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Landing Height System for Mooney


Microkit

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We just received some feedback and photos from a Mooney owner (he is also an A&P) who finished his installation for the LHS.  

 

His feedback:  

Mooney M20J (1981) with PMA8000B Audio Panel.  

"Even though you can see tons of access panels under the wings of the M20J, the most suitable and direct location is an access panel aft of the gear well.  Port (left) side is better, as it's the opposite side of the exhaust and new wires can follow the existing wires already routed to the back as seen on the pilot side panel.  

Reaching the audio panel J1 plug is straightforward by removing the glareshield.  I am using the ADF “Switched” input.  From the PMA8000B Installation manual, I’ve guessed that the ADF Audio LO (Pin 8) is internally grounded.   When I pulled the unit out, I confirmed this by using a “continuity” test on my ohmmeter and indeed, Pin 8 is grounded to the outside frame/case of the unit.   So only Pin 7 (ADF Audio IN) crimp pin is required.  

Once this pin was inserted and before routing the wires to the back, I tested the Audio by hooking up the unit to aircraft power and connecting to the unit’s Wi-Fi on my iPad.  Audio test worked perfectly.  I was able to rotate the unit while in hand, pointing it to the walls or nearby objects and seeing the distance reported on Wi-Fi while doing that.  

I initially tried to use a 9V battery, but Wi-Fi was not seen, it seems I need a brand new/fresh 9V battery, and probably a high-capacity one as most standard 9V batteries are 100mAh which is not enough juice to kick on the unit.  Using the 12V hookup from my airplane worked directly.  

Work estimate; it took me a while to open up various access panels and check how to route the wires, but once I found a suitable one; my work estimate would be: 1 hour to remove the seats/glareshield/pilot side panel.  1 hour to attach wire to the Audio panel / Power and route them to place.  ½ hour to drill/prepare the access panel.   So 2-3 hours is a good estimate"

 

 

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1 hour ago, donkaye said:

For those of us who have pre-ordered, when can we expect that our units will be sent out?

 

We are shipping out every day.  Still on target.  Expect 85% of pre-orders to reach destination last week of this month.  New orders placed 20th Dec onwards are also on target for delivery early February.

 

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1 hour ago, J0nathan225 said:

@Parker_Woodruff any chance insurers start offering a discount when equipped with an additional voice gear  down reminder?

That is a very interesting question. My initial guess would be that gear-ups would virtually disappear except in (presumably rare) cases of a system failure.

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2 hours ago, J0nathan225 said:

@Parker_Woodruff any chance insurers start offering a discount when equipped with an additional voice gear  down reminder?

Careful!!!  Insurers may charge us a premium if we DON'T have it installed.  :ph34r:

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This is nice and no doubt helpful for a slew of reasons, but my early thought on the check gear call out is slightly less optimistic than the suggestions above. After hearing it time and time again, every time you land (instead of only activating if the gear is actually still stowed), it would seem to be almost just as easily ignorable as anything else. It’s definitely better than not having it, but the talk above about potentially eliminating the mishaps or otherwise having an influence to discount insurance rates seems a wee bit optimistic. 
 

-not a human behavior expert

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I have the P2 system, and the gentlemen who states once, "Gear is down for landing" can fade into the background.  It is harder to ignore the female voice nagging, "Check Gear...Check Gear...Check Gear...Check Gear........"

John Breda

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Great update @Microkit for actual Mooney install time!

Thanks for sharing the details...

I’m looking forwards to Don K’s pirep...  See if you can get his delivery put at the front of the line...  this will be good for a lot of people...

Don K. is our go to CFII guy that has a major focus on Mooney landing techniques and details... and has a background in EE and really loves instrument panel technology... :)

Best regards,

-a-

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14 minutes ago, Mcstealth said:

"EE" ?


oops my bad, Sorry David and everyone not an engineer...

 

The hot spot of engineering!

Electrical Engineering...

All the young bucks are doing it now!  :)
 

Other choices for the YBs... (when flying isn’t their choice)

ME... Mechanical

CE... Civil

ChE... Chemical

BME... Bio-medical

AE... Aeronautical (this has to be a cool job)

 

MS has a few engineers in various places...

Best regards,

-a-

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1 hour ago, carusoam said:


oops my bad, Sorry David and everyone not an engineer...

 

The hot spot of engineering!

Electrical Engineering...

All the young bucks are doing it now!  :)
 

Other choices for the YBs... (when flying isn’t their choice)

ME... Mechanical

CE... Civil

ChE... Chemical

BME... Bio-medical

AE... Aeronautical (this has to be a cool job)

 

MS has a few engineers in various places...

Best regards,

-a-

Guilty! Mechanical Engineer with Masters, lots of injection molding work (tooling, processing, process & product development, quality, etc.).

Mooneys seem to attract engineers, who appreciate elegant designs . . . .

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1 hour ago, carusoam said:


oops my bad, Sorry David and everyone not an engineer...

 

The hot spot of engineering!

Electrical Engineering...

All the young bucks are doing it now!  :)
 

Other choices for the YBs... (when flying isn’t their choice)

ME... Mechanical

CE... Civil

ChE... Chemical

BME... Bio-medical

AE... Aeronautical (this has to be a cool job)

 

MS has a few engineers in various places...

