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Mr. Tom Hunnicutt and his lady, Jackie. I have extended an invitation for them to come to the Mooney Summit VIII. I was honored tonight to have dinner with these amazing people. Thanks again Tom for saving Mark Brandemuehl and allowing him and Jenny to have just a few more months. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I got a real life reminder yesterday why it is good to periodically review your emergency procedures so that you have them committed to memory for when you need them. I was returning home yesterday in IMC with 900 foot ceilings when I got smoke in the cockpit. Thankfully the circuit breaker quickly did its job and tripped, making the smoke last only a few seconds. But, it was enough to lead me to declare an emergency and to get vectored to the nearest airport for a precautionary landing. In IMC and with smoke coming from the panel is no time to be grabbing for the POH to review what to do or to try to remember which way the retaining clips on the fire extinguisher face. It is also not an ideal time to try to grab and turn on the iPad for back up navigation if you end up turning off the power to the panel (to stop the smoke and prevent a fire). Obviously the autopilot would disengage as well. Thankfully this episode ended well, and I was working through the emergency procedures when the emergency dissipated. But it really got me thinking about what I would have done if I had lost the panel (G1000, radio and autopilot), and had to navigate in IMC and potentially shoot an approach (without ATC and using an iPad), or worse, executing an emergency decent and off airport landing in 900 foot ceilings if there had been a fire. I am posting this in the hopes that it prompts others to review their emergency procedures, to practice accessing their emergency equipment before they need it, and to always your have your backup nav device programmed and in place before take off. You never know when you might need it -- and it may not be on a beautiful VFR day.

A bit of backstory here. Christmastime is a real drag for us heathens. Nothing open, nothing but Christmas stuff on TV. Nothing but Christmas music on the radio. Gets really boring. When I lived in Southern California it was fun. I'd ride my bicycle on the busiest streets and go places I wouldn't dream of on a normal work day. When we lived in DC we went downtown. The museums were all closed, but they didn't close the monuments and no one was there. It was cool. Where I am now there's nothing cool to do on Christmas. Every since I leaned to fly I wanted to take a flight on Christmas. Something cool to do. Nothing has to be open, I can just fly my little airplane and land uncontrolled airstrips. And I never got tot do it. Usually the weather was snot (I'm still VFR), the one year it wasn't there was so much snow and ice chocking the hangar door I couldn't get it open. This year everything lined up. I got great weather, the airplane is working (except of the step, it's DOA but I don't care). So off I went. A few landings, about an hour's worth of flight. After 20 years I flew on Christmas, and it was great.

We continued our winter safari departing Flores Guatemala back to Mexico via Cozumel. Mexico only allows two ports of entry, excluding from the US border, which are Tapachula on the west and Cozumel on the east. We went into Cozumel so it would be easy to make additional stops in the Yucatan and Palenque. But the only real concern on this flight was realizing despite that we were going by a couple good alternate airports along the way we only had permission to land at our destination. Although if we needed too we would have declared and landed wherever, yet likely with considerable delay and added expense. We had pretty nice wx departing Flores and once again climbed on top of three different layers for a smooth ride north east to Cozumel in VMC. As we arrived and began our descent we saw we would find the forecasted 40% chance of rain in the TAF and stiffer than forecasted winds. But luckily we just went through the rain on the approach mostly over the water east of the field. The field was dry. But we encountered a very stiff direct cross wind gusting to 20 kts. Note in the picture on final, we're centered and tracking right down final, but see how crabbed we are into the wind! (At this point winds were over 30). In fairness, I should point out that I did not have to land on this runway with a direct cross wind, I could have circled to a more favorable runway - they have 4 afterall. But I always enjoy getting some good cross-wind landing practice in when opportunity presents. Being an international flight we were greeted by over a dozen officials before we finished shutting down. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good flight!

