Since AirVenture 2010, I continued to fly regularly with some minor issues with the plane. Actually, not with the plane itself but with the avionics. First, I noticed that the back up battery on the AFS3500 was dead so it was time to change it. No big deal I thought as it's just one of those small flat batteries that you can get anywhere. Well, it turned out that replacing the battery lost all my personal settings for the plane, engine, etc. What a disaster! Had to go to Islip Avionics to get everything set up again. An expensive lesson.
Secondly, On a wonderful flight to Provincetown, MA KPVC, (BTW, a really neat place to fly to. I was there on October 13th and the weather was calm and beautiful. Something I'm told does not happen too often. There's always wind there)
I noticed the ALT breaker pop. Reset it and thought nothing of it until I landed back in Islip. Stop for fuel then taxied back to the hanger. When I shut down, the prop kept turning! The started was still engaged! To make a long story short, I had a spring failure in the starter switch which wasn't a big deal, except the starter was barely turning over to start the engine. I decided to change out the starter, which fixed everything.
Another thing that came up was a tail wheel shimmy. In the beginning, I really though it was just my poor landings that were causing the shimmy but upon further inspection, the bracket was loose and there was a lot of play in the wheel itself. The tire was starting to get worn pretty good so I had that replaced. One thing I learned was it's real important to keep the tire pressure right on the tail wheel. It may look good and even feel firm during pre-flight but you really have to take a gauge to it to make sure it's ok.
Oh, and one other minor thing was a loose wire on the lead from the MFD engine monitor to #1 cylinder. I wasn't getting correct readings there but it was an easy fix.
I was also having trouble with the autopilot. First, the link to the GNS 530 was dropping out. As a default, it would hold the current heading and altitude but I would have to reset it about every 10 minutes so something wasn't right. Sent it back to TruTrak and get it repaired but then a few weeks later, the display started to crap out on me.
So back to TruTrak it went. I'm happy to report that that was the end of my problems with the autopilot. I think Trutrak just replaced the whole guts of the unit and display. It works perfectly now.
The last big thing I did was to upgrade the AFS3500 to the AFS4500. Besides the faster CPU, the brighter display and extra joystick, the real compelling feature was the synthetic vision. I just couldn't think of a better safety feature then having terrain and hazards on the display. This really makes my set up as advanced as anything out there. The only thing I don't have is weather and traffic but that's another story. Here's the link At AFS to the site describing the features.
The installation took a while as I had to send my old unit back for the upgrade but it was worth the wait. I couldn't be more pleased with it. It's taken some time but I really am getting very comfortable with all the features and options when flying. It sure makes the long trips easier.
