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Update: It continues. We were at the 10 year mark for the prop so it went in for overhaul and the blades failed. I was buying an overhauled hub from the ones let go by the Katana factory anyway, so overhauled blades complete that piece of it. No more Eddy Current Inspection. In purging all contaminated oil from the engine parts to prevent it acting like sandpaper on everything, we found out that it would cost some outrageous amount to overhaul the governor. So, we are buying a new PCU drop in replacement for a fraction to overhaul the old one. Engine will be back from the shop this week, and propeller within a few days. I will have C-FSWR back in my hands by the middle of next week (hopefully). Looks like I will be running low and hot for the first 10 hours or so in order to burn the rings in. Then it is into the air for Yves and I to practice a couple more times, hopefully with Houman as well, including element take-offs and landings at Gatineau airport. Bucko called me yesterday and he is our Kilo Element Lead for the Caravan. Looking for a replay of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NhiKj4sCWs.

You guys keep me looking current! My boy comes in the house. 'Dad, I have a video you want to see....' We watch it in HD with the surround sound turned up to 'too high' I was about 12 hours ahead of the boy... A lead time that won't last

First round was a new lycoming cam with re ground lifters. Made it 400hours. It was pretty apparent it was the cam that was to soft. Now against my initial thoughts I went with the recommendation of 2 engine shops Buldoc and Jewell aviation which was Aircraft Specialties re-ground cam and lifters. Both shops saw significantly higher failure rates with new lycoming parts. Lycoming lost whatever business I can steer away from them for the foreseeable future. At Oshkosh a few of there arrogant sales reps explained to me how they never have had cam/lifter problems and my case was isolated. Finally I got to talk to some scrubby looking tech guy behind the counter who when away from the rest of the reps explained in great detail what they did to correct the issues that cause a lot of failures.

Problem solved. The battery was faulty. We replaced it with a new one and everything became normal. No HighLowVolt flashing anymore, the bus voltage stayed at 13.95v, ammeter returned to near zero on positive side, and no low fuel lights came on at turns anymore. Thanks to Clarence for his help. Also thanks for the thoughts here.

I hate all these modern texting acronyms but WTF really fits this one. man I would be pissed

jbs007, Scott (KSMooniac) knows exactly what he speaks. The KG102A remote gyro does require ongoing maintenance. You really should take it to an avionics shop for a checkout. You may find (as we did) that is so far out of currency as far as mod status goes that it could not be made reliable without a lot of money (i.e. not economically repairable.) And, it is somewhat heavy. The Aspen needs one "antenna", it is called a remote sensing unit, or RSM. It includes a GPS antenna, magnetometer and OAT sensor. Looks sorta like a fat GPS antenna. The Aspen also gives you immediate and potential capability that the Sandel does not, including ADS capability now and a pretty decent autopilot capability (Avidyne DFC90) in the future. I would not spend money on an initial installation of old technology, with the exception of DME (like the KN63).

The Aspen just needs an antenna mounted on the top of the cabin IIRC, and no flux gate or remote gyro so the wiring runs are much easier. If you got a functional Sandel 3500 kit for that price, that is a good deal. You'll still have a big installation task making a harness and routing it as required. The King KG102A remote gyro might need ongoing maintenance to keep it functioning, though, and that cost will add up. People are ditching those for a reason and converting to glass. Sandel makes their own solid-state remote gyro that presumably would be much more reliable, but they're expensive and rare on the used market. (I was sorta looking for a kit for a while before deciding to wait on an Aspen or whatever else might come soon.)

I stopped at Silver Springs for gas flying from San Diego to Seattle in the summer time and it was like a ghost town. It was easy and cheap. Peed in the outlying dirt surrounding the fuel pump and went on my way...

As a guy from Madison, you really should ditch the Pedros thing. That place is depressing and frankly pretty terrible. I can suggest so many other options just as close. These would include: Prime Quarter- A great grill your own steak place right across from Pedros on East Washington Ave.- Awesome food and a great social environment. Doolittles- By east town mall/across from your hotel and aviation themed- good wood fire grill menu.

