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Passed my Instrument checkride last week. So glad to get that completed...

Inspired by some of the recent Aspen questions to share my own decision and process: I purchased my M20J MSE in April knowing that the AI was on a short leash with over 2200 hours on the original. I bought it "right" knowing that I would be upgrading to Aspen or equivalent. I did some additional research and most advice pointed me to the Aspen as the most cost effective option, given that I was committed to my existing 530 for GPS/Comm,etc. and my combination of Stratus/iPad and yoke mounted Garmin 496 with XM Weather for dual weather sources. I booked my install for September on August 21st and took off for a long cross country with a buddy on August 22nd. 40 minutes into our 4 hour flight the AI went out! How's that for timing! Hand flew our trip there and back and stayed VMC! We'll she's been in the shop for a couple weeks now and I'm told she'll be ready by next Wednesday or so. The whole process will have taken just over 3 weeks. Here's some details on my decisions and changes: Evolution PFD1000 EA100 for Roll Steering (I had roll steering slaved to 530 and love shooting approaches with the sett-up...only simplified through PFD!) Wanted flush mounting so cutting a new panel allowing me to also move the Engine monitor to the ADF location Installed Fuel flow to the JPI and connecting to 530 Hard wiring the 496 to the 530 (couldn't do it without taking out the 530) Attaching some progress pictures.....seeing her torn down is like getting a picture of your open heart surgery (I assume!).....Eeek!

There is nowhere near enough information known yet (or reported here) to begin assigning blame. Wait until the cylinder comes off and the real culprit is found. It might be something way outside of the overhauling shop's control, such as a ring failure as already mentioned. Excrement happens, especially with modern parts from the engine companies. And frankly I'm surprised you had a 5 year warranty on a field overhaul...that is awfully generous already. Annual inspections aren't likely to catch material failures inside the engine either. Congrats on keeping your wits and continuing to fly the plane to a successful outcome. You'll get to use it again, so be thankful for that.

Well done...now the real learning begins!

The shower of sparks box is a simple device. If it's buzzing, but not producing sparks, it is probably burned points, the capacitor, or both. These simple parts are pretty cheap (try Aviall) and easy to install.

See if I understand correctly... 1) bought a plane to get your IR... 2) want to sell because a child seat doesn't fit through the door... 3) swapping out a factory built plane for a build it yourself project... 4) winter closes a business for 50% of the year... 5) a Cessna will solve all your problems... Buddy, friend, pal... Is this really your situation? Stop, take a breath, think hard about your next step... Consider putting a child's seat back there while nobody watches... Let it stay there... Remember... The child has to come and go with you, not the seat. Best regards, -a-

Here's a (sort of) practical challenge for MooneySpace... Who has, or would it be possible for a member to fly All of the commercially available Mooney branded airplane types? M-18 Mite M-20 (Check the museums. Not to many around.) M-20A M-20B M20-C M20-D (Going to have to sweet talk Sven here. A converted to C status doesn't count!) M20-E M20-F M20-G M20-J M20-K (Bonus for both 231 and 252) M20-L (Better get your ride fast, there aren't many Porsche powered ones left. You got it, engine swaps don't count!) M20-M M20-R M20-S M20-TS M10 Cadet M-22 (Again, better sweet talk somebody! Not a lot of options.) Extra credit- Rocket and Missile. Become Golden Mooney Master for life- M20-XT Predator (I suspect that if you could prove you logged PIC in all of the above, this one would fall in place.) Any takers on the challenge??!

Looks like your shop is doing some good work! I my customers always love the "in progress" pictures. Until they see them and have a heart attack! Haha! Good choice for your panel.

Jeff, Flying on instruments when you can't see anything is easy. Flying an approach for the first time without an instructor, wondering when you are going to break out, is pretty scary. Going into the clouds shortly after taking off and switching from visual to instruments is scary. My advice is to pick a day with 1500 to 2000 ft at departure and destination. Try to get ATC to let you fly at an altitude that will keep you in IMC. After you do a few of these, pick a day with 800 to 1000 at departure and 1500 or so at destination. After a few of those, do some with 600 to 800 at both ends. Your confidence should be pretty good by then. Good luck trying to find those days when you want them.

Prop was full. The misfire would hold for just long enough for me to notice the hesitation and then the rpm would increase to 2700. It never lasted for more than a second. Typically, it sounded like "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrbumpbumpbumprrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The oil pressure is adjustable. There has been some speculation that higher oil pressure is better and provides more oil to the rockers and valves.

Congratulations JKB ! I remember before I finished my rating we got into situations where it would have been easy to get into the VMC to IMC trap. We stopped and rented cats several times short of our destination. Now we make good decisions and use the instrument ticket on nearly every flight. Use the system every flight and stick with your personal minimums is my recommendation. Oh, and learn as much as you can about weather.

Those books are good. One other MUST read is "Severe Weather Flying" by Denis Newton. I've read it multiple times.

Congrats. I got my in last June. Already used it few times. Before that I was looking for perfect clear skies to go flying. Now I can't wait to get nice safe 1500 - 2000 feet ceiling and practice my holds and approaches in the actual. Looks like tomorrow will be good day again.

Congratulations on getting the rating and I’ll second what Gary said about now the real learning begins - it really is just a license to learn. Now that you've completed your rating I'll give you the same advice that I have given all of my instrument students and on many occasions here in this forum - go pick up and spend some quality time reading the latest editions of Weather Flying by Robert N Buck and Instrument Flying by Richard Taylor. (You can get them both on Amazon.) These books will go a long way towards filling in the gaps in your training and help you learn how to use the system in the real world and how to actually fly weather. They're excellent books and reading them cover to cover a few times will do you a lot of good. Weather Flying goes into detail on how to safely get that new IR "wet" without scaring yourself too badly in the process. It's excellent reading and give a step-by-step on teaching yourself how to do it when you don't have the luxury of riding shotgun with an experienced pilot. Here’s a link to another website that you ought to spend some quality time with as well. http://avwxworkshops.com/index_guest.php Have fun and enjoy, there is a lot to learn.

awesome!

