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First, I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Here's a teaser image to entice you to read on: There is just no brief way of telling this story and I think it is one worth sharing. Like so many others on this forum, I gleefully took delivery on my new to me "forever ours" Mooney last fall, a '95 Bravo. Since then, I have been diligent about learning all I can about proper maintenance and monitoring of the condition of the engine and other components. Once all of the more urgent issues were addressed (overhaul of the exhaust system and turbo, new cylinder, TKS troubleshooting) the time finally came for installation of a JPI EDM 830 and a trip over water to the Bahamas. The planning for both started months ago (selecting and ordering life vests, a PLB, stobes, planning our day trips, learning about eAPIS and customs documents, applying for a Customs sticker and FCC radio license, etc). About two weeks before my wife and I were planning to depart, I purchased the EDM 830 and dropped the plane off at my local IA / A&P's shop for installation and an oil change. The day before we left, I picked up the plane, test flew it around the pattern, and I discovered that one of the CHT and EGT probes were swapped which was quickly remedied. The mechanic also informed me at that time that the MP sensor was defective out of the box and JPI would send another one. I would have to return for its installation later - no big deal. I then flew the plane again back to my home base in the neighboring town without incident. Our plan was to leave the next morning and to fly from KHBG via HEVVN intersection to KFXE, a flight that we could easily make in about 3 hours 45 minutes. That night, my wife commented that she had intended to ask her parents to bring our snorkel gear home from their condo in Gulf Shores Alabama but that she forgot. She begged me to make a stop the next morning on the way down to FL to pick them up and I agreed. Again, no big deal, Gulf Shores is on the way and we have a car stationed at the airport KJKA. The next morning, after a thorough pre-flight (oil level at 8 quarts), we took off for our 28 minute flight to KJKA. Here is the flight log from Flight Aware: The flight was smooth and uneventful until about the last 4 minutes, right about the time you see the turn due south to set up for landing. During my descent, partly because my JPI 830 was brand new, I was somewhat fixated on it during this flight so I was literally looking at it when I noticed a jump in the TIT to about 1675 degrees. Here is the graph from SavvyAnalysis from that timeframe (minus the MP because of the faulty sensor): At the time, I advanced the mixture to bring the TIT down and refocused on setting up for a safe landing. I kept an eye on the JPI and I did not see anything else of concern. BTW, I had mine mounted right beside my Aspen 1000 pro at the sacrifice of the stock VSI: We exited the airplane, and I was shocked to see oil all over the place! No, there was absolutely none on the windshield, though. Needless to say, I called my AI. To his credit, he immediately hopped into his own plane (a Mooney) and flew down with tools to investigate. This is what we discovered: The right magneto was loose...literally. Again, to my AI's credit, he inspected everything very thoroughly, apologized profusely, and re-installed the mag while cleaning up copious amounts of oil. It took 5 quarts to bring the level back to 8 quarts so I narrowly missed the teardown requirement! We test flew the aircraft without incident. After a long discussion with my wife, we agreed that we would continue on the next morning to Apalachacola then Ft. Lauderdale, monitoring closely along the way. We did so without further incident. We overnighted at Banyan and continued to Governors Harbor the next day: It truly was a trip of a lifetime! I have asked myself many times what I could have done differently and what lessons there are in this experience. So far this is what I have arrived at: 1. It is not prudent to take a trip away from home base right after maintenance. 2. The more post-maintenance inspection the better. 3. When the monitor shows an anomaly, take it very seriously. 4. Give the person who made an error an opportunity to make it right. 5. Distraction is a dangerous thing (I'll elaborate on this on in a subsequent post). I hope that this PIREP elicits some good discussion around MIF (Maintenance Induced Failure) and that additional lessons will be brought forth. I truly appreciate this forum and I hope to meet some of you at Oshkosh this year (my first year to participate in the caravan!). Fly Safe, Alex

x Overall, I’m pretty happy with the final result. I did make some errors in the process, but once I’ve started flying with it, it’s become less noticeable. I only wish I had done it a few years ago! I did get extra vinyl to redo the armrests and trim, but I haven't gotten to them yet.

