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George is an engine guy. He focused on engine performance, especially detonation margin. He's not a materials guy and probably didn't do enough testing there. Now he's in deep having spent a lot of time and money developing G100UL. Human nature says he will defend it to the end. Look at how many of us defend our positions on all kinds of things in the face of evidence to the contrary when we believe we are right. George has done a lot for GA over the years and I hope that this somehow works out for him, but it seems pretty obvious that the negatives outweigh the positives for G100UL.

Being polite was how I was raised. No need to lead with emotion when the facts speak pretty well for themselves.

A bit of an update. It's a long one. And on the detonation topic, the VP UL100E fuel gave an update on potential changes and performance differences over the weekend. I was able to add it at the last minute just after the intro.

I had a Dynon HDX system and autopilot installed in my k this past fall, and have been getting used to it. See photos. Overall, I'm very impressed with the system and especially the autopilot. I've previously flown behind a Garmin G3X touch, and the systems are very similar. They system was installed (and the panel redone) by P-Factor aviation at Penn Ridge airport just north of Philly. Phil Babb is the owner, and really knows what he's doing (also found an induction leak for me on my TSIO-360). Can't say enough about the service provided, very happy. The only complaints I have are with the D30 standby system, which only provides attitude, altitude, and airspeed, but no heading (or track) or navigation data. A Garmin G5 is much better, but not approved as a back up for the system. Autopilot has been silky smooth. Also, swapped out all the old Klixon switches for the new style from the Ultra models. Nippernaper

Honey, I put the plane up for sale. See??

Speaking of crosswinds... after a couple of decades of M20 ownership I landed today with 18 G 27 at 40-50 degrees off the runway. Decided to try another one. By then tower reported "were up to 28" G to mid 30s. Giddyup! Used takeoff flaps. Crabbed the approach big time then slipped on short final; seemed to have a little rudder left. Kept extra power in until touch down. Success! After years of avoiding anything over 18 knots that wasn't straight down the runway, it's good to know I can do it if necessary. Great day of Mooney flying!

Put down the devices, and look out the window. There's a whole world out there. This obsession with "connectivity" will be the death of us as a society.

I used to do things like quit organizations when I didn't like something going on internally, but, somewhere along the way, I figured out that if I quit an organization solely because I didn't like it's internal politics, I wouldn't be a member of anything.

