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I originally thought this was a link to an Onion article but was disappointed to learn (that like some Onion articles) people are taking this crap seriously. I loved the “Why we (sic) sure it was the vaccine that did it” and his very scientific approach to this problem. For my mental health, I try not to argue with manipulative nut jobs on the internet (too much) but if you find his arguments persuasive then go ahead and skip the vaccine. I read 20-30 EKGs a day at work and order at least 10 high-sensitivity Troponin tests every day and have been doing so since before the first vaccine came out. I think if there was some real widespread cardiac damage from the vaccines I would have seen it (and so would have thousands of other people who do the same thing I do). But don’t believe me. I’m clearly just part of the conspiracy. “Why we sure it was the vaccine that did it There are several clues that are consistent with “it was the vaccine and not COVID”: They were quiet about it. If it was COVID, you can be public. But the vaccine is supposed to be safe. The timing. October 2022 is late for COVID. If it was due to COVID, it would have happened well before now. They can make changes every month. The vaccine creates far more injury to the heart than COVID (which creates NO added risk per this large-scale Israeli study of 196,992 unvaccinated adults after Covid infection). Anecdotally, cardiologists only started to notice the damage post-vaccine. All the sudden deaths started post-vaccine”

Seems to me that if all the people who were so sure about their predictions for the future of the economy consistently acted on their beliefs -- and were right -- they'd all be rich. So, why aren't they? The truth is that no one really knows the future for certain, and timing a market is a fools errand. Time itself is the great equalizer. In the long term, prices tend to increase. When the economy takes a downturn, who sells their airplanes? Those who probably couldn't really afford them anyway. So, are those going to be the best cared for, cream of the crop kind of airplane you want to own? Or, are you going to get a bargain-priced airplane that will cost an arm and leg to fix all the deferred maintenance items? Sure, everyone wants a great deal. But, the hardest thing to find is a good solid airframe. You're looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack of ill cared for machines. When you find one, and can get it for a fair price in whatever the current market conditions are, that's the one you want to buy. At least that's what has worked for me. Skip

I flew to Dallas this past week to do a transition training in an Acclaim Ultra. After the last few weeks in California with our deluge of rain, it was nice to get some clear weather for a change. The first 2 days went well with smooth air and calm winds. We got through most of what I like to do with regards to flying the airplane, including the necessary ground instruction. This prepared my student well for the 3rd day. A cold front moved through the previous night, and Wednesday dawned with strong winds. We got off to a late morning start due to lingering rains and the lack of any approaches to this Airpark, but that provided time to review the G1000NXi. Most of the smaller airports around the Dallas area where we were have single runways aligned North and South. The wind was strong out of the West. We first flew over to Bridgeport where we had worked in smooth air the previous 2 days and where, at 5,000ft long we could practice all the various types of landings I like to practice. It didn't hurt that the fuel prices at $4.95 were cheaper than I have seen in several years. With a single runway that was aligned 18-36, the AWOS called out the winds as 270° at 9G26. I had the student line up on final for 36 with full flaps just to see what the crab angle would be to hold the runway. It was close to 45°. My rule of thumb is anything greater than a 15° crab angle means reducing the flaps to either approach or no flaps and increasing speed by at least 10 knots plus ½ the gust factor. At 75 knots nominal approach speed that meant 75+10+9 or 94 knots. It was VERY bumpy and gusty on the approach, but at 95 there was enough rudder to be able to align the airplane with the runway in the transition from crab to wing low. The airplane needed to be flown onto the runway with touchdown at nearly 95. This obviously requires a reasonably long runway. The gusts were so bad that I needed to help with the landing. The one thing nice about partial or no flaps is that the stall speed is increased so the airplane is done flying at higher speed. At touchdown the power is gradually reduced as the plane slows. If at any time during the power reduction there was not enough rudder and aileron combination to hold the runway as the plane slowed, we could have immediately gone around. The landing was both challenging and exciting. In fact it was exciting enough that time would have been wasted doing any more "practicing" there. While fueling up I watched a C172 bounce down the runway, not able to make the landing and depart the field to who knows where. We looked for more desirable airports, but the best we could find was Mineral Wells aligned at 13-31. The takeoff from Bridgeport was by the book and we bounced on over to KMWL. The winds were still strong, but the crosswind component was more like gusty 20 knots. We were able to get in 17 full stop landings over the next few hours, and the student improved. We then went back over to Bridgeport for fuel. The winds were as bad a before, but this time favored runway 18. We came over the threshold at over 95 knots, touched down, bled off the speed gradually, and were able to complete the landing. This time I had the student fill up to get the airplane heavier for both a better ride and to have more options should we not be able to make the landing on the home airport of Propwash (16X) with its white fence just about on the threshold and 60x3000 foot dimensions. Frankly, with those winds I wasn't sure a landing could be made there, but close by Alliance with its 11,010 foot runway would surely work as a backup. It would be a short Uber ride back to the house. We lined up on final for runway 17. It was gusty, but nowhere near as bad as Bridgeport. Watching the crosswind and headwind component on the PFD was very helpful. There was a slight headwind component to help and we crossed the threshold at between 85 and 90 knots. The touchdown was smooth and I committed to the landing as we slowed, as there was enough rudder and aileron to complete the landing. I told the student that she got to see the full capability of the Mooney that day, but that she should not be going out on days like that until a lot more hours were under her belt. She thanked me for the opportunity of being able to fly that day and said how much she got out of the day. The Mooney is one great airplane.

