richardheitzman

Wind loads on the gear will increase the needed amperage to the motor. All comments above are correct. Clean, lube, inspect. CB do go bad and it might be a combination of increased load with a bad CB.

best lawyer I ever met........my last divorce lawyer. Still send him Christmas cards. Back on topic. 1. don't fall in love with the airplane or the deal. 2. give a little, get a little in my book. Seller does not want to fly 300 miles for the PPE. Can you not find something closer? 3. Perfect advice already given on the Broker and the log books. No more need said on that subject. 4. Don't get buck fever and make a mistake you will regret. Your gut is telling you something and you need to listen. Sometimes it is not the overt actions that are the clue, but the covert actions that ring the loudest. With all that being said, I personally would have tried to go to the airplane instead of bringing the airplane to me. Tell the guy you will buy dinner and take him out for a beer or something. Just don't get so wound up. If he is not keeping his word on the verbal agreements, then that does say something about his character. I know a lot of airplane owners that I would not be friends with.

interesting. Is Steve Sherman still working there?

I don't know if I received an email from you, but I checked I do not have a PM from you. I was in Phoenix all last week and very busy. What is your email address and I will check my work emails. R

Thank you David. R

Hopefully it will take off. The price point is an issue that needs to be overcome. I will continue to work on that internally R

Ouch, sorry about your grandfather. Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for your reply. R

I would if I knew how

Please see my answers below in italics.

Thank you very much for your comments. Considering that it is your first post to the Mooney forums I am proud that your first post is about AmSafe airbags. R

Hi Brian, Thank you for your comments. I will make sure to pass them on to my customer service manager for follow up and review. Richard

Thank you all. Very good comments. The reason why I come to the forum is that I get to hear the good, bad or indifferent. The people in this forum are a cross section of owners across America. I have work with polling before. The questions need to be work up, reviewed, reworked, formatted, listed tested and then the poll is sent out and people ignore it. It is very static and I am not a fan. So I would rather come in here daily and have a discussion with as many owners as I can. So again, the installation comments. I have never said an A&P mechanic will not have the skills to complete the installation. I listed some reasons why we only sell and install at authorized service centers. If having to take your aircraft to one of over 800 service centers world wide to have the installation completed is going to keep you from purchasing the system then there is nothing I can do for you. AmSafe will not sell direct and we will not support a owner installed or non authorized service center installation scenario. So let me go back to the question about what does the airbag system do. I really appreciate that question as it reminds me that as usual I jump in the middle instead of starting at the beginning. Airbags are designed to prevent head and torso trauma in what would be considered a survivable aircraft accident. 80% (or close enough for this discussion) of all general aviation accidents happen in close proximity of the airport, and most of those occur in slow flight or at speeds that are survivable. The number one injury and number one fatality is head and torso trauma from the vehicle occupant striking the interior of the aircraft despite using the aircraft seatbelt. The NTSB and the FAA have reviewed the operation and effectiveness of the airbag system and have provided substantial data to show that they operate as intended. Here is a link to the latest report http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/safetystudies/ss1101.pdf Here is one from the FAA http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/afs/divisions/alaskan_region/media/FSI_Report_AK.pdf The system has an electronic module (EMA) with an on-board battery pack. The system does not interface with aircraft power. The seatbelt airbag system is contained in the lap belt portion of the harness. The EMA has two position sensors that is looking for force (greater than 9gs) and time (45ms or longer) and both force and time have to be seen before it triggers the system. The signal is sent to the inflator bottle (7000psi helium argon, non toxic, non flammable, deploys at room temperature) and deploys the charge. The charge travels down the inflator hose and fills the airbag. The airbag fills the area in front of the seat occupant and the occupant moves into the airbag , which prevents the focal point of impact and mitigating the head or torso trauma. The total deployment scenario is about 50ms, and the bag stays inflated for 3 - 5 seconds before self deflating. http://www.amsafe.com/videos/ to see some testimonials and to see videos of the airbag system in operation. I hope that sheds some light on why we make this system. Richard

Hi Brian, Mooney Space is not my official communication channel. You are more than welcome to email me at my work email which is rheitzman@amsafe.com. I don't even recall the last time I checked the email on the Mooney.com website. Half the time I am here I don't even sign in. So for the sake of this conversation, I do not feel that your comments are justified saying that I provided inadequate customer service. I will ask internally in my customer service department if they received any message from you. If they had, they might have forwarded it to technical support or to engineering. Either way, I am glad someone took care of you, even if it was my competitor. R

I appreciate the feedback. Installation is a key issue and price point is a key issue. There are a number of reasons why you need to go to an authorized service center. 1. STC installation which requires an IA sign off and 337 submitted to the FAA 2. System test with test set to certify the installation once it is complete 3. Inflator bottles are considered Hazmat (compressed non toxic device) so the kit must be shipped to a business address and not a residential. Testing on an annual basis can happen at any time, and basically any where you are, at a facility that has the tool . It takes less that a minute to complete. Pricing will have to be discussed. R