In short, the Aerocruze 100 at my approximate all in price of 11K was worth it. The GFC500 complete setup all in was going to be roughly 32K. I figure 70% of the performance for about a third the price. '76 Ranger with the Aspen E5, GNC 355, MX 170C, AV30 back up, everything else close to original and analog. I purchased the autopilot a couple years ago. Initial install shop ran into the bracket issues and did not want to take it further. Wasn't able to find a shop that would install it so it sat in a box on my hangar floor for seems like two years. Through a contact here on MS, found out about an avionics shop in Oklahoma that had done a bunch of AeroCruze installs including all types of Mooney's. Super nice folks, bit of a cross country from Ohio, but at this point I just wanted it done. Flew the Ranger to them right out of its annual directly. Once they went into the box, they found the previous shop HAD actually cut on the bracket but in a way that rendered it unusable. So, $500 and an email to Duncan/BK, had a new bracket on the way. I was actually surprised it only took them about a week to get it to the shop. That surprise added some time to the install and my crazy work schedule, it ended up 5 weeks from drop off to pick up. The shop told me the standard settings from BK seem to work in Mooney's, they've never had to tweak one yet. They did a really nice job at the price they promised, cleaned up some wiring, and were very communicative during the process. One test flight with the avionics guy, everything looked good, flew home that same day. I've now got a couple flights in, no long cross countries but I've done several coupled approaches VMC including missed to a published hold. I've got a tell ya, I am kind of impressed. What is crazy is I do this for a living in "big iron" with more capable systems and it is still a barrel of fun to watch it happen in my little Mooney. The airplane did not have an a/p before. It does have idiosyncrasies that I was forewarned about from the avionics shop. When the a/p priority switch is in Aspen, the autopilot follows the Aspen's heading bug. Its 10% lazy. It will mildly overshoot then come back, eventually settling on the heading. The shop explained it has to do with the routing of info between GPS, Aspen, and A/P. When the priority switch is in GPS, it follows whatever the Garmin is doing precisely. Altitude hold is okay but not stellar like I have experienced in some Garmin autopilots. The yokes have been lubed, minimal friction in the system. It doesn't do a bad job, sometimes a very mild PIO +/- 50 ft. I have flown through some mild, occasional moderate turbulence and it actually held altitude to a tighter tolerance. The shop told me the folks at Duncan said you could leave the trim annunciation wiring unconnected to save on all the nuisance indications from the display head. They hooked it up and told me to accept the fact, the a/p is never going to like where you set the trim. And that's pretty much how it works. I know where my trim should be ball park, so I set it according to what I am doing and just let the AeroCruze blink "up" or "down". If you hold the yoke a/p button in, it goes into Control Wheel Steering, and that's what I use once in a while to ensure its in trim. Every once in a blue moon, the screen will be blank for a little while but rest assured it will start wanting trim again even if you've proven its fine by kicking it off and letting the airplane fly hands off. Coupled approaches work as advertised especially if you don't have a moron pilot like me at the controls who forgets to start trimming pitch on a go around. I let the a/p take me down on an LPV to below minimums ( all VMC), pressed the ALT button for GA, pushed in power and watched the airplane pitch up for a 500 fpm climb, then watched it pitch WAY UP as my dense brain realized I should really be working that trim wheel down and quickly. Once past idiocy, Ranger cleaned up, it climbed 500 fpm to the MAA of 2800, leveled off, flew out to the hold, beautiful tear drop entry, then proceeded to go round and round without missing a beat. I handled trim, gear, power and flaps but never touched the yoke. Really nice. I've pushed the "Blue" button, (level), four times after maneuvering the airplane into some unusual attitudes. Up to 60 degrees of bank, maybe 15 to 20 in pitch, no high airspeeds though. Its never failed to come on and quickly level the airplane and hold it steady. Although the trim annunciation was blinking like crazy, it never showed clutch slippage or failed to hold the airplane stable. With only two buttons, one knob, and limited display size for the control head, there is button-ology to learn and not all that intuitive. I think with usage, I will get better, but it does take a couple more inputs to get different things done than I would like. Its internal AHRS aligns FAST! I mean its ready to go within 5 seconds of power up. My AV30 is second, my Aspen takes longest, almost gotta sit on my hands for patience. My conclusion. If you have Dynon or are going Dynon and their latest a/p news, that's an easy one. Stick with Dynon. If I knew 5 years ago what I know now, I'd have gone Dynon from the get go. GFC500 would be the best all around especially if you've already gone largely Garmin and/or you own an M20J or better, the value is there even at 35k. For us vintage owners, especially the 180 horse and analog or basic glass panel folks, the AeroCruze is a hard deal to beat. I think its a huge boost to safety even for the VFR pilot. 10-15k in is still a lot of money! However when comparing our current choices for certified aircraft, I think it is worth the spend. AeroValley LLC in Paul's Valley, OK did the install. Give them a shout if curious. They helped me out in transportation too. Plus Amtrak runs back and forth between Dallas and Ok City, like 11 bucks.

Take it to a MSC or a mechanic who has a good knowledge of Mooneys so they can put it up on jacks and investigate. Don’t put it off.

@mluvara latest testing video is very concerning. Do I think these tests should be done in a scientific setting with better controls and repeatability, yes, but they point out very concerning issues. If g100ul does in fact permeate like that, no amount of anything will keep it from destroying anything it is around in short order, or over time. It is also a fire and safety hazard. @George Braly either didn't do due diligence in full testing, doesn't really understand materials science or has a materials engineer at gami, wanted to use the fleet as the test. OK, we are all human. Or the worst knew about it and did not let anyone know. He had a chance to tackle this probably when issues started, become transparent and involve the aviation, science, and engineering community. For blaming technology of 50, 60 years ago is not winning hearts or minds and is completely deflecting. If g100ul only works for the latest engineered parts, OK, own it. If more work needs to happen on the formula, OK own it. I had high hopes for it and had strong respect for George until the constant deflecting. Not sure he realizes, he is digging the grave of gami, single handedly. Which actually takes talent and the desire to do so.

