After an 18-year flying hiatus, looking for the right M20 model to buy

[Tx_Aggie]

On 12/26/2022 at 2:00 PM, Brotherman said:

A shameless plug for a Missile. 
 

I recently purchased one with TKS and could not be happier. 
 

6hr+ range LOP up high (~165ktas on 11.5gph), or burn gas and go fast down low. I’ve brought mine up to FL210, and while climb rate wasn’t great up there, I could have gone higher. I have operated it several times in CO and was impressed by the T/O performance, even at altitude. 
 

Great useful load (1000+) and plenty of baggage room. The extra length on the long bodies is in the baggage compartment, not in the passenger cabin. Even traveling with my wife and a small child (lots of baby gear), we have had plenty of room. 
 

Substantially lower entrance cost than an Ovation means lower stress when the inevitable post acquisition maintenance item comes up (no matter how good the pre buy). If the extra $100k is burning a hole in your pocket, you can always throw it at a great panel.

I considered a Bravo but the overhauls are substantially more expensive. I wasn’t comfortable gambling on a mid-time engine after talking with several mechanics. Furthermore, with wife and child I knew my time in the FL’s would be limited. IO550 widely considered the best ‘legacy’ engine in GA. I’ve had 2 planes with IO550s and the missile takes the cake for me. 

How much do you figure are the overhauls for the Missile?

[Brotherman]

Just an IO550 (A - I believe), so somewhere from $40k to whatever air power has a factory new engine for. 

[Echo]

Around $60k I believe.

[1980Mooney]

The tubular wall thickness on the custom engine mount frame is very thin (three oil filled sizes getting progressively thinner as you go forward).  Look for any signs of corrosion.  The slightest corrosion can exceed the 10% airworthiness limit.  Rocket Engineering will still refurbish/reweld/powder coat for $3-4K,

[Ed de C.]

Update:  I'm zeroing in on Ovation 3's.  They have the GFC-700 I'm looking for and many have SVT, Stormscope, Traffic and XM weather.  And TKS.  

With the 310 hp upgrade (I think standard on 3's), I'm estimating it gets climb performance at altitude of around 2,000 feet better than book (for the 02).  (if you are at 18k, you'll get climb performance matching what the book says for 16k).  Can any of you owners with this setup verify that?  That would make it a viable high-teens or 20k cruiser.  

I looked at one last week with TKS (factory installed).  I can understand why we lose speed with this setup, since the trailing edges of the TKS panels are not fared in with the wing (you feel a noticeable step that should have some aerodynamic effect.)  A Cirrus I encountered in a shop had more attention paid to this area.  I felt a little disappointed with the quality of the TKS panel installation on the O3, but I'm new to this.  Unfortunately, I did not take closeup pics to share.  Do you Ovation guys figure TKS costs us 5 knots at cruise?  

Best,

Ed

[Ed de C.]

I thought I'd put a wrap on this thread and tell you all where I landed.

After talking to Jimmy Garrison back in June, I selected an Ovation over an Acclaim.  I think he had wise advice:  "Ed, if you plan to fly in the flight levels a lot, then get an Acclaim.  But if that's not you, let me tell you about the advantages of an Ovation."  I took a good look at my Michigan-based missions and decided that an Ovation with TKS would probably be the best fit.  (More than one of you hinted at that answer.)  I settled there knowing there would be times when I wished I had a turbo.

After that, it was a matter of deciding on the must-haves and nice-to-haves and searching.  I put TKS and the Garmin GFC-700/500 high on the list.  There was a good-looking Canadian 2008 Ovation 3 out there, but I hesitated to wade into the import unknowns since this was my first purchase.  The advertisement for that airplane changed to say that the seller would procure a U.S. N-number.  At that point, I figured a bunch of unknowns/risk would be eliminated, so I drove to Oshawa Ontario (the east side of Toronto) to have a look.  That was mid-June of this year.  