Hi everyone. Just got my brand new Mooney Acclaim Ultra Ceramic coated. It is beautiful. Perry https://youtu.be/5SNUSGOeMmI

Dynon- $30k installed with engine monitor w/o AP (high side, all options to include Syn Viz, blah blah blah) NGT9000R- $7k installed PM450B- $3500 installed Avidyne IFD540 and 440- $30k installed TruTrak/AeroCruze 100- $11.5k installed $82,000.00 GTN 750 and 650- $30k installed FlightStream 510- $1500 GMA35c- $3500 installed GFC500- $13k installed (2 Axis) GTX345- $7500 installed G3x- approx. $20-25k installed (Depending on options, hard to estimate on specifics) $80,500.00 I believe the other units were referenced, as far as pricing is concerned, earlier in the thread. It really depends on how much you are getting your equipment for. Now, the Dynon has a built in ADS-B system(if you wanted to use it's integral one), you seemed to also have left out the WiFi and BT capability for the GTN series as you would like to have that because you are trying to upgrade and get maximum capability out of your investment. Your functionality in the comparing Audio Panels are unequaled because the PM450B is far superior. Further, the installation labor is virtually identical so it is a wash, really. So, which will have better functionality, better priced and are better units overall? Well, PS Engineering are the best for Audio Panels, hands down because it is what they do. That IS Mark's business and has been for decades. Dynon has been doing the Avionics Suite for a long time as well in the Experimental market and their price point for what they offer is phenomenal. ADS-B L3 has been doing Traffic and Weather better than anyone else back when their units were BFG. Again, like PS Engineering, they are the best in that market because it is what they do. Now, GTN or IFD? Well, again, my opinion is if you want a top of the line BASIC GPS, go with Garmin, they are the best GPS on the market and always have been. However, I will preface that by saying we are talking about FMS systems in this case and if you want a better FMS, Avidyne leads the way on this, hands down, once again it is what they do best! Not to mention the IFD series comes out of the box with Synthetic Vision, WiFi, Bluetooth and FLTA (Forward Looking Terrain Awareness) all for no extra charge and usually are less than the GTN series. Also, think of the 2 options given here as one is like Apple (Garmin) and the other is like Microsoft (The others). They all play nice together and with pretty much anything. Taking NOTHING away from Garmin, they are getting pretty proprietary and you are being forced to get units that ONLY have their branding on them like iPads and MacBooks. While they are good at what they do, nothing about them is warranted to put them head and shoulders about anyone else because there is really no concentration on anything of theirs anymore. Although the GFC500 is a really good AP, but can ONLY work with a G5. How does that make sense? If you purchase a TruTrak or an S-Tec, you have choices. That is huge, in my book. I have customers that love Garmin and customers that love Avidyne and others. All of them are right and I agree with them and their choices because as long as they are educated, they need to decide what is best for them. I am glad to offer them whatever they decide. The above, though, are just my opinions and reasons behind them. FWIW. Please no throwing of rotten tomatoes, just giving my 2 cents here!!!! Go easy on me! LOL

Good post by the OP. However, there are only a few 'emergencies' that need to be memorized. And even those you probably only need to memorize the first few steps. The rest can be handled like the airlines. At Northwest we had a 'red bordered checklist' that sat on the glareshield. It was a single piece of paper. While we don't keep it on the glareshield (but we do keep it someplace that can be easily reached), I created a small booklet that contained all the emergency procedures, normal procedures, and a few other useful bits of information. This is a screenshot of the front page. It contains procedures that I think might require quick action.