Just thought I'd use this thread to share updates on a cross country flight I'm taking in the Mooney for the next ten days with my wife. Hope to share any useful information and just share the adventure. Follow along if you'd like or don't :). The ultimate destination is up in the air, initially it was going to be Mt + Rushmore + Yellowstone from Niagara Falls, NY, but with the weather patterns being what they are, I kinda tossed the plan due to Yellowstone being a mix of snow and rain for the next week. Day 1: 5/16 evening KIAG > I48 (fuel stop for cheaper CB fuel) > KOSU (Columbus, Ohio) [approx 2hr 30min, some headwind] The flight started off with a bit of an issue with an electrical smell that came and went. My strobes weren't working properly on landing (only have about 5% intensity). I talked to maintenance at KOSU when I landed and they think it might be the strobe box. Luckily, I had scheduled an oil change at KOSU (since I plan to fly for about 30-40 hours on this adventure) so they were at least expecting me for something. The bonus is they put me in a hangar and some nasty thunderstorms came through a few hours after landing. They switched out my Whelen power box (they somehow had one in stock) and my strobes were back up working for the next day and leg of flight and no strange electrical smells, so I think I smelled my strobe power box hitting the fan. Day 2: 5/17 In Columbus, OH - I had a fun day and ate lunch at Brassica (very delicious spot for fast casual food) and spent the evening at the Sonic Temple Music Festival celebrating my birthday and seeing System of a Down live for the first time. Saw Avatar perform too and they were very good live. The festival was lots of fun and my wife experienced mosh pits breaking out around her for the first time. I'm glad she put up with it :D. Day 3: 5/18 KOSU > KVLA (CB fuel stop) > KCPS (St Louis) [approx 3hr 15m due to 30+kt headwinds) Cruised over VFR at 10,500 to KVLA since I didn't want to deal with rerouting and let my wife learn to fly a bit in cruise (she did great with holding heading and learning turns on the way). Lots of buildups and a large wall of t-storms in front, but they should pass quite nicely through the night and leave some nice stable air in their path. KVLA was a nice small airport with avgas at $4.10 and a stocked fridge with a little pilot-accessible door. It was very quaint with rocking chairs up front and had a courtesy car parked, probably with keys somewhere--but since it was a quick fuel stop, we didn't bother looking for them. I had my wife pretend she was helping fuel the plane as a photo op (hint: she actually wasn't). KCPS seemed nice when we landed. They waive the ramp fee with 15 gallons of expensive avgas (but they were kind to make an exception and waive ours with a top off and we took about 10). Overnight parking is $15 and they charge a $7.50 security fee on top of it. They had a rental car on the field which we rented for the day. We did a little flyby of the city before we landed (our first time in St Louis): We got to St. Louis fairly late, but had an awesome day, which we started by eating a well deserved lunch+dinner at Pappy's Smokehouse (full slab of ribs with added brisket + two sides pictured): After our dinner, we spent about 3 hours playing at the City Museum, which we thought to be one of the most unique places we've ever ventured in. If you've never been, imagine a maze that you can climb through, slide through and even crawl into old airplane cockpits that are housed on the 8th floor. It brought us back to feeling like we were children (in a good playful sort of way) and we both enjoyed our time there. We capped off the night with an ice cream cone at Jeni's in St. Louis. Tomorrow, we think we will fly from KCPS>KHOT to check out the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas for a few hours before continuing on to Austin, TX (maybe the same day). We've been to a few cities in TX before, but never Austin so we are excited to check it out. Recommendations are welcome! The rest of the days we don't really have a solid plan and truly are winging this adventure, I do know it would be neat to fly the Mooney to Catalina Island on the west coast so ultimately hoping to make it that far west. Any suggestions, comments, etc. are welcome! If any Mooniacs want to meet up along the way, we are totally open to it!