I was a bit surprised that the selling broker did not clean the airplane either outside or inside.  Any car I've ever sold was detailed to put the best face forward.  Much oil on the belly, grimy interior, lots of chipped paint... I almost walked away.  Fortunately, I realized I needed to look past the cosmetics that a small amount of money and/or elbow grease would solve. 

The good bones were all there, including all the options I could want:  WAAS, G1000 w/GFC 700, Oxygen, SVT, TKS, 310 Hp STC.  It had 1,900 hours on it and the engine and prop had been replaced 100 hours ago due to an unfortunate encounter with a taxi way sign.  I quickly learned that the plane had been maintained by our colleague here M20doc during its 6 years in Canada.  I visited his shop near Toronto and had a great conversation about the plane and his business.  He was sad at the prospect of seeing it go back to the States.  

I offered the broker a hair less than his asking price and sharpened the text of what the seller was going to do for the import process.  This is a good place to say that I was very glad I was dealing with a broker, for several reasons.  One is that there is no seller's emotion about parting with the airplane.  The other is that this Canadian broker was experienced in exporting planes to the U.S. and knew the steps.  

Somewhere along here, my accountant and attorney both advised me on how to setup a company structure to own the airplane.  It's pretty clear that most liability cannot be escaped if the owner is the pilot, and he/she screws up.  The tax advantages are another matter.  Most of my flying will be for business and charity.  My accountant, an airplane owner himself, explained the dry-lease concept, SIFL rates, and accelerated depreciation.  Some detailed spreadsheet work on my part was compelling.  The record keeping is a hassle, but the savings is going to be worth it in my particular circumstance.  Forming the company structure with the help of my attorney (and accountant) was a learning experience but went smoothly.  There are pieces with the Feds and my state.    

Back to the airplane, where to do the pre-buy was an early question.  The broker had recent good experience with a New York shop about 45 minutes across the border.  I had contracted with Savvy Aviation to help me with the pre-buy and they green-lighted the broker's preferred choice.  In mid-July, I rode along on the ferry flight from Oshawa, Canada to Jamestown NY to run a couple of Savvy engine checks and confirm the autopilot worked and all other advertised options and systems were OK.  I caught a ride back with the ferry pilot and his chase plane comrade so that I could pick up my car in Oshawa and get back to Detroit.  The experience of trying to get customs clearance back into Canada was miserable and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.  By contrast the ride into the U.S. via entry at Buffalo was simple and efficient.  It took a month to get from first view of the airplane, through offer, acceptance and negotiations, including where to do the pre-buy, getting on the shop's schedule and getting the plane to the shop.  

The NY shop was great, but shorthanded and so the pre-buy was slow to get going.  Both the broker and I pushed.  Being a 5-hour drive from Detroit, I made the trip 3 times to poke around and keep some gentle pressure on.  The pre-buy punch list was 50 items long.  I was surprised at what was considered an airworthiness item (a leaking baggage door seal?) but was counseled to go with what the mechanic says.  Airworthiness items were to go to the seller, and I would handle the rest, many of which were cosmetic.  The seller balked at replacing the expired oxygen tank (we settled at splitting it 50/50) and pushed back on some fuel seepages and TKS panel wet out failures.  Minor items I could live with (at least I figured that at the time). 

Once the pre-buy was complete and the seller and I agreed on who would pay for what, we moved into the second phase which was the import process.  That revolves around getting a fresh airworthiness certificate from the FAA.  Which means the DAR.  This NY shop had lots of experience with importing airplanes and had a good relationship with a DAR to do that.  Basically, they do an annual.  There was little risk of something new coming up after the thorough pre-buy, but if it did, it would be on me.  Most of the costs of the import process (customs, annual inspection, DAR fees, N-number application, etc.) I negotiated that the seller would pay for.  But fixing annual discrepancies was a grey area.  The seller and I split the cost of the escrow with the Oklahoma company, that the broker had experience with, and the escrow process proved painless.  The escrow company knew all about imports and handled the FAA interactions flawlessly.  