If you haven't been following the story on Facebook, here it is....... https://m.facebook.com/groups/2226961823?view=permalink&id=10156884190726824 Well now that my airplane is off the rocky mountains, and I'm able to get my thoughts together on the situation, I figured I will share the story. It started on November 9th, when one of the co owners of my plane called me. I could tell something was wrong right away by the shaking in his voice. He was at 15,500' AGL just past Monarch Pass when the engine suddenly and completely quit. He ran the checklist for a restart, nothing ⁷act the insurance and get the process going. It was a Saturday so we didn't hear anything back until Monday. They said because there was no damage, our policy would only cover up to $10,000 for recovery. They gave us a few business to contact for recovery. I decided to go with Beegles. They were very busy and could not get to the plane for a week or more, but offered to send a guy up to secure the plane and remove the avionics. Their guy called me after he was back from the plane, and thought a better option would be to repair the plane and fly it out as the area would be fine to fly out of. Luckily the next week I was able to be near the plane for work, so I rented a truck and grabbed some tools to see if I could find out what went wrong. When I arrived I removed the cowl and to my suprise I saw the single drive dual magneto laying against the firewall!!! I was beyond pissed!! The plane was less than 15 hours out of annual where LASAR had removed the magneto for the 500 rebuild. One of the top Mooney shops let us down in a big way. So I called them and told them we wanted them to drive up there and fix the plane and fly it out. They agreed but began to drag their feet. So about 3 weeks had passed and the first snow fell, after that they more or less washed their hands of the situation. So back to Beegles and they said $25,000 to dissemble and haul away, not including reassembly. We thought there had to be a better way, and started calling helicopter company's. Heliqwest said they would do it for $12,000 but they didn't want the liability of rigging. So I was left to figure this end out. I had to design and build a spreader bar and find wide straps. Being a truck driver I'm gone all week and couldn't get anything done until I got home Friday morning. I spend Friday running around buying pipe,eye bolts, shackles, straps and anything else I could possibly imagine we would need. Once out there its hours to the next town that would have any supplies. I loaded up everything, my RZR incase we could not reach the plane in the pickup, a generator, a welder, most importantly a torpedo heater! A snow storm was going to roll in on Saturday and Sunday, the days we preferred. So we had to get it done Monday for work purposes. The plane is a 9.5 hour drive from my house, so I left Saturday night to go to pickup my brother in law. We left his house early Sunday hoping to miss most of the snow by the time we got there. The roads over the passes were still crummy, but nothing horrible. The plane was located about 8 miles off the main highway on dirt roads, which wasnt to bad until the last mile. There were a few times I thought we were going to get stuck, but to eventually we made it to the plane! There was about 4-6 inches of snow, but the plane was completely untouched after being up there for 6 weeks. We got to work clearing the snow, measuring for the spreader bar, and fabricating the spreader bar. After that we put the spreader bar above the plane and did our best to get the measurements to adjust the front straps so it would fly slighty nose down. By then it was getting dark and it was snowing pretty good, so we called it a night. The next morning we drained the fuel, locked the controls, trimmed slightly nose down, fully rigged the spreader bar and straps, and wrapped the wings in bubble wrap to kill the lift. The helicopter landed nearby and they came to inspect our work and rig it to the helicopter. They had a few nit pics that we addressed. Then the helicopter fired up and hovered above us and put tension on the rigging, we still needed to pull the wing lines tight and tie them off. That's when things went a little SNAFU, the plane started bouncing up and down a bit, me and my brother in law got the lines tight . But now the the sling had moved and the front straps got tangled in the prop, so we quickly got that all straighten out, ran out of the way and watched the plane lift off and fly away!!! It was an amazing experience, the hard work, the research all came together and worked ! My gut was in knotts for the hour ride the airport not knowing if everything held, if any damage was being done. On our way out of the field we passed a lady that had slid off the road, so of course we paused our rescue mission to pull her back up on the road. An hour or so later we came up the airport to see my plane sitting on the ramp! What a relief! All the adrenaline hit me, I was pumped! We got through the gate and started inspecting the plane, it looked great! Couldn't see any damage! A giant load was taken off my shoulders! We de rigged the plane, cleaned up everything and tied the plane down. The ordeal isn't over yet, we still need the engine fixed, and if course recovering the money from the shop responsible for all of this, but I'm greatly relieved.