I was on a flight as a passenger last night that didn't make it's destination either. SEA to IAH but diverted because of that storm over Houston. With a full career of almost full time travel for business, and millions of miles flown, I've had countless diversions and disruptions for weather. But last night was the first time weather has gotten in the way and IMPROVED my travel plans. ATC gave us a hold and told us to expect at least an hour in the hold. We didn't have the fuel for that so diverted to Austin. My original itinerary was SEA to AUS connecting in IAH. So on account of the weather I got a non-stop from SEA to AUS and home an hour earlier than scheduled.

Put it in a cargo plane. I'll see myself out...

I got a little right seat DC3 Time today. It was only about fifteen minutes on the controls. But I will never forget it. I wasn’t expecting the seat time. I was allowed to sit in the jump seat for take off. Once he climbed out and turned West over a lake that is about 35 miles long, the copilot got up and pointed at his seat since I didn’t have a headset. He climbed out and I climbed in, buckled up and put on the headset. The pilot gave me the controls and I finished the climb out while following the winding lake. At the end of it, I did a slow turn 180 and followed the lake back to the airport and descended to pattern altitude where the pilot took it back and landed.It was not nearly as heavy on the controls as I thought it would be, but I didn’t make any hard maneuvers. It felt like I was just hanging at the windscreen since there was no nose to see.A great day!

Formation practice today with @adverseyaw near Bremerton (KPWT)

Flew down to SBA to work on my commercial but when we went out to the plane it started pouring and we could hear thunder, so we did ground school instead. This was the flight down. There was a huge thunderstorm building NE of SBA. When I took off for home I asked to stay as far West as possible to avoid the storm and the controller said “that’s exactly my plan.” They did an awesome job and I had an uneventful flight home...and I got the plane washed!

I was bored today and it was raining all day. Decided to turn mine into a warbird to pay homage to what my grandpa was doing 75 years ago. I should dig out his logbook and see what boring training route across Canada he and his crew were flying on this day. I suppose I could yank the modern maple leaf within the circle and make it more historically accurate by replacing it with a solid red dot. He actually flew this exact Anson on countless CATP flights. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Progress is finally being made. After numerous delays at my composite shop, I decided to move the project to a different shop. In hindsight, I should have done this quite a while ago. All my fault for the delay. With that, here’s some updated photos of the prototype cowling we’ll be making the molds from. Thanks, David

Ive heard said that WD40 is definitely the thing to use on all aircraft parts, :). (New members will not get that joke).

Another quick trip to civilization looking forward to a long flight in the near future and will be making some inquiries about our destination. Today's flight was problem free but had some pretty challenging winds at both fields. A couple pics showing the strong marine layer to our west, was about 20 miles in from the coast. Also is a nice picture of Lake Berryessa dam the round circle is the glory hole which is the spillway. It's still flowing a little. A few weeks ago it was really flowing. Most water in California in over a decade.

They don't even need toxicology reports. If they stole a Bellanca they must have been drunk . . lol

Lobstah run! Belfast Maine, with my oldest son - brought the folding bikes and had a great time. Brought home lobsters and blueberry soda. There's one shot where the sky is looking like the scene from Dr Seuss' Lorax when he went away. And also you see there is still snow in the mtns and apparently skiing near Mt Washington?! NH. And for those who like Ben Stiller and his new tv show - there's Danemora prison - which is close enough to where we live here that we were told to lock our doors during that prison break.

Flew to Sunriver S21 for Mother’s Day brunch. Preflighting to leave they had a herd of elk running back and forth over the runway. Shareena is loving the Tangos. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shout out and special thank you to @Cody Stallings for some great advice today. Mooneyspace is blessed to have him and I know where I will be sending my prop for service in the near future !

Last Sunday was filled with flying. Five airports, at least 430 miles, 6 approaches, three ILS’ and three RNAV’s. Pendleton, Yakima, Tri-Cities, Walla Walla, back to Pendleton and one to home. Didn’t get any pictures since I was under the hood for 4 hours out of the 4.7 and got about .6 of actual. It made me feel like a real IR pilot:) Today was a lot shorter flight. Me and two brand C pilot friends flew into Silvies Ranch resort for breakfast. It’s only about a 12 minute flight. Good friends food and scenery! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Weather was bad today so my son had to take his lesson in the flight simulators.