I’d be more concerned with dated magnetos, carburetor and fuel pump. Either of these can stop your flying before a corroded cylinder or camshaft.

The factory has been very supportive of this issue. We found the issue and reported it to them. They issued a notice about the issue followed up with Service bulletin which has now turned into an AD. They have hired a vendor to manufacture replacement weights that should be available in February. You and your mechanic can come up with an Alternate means of compliance and submit it to the FAA. Mooney would have no say. They issued an immediate notice of the problem for the owners safety. They issued a Service bulletin, The FAA issued an AD and the factory has contracted for the parts to comply with the AD noy sure what else can be done Don

@GeeBee, I find your arguments persuasive and probably some of the most rational and well reasoned on this site. You are absolutely correct. We don’t know the long-term effects of anything until the long term has passed. This applies to novel diseases as well as novel vaccines. No one predicted post-polio syndrome until patients who had polio as children developed worsening muscle weakness as adults. People didn’t know childhood mumps led to infertility problems until those children tried to have kids. In a time of uncertainty we have to choose between multiple unappealing options based on limited information. As an ER doctor, this is something I do every day. As an airline pilot, you probably had to do this as well. Given the choice of the vaccine or the disease, I chose the vaccine. Is it a gamble? Of course. But having seen what the disease did in the short term (and not so short term) I tried to do everything I could to reduce the risk to myself and my family. Other people, given the same information, made different choices. I have no problem with this. What bothers me is people INTENTIONALLY spreading misinformation which they know to be false for personal gain. I think that is inexcusable. People who don’t know what they’re talking about authoritatively trying to force their views on others is a close second and often seems to be more related to their political views than their particular knowledge on a subject. This is unfortunate.

18k is way too low. 30% is not at all crazy territory. It is probably spot on for me and many other folks who actually use their short body Mooney a reasonable amount. Consider my yearly costs in my heavily updated M20C: Hangar $5,400, insurance $1,800, annual $4,500, [120 hrs flying x 10 gal/hr x $6.50] $7,800. So we're already at $19,500 without even considering other scheduled + unscheduled maintenance or engine/prop overhaul reserves. I suspect all together I blow around 25k per year, and my insured hull value is 75k - so greater than 30%.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't altruism. We hope G100UL is very profitable for us in the long run. It's a business, and that what businesses (hope) to do. I don't make any claims that we're GA warrior and environmental saviors either. I think the "lead poising our babies" trope is WAY overplayed. It isn't a zero effect issue, either. The writing was on the wall 20 years ago regarding 100LL. We chose not to bury our heads in the sand when we realized it was a problem we could solve and people would pay us to solve. That's the free market. Your statements about the STC process illustrates you have NO IDEA what it took to get this done. You said paying back our investment isn't a concern . . . maybe not to you, but it's sure a concern for those of us hoping to keep the business running. 6 months ago, we weren't 100% sure we would EVER get the STCs. 2 months ago, we weren't 100% sure we were EVER going to get to sell STCs. Like Guy said, Swift may be right on our heels. Someone we don't even know about might be quietly going through the STC process, and almost done, right now. EAGLE/PAFI may negate the whole STC process and the FAA may declare all piston engines able to use approved unleaded fuels by some executive fiat. I might get hit by a school bus tomorrow. The future is always uncertain. By selling STCs now for about the cost of a full tank of fuel, we hope to be able to get fuel to market sooner. That's not a trade secret, that's just sensible business. Some people out there will appreciate our efforts enough to spend that money to help us accomplish that goal. They know it will benefit us both in the end. Here's the other side of the free market. You don't have to ever buy the STC or the fuel. You can probably get 100LL for years to come. You can (maybe) switch to an electric airplane or a diesel someday soon. You can make and certify your own fuel. You can give up flying and take the bus. You have options. Trying to paint the owners of GAMI, or plain ol' employees like me, as some kind of gougers, racketeers, or money grubbers makes it plain that you don't know us very well. Anyone who does know us on a personal level will tell you that isn't who we are. That's just the truth. John-Paul

