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I will miss the Mooney speed and efficiency. I look forward to seeing my Mooney friends at OSH and other venues. My mission is the same, family trips and Pilots n Paws. The plan is to go slower and burn more dinosaurs doing just that. Sean

But I’ll do it in style!

If someone were to ask you “what were you doing fifty years ago today?”, most of us would probably have a hard time answering that question. Unless it happened to be the day you got married or the day one of your kids was born. Sometimes other events become so meaningful in our lives that they too, stand out, as special moments, even turning points that forever change our life experience. I knew that the 50th Anniversary of one such event was approaching but I needed to look into my Dad’s logbook to confirm the date. That date is tomorrow, Saturday July 18, 1970. It was the day that my Mom, Dad and I climbed aboard Dad’s 1964 C model Mooney, N7106U to not only begin our summer vacation, our first family flying vacation, but to be part of Dad realizing his boyhood dream of one day flying across the country in his very own airplane. This was only the second time since my Dad’s passing that I have looked in his logbooks and I was not prepared for the flood of emotion that would follow. You need to understand that this was more than just a vacation flight. It was more than a trip from California back home to Pennsylvania to attend a family reunion. It was the culmination of nearly four years of constant searching for the right airplane to make his dreams come true. It was also going to be the opportunity for Dad and me to find some of his flying buddies from the 1940s and 1950s and to see if we could find his 1946 J-3 that he ordered brand new from the factory in 1946. And, to make it even more challenging, we had to do all this in just two weeks time, because that is all the vacation time that Dad had. So over the next two weeks, I would like to invite all of you to climb aboard 06U and ride along with my family as we relive that special event from my childhood, just as it occurred so very long ago. I promise there will be adventure, an accident, a pretty girl and a celebrity along the way. Like all true stories there will be some tears and death as well.

My aircraft, a 231, was stuck in the shop this spring because of COVID. Once it came out in May, I decided to use the COVID slowdown as an opportunity to fly more for Angel Flight. It occurred to me last week, in the middle of a long day aloft, that we are privileged to fly a remarkable, versatile aircraft. I live in Minneapolis. The day that made me think about this, required my little engine-that-thought-it-could to first fly from KFCM early in the morning to Fargo to pick up blood and bone marrow samples. I brought nothing along except my flight bag and iPad, so was able to stuff 8 good sized boxes into the baggage compartment and back seat. The plane was completely full except for the front seat, so I could put my morning coffee there temporarily. 260 lbs. of freight, plus me at 200 plus full fuel (75.6 gallons) and there was still room in the W&B. The material needed to be delivered in Billings MT. For many aircraft that is two jumps, but it was a one jump flight for the Mooney. Not necessarily an easy one, the winds aloft were very adverse so, being alone and not having to worry about passenger comfort, I elected to stay down at 4,000 until near Billings, then go to six (Billings is 3,700). It can be bumpy down low and out west as the ground heats up in the summer and this was no exception, made for a tiring flight. I was still able to make 150-160 over the ground at 11.3 LOP for the trip to KBIL. When the boxes were delivered in BIllings I put on full fuel. The day was not done yet. I needed to get to KBIS lickety split to pick up a young family whose infant daughter was due to have surgery in Minneapolis over the weekend. I put on the cannula, went to 15,000, and made about 231 kts. GS to Bismarck. At KBIS I had one tank topped off, but left some out of the second tank so I could take on me plus three passengers and baggage. At 7 pm the young family showed up. With an infant in the back I did not want to use the O2 system, so we stayed at 11,000 and made about 220 kts. in smooth air. It was a fun ride, my brothers and I have hunted and fished out in western ND for quite awhile, and it turned out I knew the same people and the same hunting holes in the same small towns as the young husband. Who knows, maybe I will get to go out and hunt with him some time. With the passengers safely delivered at KFCM, I was finally able to go home for the night. It was a long day, up at 5 a.m. to get to the airport, pre-flight, etc., and get out to KFAR through some weather to make my first pickup of the day, to about 9 p.m. when I got back home, with time for a short nap in the lounge at KBIS and not much else. Although this trip involved only large airfields (KBIL is a Class C, KBIS and KFAR are D's with KFAR having a TRSA), Angel Flights very often involve fetching passengers out of small rural fields. I have handed passengers off to business jets at an interim airport, but they can't get in where we can, they need us to get the passengers out of the little holes in the wall. Out "on the road," I have handed off to a few Cirrus pilots, but mostly 172's and 182's, they just don't have the speed or the range that our Mooneys do. Thought number one is that it is truly a remarkable aircraft that we fly, able to take on just about anything except TStorms (which nobody fights with), ice, and zero zero landings. Lots of range, lots of speed when needed, miserly fuel flow. Thought number two is that those of us who fly for AF need more of you. The passengers' needs have not diminished during COVID, but there seem to be fewer pilots. I get emails almost weekly from AF asking for help with flights for the following week that have not been filled yet. What better way to make a brand like Mooney stand for something. The coolest thing about flying for AF is that, unlike most charities where you just send a check every year, during an Angel Flight the person you are helping is in the right seat. You get to talk, find out something about their lives, help in ways other than just giving money, help keep their spirits up. I can tell you that the patients going through chemo really need that part of the AF program as much as the physical transportation, just someone who cares. I know, I know, if no pics it didn't happen. Sorry, I have pics but won't share them. These are medical patients some of them fighting for their lives and all are in need. We respect their privacy. There might be a few on the wall in my den though, just to remember.

I flew to West Yellowstone and back this weekend. There's a great camp ground in the trees just off the ramp and inside the airport fence, that is for fly-in camping only. Two other Mooneys and a Comanche were part of our small group for the weekend. It's an easy flight over some spectacular scenery from Denver. Here are some pictures from the flight. While I was there, I made a quick trip to Jackson Hole to meet some friends and take them flying. (Fees are surprisingly reasonable, $20 or 10 gal). It's not every day you get a world renowned pilot to fly your Mooney. But on Saturday I had the privilege of my friend Wolfgang Siess at the controls. Wolfi is a professional hang glider pilot and one of the most famous hang glider pilots in the world. He and another hang glider pro, Paul Mazzoni, went up with me in the Mooney for a flight around the Grand Teton, over Yellowstone park, a tight turn around the Grand Prismatic and other cool sights. Wolfi and Paul showed up with multiple GoPro cameras to mount on the airplane. There will be a YouTube video of the flight in the near future and I'll post it when it's available. Today was the flight home to Denver. An easy 2 hour flight at 17,500 ft. 170 TAS/195 GS, 9.5 gph. The hot springs of Yellowstone at 6am in the cold air. The Diamond on Long's Peak Just a little cloudy over Denver this morning. Descending out of 17,000 ft.