Best regards,

-a-

You forgot SE (Software Engineer) ;o)

-Don

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One point that I have not seen discussed that I think is a huge advantage is cadence timing in regard to sink rate.  I fly the Airbus 320 series and I don't know what the FAA was referencing about only going below 20 ft because I have heard both 10ft and sometimes 5ft if the landing is a floater and the system has time to say it before going through it.  The cadence of hearing 50 40 30 20 10 is invaluable to avoiding smacking it in on landing and helping to identify when to flare for the touchdown.  I.E. if she is barking out the numbers rapid fire you know to rotate the flare early (before 20 is called) and help slow down the sink rate not pull back the power yet and slowdown the sink rate. If on the other hand you hear the cadence in a slow even pace you will rotate to flare after the 20 callout and start pulling the power after 30.  At night it's very valuable to backup what you think your eyes are seeing but some airport runways have the black hole effect and this just confirms where you are.  When I got my mooney I was excited to see it had a radar altimeter but soon realized it was worthless to help me in the flare regime as there is no voice commands from the device I had to be looking outside at that time.  Thus the invaluable and required insurance to have an instructor for my first 1 hour of transition training to help reset my pitch picture and not try to flare at 20 ft off the runway was money well spent.  I still sometimes flare 1 to 2 ft off the runway when I have not flown in a while thinking I'm right there when in reality I'm still high.  This would help in that regard immensely and I can see why airline pilots have been flocking to install this into their GA aircraft. 

 

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hello all,

This is my Mooney.  I finally had a chance to do a test flight as weather was not playing ball.

It was PERFECT.  Love the Check Landing Gear voice reminder.  
 

Had another pilot with me, and the cool factor is awesome. 

 

On 1/8/2021 at 11:21 AM, Microkit said:

We just received some feedback and photos from a Mooney owner (he is also an A&P) who finished his installation for the LHS.  

 

His feedback:  

Mooney M20J (1981) with PMA8000B Audio Panel.  

"Even though you can see tons of access panels under the wings of the M20J, the most suitable and direct location is an access panel aft of the gear well.  Port (left) side is better, as it's the opposite side of the exhaust and new wires can follow the existing wires already routed to the back as seen on the pilot side panel.  

Reaching the audio panel J1 plug is straightforward by removing the glareshield.  I am using the ADF “Switched” input.  From the PMA8000B Installation manual, I’ve guessed that the ADF Audio LO (Pin 8) is internally grounded.   When I pulled the unit out, I confirmed this by using a “continuity” test on my ohmmeter and indeed, Pin 8 is grounded to the outside frame/case of the unit.   So only Pin 7 (ADF Audio IN) crimp pin is required.  

Once this pin was inserted and before routing the wires to the back, I tested the Audio by hooking up the unit to aircraft power and connecting to the unit’s Wi-Fi on my iPad.  Audio test worked perfectly.  I was able to rotate the unit while in hand, pointing it to the walls or nearby objects and seeing the distance reported on Wi-Fi while doing that.  

I initially tried to use a 9V battery, but Wi-Fi was not seen, it seems I need a brand new/fresh 9V battery, and probably a high-capacity one as most standard 9V batteries are 100mAh which is not enough juice to kick on the unit.  Using the 12V hookup from my airplane worked directly.  

Work estimate; it took me a while to open up various access panels and check how to route the wires, but once I found a suitable one; my work estimate would be: 1 hour to remove the seats/glareshield/pilot side panel.  1 hour to attach wire to the Audio panel / Power and route them to place.  ½ hour to drill/prepare the access panel.   So 2-3 hours is a good estimate"

 

 


 


 

 

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1 hour ago, PeteMc said:

How does it work over water?  I've heard that glass smooth water is hard to judge touchdown for seaplanes. 

Don't actually know if that's true, but if it is, this might be something to consider.

Laser sensors do not work well over water.  Yes, crystal clear water surface is a challenge, especially when no side reference (such as shoreline or trees) is seen with peripheral vision.  

We do have a different unit that works for water and uses an ultrasonic element, but for experimental airplanes only. 

 

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12 minutes ago, Microkit said:

We do have a different unit that works for water and uses an ultrasonic element, but for experimental airplanes only. 

I think to myself.... given the trouble that so many people on MS have had lately with insurance for certified land planes, I can't imagine what a pain it must be to get coverage for an experimental seaplane..

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6 hours ago, carusoam said:

Speaking of water....

Wet runways, grass runways, snow covered runways, gravel runways...

Any issues?

My Mooney won’t be landing on any lakes intentionally, the day it does though... I hope the sensor works some...?

Best regards,

-a-

Visitint my brother at KMLJ, the runway points straight out into Lake Sinclair. Depending on winds, I sometimes approach from way out over the lake. But still no water landings yet . . . .

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9 hours ago, carusoam said:

Speaking of water....

Wet runways, grass runways, snow covered runways, gravel runways...

Any issues?

My Mooney won’t be landing on any lakes intentionally, the day it does though... I hope the sensor works some...?

Best regards,

-a-

 

We tested on wet, grass, and dirt/gravel runways.  We expect it to work, even if a 1"-2" snow covered.      

As part of the certification process and showing the FAA our service history, feedback received from several customers that have been using it since 2018 mentioned slush and snow as part of their regular flying.

 

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