Someone may have done this or something similar before, but I decided to film myself building my own Power Supply and uploaded it to YouTube. Check it out and let me know your thoughts. Please be nice....this is my first ever video attempt of this kind and I know it could be better. Constructive Criticism is welcome. Always willing to learn! Chris N231JY

Wait until you see the numbers for a person who spends 5 years in a nursing home. As a 32 year owner of the same plane, I can tell you to the penny what I spent on OpEx. Enough to buy a couple of Pocono Mountain cabins or a really nice beach house or my 5 years in a nursing home. I had an old timer plane owner educate me about flying. He said it would be cheaper for me to stand at the end of the runway throwing $20 bills in the air watching planes fly rather than owning one. I think he was right. I always find it amusing reading these threads. For only a few, plane ownership is a necessity. For the rest, it is a hobby, something we enjoy that few others can do. The more we can incorporate it into our lifestyle, the easier it is to say we got our money’s worth. People tend to justify these expenses in a bunch of ways. Everything from ignoring expenses, not really tracking them or rationalizing them (I won’t keep the plane long enough to worry about an engine overhaul). The bottom line is that if you didn’t have an airplane, you wouldn’t have any of these expenses. It’s like anything in life, if you enjoy it and can afford it, do it. You’re on this ride we call life only once. As for the car expense side thread. My grandmother stated it nicely. “If you want to get back at your worst enemy, buy them a used car”. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I think that statement may be a bit broad though certainly true in your case and probably many others. I, on the other hand have a completely different experience. I flew the CH-46 in the Marine Corps, Turbine Beech 18’s and Lear Jets in Part 135 operations and finally DC-9’s, MD-80’s and Airbus 320 series in the airline. They were ALL hard for me to learn and then easy once learned. When I got hired at Spirit folks said “ Oh it will be easy for you since you have been flying LR 20 series. Ha! I got in that Dc9 sim and felt like I couldn’t find my butt with both hands! But it was an old feeling. I was so discouraged learning to fly the Lears I almost went to another career. But I put my head down and went at it and the light came on! I loved flying those old Lears and became an instructor pilot. When my buddy took me up in his Mooney some time ago to experience small airplanes after decades, It took a long time to get the hang of it. But once I finally figured out I had to hold her off till Ms. Mooney decided she wanted to land and not force her it became a piece of cake! My point in all this is that we are all very different and one person’s “easy” may not be another’s, but there is no reason to give up. While I wish I was the ace of the base and wish flying had come more naturally, it has paid off in other ways. I think I am a very patient captain and actually enjoy flying with the weaker FO’s because I think I can actually help them because of my own struggles. Maybe I am fooling myself and am just a dottering old man, but I would rather indulge myself in the former illusion! Ha hahaha!

If a piston single is too expensive then just buy a piston twin.

Sometimes thread drift can be entertaining, but for Pete’s sake this is about the loss of two fellow aviators and were talking about fuel prices. may they Rest In Peace and comfort to their families

what are you doing on MooneySpace???

In almost 40 years of maintenance, I can count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the number of turbocharger failures across a wide variety of airframes and pilot techniques. I believe that as long as you don’t do a full power run and then immediately shut the engine off, a turbo will live a long life.

Compared to my experience in three Mooney airplanes, the average MooneySpace airplane flies considerably faster and costs much less.