I’ve been a members on different forums since 1997. Fishing, flying, soap making (yeah... making shaving soap in your kitchen is cool), cars.... etc. Mooneyspace users have been one of the most helpful group of guys and gals I’ve come across in any forum I’ve ever visited. Many of you have reached out to me privately through PM and publicly answered my questions in my posts. Finding the right plane as a first time aircraft buyer is overwhelming. I absolutely couldn’t have made an informed decision on a Mooney purchase without you guys. Thank you all for your help and generosity. I have just signed a purchase agreement on a very nice 2002 Ovation 2.

We just finished the modification and installation of a second lift in our hangar. No more room for toys. Clarence

This past Monday was the big day! Pick up Amelia from KPOF Poplar Bluff, MO and fly her home to KFYE, Fayette County Airport, Somerville, TN. Beautiful weather with winds 4 knots or less. Perfect for the pilot with only 7 hours TW time. Pictured is the previous owner and the new owner. I'm the short guy! I have done one landing in the 195 now. Yesterday I flew an L2 Grasshooper and manged 6 landings on my own. What a fun new challenge!

I received awesome news today -- GOT MY 3RD CLASS MEDICAL! After fighting to overcome heart failure, pace maker install, and diabetes, I was approved today! That took almost 2 years but it’s finally done... Just goes to show you can overcome obstacles with perseverance and hard work... I’m beyond excited... -Don

Milestone achieved today +1000 hours. I flew up to see mom and passed 1000 hours along the way!

Think of the move as a transition. You went from a member of the Cheap Bast$#d club to a member of the Poor Bast$#d club. Congrats. Remember that blue line!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N676JM/history/20200727/2130Z/KAAF/LL10 Clearing the last of the weather north of Terre Haute.... out of the murk and into this:

I’ve been a little behind on my flight posting. This month so far I’ve flown the 201 45.3 hours. Large contrast from my March, April, and May flights were I think I flew once each of those months. I sometimes enjoy just flying local but I prefer xcountry flights. That’s the mission I had when I started looking for my Mooney years back and she fits it to a tee. 30.7 and 3,750 miles of this months flight time was a trip I took to see my uncle. He was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Sadly he’s a life long smoker and hate to see my family goin through this. But it gave me an opportunity fly from Oregon to New York. I was hoping for more travel time but I was only able to be in Penn Yan NY for 25 hours. Then it was back home. My first leg from Oregon to Minnesota was 6.9 hours and that wasn’t my longest leg by 1.3 hours. From De Moines Iowa to Twin Falls Idaho I flew for 8.2 hours, I landed with 9 gallons of fuel. My shortest leg was 2 hours and that was my final leg from Twin Falls to home KGCD. The weekend after that trip I was back in the air to fly 940 miles down to Sacramento to help@thinwing on his annual. This months travel would have been impossible in a car and would have been much harder via commercial due to my home location. But the Mooney made it all possible!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Okay...this isn't a tasteless joke...or maybe it is...but it made us chuckle. We recently opened a restaurant and unfortunately we've had issues with transients and drunks sleeping and pissing on our patio at night. The property owner won't let us enclose it, so we bring the cushions inside every night...and the furniture is chained down. That doesn't help with the trash and piss clean-up though...so I added a wifi water valve and a 1/2-inch water pipe cap with holes drilled into it, to narrowly aim pretty aggressive water jets...for washing the furniture at night, of course. This was last night's video. Patio Watering.mp4