Gloves are good, but the last time I changed I wanted to be a good boy and ware gloves... I had more fuel in the glove than on the ground. My hand itched the rest of the day. Not using them next time. It evaporates faster than it soaks in I think. Just tie a hand towel around your wrist. Fuel in the arm pit really hurts. Lol. -Matt

I'm a 400 hour pilot, half of which are in my 231, so I have no where near your experience. But I agree these planes perform best in the high teens and low flight levels. As far as flying in class A, I don't do it that often, but I do find it a little more relaxing. --No need to keep messing with the altimeter, and if I am honest, a little less vigilant on looking for traffic. (which shouldn't be there in theory) I also usually fly IFR, excepting bad routes and departing from fields without a tower. I always have to hit the "decode button" to read a TAF or METAR. It's the only way I know I decoded it right. As for thunder storms, I flat out avoid them. Ive seen far to many of those FAA/AOPA videos with the smoking wreck on the ground. The one I remember most was a guy who flew right into a line of storms at night because he was using XM weather, which has a 15 minute delay before it gets to the cockpit. This was near college station TX. Fortunately flying in a turbo usually means I can see storms and build ups a long way off. It's not always the case, I've been in the soup at FL190 before and it doesn't work at night. The storm scope and ADS-B weather help. --In any case, I always try to have a plan B, C, and D when dealing with weather. And to this I add plenty of fuel to get to good weather.

Looking like I will be there. Tony

My factory engine runs 95 PSI on the factory gauge and ~105 on the first takeoff of the day. They set the oil pressure at the factory. I called their rep and he said be careful, you might blow out the crankshaft seal in the front with all that pressure. I asked him why a 172R won't and he couldn't tell me. I didn't change the oil pressure either.

Hi Houman, You're going to enjoy working and learning on your airplane! It seems it takes me 2-3 weeks to get my annuals done. The gear tool should be delivered tomorrow. David

In the meantime hit it with some corrosion x and work the strainer bar up and down a few times. Worked for me.

I sometimes have a bit of problems with advice of the "save another 10 years and buy an Ovation" type. First of all: What the heck do we know will be in 10 years? Will I still have a medical? Will i still have to money to buy anything let alone an upmarket airplane? When I went out to look for a new ride in 2009, I had my budget and I went in there with a totally open mind. Looked at what was available for what I could spend, tried out a few airplanes on the way, walked away for various reasons (none of the planes I looked at were maintenance challenged however, but some were simply not up to the mission, others were too expensive to maintain even with normal maintenance). I finally found my C model after looking at things like Cherokees, Arrow II, Robin HR100 and some others of that kind and found it would deliver the most bang for buck that I could spend. Never looked back. Did an engine overhaul and massive avionic upgrade but I am still very happy with my original purchase. What else will give me 150 kt at 8 GPH and that kind of maintenance bill? Could I have, now 6 years later, bought a more advanced plane? Maybe. None of the ones I looked at today for the accumulated price of my "C" has close to the avionic setup that I have (my airplane is now fully LPV and RNP0.1 certified) and all of them have some stuff that has to be done which drives the price up even further. Sure, I could find some "J" or even "K" models for that price, but I would have to go through the full upgrade once again with most of them. But even more importantly: I would not have been flying for the last 6 years. My advice here goes clearly in the direction of seizing the moment and going for something you can afford at the time, be conservative about it but by all means go for it. Don't wait until that elusive "perfect" plane comes along, you might be missing out all the fun in the mean time. Or never get there at all.

If they are any wider the JBar path well might be an issue. When were they introduced? Which models?

Yes, we have a free iPad app found here https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/avidyne-ifd-am/id876452176?mt=8. There is also the option to switch it to the newly certified IFD440. We have a PC based sim here: http://www.avidyne.com/products/ifd540/demo-sim-signup.asp also. I also run a webinar every Wednesday that covers major features and any questions.

If we don't physically observe the cat in the wing we don't know with any degree of certainty if it's dead or alive! It's fuzzy, very fuzzy indeed!!