Thanks for bumping this thread up, it is my first time seeing it. Name is Pam, 35, RN who is now a glorified personal assistant to 8 doctors, 7 are specialists, 1 a gp. I fly them around, or patients, organs, and such as well. There is not much I don't do, from being in the OR, to shopping for Birthday gifts that their wives will like, to today when I went for my own hair appointment, I picked up a doctor's daughters from school, and they got hair cuts at the same time. I try to get out for a run every second day, and the other days I hit the gym. My dog is the best running partner a gal can have, and he loves to go flying to. My casual boyfriend is a commercial helicopter pilot, and I to have my rotary license. I hold a multi ifr commercial fixed wing license, with several other endorsements to, my fav being floats. Acrobatics are the ultimate thing for me, maybe I should have joined the Air force, but alas, did not. I like car and motorcycle racing, boating, skydiving, skiing, softball, volleyball, fishing, quad rides, and my amazing horse. I live in the geographical center of British Columbia , beside a lake, on 17 acres. IMHO I have the world's best Dad, who was teaching me how to fly his Cherokee by age 7, sitting on stacks of pillows to see out, and couldn't reach the pedals, so I had the yoke, and he had the pedals. I knew things like V1 and rotate, or how to grease and change the oil in a semi truck, before i got to grade 2. Hated school, wanted to be home riding horses, dirt bikes, going trucking with papa, or wrestling with my older brothers. Drove my mother crazy, because I was the youngest and only girl, she thought her wish had finally come true, a little girl who would love pink dresses, ribbons in her hair, baking, and going to the mall shopping. I didn't enjoy any of those things. I wanted to be outside, dirty, running the tractor, or fixing a truck, if not off riding my bike or horse. Watching wrestling on tv and dropping a flying elbow on my big brothers off the back of the couch. Broke 6 bones before finishing high school, and if i saw a bully picking on some other kid I would step in and try to slap them around and teach them not to bully people. It back fired once badly in grade 9, and a grade 11 boy beat me up pretty good . That night my big brothers asked me what happened. The next morning on his way to school that bully got a taste of his own medicine, and he never bullied the kids at school ever again. I felt pretty invincible back then with 3 big brothers to back me up if I got in over my head. I've really mellowed with age. Cheers

That has absolutely NOT been my experience no matter what you read about sublimation. I had an inadvertent experience with ice many years ago before I really knew better. We were returning from a fly in at Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Clouds were forecast at between 11,000 to tops at 15,000. I knew there was probably some ice in the clouds but figured with the power and climb rate of the M20M I'd only be in the clouds a few minutes before getting on top. Well, the bases were correct. Light rime ice started building slowly almost immediately upon entering the clouds. 12,000, 13,000, 14,000. I was looking up expecting to break out at 15,000; 16,000, the ice was getting worse, but it was getting lighter looking up. I considered descending, but knew I'd continue to build ice. 17,000, 18,000, 19,000. Finally, at 20,500 I broke out into bright sunshine. The right side of the airplane had more ice than the left. After leveling out, I tried to return the rudder trim to neutral. Not going to happen; it was frozen in place. I thought the ¼" of ice would sublimate off. After an hour, with a big "bang" the rudder broke free. The ice remained until we got above the freezing level, as we entered California. I learned my lesson those many years ago. Without ice protection, STAY OUT OF THE CLOUDS below the freezing level. Unless you are very near the freezing level, the ice isn't going to sublimate off.

I took the weekend (mostly) off, so I may have missed some stuff. Someone said " I’m concerned that GAMI has chosen not to have their fuel certified (a la ASTM) at all." The reason was twofold. 1) We actually started heading down the ASTM path, but a significant portion of our early intellectual data was stolen during that process. Basically, there was no way to secure that path. We had a few certain individuals who were quite determined to be bad actors. We didn't see a fruitful way forward. 2) There wasn't a clear path to get from ASTM spec to fleetwide certification. The shortest path was still via STC. If you obtain an ASTM spec for your fuel, you still ahve to have that blesed in some way to be able to use it on the aircraft and engines. The FAA didn't then have a method for doing that. I'm not sure they still do ~12 years later. As far as how G100UL compares to D910 Avgas, it's like this: The 100LL fuel wasn't created to fit the D910 spec, rather the D910 spec was created to describe THAT fuel. Any fuel that isn't THAT fuel will have a myriad of small deviations from the spec. They may or may not be deviations that have any practical impact on the use of the fuel, but they will have deviations that won't fully meet the spec. John-Paul