If you want the paid wisdom of a Mooney Test pilot vs speculation, here is what Bob Kromer says. It has been posted here before From the Mooney List December 2, 2005 by Bob Kromer. Slipping a Mooney During development and certification on the M20K 252 at the factory, I encountered the aerodynamic buffeting while slipping on approach as described by Dan Eldridge in his posting on slips in his M20K 231. Obviously, this gets a test pilot's attention and we began an investigation. Thought you might be interested in what we found. For our slip tests, we flew the M20K, the M20J and the Mooney/Porsche engineering prototypes that were at the factory at the time. This gave us a good cross section of different aircraft configurations (short/long fuselage, different pitch trim requirements on approach, etc.) What we found was 1) All airplanes were fine above 85 KIAS in full rudder deflection forward slips, flaps up and flaps down. 2) But somewhere between 80-85 KIAS and lower, AERODYNAMIC BUFFETING FROM THE HORIZONTAL TAIL/ELEVATOR occurred in the M20K and the Mooney/Porsche airframes ALONG WITH A SLIGHT LOSS OF ELEVATOR EFFECTIVENESS AND A SLIGHT NOSE DOWN PITCHING MOMENT. These conditions were worsened with flaps down compared to the flaps up. Aerodynamic tufting of the horizontal tail revealed what was happening. In the M20K and the Mooney/Porsche with their more forward CGs, almost full nose up pitch trim is required for a "hands off" approach at the target approach airspeed. This puts the horizontal stabilizer of the Mooney tail at a high negative angle of attack (to keep the nose up). With the horizontal tail at this high negative angle of attack and especially with flaps full down, the local airflow over the horizontal tail is getting pretty close to max alpha, the angle of attack where the tail will stall. I want to emphasize that IN NORMAL FLYING, THERE IS PLENTY OF MARGIN - no need to worry about the tail stalling in your M20K or long body Mooney. But start slipping the airplane at 85 KIAS and below or have a little ice on that stabilizer leading edge and those margins can get mighty thin. Combine a slip maneuver with some pretty good yanking on the control wheel in turbulence and you might get a partial tail stall. We did in flight test - in the M20K the result was buffeting felt in the control wheel and the slight nose down pitching moment. So my advice from the test pilot's seat is don't go there - especially if you fly a Mooney model that requires lots of nose up pitch trim on the approach. An aggressive forward slip in those airplanes with the speed low and the flaps down puts the tail in an extreme airflow condition. The airplane will warn you with buffeting and a slight pitch down, but who knows - add some ice and look out. This is not the way to fly your Mooney. My bottom line opinion - keep the ball near center on the approach and you're flying the Mooney design correctly and safely with the safety margins it was meant to have. Best Regards, Bob Kromer And From the Mooney List December 3, 2005 by Bob Kromer SLIPPING A MOONEY Went up to the attic last night and dug through my old flight test data sheets from my Engineering Flight Test days at the factory. I did find the observed data for the slip tests I did. Looked over the data. From those test results, here is some additional information that might help answer some of the questions that have been raised: 1. The data shows that it's the airplanes that require lots of nose up trim for landing that are the most prone to experiencing the tail buffeting condition we talked about earlier when aggressively slipping at or below 85 KIAS. We simply could not get the M20J prototype to buffet in a full rudder sideslip at any CG and flap condition tested, down to 1.1 Vstall. From those test results, I think it is safe to say that the Pre-J models and the J model itself will not experience any tail buffeting/partial airflow separation over the horizontal tail in an aggressive sideslip maneuver. So the J and Pre-J models should be okay for slipping on approach. Not comfortable, and in my humble opinion not the way to fly a high performance airplane like a Mooney, but safe. 2. It's the K models (and variations ther3of) and the "long body" models that showed the possibility of inducing a partial horizontal tail airflow separation in an aggressive sideslip condition. I got it in both the Mooney/Porsche and the M20K model prototypes in the landing approach configuration. These are the airplanes that require almost full (if not full) nose up trim for a hands off, trimmed condition on final approach. (Sometime, run your pitch trim to the full nose up position on the ground and look at the negative angle of attack of the horizontal tail. Quite impressive). It's this high negative angle of attack with full nose up trim that puts the airflow over the horizontal tail at a fairly extreme condition. 3. Extending the flaps adds to the downwash angle over the horizontal tail, making the negative angle of attack over the horizontal tail even greater. Mooneys spend a lot of their time at or near forward CG. As the CG moves forward the need for more nose up trim on the approach is required for trimmed flight. So does lower airspeed. So the worse condition for aggressive slipping in the K and up models is slow, forward CG, full flaps - just like we are when configured for landing. Remember, it's anything that requires the need for more nose up trim that adds to the possibility of experiencing horizontal tail buffeting when aggressively slipping on the approach. 4. Aggressive slipping does strange things to the local airflow over the horizontal tail. The bottom line is this - the horizontal tail will see a greater negative angle of attack in the slip maneuver. So add an aggressive slip to the conditions noted in #3 above and you can experience the partial airflow separation over the horizontal tail and the resulting buffeting that we found in the flight tests. The Mooney is such a good design that there is no danger here - just a buffet in the control wheel from the elevator, a slight nose down pitching moment and a little loss of elevator effectiveness. But I want to emphasize - THIS IS NO PLACE TO BE FLYING. Add a little ice to that horizontal tail leading edge or a gusty crosswind requiring heavy elevator input and look out. That minor buffeting and airflow separation can get worse. 5. Someone asked what would happen to an airplane if the horizontal tail completely stalled. The answer - bad news. A sharp nose down pitching moment and a loss of elevator control would result. With increased airspeed as a result of the nose down pitch, the tail might start flying again and elevator effectiveness might be restored. But we're talking a loss of aircraft control here - a pilot's worse nightmare. How much altitude might be lost in this loss of control experience? A guess - 2000 feet. 6. Incidentally, ground effect helps the condition - the downwash angle over the horizontal tail is slightly reduced with the wing/flaps in ground effect. This reduces the local negative angle of attack of the air flowing over the horizontal tail - a good thing when it comes to stalling the horizontal tail. Again - the bottom line. Aggressive slips in your Pre-J or J should be okay from a safety of flight viewpoint. K models and up - margins here are thinner. Chances are you might experience some tail buffeting in the K models and up when aggressively slipping - not a place to be. From my flight test experience, I would avoid aggressive slips on approach in the K's and up. The Mooney is a wonderful design, but all designs have their limits. I certainly don't have all the answers and would never claim to be an "expert" or tell anyone how they need to fly their airplanes, but maybe some of my engineering flight test experiences at Mooney will help you better understand your airplanes. I've got lots of good data in my attic. Hope to share more of it with you in the future. Best Regards; Bob Kromer

I love this stuff. I've been flying as command pilot for AF since I bought my first Mooney, N6XM. Last year before COVID I picked up a little girl and her mom for a flight from Colorado Springs to Salt Lake City. The little girl needed eye surgery. The weather over the mountains was terrible with winds at the peaks in excess of 80 knots. I was to fly her from CS to Rawlins, WY. Another pilot would pick her up there and take her to Salt Lake City. The second pilot called the day before and declined because of weather concerns. There was rain forecast for SLC and he said his "airplane couldn't fly in rain"??? It was a Cessna 206. Go figure. So I offered to take them the whole way. We took off out of Colorado Springs and headed for Wyoming, the long way around the mountains to avoid the wind and turbulence. By the time we got to Evanston, WY, the clouds and rain over SLC had changed to snow and ice. So we landed. I grabbed a rental car from the FBO and drove them the last hour to SLC. I drove back, got back in the Mooney and flew home. It was a long day, but rewarding none the less. Since COVID I've been flying PPE's around Colorado. It's easy to load the Mooney with boxes of masks, gloves, gowns, ventilator parts, etc. and fly them out to rural Colorado airports. I can always fill the cabin to the roof as I never need full tanks to get anywhere in Colorado. I'll be flying PPE this Saturday as part of a huge airlift here in Colorado. I'm not sure of my route yet, but was told to expect 5 or 6 airports all before lunch on Saturday. We are all privileged to own and fly these wonderful airplanes. Angel Flight is a really convenient way to use some of this privilege to give back.

I need to do better posting up pictures... 7/22 took a short post oil change flight over to Riverside for cheap(er) fuel. 7/24 flew to South Valley Regional in Salt Lake to see family for the weekend. 7/25 two short flights to take one of my sisters, three of her kids, and one of their friends all on their first GA flights. 7/26 flew back to CA. 7/28 put 5 gallons in at KFUL (only had 10 in the plane which is my personal minimum to land, not take off) and then a relaxing post work day flight over to Riverside, my current favorite less expensive fuel stop. 8/1 my oldest son is in town for a week so we flew over to Camarillo for breakfast. 8/1 put the homemade AC in the plane and took a couple friends and her son for an flight-seeing tour of LA. It was her and her son's first flights in a GA plane, fortunately greased the landing. Lake Mead Utah Flights Camarillo Breakfast - Mooneys well represented, ours plus two more. LA Flightseeing - Yep, two adults in the backseat of a short-body.