While the shop was scheduling in the DAR, I was scheduling flight training with Mike Elliott's team.  My insurance through AOPA only required I get a checkout in make/model with a properly credentialed flight instructor (because I had 200 hours in an M20J previously).  Scheduling pressure meant that we started to run out of time to chase down all the items on the pre-buy that were deemed to be optional.  There were a few items flagged that I failed to take seriously enough and now I'll pay for:  the nose gear would not retract fully and an erratic right fuel gage reading.  These were not items that prevented getting the new Airworthiness Certificate we needed from the DAR.  Back to these in a minute.  

We got the DAR signoff in early-September.  The rest of the punch list was finished up and the shop owner (a long-time Mooney pilot) flew the plane just before I and Mike Elliott's guy were scheduled to fly it away for training in North Carolina.  He caught a glitch or two (setting up the transponder for the new N-number).  I flew the plane away in mid-September, 3 months after seeing if for the first time in Canada.

The flight training with Sam (Mike Elliott's guy) was money well spent.  He and I met up in NY to pick up the plane and he quickly spotted a frozen static system drain.  Seems the prior owner never actuated it.  I had the NY shop order a new one after the shop was unable to unfreeze it.  When you are looking at the cost of this kind of training, you get creative and Mike helped me realize that it might be most efficient to fly to Sam's home base in North Carolina and train there.  That happened to be in the beautiful western North Carolina mountains, mountains being something I had no experience with.  As you folks already know, it's all about the approaches and landings in a long-body Mooney.  Sam had me target initially 80 knots on final and run full up trim in the flair with power reduction to idle.  It took 8 or 10 practice landings to get it down.  The other work of instrument approaches was routine since I had recent time in a G1000 setup in DA-40s.  Now I target 72-75 on short final and continue to get the landing distances down below 3,000 feet. 

Now, having the plane in Pontiac, Michigan since mid-September, it's been about sorting out remaining squawks and working up to actual IMC flying.  The night lighting is exceptional compared to other small planes I've flown (the DA-40 was terrible).  While I found the DA-40 at night was more difficult to judge the flair and land smoothly, I've found the Ovation to be just as easy to land at night as during the day.  The GFC-700 is fabulous, meaning it is intuitive and competent with approaches.  I continue to learn the G1000 capabilities, especially with flight planning. Once I figure out Vertical Nav, I figure I'll qualify for some sort of prize.  My next step is to fly actual approaches in IMC and then put night and IMC together.  We are beginning icing season in Michigan, so these risks (night, IMC, Ice) need to be handled carefully.  

The remaining squawks are significant but I think manageable.  The first is to clean up the gear rigging.  Back at the pre-buy the shop mechanic said he could not quickly sort out the nose gear retraction due to fighting the down preload.  As we were running out of time, I agreed to table it for a future time.  I'll need to pay for a complete re-rigging.  

That erratic right fuel gage turned out to be interesting.  The pre-buy mechanic couldn't replicate the problem he had originally spotted, so naturally I pretended it didn't exist and agreed to move on (time was short after all).  Well, on the early flights I made the gage acted up.  I mentioned it to my local mechanic in Michigan and he had a look with a borescope.  Turns out the right-side inner fuel sender is weeping slightly with fuel staining at the bulkhead and contacts.  A set a nifty CIES digital senders and labor to install will run around $6k.  But, hey, it's an improvement, so it's in New Math territory...

I was having trouble running much LOP so I popped for GAMI injectors.  Funny, the injectors they ship out appear to be identical.  Regardless, the results were notable:  I could run much leaner, and the engine was smoother.  We think two should be tweaked and GAMI is sending them out.  

A new head-scratcher is a weird fuel flow fluctuation I'm seeing in cruise.  The FF will jump up 1 gph un-commanded.  Then often jump back down the same 1 gph.  It looks digital, bounces between 12.2 gph (my initial setting at level off LOP) and 13.2.  Nothing in between or beyond.  The variable is how long it parks before it moves again.  I feel it and the EGTs move commensurately, so it's not instrumentation.  Savvy is scratching their heads over this one.  There's some play in the mixture linkage both at the fuel control unit and in the cockpit.  We suspect the red knob is allowing excessive lash and will start there.  