Weather was forecast to be rather crummy so I spent the day giving my new plane a proper wash and wax. I had really only given it a few washless, quick wipe downs since buying it. Woke up many nights from a dead sleep, thinking how dirty my plane was. Of course half way through the job, the weather cleared up. So I spent the day on the ground, but can see the nice clouds through the reflection now.

Met with an ASI for a little over an hour this morning and left with a couple of signed 8610-2 allowing me to test for A&P. Now for the hard part, studying to pass the knowledge tests. I'm planning to get the written tests knocked out and then go to an accelerated A&P school like Bakers for the O&P part, there are a couple in Houston I'm looking at. Hopefully by having the writtens already done, I can finish up the rest in a week or so, instead of the typical 12 - 14 days. Fun, fun.

If you don't think in-flight internet access is a valuable tool, I'm here to tell you that you should try it and be a bit more imaginative. (though the new pricing makes it harder to try) Perhaps if you don't travel in your plane and you only fly in excellent weather, then it could have negligible value to you. But it's pretty weird to tell a bunch of people who find it valuable that they are wrong. FIS-B weather is nice, but there are much better and more comprehensive weather sources available on the internet. Mooneys can fly through multiple weather systems in one flight, so I like to keep up with the big picture and the latest analysis. It's useful for strategic planning, such as keeping track of where the weather develops and when relative to your destination and various diversion options. Internet weather is not just for getting higher-resolution radar, though that is nice to have. Staying in touch with people on the ground is valuable. Someone onboard can email, text, or even call an FBO to find out what you should do since you'll arrive 10 minutes after they close. Send updates to the people you're meeting. Change hotel and car reservations. Change your dinner reservation. Answer a quick question from your significant other without making them wait 3 hours for you to land. In many ways, this is the cell phone all over again. It's useful to be able to communicate with the world. Passengers also sometimes like to get actual work done in-flight. The internet is not just for entertainment. Being able to stay in touch with the office can enable a passenger to have more flexibility about when they can fly. That's good for those of us trying to plan flights. Those are just the top-of-mind benefits.

There's a guy in our Orlando pilot group that has some backchannel contacts at SpaceX's Starlink division and has created this feedback form that's being provided to them. Apparently it's still being debated over there. This is like the 3rd or 4th iteration of this stuff. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdFUZNS8BQbkbSGuWMHzfztI8kpuLdHw_InALwpQWsockLl0Q/viewform?fbclid=IwY2xjawQTx4pleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe-bKtw7aRAJQQlSlyG9RuPG1_ijakgmv9tS-e5MJRXNnDG_oWasIhTM5wLt4_aem_3B22m7hL8xuaHDqpAyCu3g

I know there are good brokers...but in all my aircraft purchases, I've always "bought the seller". Unscrupulous sellers (or brokers) can make a bad plane look good, but visiting with the seller at his home, or hangar and getting insights into him/her is extremely revealing about the plane. A broker might fear getting sued if he told a buyer everything he knew about a seller. It's hard to beat a word-of-mouth, person-to-person transaction.

Update. Last year after discovering the problem, I ordered a new tail stinger skin because I was worried that the factory might close for good. Surprisingly cheap. 400 dollars. Shipped out right away. Came alodined and chromate primer on the inside. Even with the new Lasar price increase it is still cheap. I took the airplane on January 19 to Don Maxwell to have the skin installed. The entire thing including matching the paint came to about 3200 dollars. Don Maxwell said the condition of the fairing rubbing against the stinger is not unusual or unknown on the modern models, so you should check your every time you take the fairing off. He has a guy who actually likes to do them and is very efficient. You don't even need to order the skin from the factory as Don says they have the template and usually make them in the shop. At any rate, my airplane is now has a fully restored factory new tail stinger that looks great! By the way, when I was there yesterday, I spied an M22 in paint shop. Someone is doing a big restoration!