Most physicians these days are employed physicians rather than physicians in private practice. There certainly are those that concentrate on how many patients they see a day and how much they can bill an insurance company. I've tried to stay away from those both as a patient and as an employee. There are many physician employers whose concern is "how much money can we make off your license." Those are the organizations that are forcing physicians to see more and more patients and conduct shorter and shorter visits. I have tried throughout my career to make more more money by working more hours. I can honestly say that I have worked an eight hour outpatient day in a 12 hour inpatient night, mostly seven days a week for 15 of my 21 years of practice. It's ironic that I'm posting this on many space because it was the start of my aircraft rebuilt project they got me into working more hours. I found that when I saw patients during the day, I was able to give them more time and feel better about myself because I worked more than two full-time job equivalents. I needed to feel that I offered something of value to each patient at the end of each visit. Many physicians simply go through the motions. It is about making sure the patient has been heard and has been provided what they need at any individual visit. The practice of medicine has become challenging and even more challenging now with COVID. I'm trying to do more and more things I have control over so i can see patients in a reasonable manner. Patients need to be educated consumers and physicians need to support and empower patients. That all takes time that many health care entities will not tolerate. John Breda

I never let anybody add gas to my plane unless I'm there watching. I tell them the caps are tricky and that I'll put them back on.

A couple recent flights. I know, not in a Mooney, but I’m a FOREVER MOONEY LOVER!!! I’m performing an Annual Inspection on an E as I submit this. Heading back to the U.P. from Minneapolis at sunset. Two photos looking north towards Lake Superior and one of MSP at sunset. Tom

UPDATE - I've more or less solved the #4 high CHT issue. Recap - This cylinder has always cooled the worst in climb, and the CHT problem became intolerably severe upon installing the Powerflow (easily shooting up to 440s very early in climb and having to fight to keep it from going much higher). Interestingly, the other cylinders had no issue and if anything ran slightly cooler. I had solid baffling, fuel flows reaching 18gph, and no mag timing issue. THE ANSWER - it turns out the leaner mixture distribution to #4 became intolerable upon the Powerflow allowing it to make more power. The solution was to keep out the throttle pulled back ~1/2 an inch on the takeoff roll and initial climb. This change does not appear to cut out the enrichment circuit, and doing so still allows me to get the same MP and fuel flow along with benefit to takeoff distance and climb rate. However #4 CHT now runs MUCH cooler - still hottest, but more like what I'd seen before with the old exhaust. Cocking the throttle plate slightly seems to offer a big improvement for mixture distribution in this condition. I have to credit @kortopates for making the suggestion.

Saturday, July 18, 1970. First leg. Torrance, CA. (TOA) to Winslow, AZ. (INW) We got up early and piled into our green 1966 Pontiac LeMans and headed down Hawthorne Blvd to Torrance Airport. Unexpected was the solid gray overcast which blanketed the Los Angeles basin. It was high enough that we could at least get started. We made a right downwind departure from Torrance, heading East. When Dad contacted Flight Service to activate our VFR Flight Plan, he learned there were Pilot Reports of a good sized hole further on. Two other planes were ahead of us heading in that direction so we followed them. As we approached the area of lightness, the first plane pulled up and disappeared. Then the second plane did the same thing. We did too. It wasn’t a huge break in the overcast but it was big enough. We were on our way. Our first stop was Winslow, Arizona, long before it achieved fame in the song by Glen Frey and the Eagles. Winslow was about 442 statute miles straight line distance from Torrance. Of course there was no GPS or magenta lines to follow in those days. We were navigating by VORs along the Victor Airways. Our actual flying distance was farther. Dad handled the flying while I watched for traffic and learned about folding, unfolding and refolding Sectional Charts. While we were busy up front, Mom was busy in the back seat as well. This is where the brilliance of my Dad’s preflight planning really shined. Dad had skillfully obtained and strategically placed a supply of motion sickness bags in the pockets behind the front seats. Mom was vigorously putting these bags to work. We were in serious jeopardy of running out of bags before we even arrived at Winslow. This reminded me of an old black and white photo that I saw in one of my parents old photo albums. It is a picture of a Navion with the canopy slid open. Sitting on the wing is a bucket with a rag hanging over it’s side. On the back of the photo Dad wrote these words: “Ruth’s first plane ride. Note the bucket and rags.” We managed to make it to Winslow in 3 hours and 10 minutes of flying time without a bag crisis, although I do think some additional contributions had been made to previously used bags. Because of the time zone change, the fact that Mom could use a break and there was a restaurant on the field, Dad thought it would be a good idea to take a lunch break while the Mooney was getting topped off. The best part of our lunch at Winslow was the pretty blonde waitress, who had her hair in a pony-tail, that waited on us. Being a thirteen year old twerp who lived some four hundred miles away, I knew my chances of ever seeing her again were pretty slim. Seven years later I would meet another pretty blonde and that one, I married. The second one was worth waiting for. Second leg. Winslow, AZ (INW) to Tucumcari, NM (TCC) Between Winslow and Tucumcari we had to dodge some isolated rain showers along the way. I remember thinking that even though the altimeter showed that we were flying higher than I had ever been before, the ground didn’t seem that far away. After barfing her guts out on the first leg, Mom had settled down and we covered the 402 statute mile distance in just 2 hours and 45 minutes of flying time. I think my memories of this leg must have been obscured by a blonde cloud. Third leg. Tucumcari, NM (TCC) to Tulsa, Ok (TUL) Our final leg for this first day of flying was a 438 mile run up to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We covered this distance in 3 hours and 10 minutes of flying time, bringing our first day total to 9 hours and 5 minutes while covering a distance in excess of 1,282 statute miles. Tulsa was a busy International Airport. We parked the Mooney next to some big brick buildings and hangars. I am guessing that the FBO was probably Tulsair. It was sunny, breezy and loud. What was making it so loud was the 747 that was practicing takeoffs and landings. Boeing had a factory there and we had never even seen a 747 before that. We were awestruck by how big it was and how slow it would appear to fly. It was an amazing sight back then. Aside from the deficit of motion sickness bags in the Mooney, our first day of flying was a great success. We were halfway across the country in just one day. Reaching Philadelphia should be a cinch tomorrow but the weather had other plans for us.