Check the useful load of the planes you are looking at compared to yours and then consider how big the 6 & 7 year old will get and how much fuel you need to make the flights you want to make. I like a Mooney as much as the next guy on here, but if I had a plane with the kinks worked out already that was a known quantity, 4 gph would not convince me to sell it and switch to something else. Now, if you want to switch because a Mooney is way cooler and more fun than a Cessna - welcome to the club. You've found the right place.

Okay, so I've been putting off repairing the infamous "stuck roof vent" problem that's plagued my C model since the upholstery was redone. It's been stuck in the open position for at least 4 years and I've just been putting it off. Well, I finally decided to take the project so I set aside a full day of wrangling headliners and trim parts and finding the necessary hardware to repair whatever I found to be froze up. I rounded up all the tools I thought I might need, put some music on the stereo, and had a yeti mug full of ice water and started at what was to be a while of sweating in my cockpit. I started by beginning to remove the trim that surrounds the front overhead vents and cockpit lights along with the vent control knob. I removed the 4 small screws that hold it in place and inserted the small allen wrench to remove the vent knob. I decided to just try to move the knob a bit to get to an easy position to loosen the allen nut when, much to my amazement, it rotated freely and the roof vent closed completely. I repeated opening and closing it several times with a stupid grin on my face. As it turned out the back left screw was about 1/8" too long and was engaging the gears of the vent mechanism and had locked it in place. Total hardware needed to repair vent-shorter screw. Time of repair-15 minutes. Sometimes I'd rather be lucky than good. Don

Flew down to Houston for a wedding Friday. Flew from SGR to NEW Saturday to say hello to a friend. Over Galleria in Houston / Transco Tower Crossing over Lake Pontchartrain It was so cool landing over the water Nice Sunset Reflection Sunday was a bit more chaotic. Got lunch with my sister who was in NOLA for a wedding. Had to non rev her back to DC so she wouldnt be considered AWOL from her Military leave. Well all flights to DCA were packed. Flew NEW-CSG (was going to drop her off in RDU and suffer through to night back to GPM.) Landed in CSG and looked at flights from HSV to DCA. It was open again, we turned North West to HSV from CSG. Got her on the ground with 40 minutes to go. She got her ticket, and walked on board! This was leaving HSV to TXK Texarkana for a fuel stop before continuing to GPM. 51kt cross wind from the south before turning to final at GPM. LONG flight back from HSV to GPM. Total for the weekend: 12.6 Hours Total on Sunday alone: 8.6 Hours

There's no reason not to fully modernize the avionics on a C model, assuming one wants to keep it a while and use it as a serious traveling machine. I redid my panel completely upon buying my C almost 5 years ago, and I will make a couple more upgrades this year. After substantial upgrades, the fixed costs remain essentially the same, and it is the still the cheapest Mooney to operate and far cheaper than other certified aircraft of equal capability. Like the rest of the Mooneys, the Cs are very capable IFR platforms at their core and thus realize the full benefit of modern avionics. And some of the upgrades make the routine operational costs cheaper (e.g. taking out the vac).

True. But that requires building a relationship with the shop before handing over the plane. I took my 252 to three different avionics shops before settling on one. I also got opinions from my AI with whom I have a great relationship built over years and trust explicitly. It was pretty obvious that the shop I settled on thought the same way I did about the work that needed to be done. Obviously shit happens. But my Mooney doesn't go into any shop without a very clear understanding of the expectations, business practices, and agreements in writing about how it will all go down. I did have one situation where my plane was in the shop and the owner and I came to a disagreement over the way forward. I showed up at the shop, paid the bill to that point, and took possession of the plane. I reinstalled pieces that were disassembled, and flew the plane out. The shop owner told me the plane was not airworthy and couldn't be moved. I said I wasn't asking for his opinion and flew the plane away to another shop. That was a couple of years ago. It was a good lesson to learn. Keep control of the situation. Check in often. Show up and inspect the progress. And at the end of the day, I'm PIC and I'm the owner. I determine if I can fly the plane or not.