We had a curious wing walk delamination on the ferry flight down to New York.  The wing walk had been patched (the forward 2 feet or so).  After the flight, 30% of the patch had peeled back.  I had the whole thing removed and replace with a single piece.  Looked beautiful at first.  Then after filling the tanks and departing for North Carolina, I noticed a bubble under the forward section.  I thought, "C'mon guys, didn't you get the air bubbles out when you glued it down?"  Well the bubble got bigger until at some point it oozed out under the door.  Damn!  Fuel smell.  There's a fuel leak that ate away at the prior patch causing it to peel away.  I cut away pieces until I found the offending screw that was leaking.  Should be a quick fix.  

I've made plenty of rookie mistakes in my first 30 hours of flying the Ovation.  Not putting the mixture in all the way on takeoff (luckily the baffing is good and the CHTs normally run possibly too cool), botched ATC instructions, climbing past 3,000 AGL with the gear and flaps still down on a miss approach, and one time not latching the baggage door.  Sure enough, it popped open on takeoff and the signal was the cold breeze on my neck.  I kept speed low in the return pattern, landed and did the walk of shame to jump out and latch the thing at the runup area.  Now I know why the door didn't fit very well from the beginning:  seems I'm not the first guy to do this.  That slipstream load bends the hinge slightly.  Each goof causes a new entry on my checklist.  I watch that gear down indicator like a hawk and triple check I haven't left the sidewinder tug attached to the nose gear.  

I recently ran a couple of interesting test flights:  the service ceiling and altitude lost turning back to the airport after a simulated engine failure. 

For the service ceiling I strapped on the oxygen and took off with throttle and RPM full forward (2,700).  The results at each 1,000 feet of altitude is shown below.  I was fairly light (2,900 lbs) and the day was a little colder than ISA.  My climb performance at 120 knots was substantially better than 280hp book (Ovation GX2), to be expected with the 310 hp upgrade.  When I pulled back to 105 knots at the higher altitudes, the climb was only a little better than 280 hp book.  I leveled out at 22,000 feet.  The MP on descent was a bit higher than on climb indicating some ram effect (around 0.5 inches). 

For the engine out simulation, I setup the configuration at a 120-knot climb (gear and flaps up) and chopped the power to idle at a specified altitude.  I allowed the plane to continue climbing (and turning back) until the indicated airspeed hit 85 knots, then held 85 knots.  A road below was my simulated runway so that I knew the series of turns that would be necessary.  By the time I got re-aligned with the road in the opposite direction I had lost around 800 feet from when the power was chopped.    That tells me I really need 1,000 feet of altitude to be confident of making it back to the airport.  I can only imagine what goes through your mind if an engine failure on takeoff happens for real.   Also, I now know about the built-in gear down aural warning and wonder how any of us are landing gear up (if we are). 

My hope is that some of you will find this informative and/or entertaining.  Consider it small payment for all that I’ve gleaned from the group over the past year.

Best,

Ed

Service Ceiling test data.pdf

[Ragsf15e]

1 hour ago, Ed de C. said:

I thought I'd put a wrap on this thread and tell you all where I landed.

After talking to Jimmy Garrison back in June, I selected an Ovation over an Acclaim.  I think he had wise advice:  "Ed, if you plan to fly in the flight levels a lot, then get an Acclaim.  But if that's not you, let me tell you about the advantages of an Ovation."  I took a good look at my Michigan-based missions and decided that an Ovation with TKS would probably be the best fit.  (More than one of you hinted at that answer.)  I settled there knowing there would be times when I wished I had a turbo.

After that, it was a matter of deciding on the must-haves and nice-to-haves and searching.  I put TKS and the Garmin GFC-700/500 high on the list.  There was a good-looking Canadian 2008 Ovation 3 out there, but I hesitated to wade into the import unknowns since this was my first purchase.  The advertisement for that airplane changed to say that the seller would procure a U.S. N-number.  At that point, I figured a bunch of unknowns/risk would be eliminated, so I drove to Oshawa Ontario (the east side of Toronto) to have a look.  That was mid-June of this year.  