Last flight of 2022, family Mooney trip to the Alps (Switzerland & France) Overhead Geneva after sunset Annecy lake Bourgogne plains Annemasse Lake Leman and Mt Saleve

Fortunately, I don’t have this issue. I was able to purchase a custom-made Mooney Environmental Fuel Collection System for the cost of a Batman Lego set and a trip to Legoland. Now I don’t have to worry about the EPA or failing checkrides (except for my general incompetence at flying, of course).

Once in a while the CB in us might cloud our judgement if only for a moment. I flew from KTPF to KDYL with a planned fuel stop at KSIF… the weather there slowly deteriorated during my flight. 700 overcast. Shooting an actual IFR approach at night. No big deal, right? But when I came out of the clouds I saw… well, nothing. No streetlights, no runway lights, and very few house lights. Tried repeatedly to get the lights on to no avail. It wasn’t until I was over and a little left of the runway that I saw very faint runway lights. Flew the missed and contacted Approach. For a moment, the cheap gas almost looked better than the bright lights of Roanoke… I was ready to set up a second approach, but then I thought about the difference between that $150 savings and the cost of disaster… ROA won quickly! Signature had the fuel truck ready for me as soon as I pulled in… and a txt from my wife “why were you diverted?!?”

Flying for Angel Flight, I have put a 295 pounder in my back seat (and his wife in front with me), a collapsible wheelchair in the back, and 6’ 4” people in the co-pilot seat. There are a couple of Ci owners in our local wing. The three of us can take what are two or three leg flights for other aircraft because of speed and range. I have made a number of AF flights to and from MT, OH, etc. The insurance is not a killer. I can even put a patient on supplemental O2 if needed, although I only have done it once, and that was not the patient. I, also, would like to fly higher and faster but I just can’t seem to beat the mission flexibility of my nearly 40 year old aircraft.

I got lost somewhere: Does G100UL work in my barbeque?

Must have been at night They really should light that ramp.

I hear those engines make metal

You may continue to have that choice for years and years to come . . . or the EPA/FAA/LMNOP may choose to regulate 100LL out of existence as fast as possible. We sincerely hope not. In fact, we have been lobbying the EPA to NOT make any rash, sweeping declarations that will accelerate the banning of leaded fuels. There is a time when leaded fuels will be completely gone, and that will be to the benefit of us all, but that time isn't today or tomorrow. It's important to understand that GAMI doesn't want to be or plan to be in the business of making or selling fuel. We created a formula, which will be liscensed to someone else to make, distribute, and sell G100UL. Go out to your airport and look at the name on the fuel truck. That will be the same. The little sticker that says 100LL will change to G100UL, but the big name on the side of the truck will still be what it is today. They and the FBO will determine what you pay for that fuel. We couldnt' demand a higher or lower price if we wanted to. So, I don't have any clue what the PUMP PRICE will be. However, I do have some detailed calulations of what the manufacturing costs will be. Again, this is tied to volume. At current, relatively low, volumes, the cost of manufacture may be about $0.80 per gallon higher than the cost to manufacture 100LL. As volumes increase, and some materials sourcing improves, that may drop - maybe quite a bit, maybe not. As with 100LL, that changes with the price of crude, and with the price and worldwide availability of the other constituent components. There may also be some transportation savings. There are some factors for and against that. Some of those things we just can't know yet. Jpt