So Im going to do a @carusoam here. Noone knows the financial structure of Mooney nor Soaring America, nor the Chinese investors of the same Noone knows why the Chinese bought into Mooney into the first place Noone knows what political motivations there were behind the purchase and there may have been MANY Everyone is thinking like a westerner...Ive put money in so I want a return on my investment. Are we sure that's the case here? Noone knows whether the Chinese just wanted to have a foothold in the USA and didn't care about the money. Thoughts only....I'm just a management consultant whose worked in almost every country in Europe and Asia, what do I know. Andrew

Hi Kevin, we simply out grew PCB with the number of people that wanted to attend, and we couldn't allow because of space constraints. Then the no shows precluded them being able to at the last moment. We really debated on the non refundable registration fee of 99 for 2 people, but with the uncertainty of any support from Mooney, the vast commitment of money to have a lager conference facility, etc, we decided it will be on all of us who want to have a Summit make it happen, and totally reasonable to ask that the attendee's put some skin in the game. It will be up to each of you to judge the value proposition, knowing that even if you do not show, the money you spend for registration will go to put on a Summit and aid downed Mooney pilots like we have so deeply last year. I dont believe there is another charity in existence that puts it all back into the group that funds it like we do, all without pay or expenses ourselves. I do hope you see the value of the Summit, your commitment to make it, and change your mind. You are always such a delightful addition for everyone at the Summit.

Well, lemme see... ....easier to fly and land than my Bravo.... ....300 KTS at FL280.... ....quiet and smooth.... ....I had a bad case of perma-grin afterwards

So a few more hours spent upside down and hunched over in my plane to get a few more pieces of carpet and sidewall mounted. Still a little bit of trimming on the baggage floor carpet, but things are slowly coming together. Interesting job this time was riveting the trim piece back onto the floor behind the rear seats. Had to match up where it was previously riveted and not drill any extra holes. Took a while, but it all fell into place. Getting faster - only took 1 1/2 hours to get one screw in to hold the pilot foot well where it should be and not cut a wire.

In my C model days for a looong cross country, I would take-off on the left tank, run for one hour, then switch to the right tank. I would run the right tank dry. This took three hour and maybe a few minutes more. I would switch back to the left tank and land within another hour. I did not have an engine analyzer or fuel flow instrumentation. This gave me a cross check on fuel burn. Before running a tank dry, I had confirmed adequate flow from the other tank. It had the advantage of having all of my remaining fuel in one tank rather than split between two tanks. Using this method was able to fly five-hour legs and land with 12 gallons remaining. Depending on the wind I might go 750 nm or more before landing. I will probably adopt a similar procedure with the J. But with an engine analyzer and fuel flow instrumentation, I know better my remaining fuel.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a great year of flying in 2020! Clarence

I realized this morning that visiting Mooneyspace is like having my twice a month morning breakfast meeting with my retired airline captain friends, except MS is daily [if I wish!]. At our pilots breakfast, we talk about all kinds of things. And since one of my friends is a retired United 747 captain and long time Mooney owner/pilot, the conversations can quickly turn to stuff about our Mooney airplanes [we do have a Cirrus owner amongst us, so that's always fun!]. As with any passion, and the particular organizations of which we choose to partake, whether its airplanes, boating, sports cars, motorcycles, music, etc., it is the people that make it truly special. Admittedly a slow learner in some areas, it wasn't until my first visit to AirVenture in 2008 that I finally realized this. It was the like mindedness, the camaraderie, the respect, and the passion of it all from the people there that made AirVenture so very special to me. Just like my pilots breakfast friends and just like Mooneyspace ! As I continued to read the Vintage Mooney thread on the door handle replacement topic, and all the associated input from so many on how to skin that cat, it came to me again, just how valuable, fun and exciting our Mooneyspace really is..........such knowledge, information and creativity from everyone! So, it's the daily "pilots breakfast" for me in the morning, at noontime, during the evenings, late at night, or just whenever....... here on Mooneyspace. It is the people and I do love Mooneyspace !

Like most things in the Mooney it is standard industrial parts adapted to aviation. If only someone had a picture that would lead to a clue. OMG then a little Google FU. Turns up Boston Gear https://www.bostongear.com/ Which does drive reduction and right angle drives. Someone should chat with them. Ask how they identify their drives and then buy a bunch of gears.