I was a bit surprised that the selling broker did not clean the airplane either outside or inside.  Any car I've ever sold was detailed to put the best face forward.  Much oil on the belly, grimy interior, lots of chipped paint... I almost walked away.  Fortunately, I realized I needed to look past the cosmetics that a small amount of money and/or elbow grease would solve. 

The good bones were all there, including all the options I could want:  WAAS, G1000 w/GFC 700, Oxygen, SVT, TKS, 310 Hp STC.  It had 1,900 hours on it and the engine and prop had been replaced 100 hours ago due to an unfortunate encounter with a taxi way sign.  I quickly learned that the plane had been maintained by our colleague here M20doc during its 6 years in Canada.  I visited his shop near Toronto and had a great conversation about the plane and his business.  He was sad at the prospect of seeing it go back to the States.  

I offered the broker a hair less than his asking price and sharpened the text of what the seller was going to do for the import process.  This is a good place to say that I was very glad I was dealing with a broker, for several reasons.  One is that there is no seller's emotion about parting with the airplane.  The other is that this Canadian broker was experienced in exporting planes to the U.S. and knew the steps.  

Somewhere along here, my accountant and attorney both advised me on how to setup a company structure to own the airplane.  It's pretty clear that most liability cannot be escaped if the owner is the pilot, and he/she screws up.  The tax advantages are another matter.  Most of my flying will be for business and charity.  My accountant, an airplane owner himself, explained the dry-lease concept, SIFL rates, and accelerated depreciation.  Some detailed spreadsheet work on my part was compelling.  The record keeping is a hassle, but the savings is going to be worth it in my particular circumstance.  Forming the company structure with the help of my attorney (and accountant) was a learning experience but went smoothly.  There are pieces with the Feds and my state.    

Back to the airplane, where to do the pre-buy was an early question.  The broker had recent good experience with a New York shop about 45 minutes across the border.  I had contracted with Savvy Aviation to help me with the pre-buy and they green-lighted the broker's preferred choice.  In mid-July, I rode along on the ferry flight from Oshawa, Canada to Jamestown NY to run a couple of Savvy engine checks and confirm the autopilot worked and all other advertised options and systems were OK.  I caught a ride back with the ferry pilot and his chase plane comrade so that I could pick up my car in Oshawa and get back to Detroit.  The experience of trying to get customs clearance back into Canada was miserable and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.  By contrast the ride into the U.S. via entry at Buffalo was simple and efficient.  It took a month to get from first view of the airplane, through offer, acceptance and negotiations, including where to do the pre-buy, getting on the shop's schedule and getting the plane to the shop.  

The NY shop was great, but shorthanded and so the pre-buy was slow to get going.  Both the broker and I pushed.  Being a 5-hour drive from Detroit, I made the trip 3 times to poke around and keep some gentle pressure on.  The pre-buy punch list was 50 items long.  I was surprised at what was considered an airworthiness item (a leaking baggage door seal?) but was counseled to go with what the mechanic says.  Airworthiness items were to go to the seller, and I would handle the rest, many of which were cosmetic.  The seller balked at replacing the expired oxygen tank (we settled at splitting it 50/50) and pushed back on some fuel seepages and TKS panel wet out failures.  Minor items I could live with (at least I figured that at the time). 

Once the pre-buy was complete and the seller and I agreed on who would pay for what, we moved into the second phase which was the import process.  That revolves around getting a fresh airworthiness certificate from the FAA.  Which means the DAR.  This NY shop had lots of experience with importing airplanes and had a good relationship with a DAR to do that.  Basically, they do an annual.  There was little risk of something new coming up after the thorough pre-buy, but if it did, it would be on me.  Most of the costs of the import process (customs, annual inspection, DAR fees, N-number application, etc.) I negotiated that the seller would pay for.  But fixing annual discrepancies was a grey area.  The seller and I split the cost of the escrow with the Oklahoma company, that the broker had experience with, and the escrow process proved painless.  The escrow company knew all about imports and handled the FAA interactions flawlessly.  