I'm going to throw in my $0.02. I actually think his reaction is a reasonable one; he knows the plane has been sitting, he knows 'stuff' is going to get found, he knows Savvy is thorough, and....he's looking for a buyer that recognizes the first two and knows what he is getting into. I assume the plane is priced accordingly. No offense, but he may view you as someone that will take awhile to be super thorough because you don't want a project! And, after finding a bunch of stuff, even if not significant, will want a steep discount or walk. A related story: when I was shopping one of the A&Ps (at an MSC, no less) asked 'how' I wanted the pre-buy done. Having never gone through the plane purchasing process I had no idea what he meant. He explained, "Do you want me to come up with a list of things so you can negotiate with the seller, or just look for red flags?" Your seller maybe afraid you're going for the former rather than later, pre-buy! I'm not sure what your goal is, but mine was to buy a 'flying' airplane; I did NOT want a 'fixer upper' despite the fact I'm very mechanically inclined. Do you want to buy to fly, or not? I would have NEVER even looked at a plane that had been sitting for this long. My FIRST criteria was how recently, often, and consistently had the plane been flown? That criteria ruled out a surprisingly (or maybe not) large number of candidates. What did NOT bother me was a high time engine assuming my first criteria was met. That is how I got a good price; the engine was around 2100 SMOH and the plane was priced accordingly. I was prepared to OH the engine at any time, and I'd still have been okay price wise. Well, it's been over five years and I'm coming up on 2600 SMOH. I'll get off my soap box, now... Good luck!

Here’s some advice - that is not a 90k airplane. not by a long shot.

FW is out. Garmin will pay to update. https://support.garmin.com/en-US/aviation/faq/Gtbm7rxcAr9oRqQTCOr168/?keywordSearch=22123 https://atlaske-content.garmin.com/filestorage//email/outbound/attachments/22109B_Time1673473874505.pdf

That's the point. The folks that report extraordinary life out of their batteries are just running them to failure. They would get years less life if the replacement criteria were passing the capacity test. If the alternator quits in the clag, that battery capacity is all you have. Lead acid batteries will often provide stating amps without having much capacity (amp hours). It happened to me recently in my Subaru. The car always started fine, but I left a dinky dome light on for an hour and the 6 year old battery was dead when I tried to start it. Skip

I think Mike is dreaming! I’d love to see him negotiate keeping $30-50K in escrow while you fly around for a year testing the engine. If the concerns are so great, pull a cylinder for an internal inspection.

There is more to this decision than clouds and visibility. Like winds, terrain, obstacles and how familiar you are with the route. I have only made 1 flight in 1000/3 it was between 01V and KAPA about 15 miles. I could only see straight down, so I followed a road I knew. I also knew an intersection that was about a 3 mile final to runway 27 (I think). When I called the tower for landing clearance, they said "OK, uh sure, cleared to land 27" Mind you, that was about 35 years ago. I didn't see the runway till I was about 1 mile away, but they were reporting 3 miles vis. It is a lot easier to fly under a 1000 foot ceiling with unlimited vis than no ceiling and 3 miles vis.

The best information I have seen (from the highly instrumented data of the guys at GAMI) is that the turbo temperatures are actually lowest at landing. The taxi time and "supposed" cool down time actually warms it back up a bit.

Fair question... I've owned my plane for 16 years now and have been steadily improving her through sweat equity with projects like this. I have a reasonably-priced salvage belly kit and just need to make the time for the installation that I will do myself under supervision. It is my hobby, after all! I will try to bury a couple of antennas in my never-ending quest for drag reduction, and enjoy the easier access for many years to come. Hopefully it will make my plane a smidge faster, perhaps quieter too. We'll see!

I had a mission to fly on Dec 26 from KGVL Gainesville, GA to KMKL (Jackson, TN). 267 miles. I have a known ice airplane. Looking at the forecast, MKL was above minimum, above personal minimums but would require an approach. The airport was in light snow that would end later in the day by the time of my arrival. Cloud cover forecast on Aviationweather.gov showed bases at 900' tops FL320. Freezing level near the surface. There was SLD icing above 13,000. Light to moderate icing below. After considering all things I canceled. Here was my thinking. I don't mind flying in forecast icing if I can bail out to warmer temps below and maintain MEA. I flew from BWI (actually KMTN) to GVL a week earlier and took a route down over RDU and CAE to do just that. Highest MEA was 3000', forecast to be above freezing. ATC wanted to route me out over western VA and NC but I told them unless I got what I wanted and filed I would divert to RIC. They granted me my wish. I was 2.5 hours solid IMC but had no worse than light icing. In this case on the 26th, I had no out. I could not descend into a non icing environment nor could I quickly exit it to the south as HSV (Huntsville, AL) had similar issues. The real range of a known ice Mooney is 1.5 hours. That is the amount of time you have running the TKS at max. Thus you must have no-ice conditions max within 45 minutes of entering, because that is the amount of time to get in, decide you are over your head and get out. You have to make your decision for turn back or turn out within 45 minutes of entering otherwise you are committed to the remaining time if you don't have "above MEA no-ice conditions below" and you have to be pretty darn sure about those conditions. I also could find no PIREPS on icing other than a Baron on the edge of the wx area over AR to the west reporting light icing at 9000. A look at flightaware.com (pirep by absence) revealed no aircraft below 10,000 feet and below 250 knots in the intended operational area. Equally so, a call to KMKL revealed no operations inbound, snow of unknown depth on the ramp and questionable runway conditions. Cancel. Finally a flight aware flight popped that met my requirement. A small commuter flight called "Southern Airways", departed ATL for MKL. Operating a known ice Cessna Caravan. It made Chattanooga where it executed a 180 and returned to ATL. A discussion with the MKL agent the next day (when I completed the mission) revealed he bailed when he TKS system was at max just to remain airborne. I made the right call. I post all this just to give you an idea of my personal decision making process, especially if you have a known ice airplane or are new to IFR flying. It is not enough to have a capable airplane, it is knowing what the real capability is and it's limits. Equally so, yes you can approach to 200' and 1/2 mile but can you stop on the runway? Can you taxi in and park? Always leave yourself an out. 6