So...all finished, save for the autopilot which is actually running very well right now (knock on wood). It will be the last thing I likely do to upgrade the aircraft. Exact AP model yet to be determined. One small trim issue during validation and testing, but overall, a clean installation. I absolutely love it...Islip Avionics scored another huge win. They really do phenomenal work. Steve

Well, you're wrong....

First international trip post lockdown (politics start-Europe is not a country and UK is no longer in EU-politics stop ), I took M20J down to Paris then the Alps, the plan was to fly to Lugano & Lake Como but I had to stop the show at Sion due to weather, still it was fun flying along Mt Blanc from all Swiss, French and Italian sides This was the first time I took a Mooney for valley flying, usually I rent Cubs or Jodels from nearby flying clubs and get checked but not that many local instructors are keen on dual flying these days, still the M20J did fit the Alps mission plus the quick commute to Paris & London... Route: Stapleford-Calais-Cean-Toussus-Annemasse-Sion-Chambery-Toussus-LeTouquet-Stappleford GH010351.MP4 GH010280.MP4

Flow divider was serviced and found bits of hose contamination. This is the flow test after service and install. She runs great now, no leaks, prop cycles, and Both CHT and EGT temps look good on two short run ups. One final inspection in the morning and she goes for maiden flight when it’s cool and smooth.

Man there's a lot of negativity on here lately. Maybe it's because we've been cooped up too long. Life does not always work exactly the way we want and we can't always get it our way. Bitching about it doesn't fix it. Unhappy people don't live any longer than the rest of us, they just FEEL like they've lived longer. Stepping down off my soapbox. Bob

All, Just want to take a moment to comment on the great news for Aspen Avionics. As you are aware from the recent press coverage that we have agreed in principle to become part of a larger group of like-minded aerospace companies. To be clear, Aspen IS the centerpiece of the AIRO Group with our established brand offering much of the manufacturing, supply chain and technical expertise. What that means to you and the GA community is that we will have more resources to develop, engineer and deliver more avionics options to give you more choices when it comes to making your purchasing decision.Simply put we will be a stronger organization and you as the customer will benefit. If you have any other questions, please reach out to me directly and I will be happy to address them. Andy.smith@aspenavionics.com

I mentioned before that IMO I was too far down the Aspen road to change course. I ended up adding the third screen to give me a little more redundancy, but it also allows me to put ADSB and traffic on the third screen while keeping a second screen more clean. Just a personal preference. I know a lot of you guys have a GPS with a larger screen, so this wouldn't be much help for you. Now to figure out how to organize this frankenstein panel. No matter which course you choose, it's amazing how far things have come in the last 10 years.

Mooney Caravan History: In the beginning was the gaggle. Then came the Great Flood of 2010, also know as Sploshkosh or Sloshkosh. That year the Caravan was cancelled, since EAA couldn't accept arrivals that weekend, and couldn't say if or when grass parking would be allowed. Still, the Mooney Caravan flag had to be at least figuratively flown at OSH. Three intrepid Mooney Caravaners flew to Oshkosh that Monday, and demonstrated the feasibility of arriving via formation. Chris "Toro" Shopperly led and landed, since he'd reserved hard surface parking. Larry "Joker" Brennan and James "Pepper" Oliphant made a low pass and departed for lack of somewhere to park. The experiment was so successful that in 2011 the Caravan was a hybrid of three three-ship formation elements with the rest of the group flying the gaggle. That proof of concept went so well that 2012 and onward have been all-formation affairs. Even though AirVenture was cancelled for 2020, the Mooney Caravan flag had to be flown (figuratively again) there in July. To do otherwise would simply not be acceptable. Hence, today Bret "Whitey" Lowell (Mooney Caravan 2020 Alternate Lead), Dave "Porsche" Austin, Steve "Fender" Henderson and Dave "Raptor" Piehler did a four-ship sortie from MSN - OSH following the Mooney Caravan route. Sorta. We got a Rwy 21 departure at MSN (excellent geometry for the rejoin after takeoff) and managed to persuade OSH Tower to approve the overhead break to Rwy 9. The winds were from the SE. RWY 36 would have been a handful with a tailwind, and element landings on Rwy 18 would be tough with that 1,500' MSL crossing restriction over Rwy 9. But I digress... OSH ATIS had the Unwelcome Mat out. The relevant portion, which I wrote down verbatim,. said "EAA AIrVenture is Cancelled. All EAA facilities are closed. Hard surface parking only." As the photo shows, the grounds are empty and forlorn. Basler has moved to the old terminal, and there's massive demolition underway to re-purpose that. Taxiway A, aka 36R, is being reconstructed and is closed. All very sad looking. However, our undaunted aviators made the trip, showed the flag, and had an excellent lunch at Beckett's patio on the Fox River (Friar Tuck's was open, but has no outdoor dining). As you can see, social distancing and masks were the order of the day. We were met by Doc Flamo with his handy dandy Instamatic, whom we can thank for several of the photos. Dave Piehler Postscript: There were no formations of Cessnas, Cirri, Bonanzas or PIpers in evidence anywhere.

Ya, not sure how @M20Doc gets missed in this list. He contributes more for free as one of the most informed, experienced, and reputable contributors on this list!!!! And does so recognizing he will not see any business from his contribution !!! Tom