OMG! I feel for you. But let me second what @LANCECASPER said. No one should ever go into any shop for an upgrade without knowing as much or more than the shop knows. In this day and age with everything available on the Internet, there is no reason not to know. And when spending $20 to $100 AMU's, it's worth the time to educate ones self. Back in 2014 I knew nothing about Mooneys much less what went in a Mooney panel. Today, I know as much or more about the options for Mooney panels than any avionics shop in the country. And everyone can have the same information for free. When I take my Mooney in for avionics upgrades, I call the shots and say what will be done. And when an avionics shop disagrees with me, I find another shop. After all, I know better than they do. It's the only way to operate in this business.

Was doing just that this weekend as well. Took my son to Miami of Ohio where he will start grad school in August. Beautiful campus. Miami University airport KOXD, just 1.5 miles from his new apartment. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wife wants me to take the mother in law and fam for a flight. So after running some numbers I said I could take 480lbs max. She kept asking if that includes me or not. I was trying to explain useful load, fuel, pilot weight, etc. but it wasn’t coming through. So I said don’t worry about any of that, the plane isn’t going anywhere without fuel or me so that leaves 480lbs for useless load Therefore useless load is how much the plane can take after the useful load has been accounted for.

Thanks John, This year, @Seth is at the helm and promises to have a fabulous Mooney Summit VII. I am sure he will be emailing everyone shortly where we are with everything. Everyone is working towards getting a larger venue In PCB to accommodate more people, as we have a huge wait list again. @Hank is soliciting raffle and silent auction donations to help fund our charity. Unlike COPA, we are not owned by Mooney and have to grovel for funding, and one of the reasons we have been successful is we do not charge for the event, but ask everyone to donate what they feel the value is. Some have really impressed us with their valuation, while just a few have taken advantage of the generous ones. Moving the venue would not be voted for by @rocketman, as he donates 17 condos for use by SME's and those of his choosing, along with his 2 beach houses. FIgure in the rent for these and we would have an additional 10K in costs. I wonder how the Cirrus's will handle avoiding landing in Lake Ponchatrain for their convention?

Nicely done Ted... For your first post to this forum, you’ve elected to call out a member who suggested that you didn’t respond to his messages in a thread that is a year old. Take a moment to think about the optics of such a post. You’ve 100% positive eBay feedback. Leave it at that. Many of us would be interested in learning about your services. I have two KX165s and keep a third INOP radio as a parts source. I still consider these to be excellent radios but the lack of replacement displays is a problem. What exactly does your repair entail?

The kids got it right...never pass up the chance to do quality sim training!

I thought I'd resurrect this old thread because the original question gets to the core of a misunderstanding about the Mooney tail feathers that I see on MS from time to time. It turns out that a vertical stabilizer with a vertical leading edge is more effective than one with a swept back leading edge, and this allows it to be of smaller area which in turn reduces the weight and drag. The Mooney tail design wasn't greatly different from other airplanes back when Al designed it - just a bit more angular. It wasn't until around 1960 I believe that Cessna started the swept fin craze making the Mooney tail appear backwards. The interesting question is why is the vertical leading edge design more efficient? I has to do with the angle that the relative wind flows with respect to the chord line of a wing (aerodynamically, the vertical stabilizer is a vertically mounted wing with a symmetrical airfoil). The cord line is perpendicular to the leading edge of a wing. In the case of a vertical leading edge, the relative wind flows parallel to the chord line. This airflow produces the necessary aerodynamic side force ("lift" - think Bernoulli, Newton) whenever a yaw creates an angle of attack. Now consider the swept back leading edge. The chord line is still perpendicular to the leading edge, but the relative wind is now at an angle to the chord line. Some of the relative wind will flow parallel to the chord line and some will flow spanwise. The spanwise component is "wasted" in the sense that it doesn't produce any aerodynamic force. So, the useful component of the relative wind is lessened. Aerodynamic force is a function of airspeed, angle of attack and area. To achieve the same aerodynamic force at the same airspeed and angle of attack, the swept tail will need to be larger than the straight tail. Drag is also a function of area, so as the area increases, so will the drag. I believe that Bill Wheat said in Boots on the Ground that Al calculated that a swept tail would need to be about 20% larger. So, if the swept tails are just for show on small planes, why do jets have them? Jets fly fast and recall that the air flowing over a wing accelerates. When the airspeed of this accelerated air gets close to the speed of sound, the drag goes way up. The rapidly increasing wave drag as the aircraft approaches the speed of sound is why it used to be caused the "sound barrier". By applying sweep, the wing sees reduced airspeed of the component of relative wind along the chord line, and this reduces the drag. Sweep is applied to all the airplane's "wings" (wing, horizontal and vertical stabilizers) for this reason. Skip