FIXED! So, for those of you following this and those who offered opinions as to what was wrong, here we go. The consensus (including that of my A&P/IA) was that it was either an induction or injector issue on #4. After pulling all the cowling as well as the doghouse, I pulled the #4 injector and gave it the acetone spa treatment. I did notice that there were black particles floating in the (CH3)2CO the next morning. I replaced the injector (don't worry, this is all under supervision while I work on my A&P merit badge) after getting a very positive baby bottle check (full throttle/MP squirting into a jar using the boost pump). I buttoned up the top and then I checked the intake pipe on #4 and was able to do the ‘click seat’ on it, which means that it had possibly loosened and was the source of the issue. Then I found the bolts on #2 ‘less than tight’ (can’t say they were loose). I read somewhere that those bolts can loosen over time. Having hit both the potential problem points, I put the lower cowls back on and proceeded to the full-power test. This was soooo satisfying as she went up to FP just like she should--no stumble! All that is left is the flight test, and frankly, I think she's back. Oh, the data dump from the static test showed a 0.2 GAMI spread. Those two cylinders are dancing cheek-to-cheek now and 1 & 3 are keeping up with them.

Kinda late getting back with you, with the top latch adjusted correctly made a HUGE difference in cabin noise. Went up this morning spent 1.7hrs with my CFI and he made several comments on how much quieter it was which reminded me that I hadn't reported back. Today I also removed my headset which I hadn't done post adjustment and it wasn't too bad

Hopefully, I'm not the last one to notice that on IFR charts, some airports and navaids are tagged with the letters "MON" in blue reverse highlight. After some digging around, it turns out to stand for "Minimum Operating Network", and the FAA is highlighting certain facilities to have permanent radio navigation aids in case of GPS failure, so if you do lose GPS, you should be able to quickly find a MON facility on your IFR chart. https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/techops/navservices/transition_programs/vormon/

CFI & CFI-I

At this point I'd wait for the Dynon HDX autopilot to be certified for the Mooney and go that route (https://www.dynoncertified.com). I'd add an Avidyne FMS and a PS Engineering Audio Panel. I'd save the remaining $35 - $40,000 in reserve for engine, prop and fuel tanks expenses down the road. It depends on the mission. If you're going to bore holes in the sky VFR, buy slide-out used replacements for everything in the panel for less than $5000 and fly happily ever after and find something else to spend the $95000 on.

This? :-)

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Caveat that with the ability of the devil you know to execute your mission. And today's "nice" or "nice enough" avionics are tomorrow's upgrade opportunity, regardless of the platform. So far I haven't said anything new for this thread, just concurrence with the above Mooneyspacers. My ownership experience is different than the situation you find yourself in, but has some similarities. When I bought my airplane 3 years ago I had clearly defined my mission prior to commencing my search and quickly narrowed my choices to two airplanes. The first airplane was a 1979 M20K owned by an acquaintance, was meticulously maintained and had a state-of-the-art panel from about 20 years ago and a mid-time engine. Original paint and interior in good condition. It needed nothing soon. The second airplane was a 1989 M20M recently rejuvenated inside and out, both mechanically and cosmetically, had 600 hours SMOH, and was the personal airplane and pride and joy of the owner of the maintenance shop that several of my friends used religiously, endorsing his character as beyond reproach. And other than the addition of a GNS430 (non-WAAS), the panel was essentially stock from 1989 but had been overhauled and meticulously maintained. The second airplane was $20K more than the first, and is the one I chose. I chose it in part because I had befriended the owner and knew he would make anything right that I discovered wasn't right. That proved true in the first months of ownership - and is somewhat equivalent to "the devil you know". The panel was/is my canvas for my forever airplane panel. And I have the benefits of the M vs K, which includes TKS in this case. For me it was an easy choice, even with the additional O&M costs of the M. After three years I'm very pleased with my choice. I will be putting a substantial amount of money into this airplane over the next two years to make it exactly the airplane I want, because it is exactly the airplane I need. How this relates to your situation: If your current airplane meets your mission short of some avionics upgrades and is an airplane you have mechanical confidence in, hang on to it and make it the airplane you want it to be. If there are other factors driving you in a different direction, apply some rudder and go in that direction with a different airplane. Christmas day thoughts from a fellow Mooniac wishing you the best. Cheers, Rick

