Dave Butler wrote:
[cross-posted rec.aviation.owning, rec.aviation.ifr]

Anyone have any feedback on the dual vacuum-pump STC from Aero Advantage?

I'm considering it for my M20J. Need to convince my partners.

Info on the STC at http://www.aeroadvantage.com

I just spoke to company president David Boldenow, and he said there were
about 100 units installed in the fleet. Any of those 100 on this newsgroup?

Follow up on this thread...

We were quoted three week delivery and that's what we got, plus or minus a day
or two.

We installed the dual vacuum pump STC in the Mooney. There was no problem with
the fit, in fact there's room to spare. The dual pump is about 1 inch taller
than the standard pump that was replaced. I see on the AeroAdvantage web page
that they will have a still-shorter model available next year, only 1/4 inch
longer than a standard pump.

The LED low vacuum indicators (one for each pump) were installed in the pedestal
rather than next to the AI/HI. I'd rather have them closer to the flight
instruments, but the pedestal location is not bad. The lights are bright enough
to get your attention in all but a sunny cockpit (and of course, if the cockpit
is sunny, who needs two vacuum pumps?). Anyway it's an improvement over the
former arrangement with no vacuum gauge and only the low-vacuum annunciator in
the annunciator panel. Said annunciator is still operational. So if one of the
pumps fails, we get a red LED on the pedestal, and if there's a complete vacuum
failure, we get the annunciator on the annunciator panel.

According to the A&P who did the installation, the quality of the parts and
documentation was good.

I don't have the invoice yet for the installation, but from my conversation with
the installer, it took "4 or 5 hours". This is in line with the documentation
and advertising that estimates "4-8 hours". According to Aero-Advantage, the
higher end of the range is quoted with Mooneys in mind, so the 4-5 hour
installation time in our Mooney indicates that estimate is generous.

I don't have any operational experience yet, but I don't expect any differences,
except for a reduced pucker factor in IMC.

Dealing with Aero Advantage has been a positive experience all around. I'm
guessing this is going to be a popular STC.

Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

Dave