So I’m working on my PPL in a 172 while my M20 is in pieces all over the country for various reasons. This Sunday was the first practice under the hood. I have previously flown in IMC with an IIFR certified instructor in the right seat and so this wasn’t the first time under instrument. I did fine that time, however, this Sunday was a different experience. Under the hood I was really struggling to hold the heading. If I put the wings level in the AI the DG would show me turning one way. Then I would fix it. Wings level. Then it would say I was turning the other way. I commented to the instructor that I suck this time and I don’t know why. It started to mess with me. What my body felt, what my senses told me, what logic was telling me, didn’t match what I was seeing. Then the AI started telling me I was rolling to the left and I started to correct it, but it didn’t add up. I told him “something’s wrong, I don’t like this” and panicked a little even though it was VFR with the instructor in the right seat. I lifted the hood briefly and saw I was still wings level. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi...,5 Mississippi and the Instructor says “wow, look at your vacuum gage”. IT was reading zero and the AI was a tumbled sideways and down (basically the opposite of what I would have done to try and save it) There are some valuable lesson here as with many things that happen to go wrong that don’t kill you....I don’t think I would have survived that in real IMC, especially if alone. But now I’ve seen exactly what a vacuum pump failure looks like. It’s subtle at first as the gyros spin down. They will kinda work, the errors will get worse...then they fall apart like a top running out of spin. I tried flying partial panel a little bit after and boy that would be tricky with just a T&B and compass for wings level. Survivable in a straight line until I’m clear of clouds but that’s about it at my current skill level. So this further enforced for me the fact that I’m not going IFR until I have an electric AI as a primary or backup. I want a way to quickly double check that the primary is correct...not just for when the first one fails because once you realize that it failed, it might be too late. This trip was my first time flying with only a Whiskey compass...what a terrible instrument! I now see I need to focus more on learning how to use it better or I need a vertical card. Dreadful thing. I have a lot more respect for our flying ancestors and understand better how Amelia probably vanished. I also learned that I hate vacuum gages. I would much rather have the idiot light like my 66’ E. That light would have warned me to not trust the gage and this AI didn’t have any flags which would have also worked. My take-aways, in summary: 1. Don’t fly IFR if your AI doesn’t have a vacuum loss flag or your panel only has a vacuum gage 2. Vacuum pumps fail...a lot apparently, don’t bet your life on it not. Have a damn good plan B and a clear way of knowing when to take it. 3. If the gages don’t add up, maybe fall back on the secondary while you judge if the primary is safe to follow, don’t let them fly you into the ground if multiple sources aren’t agreeing. I did decide it was wrong this, but panic boiled up. It wouldn’t have ended well. (I’m pretty sure this type of guidance is in IFR training?) This also directly conflicts with the idea of trusting your gages in IMC. Having this doubt in your mind might be really bad actually. BTW, before you beat me up, I only have about 25hrs of VFR training with interruptions as my Mooney failed on me again and again. This was my first time under the hood...I’m still a noob. Comments on what else I should take away are welcome but don’t try to talk me out of hating a mag compass. Lmao.

Friday, July 31, 1970 13th leg. Amarillo, TX (TDW) to Winslow, AZ (INW). We got up early, again, this time with an actual wake-up call and headed back to Tradewinds Airport. The plan was to parallel I-40 heading West towards Winslow, our very first stop on this trip. We covered the 503 mile distance in 3 hours and 15 minutes. I asked Dad if we could spend the night? This was partially because I was tired but mostly because I didn’t want this grand adventure to end. Dad said “no”, that we needed to get home. 14th leg. Winslow, AZ (INW) to Torrance, CA. (TOA). It was hot in Winslow and Dad was concerned about takeoff performance. He did something on this takeoff that I never saw him do before. After getting some speed on the roll, he reached for the flap lever and gave her a couple of pumps of flap. Instead of launching the plane into ground effect, it caused the Mooney to start skipping down the runway. Three heart pounding skips later, we were airborne and climbing slowly away. The 442 miles back home to Torrance went by in 3 hours and 10 minutes. We had covered some 945 miles on this last day in 6 hours and 25 minutes of flying. This brought our total return trip to 2,543 miles in 19 hours and 10 minutes. Our first family flying vacation was over. Dad had finally realized his boyhood dream of flying his own airplane across the country. Epilogue Not long after returning home, Dad received a letter from his old flying buddy, “Reds” Honaker. “Reds” had enclosed a newspaper clipping of an airplane accident. Richard “Rip” Davis, the nice man who shared his plate of fries with me at the Bridgeport Airport Cafe, had been killed. It was the first time in my life that I would know someone who had been killed in an airplane accident. It would not be the last. Charlie Hillard would go on to become the first American to win the World Aerobatic Championship in 1972. He would also join up with Gene Soucy and Tom Poberezny to form first “The Red Devils” and later “The Eagles” aerobatic teams. Sadly, he would lose his life in a freak accident following a performance at the Sun-n-fun Fly-in in 1996. Following this trip, Dad would fly his Mooney just eighteen more times, including day trips to both Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. Then, with Mom facing surgery and uncertainty about when or if she would be able to return to work, coupled with a slowdown in orders at the factory where Dad worked and facing the possibility of layoffs, Dad decided to sell his Mooney. Then, in a mean twist of fate, shortly after the Mooney was sold, orders picked back up at the factory and Mom was able to return to work. Dad didn’t need to sell the Mooney after all, but it was too late, zero six Uniform was gone. I would not see the Mooney again for another twelve years. I was a Student Pilot, 26 years old, and I took a drive up to Hawthorne Airport on a whim. There, sitting across the runway, was Dad’s old Mooney. It had the same paint scheme but the colors had all faded and some of the striping had worn away. I was shocked by it’s appearance. Then I remembered the first weekend that we had owned it back at Torrance. We washed the Mooney from top to bottom and then Dad climbed underneath it to clean every bit of grease and grime off the belly. I thought of Dad, lying on his back on the ramp at Torrance Airport, cleaning his shiny airplane with great pride and the tears began to flow. It was one of the saddest moments of my life. In 1984 I moved East with my family and not long after that, the Mooney did too. Somehow I managed to locate the new owner and sent him a letter. He actually replied and sent me this picture: The Mooney had been re-painted and was all spruced up again! It was a happy day for me and Dad liked it too, but the Mooney wasn’t done with us yet. On July 8, 2010, Dad and I decided to fly down to Sebring for Lunch. Dad was at the controls of our Skyhawk. He landed on Sebring’s long North-South runway and as he made the first turnoff I noticed a Mooney parked on the ramp with a familiar registration number. I pointed and said “Dad, you’re going to want to park right next to that Mooney” and he did. We had a nice visit with the current owner who caught us up on all that had happened to it since Dad sold the plane in 1971. The interior Dad had put in was gone, as was the Mark 12 with the Mooney faceplate and the Bendix ADF. Forty years to the month of that special summer vacation, Dad, his old Mooney and me were together again. To this day it remains one of my favorite memories. My Dad with our Skyhawk.