While the shop was scheduling in the DAR, I was scheduling flight training with Mike Elliott's team.  My insurance through AOPA only required I get a checkout in make/model with a properly credentialed flight instructor (because I had 200 hours in an M20J previously).  Scheduling pressure meant that we started to run out of time to chase down all the items on the pre-buy that were deemed to be optional.  There were a few items flagged that I failed to take seriously enough and now I'll pay for:  the nose gear would not retract fully and an erratic right fuel gage reading.  These were not items that prevented getting the new Airworthiness Certificate we needed from the DAR.  Back to these in a minute.  

We got the DAR signoff in early-September.  The rest of the punch list was finished up and the shop owner (a long-time Mooney pilot) flew the plane just before I and Mike Elliott's guy were scheduled to fly it away for training in North Carolina.  He caught a glitch or two (setting up the transponder for the new N-number).  I flew the plane away in mid-September, 3 months after seeing if for the first time in Canada.

The flight training with Sam (Mike Elliott's guy) was money well spent.  He and I met up in NY to pick up the plane and he quickly spotted a frozen static system drain.  Seems the prior owner never actuated it.  I had the NY shop order a new one after the shop was unable to unfreeze it.  When you are looking at the cost of this kind of training, you get creative and Mike helped me realize that it might be most efficient to fly to Sam's home base in North Carolina and train there.  That happened to be in the beautiful western North Carolina mountains, mountains being something I had no experience with.  As you folks already know, it's all about the approaches and landings in a long-body Mooney.  Sam had me target initially 80 knots on final and run full up trim in the flair with power reduction to idle.  It took 8 or 10 practice landings to get it down.  The other work of instrument approaches was routine since I had recent time in a G1000 setup in DA-40s.  Now I target 72-75 on short final and continue to get the landing distances down below 3,000 feet. 

Now, having the plane in Pontiac, Michigan since mid-September, it's been about sorting out remaining squawks and working up to actual IMC flying.  The night lighting is exceptional compared to other small planes I've flown (the DA-40 was terrible).  While I found the DA-40 at night was more difficult to judge the flair and land smoothly, I've found the Ovation to be just as easy to land at night as during the day.  The GFC-700 is fabulous, meaning it is intuitive and competent with approaches.  I continue to learn the G1000 capabilities, especially with flight planning. Once I figure out Vertical Nav, I figure I'll qualify for some sort of prize.  My next step is to fly actual approaches in IMC and then put night and IMC together.  We are beginning icing season in Michigan, so these risks (night, IMC, Ice) need to be handled carefully.  

The remaining squawks are significant but I think manageable.  The first is to clean up the gear rigging.  Back at the pre-buy the shop mechanic said he could not quickly sort out the nose gear retraction due to fighting the down preload.  As we were running out of time, I agreed to table it for a future time.  I'll need to pay for a complete re-rigging.  

That erratic right fuel gage turned out to be interesting.  The pre-buy mechanic couldn't replicate the problem he had originally spotted, so naturally I pretended it didn't exist and agreed to move on (time was short after all).  Well, on the early flights I made the gage acted up.  I mentioned it to my local mechanic in Michigan and he had a look with a borescope.  Turns out the right-side inner fuel sender is weeping slightly with fuel staining at the bulkhead and contacts.  A set a nifty CIES digital senders and labor to install will run around $6k.  But, hey, it's an improvement, so it's in New Math territory...

I was having trouble running much LOP so I popped for GAMI injectors.  Funny, the injectors they ship out appear to be identical.  Regardless, the results were notable:  I could run much leaner, and the engine was smoother.  We think two should be tweaked and GAMI is sending them out.  