FAR Part 1 defines times of interest. Flight time means: (1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing This is the time you should log as pilot time. The closest approximation is Hobbs time. Time in service, with respect to maintenance time records, means the time from the moment an aircraft leaves the surface of the earth until it touches it at the next point of landing. This is the time you should log in the aircraft maintenance records. The closest approximation is Tach time. (Actually, an air-actuated hour meter is better, but most installations do not have that). Note that for a given flight, Tach time will generally be lower than Hobbs time, so it is to your economic advantage to use Tach time for maintenance log entries.

Rachel is the office manager. I have found her to be helpful and efficient. Personally, I think Mark is smart to have someone like her rather than have his day constantly interrupted. As far as the ‘horror’ being promulgated against the shop, without any first hand experience, I would appreciate the offer to TRY a low cost fix. From the little info available it sounds like the switch housing is cracked allowing the pin to move; trying to glue the crack sounds worth trying. That SUGGESTION hardly warrants pulling your plane out of the shop and condemning them! For the record, I’ve had several annuals done at Top Gun and have been very satisfied.

When they are open they are operative.

If I flew for business, I might feel differently, but since I only fly for fun, I actually enjoy being off-line for a while. All that crap can wait. I do understand, though, how folks feel hoodwinked by the bait and switch. “I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things. ” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

If it contributes so much to safety, why yall canceling subscription and not happy to pay a little more...for safety and all

Still don't understand why people even need it. It's an obvious distraction causing problems and close calls because people eyes and minds are no longer outside. People reaction says a whole lot

So here’s another thought… you’re asking about vfr flying, not ifr. You simply need to maintain vfr minimums (agl, cloud clearance, vis, etc) to be “legal” regardless of whether there’s a forecast or airmet or whatever. Now that you’re clear of clouds, icing isn’t a concern as it won’t form without “visible moisture” (aka a cloud or very low vis). So if you look at the local tafs, metars, and out the window and it looks fine to remain vfr, go for it. Especially local flying. I might take a more careful look at flying across the entire airmet vfr on a long xc.

That is a hard question to answer since every salvage airframe is different. Every variable is at play from airframe damage, engine/prop times and damage, installed avionics, and even location. Some can be fairly easy to repair like a "regular" gear-up victim, but others make no economic sense due to the amount of damage relative to finished value. Obviously a 2018 Ultra can withstand a lot more repair labor than a '65 C and still be viable. If you watch ebay, every now and then you'll see a stripped carcass for sale from Wentworth... I hate when they do that! They buy the salvage, then take out all of the panel goodies and sometimes other bits and perhaps the engine, and then try to sell the airframe where they left it when there is little chance of flying it out. I bet many of those get cut up. I like BAS a lot better since they fully dismantle and catalog everything and don't waste any parts, at least as far as I can tell. They're very nice folks too. If you manage to find a good airframe that is a candidate to repair and fly, you can work backwards from what the finished & flying value might be and estimate your costs to get it there and see what it might be worth. In many cases if you start with a free airframe, it still might not make sense! If it has a lot of goodies installed and the engine isn't trashed, then it can make sense. But they're all different! And if you find one that is 2000 miles away from you, then it adds more cost versus a closer one. I've bid on 5-6 Mooney salvage auctions so far. I won my very first one in 2013 and missed the next several because those would've been "nice to have" and money-makers for me vs. the first one where I had specific things I wanted that had value to me, and I parted out the rest. It worked out well for me since I got far more familiar with Mooneys while dismantling it, and I "made" money beyond my costs, but only by counting my labor as $0/hr since it is a hobby. I just won another one but haven't retrieved it yet...hopefully next weekend. All of the ones I've bid/bought were too far gone to repair and fly. If you're mechanically inclined, have the interest, space and time/bandwidth then I would encourage anyone to consider buying their own salvage if you're a long-term owner. My motivation on the first was to get upgrades for my early J (back seats, overhead vent system, engine controls/console to delete my throttle quadrant, turbo normalizer, etc.) as well as spares like gear and flap actuator, engine parts, switches, circuit breakers, etc. I sold what I didn't want or need and it worked out, even though fielding inquires and selling/shipping is a hassle. I'm looking forward to my next one and will retain more parts for myself this time since the factory situation is still hazy.