Bob, I'm terribly sorry to hear about your experience. Especially since I am an A&P. It leaves a black mark against all who worked hard to get the license and have pride in their workmanship. Given no extenuating circumstances, this mechanic needs to lose his license. When I was a military helicopter pilot my AC would walk into the hangar after work was completed on the ship we were to fly and ask, "who worked on it." The mechanic(s) would raise their hand. He'd say "OK get in and we'll test fly it". When I became an AC I did the same thing. No doubt the workmanship was top notch once they knew their ass was on the line. Maybe we should all do that.

Wow, that's pretty crappy. That means that Cleveland didn't even run the airplane after the starter drive change. Lame. I try to stick to a simple rule that has kept me inline as an IA. All post mx engine runs are done with the cowl off..Also, I prefer to fly the airplane once, before pax, and or released to the owner. Good luck, thanks for sharing. -Matt

I'm amazed at the resistance to change! It's like trying to teach old dogs new tricks! To me it doesn't matter how it's been done before or for how long or why they decided to change it. This is how Mooney wants us to do it going forward. It may be new engineers saw things differently and decided this procedure is better done this way. It could very well be that they are not comfortable with the multiple moments and the moment arms of the forces developed when weighing down the tail. I don't know and certainly not going to argue with them! I'm just happy it's just an SI and they didn't issue an AD to check the tail! And this argument that the tail is so strong to lift the nose on takeoff etc etc, I'm not sure is relevant when all that weight is concentrated on the tail tiedown with clumsy humans jumping on the wings in and out to swing the gear. To me that's as relevant as the prop argument. The prop is strong enough for flight therefore it can be used to pull/push the plane on the ground. This right in the face of McCauley who, emphatically, says don't do it! I don't see the connection of either argument frankly!

One of the nice features on Foreflight is the altitude selector. If you've entered your climb rate and fuel burn it will calculate the fuel burn and time en route for every altitude. Makes it a lot easier to figure out which one is best.

I have been fying turboed aircraft for 40 years. Sometimes you get enough tailwind to justify the climb time but other times you are better in the teens. Lots to learn before you can do the flight levels safely. Flying high is helpful and provides flexibility in travel. You, of course, need an instrument ticket and a fairly well equipped airplane. You will be climbing and descending through lots of cloud decks. Walt

Ever since that SB came out, I've been very reticent to pull back on the yoke to lift the nose off the ground for takeoff. I sure don't want the tail falling off during a critical phase of flight. I now use an engine hoist to set the proper takeoff attitude, but getting the dang thing off during takeoff roll has been a bitch...especially on our turf runway.

I want my 1:35 back. I thought something interesting might happen.

My sons, 7 yrs/60# and 9 yrs/75#, are growing fast. My wife & I have discussed the idea of getting "something more comfortable." Having a nice J in the hangar that's paid for is hard to give up, especially when the new ride will gain nothing over my J except more payload...maybe. At nearly 1000# payload capable, the J is magic. It's exactly what my bride & I will want when we're empty-nesters. So, rather than find a temp fix band-aid along the lines of buying someone else's problems, we've decided to stay with what we know and love. We find the J very comfortable, capable and efficient...the true sweet spot of GA. It goes without saying that staying fit & trim (healthy), mods to increase payload, reduced fuel and fewer bags will be our reality for the next few years, but the boys will be grown and gone before we know it. There are alot of hidden costs associated with giving up one airplane for another and every airplane is a series of compromises. There is no one airplane that will fully meet any pilot's needs for his/hers lifetime. One fix is to buy a different airplane every few years (very costly IMHO) and I think many folks follow this path. Another possible plan is to buy an airplane that covers the bases best for you and your given mission...then stick with it and avoid the temptation to eyeball that "greener grass" across the fence. This is the plan we've chosen and we feel the J is the bird for us, although, in our case, an F or a J would work nicely for us.

With the exception of parts prices, I was almost on board with your point about Beechcraft. Until you mentioned the Cirrus. If you own a Cirrus, you have to put up with Cirrus pilots, and nothing's worth that.