A new head-scratcher is a weird fuel flow fluctuation I'm seeing in cruise.  The FF will jump up 1 gph un-commanded.  Then often jump back down the same 1 gph.  It looks digital, bounces between 12.2 gph (my initial setting at level off LOP) and 13.2.  Nothing in between or beyond.  The variable is how long it parks before it moves again.  I feel it and the EGTs move commensurately, so it's not instrumentation.  Savvy is scratching their heads over this one.  There's some play in the mixture linkage both at the fuel control unit and in the cockpit.  We suspect the red knob is allowing excessive lash and will start there.  

We had a curious wing walk delamination on the ferry flight down to New York.  The wing walk had been patched (the forward 2 feet or so).  After the flight, 30% of the patch had peeled back.  I had the whole thing removed and replace with a single piece.  Looked beautiful at first.  Then after filling the tanks and departing for North Carolina, I noticed a bubble under the forward section.  I thought, "C'mon guys, didn't you get the air bubbles out when you glued it down?"  Well the bubble got bigger until at some point it oozed out under the door.  Damn!  Fuel smell.  There's a fuel leak that ate away at the prior patch causing it to peel away.  I cut away pieces until I found the offending screw that was leaking.  Should be a quick fix.  

I've made plenty of rookie mistakes in my first 30 hours of flying the Ovation.  Not putting the mixture in all the way on takeoff (luckily the baffing is good and the CHTs normally run possibly too cool), botched ATC instructions, climbing past 3,000 AGL with the gear and flaps still down on a miss approach, and one time not latching the baggage door.  Sure enough, it popped open on takeoff and the signal was the cold breeze on my neck.  I kept speed low in the return pattern, landed and did the walk of shame to jump out and latch the thing at the runup area.  Now I know why the door didn't fit very well from the beginning:  seems I'm not the first guy to do this.  That slipstream load bends the hinge slightly.  Each goof causes a new entry on my checklist.  I watch that gear down indicator like a hawk and triple check I haven't left the sidewinder tug attached to the nose gear.  

I recently ran a couple of interesting test flights:  the service ceiling and altitude lost turning back to the airport after a simulated engine failure. 

For the service ceiling I strapped on the oxygen and took off with throttle and RPM full forward (2,700).  The results at each 1,000 feet of altitude is shown below.  I was fairly light (2,900 lbs) and the day was a little colder than ISA.  My climb performance at 120 knots was substantially better than 280hp book (Ovation GX2), to be expected with the 310 hp upgrade.  When I pulled back to 105 knots at the higher altitudes, the climb was only a little better than 280 hp book.  I leveled out at 22,000 feet.  The MP on descent was a bit higher than on climb indicating some ram effect (around 0.5 inches). 

For the engine out simulation, I setup the configuration at a 120-knot climb (gear and flaps up) and chopped the power to idle at a specified altitude.  I allowed the plane to continue climbing (and turning back) until the indicated airspeed hit 85 knots, then held 85 knots.  A road below was my simulated runway so that I knew the series of turns that would be necessary.  By the time I got re-aligned with the road in the opposite direction I had lost around 800 feet from when the power was chopped.    That tells me I really need 1,000 feet of altitude to be confident of making it back to the airport.  I can only imagine what goes through your mind if an engine failure on takeoff happens for real.   Also, I now know about the built-in gear down aural warning and wonder how any of us are landing gear up (if we are). 

My hope is that some of you will find this informative and/or entertaining.  Consider it small payment for all that I’ve gleaned from the group over the past year.

Best,

Ed

Service Ceiling test data.pdf 598.71 kB · 1 download

Actually a fuel leak at the sender is common and not bad.  You know where it is and it’s a lot easier to fix than a failure in the sealant.  Sometimes it’s a new gasket or similar.

[chriscalandro]

If you’ve built a 360 it seems like you have the knowledge to take advantage of going the experimental route again. Seems like a 4p or even an RV10 would have fit the bill pretty well. 
 

id be very nervous about spending that kind of money on an airplane that’s very difficult to get factory support and parts from, and which barely exists.