This Thing Is the Bom!

[RoundTwo]

Literally, the BOM.

I just saw this on my FB feed and thought, you’ve got to be kidding me. Just wondering if anyone has given this a second look.

https://shop.levil.com/collections/all-products/products/bom
 

R2

[toto]

Mentioned a few times on MS. I don’t recall anyone who’s actually had one installed, though. 
 

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/35954-looks-cool/

[RoundTwo]

1 hour ago, toto said:

Mentioned a few times on MS. I don’t recall anyone who’s actually had one installed, though. 
 

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/35954-looks-cool/

Thanks. I wasn’t aware it’s been out for awhile. 
 

R2

[Yetti]

So so much drag

[N201MKTurbo]

16 minutes ago, Yetti said:

So so much drag

They brag about how little drag it has. 

[MoonFlyer68]

I actually have one installed on my plane and about 2 weeks after installation my vacuum pump died in IMC dodging storms. It is a great little device.

Before you ask, I don't have all my power settings and speeds nailed down so I can't vouch for any speed loss.

[pirate]

32 minutes ago, MoonFlyer68 said:

I actually have one installed on my plane and about 2 weeks after installation my vacuum pump died in IMC dodging storms. It is a great little device.

Before you ask, I don't have all my power settings and speeds nailed down so I can't vouch for any speed loss.

How did you end up mounting it ? 

[Will.iam]

The ability to easily remove and install seems to me to be a liability as it would sure suck to come out to the airport after an overnight to see someone stole the bom and I wouldn’t want to have to remove and install it everytime i parked the aircraft at an outstation. 

[RobertGary1]

54 minutes ago, Will.iam said:

The ability to easily remove and install seems to me to be a liability as it would sure suck to come out to the airport after an overnight to see someone stole the bom and I wouldn’t want to have to remove and install it everytime i parked the aircraft at an outstation. 

Same can be said for your $800 fuel caps. 

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

WPA2 Wi-Fi encryption is pretty darn strong.  As long as you use a good password the BOM should be useless to anyone else other than as spare parts.  That might not keep someone from stealing it, though.  TailBeacons and SkyBeacons are the same.    

There's almost always a hard reset method to return it to factory config.   This keeps it from becoming a brick if somebody forgets the pass phrase.

 

[MoonFlyer68]

5 hours ago, pirate said:

How did you end up mounting it ? 

I used the screws from one of the forward access panels under the left wing to mount the bracket.

[Raptor05121]

I've seen their factory demonstrator plane all over Florida with it. I talked to the guy flying, he attests zero speed loss. I am inclined to believe him, I have a manual step and with that ~4" wide square tube sticking out in the wind, moving it up or down does nothing to my ASI or groundspeed.

[Will.iam]

9 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

Same can be said for your $800 fuel caps. 

$800 cap? Mine are $285. And the BOM is $1600+. Just a little more incentive there don’t you think?  

[carusoam]

Nice pic!

I think that’s the first time I have seen one with proper scale for comparison…

The ads make it look much larger in diameter…

Best regards,

-a-

[Bartman]

If you see one on the ramp it would be hard not to walk up and look at it. I wonder if it would attract unwanted suspicion and interest resulting in a ramp check from an uninformed FAA inspector. 

[WAFI]

I’m to OCD to have one, I would need cheap fake one on the other side. LOL!!!

[LANCECASPER]

2 hours ago, Bartman said:

If you see one on the ramp it would be hard not to walk up and look at it. I wonder if it would attract unwanted suspicion and interest resulting in a ramp check from an uninformed FAA inspector. 

Seeing what they perceive to be a sidewinder missile under your wing might cause others on the field to be more respectful to you in the pattern. "It would be our pleasure to give way to the Mooney" 

[steingar]

So long as my Stratus is working I can get a panel on my iPad with Foreflight, so I don't see the big whip with this thing.

[ArtVandelay]

I've seen their factory demonstrator plane all over Florida with it. I talked to the guy flying, he attests zero speed loss. I am inclined to believe him, I have a manual step and with that ~4" wide square tube sticking out in the wind, moving it up or down does nothing to my ASI or groundspeed.

Maybe appreciable speed loss, but not zero.
Looking at their demonstration planes, yes cubs, 172s, etc you won’t notice the drag.
You can’t put something in the airstream and not have drag…that’s just physics. Especially when it’s on the wing in the open. An antenna mounted close to the fuselage or even a manual step behind the wing underneath where you have transponder antenna, access panels and gear doors and opening already disturbing the airflow may not hurt you, but in the open, that will cause drag. My OCD would have airfoiled shaped the support bracket.

[Yetti]

 

[Yetti]

Just an airfoil on the mount would reduce the drag by 8-9 times.   Apparently the drag of a round with ball stubby DME Antenna is 8 times greater than the blade type. 

[Will.iam]

Dang, and i have one of those rod ball dme antennae time to replace that with a blade or remove it all together! 

[N201MKTurbo]

31 minutes ago, Will.iam said:

Dang, and i have one of those rod ball dme antennae time to replace that with a blade or remove it all together! 

I just pulled a King KA-60 off my Cessna project. I'll make you a good deal for it.

[ZuluZulu]

My plane's prior owners had one installed.  I tried it for the first 20 hours or so.  It was mounted in a similar location as @MoonFlyer68, under the right wing.  It seemed to work pretty well -- when working -- but I had trouble with the connection to my iPad frequently dropping and requiring reconnection (once or twice every flight).  I liked the idea of it more than the reality and ended up selling it.  If I was flying a Cub or a bush Cessna, I would gladly mount it to the structure like Paul Bertorelli did for a video on AvWeb, but it just didn't seem to fit the look of a Mooney's clean laminar flow wing to me.  IMHO!

[0TreeLemur]

They made us watch those Ascher Shapiro fluids movies in undergraduate fluid mechanics.   They were boring then.   Could they have used another camera?   The lack of personal protective gear is typical of the times.

The results are cool.  The production- not so much.