinning and whizzing noises of the gyro still puts a smile on my face for now - so I am going to enjoy it while it lasts :P

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1 hour ago, shawnd said:

I do have the trainer app, but lately I have found myself turning master on and off + avionics to diagnose a GTN 750 issue. Certain database updates, though being accepted and stored in memory, didn't persist across power cycles. After troubleshooting, Garmin suggested formatting the internal SD card and sure enough we can't. A replacement one is on its way. Hence doesn't hurt to have one of these around. And the spinning and whizzing noises of the gyro still puts a smile on my face for now - so I am going to enjoy it while it lasts :P

In the past I’ve recommended the Iota chargers for ground power units. 

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