You all rang? We are"The Plane Salon," a new sponsor / supporter here at Mooneyspace located in Southern California at KCPM, but we're not new to Mooneys. We paint them, we upholster them, install radios in them while keeping them flying and try to keep our customers happy. I learned how to fly Mooneys from Bill Grebe at the factory, Wes, Mike, and I can honestly say when Don Kaye taught me how to fly Mooneys better, he met everyone at the factory and started training a bunch more of us innocents! Our shop owns a K model, an E model, and a Mite - we'll be refurbishing all three soon. On leather: there are ALL SORTS of prices and qualities of leather, and how much people are willing to pay only affects this slightly. Townsend, Moore & Giles, Perrone, Aeristo, tons of qualities and pricing. On the price of a hide: here's a leather quote from one of the above vendors I obtained to match a customer's interior: " XXXX Lima (VA-T-1201) – 1,600 sqft available Price: $18.55 / sqft XXXX Bilbao (VA-R-0518) – 1,765 sqft available Price: $18.55 / sqft" Here is a wall of various leather colors from the above vendor and some others in our shop - there are about 800 hides of leather hanging there....we took off the plastic so you could see the variety and colors. A "hide" usually runs around 45-60 feet. That means the pricing above equates to about $1,100 a hide. Some are as little as $400-500. Automotive supply shops sell leather for about $5-9 a square foot, and your mileage definitely varies. How many hides does an interior take? From 3 to 5 for our four seaters. Sometimes, shops complement leather with various forms of vinyl (ultraleather, many names of XXXX "leather" which is actually synthetics.) On perforated leathers: This seat came from a J model. As you can tell, when people leave their Mooneys parked outside on the ramp, perforated leather sometimes fares very poorly. On fabrics: Some people like tweed, some like all sorts of fabrics. We are always happy to accommodate. On automotive shops: Automotive shops sometimes do marginal work that isn't suitable for our application, and some do nice work. From using wood and steel for some of the things they do, to some unsightly hog rings and other items, that sometimes leave a lesser finish, we've seen a thing or two. Some of our favorite shops here at Mooneyspace and some of the local shops in our area charge as much as $25k or more for a complete four seat interior; wonderful business for the work they do and much respect. We try to stay comfortably and sometimes much below less than half of that and our customers end up pretty satisfied. $1000-$1500 per seat tends to be somewhat common for many aviation shops. Once you add custom stitching, double stitching, patterning, embroidery, new foam, certified materials, the price will go up substantially at many shops beyond $2k a seat. Every seat doesn't have to be a masterpiece - some people want a simple, functional and attractive seat that doesn't break the bank. Here's a simple seat in leather done for a Piper Comanche - we had 24 hours to get the set done for someone who was desperate, so no time to fit each and every little detail, but they got done in record time: When you factor the above comment where Airtex sends seat covers for $2k, and you still have to spend time and money to install them, fit them, glue them, trim them all as billed labor, sometimes it simply makes more sense to have a shop remove and install their interior and build it custom. On sending out your seats: Sometimes people send us seats for completion in a pallet, including interior panels. Is there a universe in which I would have light colored seats in my plane? Here's a set for a 2008 Cessna 172 before final fitting / pulling and delivery. On the price of embroidery: Different shops charge different amounts. Our embroidery machine cost around $25k. We either throw it in or charge a minimal amount for it. On stitching: Peter T, Wingoever, Jet Driven and Slowflyin show various types of design topstitches....sometimes customers visit, bring their old seats, and we mark them up so they can share with us exactly some of the designs they want. Sometimes it takes time, and a lot of love and attention to make sure your desires come to life. We will sometimes sew custom patterns for customers with various threads and patters to ensure they are comfortable with designs before we put thread to fine leather. The stitching below is all done by hand - here are some for the golf carts we use at our shop when you guys visit. Sometimes people purchase materials that have already been stitched with CNC. Our craftsmen prefer to do it by hand as sometimes they have to find some flexibility in how the final product matches and fits. We are The Plane Salon in Southern California - feel free to come and visit us at KCPM or give us a call at 877-725-6652.

At least we shot down the balloon rather than letting it map all of North America's military bases.

Fix the cowl flaps full open and fly the plane until the replacement is ready. A few knots slower but no big deal. This was my MSC solution a couple years ago. No need to be AOG for this.