The patients are checked at every medical appointment for COVID symptoms, and they mostly come from rural areas where there is no or very little COVID, so the chances are small, but the chances are not non-existent for any of us, anywhere. However, there are non-patient flights as well, with limited contact with others. I have hauled blood and bone marrow (boxed up), and there are flights for mothers' milk, medical supplies to rural areas, disaster relief supplies and others. It would be helpful if those who are concerned about patient contact would pick up the non-patient flights, it would lift some of the burden on those of us who are willing to fly patients. I should explain how this all works, I am getting some questions. It may vary from one regional Air Charity organization to another, so always check the region's requirements. To be a volunteer command pilot you must have 250 hours of PIC time and 500 total hours, a PPL and an instrument rating. You need to carry $1 million in insurance. Congress passed a law (imagine that!) in 2018 limiting liability to the pilot's insurance). You do not need to own and aircraft but most do. You must do an orientation, which is basically watching an AOPA webinar on charitable flying (WINGS credit) and reading the AF organization's manual. Once you have done an orientation, you do not need to do it again so long as you fly one mission every 24 months. These are the AF Central (AFC) requirements, there are other more detailed requirements on their website (angelflightcentral.org). Other regional organizations may have other requirements. You do not need to be a Command Pilot to contribute. Command pilots can request another pilot to fly with them and AF will organize that. AF also needs "Ground Angels" who pick the passengers up at an airport and drive them to their appointment, and there are also Mission Assistants who can be non-pilots. Command Pilots can request an MA. Usually, W & B is the problem with a second or an MA, but I have handed off to pilots who are operating as two-person crews (of small aircraft). Once on board, the AF organization receives the requests to fly a patient, either from a patient themself, but more often from a health care provider. They vet the patient for financial need and if the flight is accepted, they explain the rules to the patient. Max 50 lbs. in luggage for example. Flights are posted to an Internet bulletin board that gives some basic information, date of the flight, W & B information, general nature of the patient's health issue. Pilot's log on and request a flight, or if you want, a succession of linked flights. AF reviews and approves in short order. You then receive a Mission Itinerary. It provides among other things the contact information for the patient (or an organization, if, i.e., it is a tissue shipment). It is up to the pilot to contact the patient and arrange the flight. If there is a succession of linked flights it is up to the pilot of the first flight to also contact the succeeding flight pilots and arrange the times and handoffs. The pilot then does the flight. You are PIC, so on the day of, if there is a weather condition or some other safety issue it is up to you to decide whether to cancel the flight. The patients know that they must have a backup plan. I have been lucky, I have not had to cancel in some 30+ flights. There is a charitable deduction for the cost of the flight, but don't think you are going to save big on your taxes. The IRS is stingy when it comes to in-kind contributions to charity. In many cases the patient has no transportation at the end of the flight. I always ask, and if they don't I wrangle an airport courtesy car and take them to their appointment myself. Most of us do. The health issues are varied. I have flown many cancer patients, as young as 6 and as old as 72, brain, pancreatic, breast, and a couple of others. Often we wind up moving them back and forth for several flights while they go through chemo. My first patient was a young girl living on an island in Lake Superior who has cerebral palsy, I have also moved patients with disease names I never knew, Ehlers Danlos, autoimmune issues, you name it, if it is not contagious and they are ambulatory we fly them. AF gives you a Mission pin. You get one at 10 missions, 15 missions, 25, 50, 75, 100+. I wear mine on my blazer when I go out, most people have no idea what it is and most don't ask, but a few do. That, and knowing that you are helping someone, is your return. Someone mentioned that, on the pilot roster for a regional organization there will be a number of pilots who signed up but have never flown. And then there will be a small number who have flown a few hundred flights. I am not in the hundreds yet, but we have three pilots in the Minnesota Wing of AFC who are. If you want to find your region, look on aircharitynetwork.org, it has the website links for all the regional member organizations. Over time you will meet pilots from everywhere. Click on your region to find out their rules and call them with questions, they would love to have you.

For the loyal who have followed along and Paul Harvey fans as well, I will now proceed with “the rest of the story”. Wednesday, July 29, 1970 8th leg. Philadelphia, PA. (PHL) to Charleston, WV (CRW). Over the past weekend we attended Dad’s family reunion, held at the picnic grounds at Boyertown, PA. We also managed an evening visit with his favorite flying buddy, “Reds” Honaker and his wife, Peggy. Now it was getting time to head home to California. In one of those behind closed door, sneaky meetings that parents are so good at conducting in order to keep their kids in the dark, it was decided that Mom would be staying in Philadelphia a few days longer and return on an airliner over the weekend. This would make up for the visiting time that she lost due to the weather delays flying to Philly. This also saved Dad from having a mad scramble to resupply the Mooney with motion sickness bags. But taking the airlines would cause Mom to “sacrifice” the adventure of the flying trip back to California with Dad and me. I’m not quite sure if the tears that she shed that morning were “tears of sadness” in seeing us leave or “tears of joy” that she would not have to spend any more time in the back seat of Dad’s Mooney. Dad and I left for Atlantic Aviation at Philly International in the face of a gray, overcast sky with low ceilings. The weather had been typically crummy during our stay and did not look like it was going to improve anytime soon. Dad was going to file IFR and fly in Actual Instrument conditions for the very first time. I remember clearly that we were held idling in the run-up area for what seemed like a fairly long time. Then we were finally released and cleared for takeoff. We were in the soup pretty quick while being vectored around before breaking out on top. Trouble was, we kept running into more clouds that kept pushing us higher. We eventually were cruising at 12,000 feet with no oxygen on board. My head was feeling kind of funny. As we broke out in the clear we saw two things: the next wall of clouds, which was even higher than we were flying at, and a big hole in the undercast, which went all the way to the ground. It was at that very moment that the Air Traffic Controller advised Dad that we were running out of radar coverage and he would need to resume normal position reporting. Dad decided this would be the ideal time to cancel IFR and head back down through the hole. It can be very difficult to make position reports when your precise location is less than clear. Dad found his way to Charleston, West Virginia, covering the 355 statute miles from Philadelphia in 3 hours and 10 minutes. 9th leg. Charleston, WV (CRW) to BluefIeld, WV (BLF) I have absolutely no recollection of Charleston at all. I do remember that we took off heading Southwest but quickly ran into a fast moving front which actually caused us to fly Southeast, instead. Mercer County Airport in BluefIeld, WV became our port in this storm. We covered the 77 mile distance from Charleston in just 45 minutes, only to realize that we were now farther East when we were heading West. A number of other pilots had dropped in before us to avoid the approaching weather, so we had plenty of company. Dad asked the FBO to put the Mooney in their big Community Hangar, which they did, just before the skies darkened, the storm hit and the wind really began to blow. That is when a voice crackled in over the Unicom. Someone else was going to attempt a landing in these wicked conditions. It was none other than Charlie Hillard, the 1967 National Aerobatic Champion, flying in his Spinks Akromaster! Everybody crowded by the FBO’s window, which faced the runway, wanting to watch this landing. The Akromaster was not known for being a “forgiving” airplane and these were extremely challenging conditions. Obviously, all the Pilots there would treat this moment with the reverence it deserved. As the Akromaster came in we all started counting, bounces, that is ... One...Two...Three...uh oh...Four....Five...well, after Six, my view was blocked. I can’t say for certain how many bounces there actually were. Charlie Hillard got it down, safe and sound. That is all that mattered. Since Dad got the last Rental Car available, we offered to give Mr. Hillard a ride into town. That was an adventure all it’s own. The directions we were given were something like: “go down the road and make the third left, then turn right at the second stoplight”. This worked great getting us into town but was absolutely worthless when we were trying to get back to the airport the next morning. When we arrived at the hotel, there were just two rooms left. I’ll never forget what happened when Dad asked the old guy at the front desk if we could have a “wake-up call”. Without saying a word, the old grump bent down behind his counter and came up with a wind-up alarm clock and placed it on the counter.