You’re welcome! It’s a great trade off, I learn as much as reading here as I can. Clarence

From the IPC it’s part of the fuel vent system for s/n 3 thru 446. Item 73 Looks like you’re stuck with it. Clarence

I LOVE this site and would not change it for anything, even the search engine I can cope with. In the Uk (yep Im Andrew from Old England, @carusoam I love that description of me) we are having yet another election and as one of the party activists I spend a lot of time "arguing" on social media about our policies etc. (Sorry @oldguy and others who are friends of mine on fb and have to see this stuff). I come on here, there is no politics, just the best group of guys I could ever hope to meet. I can relax. I have posted articles, received loads of free advice, free comfort and calming voices, been defended vigorously when someone decided he did not like a part of my life (I'll never ever forget that, THANK YOU), entertained visitors to the UK when they are over for work trips, been looked after and cared for when I am over there. Ive even acted as a post box for someone's motor cycle parts and was extremely happy to do so. I have never had such companionship in all of my life from a bunch of people I am happy to call my friends. This is a great site. Andrew

I agree - but today - as it was two years ago - this option was not available and did not exist. My guess - next week they will change all that and offer exactly what we are discussing.

Not at all true - the Chinese government didn't put the kibosh on anything. They have been entirely supportive with building local airport infrastructure for Soaring. Their FAA equivalent is as slow as ours - but not unsupportive. It took some time but Soaring now has several Mooneys registered in China. As@KSMooniac said, their long term plan was dependent on introducing a US Mooney branded trainer to the Chinese people. Can't build on nothing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@alextstone - thanks for seeing this through and especially for reporting all the steps. I'm sure many folks will be spared much anguish and frustration.

Keep in mind that there is one principal investor from China that made her money (billions) in commercial real estate and construction. There is not a Chicom government component, at least not on public display, like AVIC with Cirrus, Continental, etc. Mooney makes up a very small portion of her portfolio... Which worries me in that the lights could be turned off and she could simply walk away without feeling a need to mess around with selling anything to someone that might find value in what's left. There's likely been more than 200 MM poured down the Mooney hole with little to show for it thus far, and I can't imagine the scraps are with more than a few percent of that today. Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

Lots of mis information here as well... Wait a minute... I thought it was tradition to put the disclaimer at the end of the post... Speaking of debt clock... we got to visit it as young people in NYC... while amassing tons of student debt. That was eye opening... being math geniuses, we divided the big number by the number of people in the country... that number was about twice what my schooling was going to cost... The wars were over, the good times had started, the national debt actually Dwindled and went away... somebody actually turned off the clock... it was dark for several years... then something else happened... Want to see the debt go away...? It Goes hand in hand with the expanding economy... paid overtime for everybody... raises every year... because the companies can afford it... small businesses sprouting everywhere... interest rates that are moderate... (add inflation to the discussion for more detail) People bought houses, planes and cars... using interest rates that were very moderate... Use caution... a financial discussion can easily turn it to a political discussion... Nothing locks down a good thread like adding politics into it... Best regards, -a-