You probably missed the big announcement (because there wasn't any) about the recent change to your FIS-B (ADS-B) radar depiction. Read more about this in my avwxtraining blog here.

Got to take a trip to bring the kids to visit their 94 year old great grandmother and her 3 x 90+ year old great aunties (who all live in the same senior apartment complex together). We were gonna go to DC for a couple of days, but my oldest daughter really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, so we headed north, flew the Hudson corridor, and made a trip to NY instead.

1) Free is good 2) Oktoberfest beer is not free 3) Mooney Summit beer = free 4) Mooney Summit is good

It seems like a simple issue to just remove one of the G5s, reinstall the KI256 and realign the KC192 to get your KFC 150 back up and running. Then at a latter date have somone else install the GFC 500 that does work with the G5. With the G5 already installed, after you sell the KC 192 and its 3 servos, the cost should run around 15K net for the 4 servo model. Dealing with attorneys is a downer and just prolongs the pain of the mistake.

This is what I meant. I'm paying an avionics shop to know how to run wires, solder joints and know what connectors to use, and to sign my log book. But I chose the components and their arrangement in the panel. @steingar is correct that there is a lot to know about a lot of boxes. But I'm just not confident there is any avionics shop out there that knows all that data either. They're too busy running wires and doing installs to read all the marketing material, user guides, etc. And the manufacturer reps are obviously biased. In fact I've found avionics shops to be biased towards what is easiest to install and what has the best margin for them. But since I'm the guy who's gonna spend all the hours with my nose just inches from this panel, I want it to be right and no one has more of a vested interest in that than me.

Hi all, Back from the real world. It's been two years since I bought & sold my first Mooney. I see @Guitarmaster (Matt) has moved on to a twin- congrats, Matt! So back in 2017, I basically lost my a$$ on a small business back in Michigan. I had purchased a M20E and was happily flying it (when weather cooperated) between home and MDW. Thanks again to Matt for all the help, tips and friendship. We sold the business at a great loss, licked our wounds, and moved to Las Vegas- or rather, more accurately, Pahrump, Nevada; about an hour west of Las Vegas. And guess what? They have a private airpark called Calvada Meadows. So, the other day, I took a drive by. One thing led to another, and here I am back on Mooney Space. I've gotten the flying bug again. Yes, I fly professionally but really didn't have a reason to own my M20E once I departed central MI. This time, I'm taking my time to look for just the right plane, under the right circumstances, because I don't want to end up giving it away like the first one. Along the way, I'll have to buy (no possibility of renting hangar space out here) a hangar lot, put up a hangar, and look around for a good mechanic- all the things I had (via rental hangar) back in Michigan. Good to see familiar posts by familiar folks here at MS and I hope to soon be (again) a proud Mooniac. Stetson20 (Roy)

In my defense, I am old. You can't expect me to remember something I read more than 2 minutes ago!

This is a very touching video made in the plane that I flew. The pilot came for a World War II glider pilot reunion and this video was created. After the event, he was flown home and he died the next day. It was definitely a bucket list flight.