Here's some $12 including shipping

Quick update on the installation of two GI 275's, a AV20S, and fixing a stormscope at Lancaster Aviation. First important thing: on time and on estimate. No unpleasant surprises, two weeks between dropping her off and picking her up. The panel was well wired and documented before, so they didn't have to hunt for loose wires somewhere in there. Removal of vacuum pump and svs was done by Henry Weber down the taxiway. The first stormscope computer I bought online to replace the old broken one was faulty, so I asked Todd at Lancaster to send it back (30 day warranty) which they did, with pictures of the packaging). The second unit worked well. The installation of the AV20s was without issues. The 275's work so far as expected, and integration with the KAP150 is flawless. I think it reacts faster to the 275 than it did to the old gyros. The clarity and usefulness of information is impressive. I kept the old instruments around it for fear of the readouts being so small, but it took me minutes to get used to it and I don't look at the other gauges anymore, except for x-checking with the 275's. All configurations seem to be on point, except for the altitude alert which is deafening (can't find the setting for that). One thing that I see as a plus, but not particularly legal (so it's a great idea to write it here, obviously) is that they installed the lower unit as a MFD, not as HSI. so I have the options in there to run all other windows (terrain, traffic, cdi, etc) besides the HSI and HSI map. That could be helpful since there is a CDI on the top ADI unit, I could use the traffic page departing a congested area for example. One big minus: I should have checked the estimate better. Even though I talked about having the OAT probe installed on the 275 and asked about its location when I dropped the plane off, it was not in the estimate and they didn't install it. I have probes for the JPI900 and the AV20S, but it would be nice to have actual winds show on the 430W's. I might do that on my next annual when the panels are all off anyway. The AV20S does provide TKAS. My fault for not checking it closer. At the end they gave me a box with all the old gauges, all the paperwork, wiped the plane for COVID, and off I went. I'm happy with all the redundancy in my panel now, and the fact that I have all information I need to for hard IFR in a narrow sight angle, so no head swiveling anymore while in the clouds. Bank account is leaner but not broken. 16 AMU for 275's and 3 more for the other stuff.

TFR's because of terrorist concerns should be done away with completely. TFR's over fire fighting opps here in the west make sense. TFR's over an air show, yes. But VIP TFR's and sporting event TFR's, silliness and security theater.

Beautiful morning in the South today. Only 76° at departure, hardly any clouds to be seen and then only little ones.

Yesterday I made two $100 Burger Runs, the first was breakfast and the second was the long awaited flight to Catalina. I think I am in love with Catalina. The options were to pay the landing fee each time or an annual membership in the Conservancy with unlimited landings, I opted for the second. A great day of flying! Here are a couple of pictures. The complete write up is on my blog, and yes, the cameras were running for the flight there as well as the flight back which included a trip around the island. Hoping to have that footage edited and up in the next week. https://intothesky.us/2020/07/19/two-100-burger-runs-in-a-day/

I love that you are flying a Cessna home in a Mooney Club shirt.

With all due respect to Don Maxwell (who is a real asset to the community), he did my pre buy. He found some things. He missed some things. Some of them were very expensive. So, I would say that he's good, but I would not rely so heavily on one person. There are also things that have nothing to do with airworthiness that won't show up on a pre buy. Maybe the paint looks like a 9 in the photos and its priced accordingly but its really a 7. That's not airworthiness nor is it something that is going to show up on the pre buy report. A pre buy won't determine for you if the price is fair or needs negotiation.

First time into a grass field in the Mooney. No issues, 8N1 in PA for a Wings and Wheels event.

Yep buy one of those, or wait for one with a lower time engine, then do this, all financed in the deal.

I wear a mask inside private businesses that ask me to, because it’s their right. I still spend more time “worrying” about distancing. I don’t wear one anywhere else. instead, I distance myself. Nearly every story of infection I’ve read lately start with “I was wearing a mask and gloves and was doing everything by the guidelines”. It’s my non-professional opinion that people are being careless because they have “protection”. They don’t worry about distancing, they touch their face 10 times more than people without masks (I’ve witnessed this consistently every place I’ve been). I think some people are getting infected because of the masks. I've personally decided to just live my life. I’m going to die someday. If this is what does it, this is what does it. I’m not going out of my way to catch it, and am actively trying to avoid it, as I do with ALL contagious disease. Thing is, it’s here forever. It’s probably not going to just disappear one day. Eventually everyone will just become comfortable with the knowledge that a certain number of people will die of it every year. I’m just tired of the politicos and medical folks lecturing/pleading/chastising all the while I can still go buy a pack of smokes, a 12 pack of beer, and a triple bacon cheeseburger with extra greasy fries. They don’t care about saving lives, not really. If they did, we’d be actually banning things that save orders of magnitudes more lives, rather than condemning people going to Sunday church service.

1. ONLY applies to MAX units 2. ONLY applies if software is 2.10 or 2.10.1 3 The fix is a software upgrade, free from your Aspen dealer. 4. Takes about 12 minutes to upgrade the software. 5. If you already have software version 2.10.2 this AD does not apply 6. Check your software version by pushing the menu button and turning the lower right knob to the last page.

I count it as worth nothing, but that's not all bad. It just means I can get the plane for less money and then have the engine overhauled by the shop of my choice. I can get the work done that ...I... want done.

Yep, our humidity runneth over . . . .

Today’s social distancing flight to KUIL (Quillayute) an almost abandoned airport (there is a NWS office there where they launch weather balloons). Route was over Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park. Beach village is La Push. A Native American community