After putting it off for several years I finally decided to adjust the cabin door, it now has a very positive over-center and holds the top latch secure. Since I’ve owned my Mooney the door has never really had a positive feel when rotating the interior handle forward to latch the door closed and the exterior handle always stuck out farther than I thought it should have. I’ve never had the door come open in flight but I did get a ton of wind noise around the top of the door. Another thing that I didn’t like was having separate keys for Ignition switch, Cabin Door and Baggage Door. I didn’t take any photos but I do have the drawing out of the Parts Catalog along with a few I did for replacing the Door locks. The following drawing is from the 1965~1967 M20C, 1965~1966 M20D, 1965~1967 M20E and 1967 M20F Parts Catalog. The first thing was to remove the plastic cover from the cabin door, and in typical Mooney fashion I ended up with a pile of screws. After the cover was removed and the door open I was able to find part of the problem, there was pink fiberglass insulation packed in and around the interior door handle up inside the door (Area “A”). Once the insulation was removed rotating the interior handle forward felt a lot more positive but still no over-center that I could tell. I knew my top latch needed adjusting due to the wind noise so I started there. The upper latch assembly (#6) comes out as a unit, start by loosening the jam nut on the clevis (#24), then remove the small screws that holds the assembly in place, there are 2 machine screws that come in from the top. Care should be taken when removing the cotter, washer and clevis pin from #24, don’t drop them in the door. Once the latch assembly was out I got a better idea as how it all worked, item #18 is a stop, keeping it from going to far over-center. I turned # 24 2 full turns in (shorter) and re-installed the assembly (#6). I could now feel in the handle it going over-center but it was more pressure than I liked. Removing #6 and turning #24 in 2 more turns did the trick. The interior handle now has a positive lock and the outside handle fits nicely with the door. With the door closed and latched I wasn’t able to pry the top of the door away with my finger tips as before and it felt very secure. The next thing was to look at the locks for the Cabin & Baggage doors. Ideally I want just 1 Key that works the Ignition and both door locks. I removed the lock assemblies from the doors but was unable to remove the cylinders to key them the same as the ignition. I stopped by a local Locksmith shop to see if they had any lock assemblies that could be keyed to my ignition key but they had just sold all 20 something they had in stock (figures). I stopped by Lowe’s to see what they had but no joy, Home Depot was my next stop and it was a score, Gate House # 0252974 looked like they would foot the bill but I wanted to make sure my original Bendix ign. key would fit the new locks. A clerk came by and asked if I needed help and told him I want to see if this key fit in that lock, he opened that package and the key went right in, plus the key cut was very close to mine. Once home I removed the cam which allowed the cylinder to be removed from the body. The way most locks work is the body of the lock has a keyway (these have 4) and the wafers/pins are spring loaded into that keyway, keeping the cylinder from turning (unlocking), when the key is inserted into the cylinder the cut of the key allows the wafers/pins to be pulled into the cylinder out of the keyway which allows the cylinder to turn. These were never meant to be re-keyed and the wafers were not removable. By inserting my ignition key in the cylinder I could see which wafers stuck up past the cylinder. The drawing below shows what I’m talking about. The wafers are brass and easily filed down to the radius of the cylinder allowing it to rotate in the body. Filing is done with the key inserted (fully), once they are filed down insert the cylinder with the key installed and check that it rotates freely in both directions completely. Once all the filing is done clean out all the metal filings and reassemble. I had to modify the cams to match the originals but its fairly straightforward looking at them side by side. Pay close attention to your old locks on orientation in the locked and un-locked positions, the new locks can be set by how the “Rotation Washer” is installed. Once I had both new locks keyed and correct (after a test fit & try) the cam is held on with a screw, which was removed and installed back with thread locker (loctite). As an added measure once the locks were in place and tightened I verified that they worked as needed, I then added several dabs of RTV on the nut/body/door skin and the screw/cam for safety. I now have 1 key that works the ignition switch and both door locks……..Hope I explained this well enough and if not shoot me a message and I’ll try to explain it better.

The only problem with the “Ignore” button is the temptation to look at what stupid thing the ignored person said. [emoji1787] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Great input guys. Thank you. Mooney is sending me a new something. It looks like that it is a know problem. I have had 6 Mooneys over the last 15 years and never had this problem. This one only has 13 hours on the Hobbs. Perry

In my bravo I drop the gear at FAF after being at proper power and approach speed and it’s enough to give me a near perfect descent on glide slope. Of course, it’s all about slowing down in advance.

I have seen a few of these installed, and what does work on NPT threads is Permatex Aviation sealer. It is non-hardening, and it does dissolve in fuel so it doesn’t find its way to some critical component and cause problems. Teflon tape is a big offender in this regard, it somehow finds its way into a fuel injector or into a main bearing passage, starving or for oil for oil, or the vacuum pump causing failure, either way it’s gotten a few people killed. If it doesn’t get you the first time, then shreds of it remain behind after reassembly the second time and that’s when it gets you, but either way the stuff is a time bomb.