Currently in the process of installing a Garmin G3X in my '65 M20C, along with some other upgrades. Take a look at my cad drawing that is to scale. N5866Q Panel.pdf

I really appreciate all of the kind words. I’m currently exhibiting at the AOPA-Frederick Fly-In and I must say, I am humbled. It is amazing the number of pilots who come by just to say thank you. When it is me that is so appreciative for the pilots who trust us with their audio panels. We are here to help, let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Mark

for 700 more you can have the pma450B. and the install cost is gonna make that 700 a lot less different. Includes a charger, and is generally the best audio panel available right now.

(c) Except as provided in §91.157, no person may operate an aircraft beneath the ceiling under VFR within the lateral boundaries of controlled airspace designated to the surface for an airport when the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet. You’re misunderstanding pattern altitude as regulatory, it’s not. In the controller’s eyes the field was VFR. Your ability to maintain cloud clearances is not her problem, it’s yours. The FAR/AIM suggests VFR pilots modify pattern altitude to maintain cloud clearances.

That cable on the prop is a bit redundant. Use it to go lock up a bicycle somewhere, this plane isn't ever going anywhere.

What obese woman?

In Memoriam: Jeffrey Carl Weiss All of us at Angel Flight South Central are heartbroken at the news that we lost one of our own yesterday. Jeff Weiss—who from 2002–2016 had volunteered so generously to fly Angel Flight patients to life-saving treatment—died on the morning of April 22, 2019, when his plane crashed outside of Kerrville, Texas. Jeff was an investment banker, and yesterday was flying several members of the Houston real estate community to view a potential property purchase. The Beechcraft BE58 took off from West Houston Airport in Katy at approximately 7:30 a.m. and crashed at 8:50 a.m., about 10 miles away from its destination, Kerrville Municipal Airport, according to the FAA. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Jeff had 42 years of experience as a pilot and an exemplary safety record at Angel Flight South Central. He used his considerable talents and generosity to fly patients to medical appointments with us for nearly 15 years. He also financially supported the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport in Houston and was generally a committed philanthropist. Our hearts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of all who were on board.

I just completed a week long 5174 nm journey with my 13 yo daughter. Her spring break started last Friday after school. I flew from Erie, Pa (KERI) to Boston (KBED) to pick her up. From there we stopped in N.C for dinner (KECG) and on to St. Augustine, FL (KSGJ) for the night. The next morning was KSGJ to Providenciales (MBPV) for fuel. We didn’t need to clear customs for just a fuel stop, but they certainly tack on a number of government fees. From there we continued to St. Thomas (TIST). During my planning, I had been working with the FBOs and customs to make sure that I had everything set. As we were preparing to depart to St. Thomas, I gave one more call. It was lucky that I did. They said, you better hurry, customs goes home at 5:45 today. We landed in St. Thomas at 5:38 and had a really quick trip through customs. The FBO at St. Thomas (Standard Aviation) was great. They met us a customs and got us through everything quickly and easily. Things always work a little differently in the islands. From there, we spent 2 nights in St Thomas, which is still recovering from Hurricane Irma. On Monday, we took a ferry to Tortola where we picked up a sailboat for the next five nights. We had a fun captain and enjoyed sailing around the British Virgin Islands. The BVI were also hit very hard by the hurricane. They can certainly use the tourist dollars to help the recovery and support their economy and workers. Saturday morning was a ferry back to St. Thomas to pick up the plane. Saturday morning, the ferry and US Customs in in St. Thomas were running on island time. Getting a little later start than we wanted, we set off from TIST to MBPV again for fuel. ProvoAir at MBPV was very efficient and helpful. Even though you file your flight plan like normal through ForeFlight or your normal routine, the tower at MBPV requires a paper copy. The FBO helped get one faxed over to them and called to verify that got it and we happy. Another thing that I found interesting is that depending on the time of day, clearance delivery, ground, tower, and approach can all be on the same frequency with one controller. Because of the late start, we were not going to be able to make customs at Ft. Pierce before closing time at 6PM. We elected to choose Ft. Lauderdale Executive (KFXE) where customs are open until Midnight daily. After a dinner in Ft Lauderdale, we decided to call it a night and not push on any further. On Easter Sunday we got up and made the trip from KFXE to Charleston, SC (KCHS) for a nice Easter brunch in downtown Charleston. After brunch was the trip back to KBED. I dropped her off with her mother at around 6pm. Since I didn’t have anything scheduled Monday morning, I stayed in Boston Sunday night. On Monday, I woke up and flew back to KERI in time to make if for my surgeries that were scheduled to start at 10AM. It was a great Father-Daughter week. She is a big help with the plane and the logistics. She and I have done international flight to several places in Canada, but this was out first Caribbean adventure on our own. I think this really helps develop her self confidence and sense of adventure. She isn’t afraid to try new things and figure out new situations that require flexibility. I am very fortunate that she and I can do this sort of trip together. The Meridian was great for the trip. I love the speed and altitude. But is certainly doesn’t have the legs of a Mooney. The thirsty PT6 needs to eat every 800nm or about 3 hours. It is almost impossible to take a bad picture with this scenery. Bradb