Blasphemy! Stone him!

Lighter weight. they had to go up on metal gauge to get the proper dent resistance and now the aluminium truck is only 60 LBS, let me repeat that, 60 lbs lighter than a Chevy Silverado yet costs 6k to fix a dent in the bedside. Advanced technology? yes. Worth it, F. no. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/02/the-real-cost-of-repairing-an-aluminum-bodied-2015-ford-f-150/index.htm http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2015/01/27/whats-crazier-than-smashing-an-aluminum-ford-f-150-with-a-sledgehammer-the-repair-bill/

Would someone be interested in putting a poll together? We are interested to hear what owners currently have installed for AP's as well as PFD's, if any, are installed. We'd love to have some data on what the interest is out there in the Mooney models. As we finish the main development on the IFD540/440, we are looking at possibly expanding the DFC90 certification.

But we are required to keep the transponder . . . I also don't understand or appreciate the 10,000' limit without the new box. I also have no panel space to mount anything for the -In portion, so unless I use a tablet in my lap, there are zero benefits to me. My 430W screen is far to small to show much weather or traffic . . . It's just more govt regulations, where I spend my money to keep them from maintaining radar units. Isn't it nice when they push their costs to us? Wish I could do that with some of my expenses, find someone else to pay them. Reckon the city or county would enjoy cutting my grass so I can sell my mower, gas cans, etc.? At no cost to me, of course. And keep it cut and trimmed the way I like it . . .

There is usually empty spots from Tuesday on during the week that develop where the Caravan parks. Some members of the Caravan have to leave early and it takes a few days before the Marshallers decide to fill them up with any type of aircraft. Mooney Caravaners will be happy to welcome other Mooneys in these spots as they develop. You just need to find out where the Caravan is and tell the Marshallers you want to park there which might not easily be done. You kind of need to have someone walking undo the ropes to allow taxiing where the group is when you get there. Don't forget that there will be a MooneySpace gathering at the Mooney Caravan tent on Monday evening at 6PM. There is also a BBQ on Tuesday at 5PM. Tickets are required for this one. Check the schedule for details on MooneyCaravan.com Yves

My plane could use a new paint job and an interior job. On top of that I am facing a large ADS-B bill as I do not have a Mode S transponder or a panel mount WAAS GPS. Yes, I could spend about $4,000 including installation for absolutely no benefit other than to continue flying as I presently do or I could spend about $9,000 and get the Lynx 9000 and have ADS-B In and Out. To complicate my decision is the fact that I am on Special Issuance and unless I get renewed again, my flying privileges expire November 30th. It's hard for me to justify incurring any of these big bills when I only have 5+ months of flying left. If Medical reform passes, then I can reasonably expect another 15 - 20 years of flying and I don't mind spending the money to fix the plane up nice and equip it for the future. Until Medical reform is resolved one way or the other, I am in a holding pattern as far as spending any significant amount of money on this hobby.

Hanger rent for $150 bucks and avgas at $4.00 a gallon, boy have you got it good. You're luck to find a hanger here for under $500 a month and avgas is $2.00 a litre, that's $8.00 a gallon. Christ, I need to move to the US to help support my flying habit.......if you only had healthcare.

The prices of the un-updated fleet have been steadily declining for several years now, especially with a second generation of WAAS boxes on the market now to make them even more out of date with what modern buyers want (and need by 2020 anyway). Pretty soon it will make economic sense to buy these vintage planes and modernize them to the buyer's specs without being completely upside down... just partially underwater. Those of you hoping to find a Mooney with all that stuff might have to consider buying the best airframe they can find and then doing the upgrades yourself. It is always cheaper to buy it already done, but you're finding out those planes are still selling quickly and at premium prices. Figure out how long you want to wait before you decide to do it yourself.

Shortest I've been to... around 900-1000ft or so Bull Run, Oregon. It was a hoot!

About the only thing that could cause that would be a stuck pressure regulator, or a clog in the pressure regulator exit port.