Congratz, wonderful feeling isn't it!?

Congrats

congrats!!!!

Congratulations

Mike - truly unnerving for something like that to happen, and great job in seeing it and reacting without hesitation. I'd wait to get the cylinder apart before passing judgment though - the field mechanic scoping It and saying it was clearly gone just lets you know that it failed, not the reason for the failure. If it were improper installation that would be one thing, if it were a material failure that's another. Not defending anyone, but clearly a forum is a precarious place to post what could possibly be unfounded accusations. my 2 cents.

William is the son of Wolfgang Langewiesche, author of Stick and Rudder. http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Rudder-Explanation-Art-Flying/dp/0070362408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411640361&sr=8-1&keywords=Stick+and+rudder

The secret to starting a Mooney with a bad SOS is to crank it till the engine is spinning good. Then instantly take your hand off the key. This will connect the normal points while the engine is spinning fast and will make enough spark to start. Do this when the prop is at the 12 o'clock position. This is an emergency procedure to get you home.

Mike, First off I have to say great job in noticing the problem and keeping cool and making a great decision and landing quickly and staying alive to be able to share your experience and only have money and litigation issues to complain about. Certainly many other pilots may have had a much worse story to tell, self included. Pat yourself on the back. I would love to know the name of the shop. Not sure if mentioning it here is really all that much of a liability. Where was your engine rebuild/overhaul done?, seems like an innocent question. Also we all have personal weather minimums. In my day job I have no problem going into cat3 zero visibly conditions. But a single engine whether a Cessna 150 or an F16 can come apart at anytime for any reason (as you have seen) and it would be in your best interest to have at least a 1000 foot ceiling to break out of. Even that would only give you a few miles to find a clearing with a slight turn or two. Night or low IMC in a single just ain't right. Few options if any. Most of the time none. Great job.

The logic is missing... But I like how patient other Mooney pilots are. I'm working on logic first, then patience... If a person is physically capable of doing their own annual, they are able to do it with a certified plane using the support of a mechanic... It may only 'sound' like owner assisted, but the money saved and experience gained is real. Shiny new avionics are still expensive in any airplane. Sure, certified ones cost more, but they aren't free. If your family looks at you funny for having a GU landing... How does your family feel about getting in a plane you built that is clearly marked 'experimental' on the door? How does your finance administrator feel about blowing a 100k wad on a box of plane parts? Day care can be expensive. Cars with four doors will be on the list. In the next five years your kids will be playing soccer and baseball while you are in the hangar building your project. Hopefully hangar rent doesn't hurt... Care and feeding of a kid is a lot more complex than how to fit them through the door. Sorry for bringing the black rain. My oldest is getting back at me for making him sit in the back of an M20C for a decade. Oh, the humanity... STP = Stop, Think, Plan... Good luck, -a-

???????? N601RX, I'm not sure what your point in posting these threads is. If it is to prove that accidents occurr during TnG's, why not post all the threads about runway LOC, takeoffs and landings? A lot more examples of those.... In each of these cases, the problem is not that the maneuver was inherently dangerous, or difficult. If anything, accidents while doing TnG's, point to the fact that the pilot obviously did not maintain proficiency in the maneuver! There are lots of maneuvers that are fraught with "bad statisitcs". Takeoff and Landing are two that come to mind. So.....? Should we avoid those maneuvers....? Never takeoff, or never land? That's a terrific way to lower our accident rate! However, the more reasonable approach is to practice and become proficient. If one is not proficient in TnG's, find an instructor who is and review them. If you analyze the TnG maneuver, it is just a combination of other maneuvers we do every day. Obviously, there are situations, locations, conditions where TnG's are not appropriate, just as there are situations where takeoff , or landing is not appropriate. We must always exercise good judgement in such things. TnG is a maneuver! I believe that any Mooney pilot who is the master of his craft should be proficient at them and not afraid of them.

Get a baseball cap. Cheaper and works all the time. José

She's really great looking. And the plane ain't too bad either.

It's a yoke mounted iPad mini, running (at the moment) mostly WingX, which displays data from the DualXGPS170.

Mooney is delirious and they are low-balling you insultingly big time.

Just as a comparison here are rental rates for C172s and others. www.airassociatesinc.com/aircraft/rental/ And a C172 sells for less than half of an Acclaim. José

I would not get rid of your vacuum system. The redundancy is free and the Aspens can fail/red X. Remember, many fully certificated glass panels operate on the premise of a dual electric buss with two batteries. Unless you want to purchase the Aspen 2000 series Evolution with the 1 hour battery back-up, this wouldn't be attainable. I have the 2000 system and would never get rid of the vacuum system. Your Mooney was designed with both electric and vacuum. Why mess up the design? ***Vacuum/static footnote- The VSI on the Aspen is terrible. In it's largest setting, you can barely read it. Keep your old VSI. In fact, just sub the Aspen for the HSI and AI and leave everything the same. You'll be glad you did. The Aspen will become your GPSS interface to the autopilot, another $3,000 added value for your Aspen purchase. Your GPSS $$$ could go to upgrading your G-430 to a WAAS.

At least with a boat or a plane you can sell it and get some of your money back. And when it goes it doesn't take half your stuff.