@KRviator This definition comes up every now and then... Mooneys have their Vne marked as a redline on the ASI... Whatever it is based on... a percentage of flutter speed or speed of sound... maybe somebody took into account full control inputs at that speed and forces required to remove parts of the plane... At full power, down low, Some Mooneys can exceed Their Vne easily with a slight descent... No, the wings don’t fall off immediately... but, if you run into bumps while exceeding Vne... you may be loading your risk basket faster than you can slow down... Risk of sitting on the couch vs. risk of going for a jog... I never had a heart-attack sitting on a couch... Reminder to have that cholesterol checked and take it seriously... The FAA allows us to fly and take meds for that... PP thoughts only, not a public service announcer... Best regards, -a-

Sure, Anthony. The plane flies faster in lower density air (less drag) and density is a function of both altitude and temperature. You are always better off higher if the engine will put out the power you need. The two common ways of achieving this are super/turbocharging and having a more powerful engine derrated at sea level which is how the turboprops operate. The poor J with its little 200 hp engine doesn't get very high before it starts to run out of power, but it makes up for it by being so efficient. That's why I like to cruise at 8000 -9000 feet ROP. I like to go fast and I figure I already pre-saved on gas by not buying a Cirrus Skip

Some thought it was because after my playing days, I ballooned up to close to 300 pounds from my playing weight of 235. And this was a way for me to justify being a fat guy. "I wasn't a fatty, these are fatties!". Others believe I am one of those guys who possess the recessive gene that triggers admiration of large rotund ladies. While others, believed it was a tactic used by me to defuse some of the uglier threads this site produced. What's worse? Reading about Little Timmy or being bombarded with pictures of large rotund ladies pictures? You pick...

I had my prop balance checked based on a recommendation from my shop at annual. ("I don't like the way your baffling is accumulating cracks. I suspect there's more vibration than there ought to be. You should have your prop balanced.") Local prop guy tried to balance, looked at the numbers and told me they were bad enough that he didn't feel comfortable whacking weight on it and I should really take it to the local dedicated prop shop and have them statically balance it. Charged me hardly anything for his time. I took it to the local prop shop (Propellers NW) and they took a look at it and informed me they couldn't get it to balance either, needed to look at it closer and made sure I was all in on pulling the prop and statically balancing if necessary. A few days later they called me back and informed me they had discovered whoever had last installed the prop (before my time as owner, no idea who, when, or how long ago) hadn't torqued it down properly and I was lucky it hadn't separated. (EEEP! I'd been flying it like that for 120 hours.) They checked all the studs, inspected the flange for damage, mic'd the holes, told me that my regular shop should double check it against Continental's specs, statically balanced it and then dynamically balanced it to something reasonable (0.1 IPS or a little less.) It's since been through annual and had a second flange/crank inspection and been signed off as airworthy. Whole thing cost me a few weeks' downtime, a couple long drives, and about $800. The funny part is that even spectacularly out of balance I never really suspected anything was THAT wrong since it still felt smoother than the J models I'd flown. Now? Sewing machine. Baffles will probably last a lot longer. Mostly I'm glad I listened to my mechanic and it got addressed before I got dead. May your balance be less eventful than mine.