The factory has done all of the testing and the math already. The performance numbers are in your POH. I don’t know why some still insist that they know better than the manufacturer. Another thought, Mooney could have called the flap settings whatever they wanted to. They went with “TAKE OFF” and “DOWN”. Pretty self explanatory, no?

First world problems...

In a Mooney with electric gear, I say do it either way you want, although I generally preferred using them in my previous J, but in a manual gear Mooney takeoff flaps seems to make it easier to keep the speed down and to get the gear up after takeoff. In my current C, two pumps usually does it. I use a fully downward deflected aileron as my guide.

This is wrong. It might have been true when everyone was using the previous $250/month Global Priority plan, but they explicitly directed GA users to this current plan that just got kneecapped. https://web.archive.org/web/20251107093252/https://starlink.com/support/article/36fcdd07-e552-3dec-c6cc-bf8b8bb669cd

Good news. We messed with a few settings but immediately found pitch reverse was set to N when it should have been Y. Switched that and it holds heading, gpss, and alt dead on. Loving this thing now!! thanks for the suggestion on the pitch reverse @cliffy

My point is, venting here or on other social media is futile. You need to call them and talk to their chief safety officer. If that never works, then call up your fsdo.

Over 400F on takeoff/climb is way too hot, your max FF may still be too low. But guaranteed temps go up if you pull back power in climb. This engine needs to be run at max MAP and RPM to keep mixture as rich as possible all the way to top of climb whether it’s down low or the flight levels. Properly done you won’t see CHTs higher than 380 in climb. Temperature is the enemy here, not RPM. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am just going to post something negative because this thread is too positive for the internet.

Last spring/summer, we flew our Encore-converted 252 around the world. For those interested, I've finally finished the report on our journey. It's a bit lengthy, but after all the journey was rather lengthy as well There is an online version here: Heading East I also created an ebook with exactly the same content. Several formats can be downloaded for free here. I didn't know in which section I should put this post. I chose this one because the trip started/ended in Europe.

I have great news for anyone in this predicament. I contacted Mooney directly. They have a “retrofit” kit 940110 which is a paperwork fix. The hartzell propeller is a legal installation with the Woodward governor.

Oh yeah, the normal thing is to stay with the tanker the whole way. One reason is that you actually keep all the jets pretty much topped off the whole way so that if someone has a refueling system failure, they can still make a divert field. So you refuel about every 45 minutes or so. The other reason is that we didn’t have hf comms for the oceanic atc. Tanker dealt with all the comms. We just played trivia with the boom operator, refueled and ate snacks. Oh, and cycled a lot of water from camel backs to piddle packs!

When Phil Boyer was heading AOPA he had one all consuming goal -- increase the membership. The reason is simple: The main benefit of AOPA is to lobby the FAA and Congress on issues affecting GA. Politicians respond to lobbying when an organization such AOPA represents a sizeable number of constituents. Clearly, AOPA currently has some leadership issues. But, there are still a lot of hard working staffers that are doing good work. The membership cost is modest, and AOPA needs membership numbers to be effective. I am a lifetime member of AOPA, EAA, CalPilots and Seaplane Pilots Association, because I want to support organizations that are working to preserve my ability to fly when and where I wish.

I don’t understand why they haven’t lost even more members (400k->300k), if you feel you need to donate I think EAA might be a better option.