My Christmas is a little fuzzier . . . Picked her up on Wednesday and flew home. Life is better with a puppy! Yea, she needs a haircut, but groomers are all off this week. I'm afraid that will be a high percentage weight loss!

And still some more progress.

Another thing to remember is that over time the purchase price is a small part of the overall ownership cost. It's not uncommon to spend 20% to 30% of that purchase price every year to fly and maintain the airplane.

You should get the FAA to write up a FAR against landing gear up, that would surely fix the problem.

Knowing our failure modes is the best defense, I think. It seems that most gear accounts I've read about come after the pilot is distracted from the normal sequence of events by something unexpected or unusual, or when the pilot becomes fixated. The latter can be pretty subtle. A friend once related how he was sitting in the runup area at an uncontrolled airport waiting for a Bonanza to land when he noticed that the Bonanza's gear was not down. He called on the unicom frequency to warn the pilot, but to no avail. After the airplane slid to a stop, he walked over to check that the pilot was OK and asked if he had heard his transmission. The pilot said he hadn't because there was a loud horn going off making the radio unintelligible. Apparently, the pilot was so focused on the landing that he heard the horn but did not register its meaning. Many, many years ago a friend and researcher at NASA Ames research center, Edie Fisher, was studying pilot performance during landing in one of the old style simulators with a terrain board and "flying" camera generating the scene simulation. Pilot subjects were all experienced airline pilots. They were flying profiles that required intense concentration. One day, on a lark, she placed a miniature DC-9 model on the runway on the terrain board. Several of the pilots broke out at minimums and proceeded to land without ever noticing that the runway was occupied. They were shocked when they viewed the over-the-shoulder video clearly showing the DC-9 growing larger in the windshield and claimed they were so focused on the landing that they never noticed the airplane. Humans have a lot of subtle failure modes. We are not machines. But, I think it helps to know something about how others have come to grief. Skip

Not sure if it was mentioned back there, but apparently when the pilot called 911, the 911 dispatcher told the pilot "To stay on the line"

Plane is fixed. Thanks so much to everyone here who chimed in. I don't think we'd have figured it out without Mooneyspace. Cheers.

First flight in our "new" J today! Thanks to @Parker_Woodruff for providing a check ride! Second flight ever in our new J was bringing her home from Longview to Alabama. Man! What a great flying day!

Actual footage of @ilovecornfields and me in an LA suburb:

I bought a CO2 tire inflator and some spare cartridges I deflated the nose wheel tire. It took two cartridges to get the pressure up to 25 psi. The nose wheel is supposed to be inflated to 49 psi, but I could have taxied it on 25. So, to fully inflate a main tire might require 4 or 5 cartridges. Skip

I have split mode and found (yes, I’ve tried it) the jacks and PTT are easily in my reach, depends on your build I guess although I wouldn’t want to do it in turbulence/IMC. I did similar, different philosophy, I wanted to get rid of the old: No annunciator, no Klixon CB switches, no vacuum pump, no pilar mounted compass, no microphone.

This is why I quit work, and now I live on the money I save on income taxes.

Yea call this number when you land.