We had a great year, logged 130 hours, all in our Mooney. (Recent years have ranged from 50 to 80 hours.) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

From last year's thread on the same topic: Plans for 2019: Visit my Dad in Tennessee and my son in Virginia (moved from Chicago) as often as possible - CHECK Get that awesome arch picture with @skydvrboy - not so much CFI/II accelerated program scheduled for June - CHECK Instruct the three students that are standing in line waiting for me to complete the CFI/II certification - 2 for 3, not so bad Trying for 2nd Caravan but work commitments are dictating otherwise - NOPE 2nd Summit hard scheduled - CHECK Make some more great friends! - CHECK Plans for 2020: Fly. Everywhere. Visit my Dad in Tennessee as often as possible Visit my son in San Diego (man that kid moves a lot...) Continue planning for relocation to Sevierville TN. Flying there in March. And August. And October. Get N1088F Weep-no-Mored in August. Mooney Summit in October N1088F annual at AGL and visit with Bob & Nancy Belville @Bob_Belville after the Summit Continue instructing/flight reviewing in my "spare time" Get that awesome arch picture with @skydvrboy - this is the year Patches! Make some more great friends! Push "forever panel" upgrade out o n e m o r e y e a r... And most importantly - maintaining work/life balance for more time with my awesome wife. Going for 100% this year! Cheers, Rick

I voted for #2 because as I get older, I've found you really can't beat a good bowel movement.

It does bring up the question of whether we have all gone mad. All of the local avionics shops are throwing in 50 to 100 AMU panels in planes. Is the mission to see if we can spend all of our kid's inheritance? (I'm trying). I am happy that I was in a financial position to do the upgrade, but then I think back to the 22 years I flew my plane without all this stuff. Am I any safer? Either way, it sure looks purdy in the plane.

E170/190 Type Rating... the next step in second career... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why crank with the plugs removed? With the nozzles on the end of the lines and inserted into the jars, open the throttle and mixture then turn on the boost pump. Clarence

I'd buy a used king avionics panel and send the remaining $85000 to rbridges.

If i had 100K to spend on my panel i would go with Dual G3X Primary 10” MFD 7” with engine monitoring option, Dual GTN’s #1 750 #2 650, Remote mount audio panel, Remote mount GTX 345, Flight stream 210, GDL69 for XM weather and radio, and Garmin autopilot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would hope that it gets done with every Annual, along with draining the carburetor bowl and cleaning the carburetor inlet screen and the servo finger screen on fuel injected models. I wouldn’t sign out an Annual without doing these critical items. Clarence

Informing us of his passing was the right thing to do. The last time I saw him was January 2018, I took him out to dinner to his favorite steakhouse as a thank you for going to bat for my partners and myself with the insurance company when we suffered major damage to the wing. The insurer was about to consider it a constructive loss and when Bennett was finished with them, they agreed to fix it. He guided us every step of the way through the process and didn't accept a penny. Bennett was quite a renaissance man, he was knowledgeable in so many areas and loved to talk about his flying experiences throughout the Caribbean and his many cross country treks. I was surprised to hear that he came from a family of Rabbis and that his dad emigrated from Poland in the 1920's and was very active in the New York and San Francisco Yiddish communites. Like a few here, I was privileged to see his baby up close (LIFR cancelled our flight plans), a fully restored like new 1983 J model. His serial number was 11 ahead of mine but decades apart. He didn't say how much it ultimately cost, but he did mention that it was worth every penny he spent on it since he couldn't take it with him. He was also an avid sailor and the last time I spoke to him he mentioned that while he was having his all wood sailboat repaired in Oakland, it had sunk due to negligence of the repair facility. He was so heartbroken and I felt so sad for him. Looking back at my very last message from him, dated October 2018, he closed with this after he mentioned that he sold the Mooney due to health issues: "I guess my flying days are over. No regrets – been a wonderful experience." Bennett Rest well my friend.

Passed my Commercial Multi-Addon. 5.6 hours I think total time. Not Mooney related other than I took my plane to the checkride location.

The best Article I've read on assertively interacting with ATC, by Mike Bush is below. After reading it, now what would you do again in the same circumstance? Let's Make a Deal.pdf