@UteM20F you're right, I've gotten too invested in this process and the rollout with unleaded expecting it to come to Colorado likely prior to 2030 if it's up to legislators here. I take it more personally than I should when for some strange reason Mooney is being singled out by a fuel producer as inadequate and improper. Not sure what that implies exactly? (an expectation by the producer that Mooneys will be less tolerant of the fuel??) I went to WeepNoMore in 2022 with some small (non-airworthy) leaks as I was planning on repainting. 25 years on original sealant, no prior patches, and I could have easily either left it until it was worse or gotten a simple patch repair. Hard to say that is "grossly improper workmanship at the factory production line." Wet wings need maintenance just like anything else on our Mooneys. Deficient maintenance is just that. But I'm in a strange situation where I maintain my M20K very well, but can't tell you what o-rings or hoses I have throughout the fuel system...or what I should or shouldn't address preventatively. My aux tanks have original sealant on them as Paul Beck said they looked great and he wouldn't touch them (after this I'm second guessing that decision...which seems crazy); mains resealed in 2022. My fuel sumps were replaced in 2024 with sumps w/viton o-rings; I have fluorosilicone o-rings on my fuel caps. Is my maintenance "modern"? I'm not even sure what that means? My perception is that there is a differential effect with G100UL, but I hear more of "high toluene 100LL" and "inadequate Mooneys". I think that we've been fortunate to have very visible paint and materials issues that led to a huge slow down in a rollout that was poised to capture the entire state via legal action. We've been fortunate that Mr. Luvara has documented the field testing that he has. It's easy to have a vested interest in what may dramatically alter aviation in the near future. You CAN have different fuel effects as well as poor maintenance. But poor maintenance isn't an excuse to discard need for further testing when differential effects are seen. Less commentary, more facts, more flying....that's definitely the best option!

Annual is done! Did Corrosion X, new led landing light (half the leds were out), fuel flow transducer, scat tube, new mains and tubes. Engine and oil filter looking great. Next will be saving up for tank reseal. Gonna see if Maxwells can do the control rods in the tail section and flight check the bird to verify all rigging. Now to put some hours on her. Glad nothing big this year - just normal maintenance… -Don

I didn't have the budget for custom leather, so I went with Airtex. I haven't installed the headsets yet, but I'm happy with the seats. The covers came with new foam, and all in it was just over $2000. I also spent $800 on carpet and $1000 on almost new plastics and probably $200 more on paint, glue, etc. There are certainly much nicer interiors, but I'm pretty certain this is better than what the factory supplied.

I stand corrected!!! We CAN assign our proxy to someone other than a board member. It will be a large effort, but if the membership community could identify a few like-minded proxy voters who can attend the membership meeting, there would be opportunity to have a majority vote block separate from the board. The key would be identifying the people who would hold the proxies. Perhaps Darren Pleasance? Although that could be problematic in a conflict of interest and recusal in voting to reinstate him. Anyway, putting this out there for all to noodle on. Here’s the response I received from member services regarding my question about assigning proxies to someone other than a board member. Melinda Brown (AOPA) Feb 12, 2026, 9:47 AM EST Mr. Junkin, We sincerely appreciate your kind words. To assign your proxy to someone else, you will need to reply back with the information below and cc: Charles Lehman (charles.lehman@aopa.org). Member Name Member ID Number Member Email Address (that is associated with membership record) In the email you must state clearly that you are revoking your proxy and designating [individual's name] as your proxy. Please do not hesitate to contact me again with any additional questions. Thank you for flying with AOPA! Melinda Brown AOPA Member Services http://www.aopa.org/-/media/Images/AOPA/Assets/aopalogo2_100x61.png

Start here: Your Aircraft Autopilot Technician - WebAir Consulting

It makes it hard to imagine that GAMI didn't realize that G100UL has differential effects on elastomers, hoses, o-rings given their language for teflon-lined hoses, flurosilicone/flurocarbon o-rings, and "modern maintenance" touted. The question is how much was this underestimated/not explored? Since GAMI set the test protocols and the FAA just signed off, you don't know what you don't test... @mluvara drives home the point that secondary testing, validation, and field tests are every bit as important as the initial FAA certification document. With Mr. Braly's initial comments that neither G100UL nor 100LL cause damage to paint... into "high toluene 100LL does that"... into... I suspect the paint issues were a surprise.

It’s hard to tell from the photo due to all the grease, but the ball nut may be jammed against the mechanical down stop. It’s easy to tell: grab the ball nut shaft and try to rotate it back and forth. It should move on the actuator lead screw to the limits of the Heim joint at the opposite end of the shaft. If you cannot get any motion, you will need to disconnect something to get the pressure off.

You can use the -11 or -15. Attached is a Mooney factory drawing allowing the non-manifold batteries. Larry Mooney Battery drawing (dragged).pdf

Lubrication. I've read the threads here and often refer back to them when going over my plane. More specifics on how to apply lubrication to areas such as universal joints and tubes where they pass through guide blocks. Should we remove previous lubricants? Where to look for signs and symptoms of wear? -David