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I'll repost the picture of fitting the cowling to the airplane from this past weekend. Work continues on fitting of the cowling and the new baffling. Thanks, David

I wish we could get all the engine monitor reading from all the early takeoff engine failures. I now look at my engine monitor more than for traffic on takeoff.

I was just responding to an AOA posting yesterday when the system was updated. Apparently a weeks worth of postings were lost when the update failed. That included the AOA thread. So for whoever did that post here was my response: I'll weigh in on this. I had over 10,000 hours (about 8,300 in Mooneys at the time along with about 5,600 hours of instructing) when I decided to buy one to see if it would be of any value. I had done a lot of reading and one of the best articles is this one Wind Tunnel Test of Angle of Attack Probe - NAR Associates In the past I always made a rough calculation of landing weight and adjusted my approach speed accordingly. That speed could vary by 5 to as much as 15 knots depending on weight. The AOA has made that calculation unnecessary. I have been using it now for over 6 months and feel it was a very good investment. Proper use would be to slow to the donut when on approach, note that speed, then fly that speed. I have become so comfortable with the AOA that I noticed that I unconsciously flew the AOA to the flare point recently. I have surprised myself by being able to reduce my approach speed 5-6 knots comfortably. The donut does indicate different speeds at different weights. In my opinion they work well, and I would encourage their purchase and use. I have the Alpha Systems Eagle with the Valkyrie HUD.

Two videos of our flyaway with some friends in April this year. The first one is from inside of the cockpit and doesn't show much of the outside. It has radio work, etc. https://youtu.be/VacC9aNIFW4 The second one is a low level flight to a fuel stop en-route on the second day: https://youtu.be/vGYeEpag2Mo Please hit LIKE if you like them Sorry about the quality. I thought I had figured out this gopro to youtube stuff, etc but I guess not Tony

The more I have been thinking about it, the more I think I should eventually do the following... 1. overhaul original AI 2. get a used electric AI, preferably one with a battery backup? 3. get a ilevil... just would want to find a way to keep the iphone/pad cool.. ..

Something to be said about the Chute!

I had lunch yesterday with Markus and Ernst. Both are the owners of HB DHA. Wonderful plane. I told them about Mooneyspace and that some of us had seen their plane and that we were interested in knowing more about their flight. They were surprised... and told me that they had flown the route already twice and that it was not too much of a deal. I asked them about the prop, and they told me that thanks to that prop their landing fees at european airports was much lower... They had also done some mods to the plane, in particular to the cowling to improve cooling! It seems that they had worked around the baffling system. My swiss german is not good enough to understand all the technical details... From there they were going to fly to Brownsville and the to the Mooney Factory. From there they would start their flight back to Europe. I told them about our www side and let's see if they sign up.

That's Jack Merritt's Mooney. I did a Puppy rescue with him on Saturday. And BTW, I thought your memory was improving! Brownish, reddish strips over beige! Guess I better get over to Princeton to visit again. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I planned an ambitious weekend and most of it worked out. My home base is FCM in Minneapolis. On Friday I planned to go to Gary, IN (GYY) to look at a sailboat. Just what I need, another hole in space into which to pour money. Saturday the 4th my youngest son and I planned to go to Bemidji for the day to see family. Then on Sunday I was going to be an all day Angel. Friday worked out well. I flew to GYY in the morning. I filed for 11,000 and had a little tailwind, not much just a few knots. I cruised at around 178 - 179 and the flight was a little over two hours. The route was the ZUMBRO6.ODI departure to JOT, then GYY. There was a little vectoring around Chicago but not much, pretty seamless. I got a crew car, drove to the lake, saw the boat, and got back to Minneapolis mid-afternoon, in time for supper with some friends. Saturday did not go as planned. On runup the engine was rough on the right magneto. The next day I had an ambitious schedule of Angel Flights and quite alot of campers I could not let down, so I scrambled to find a mechanic on the 4th. I lucked out and found John at Executive Aviation at Flying Cloud. WIth the instrumentation on the JPI 930 we were able to determine that the right mag was not firing at all on cylinder 2. He traced it to a gunked up connection at the magneto, cleaned it up, and I was back in business in about three hours. It was too late to fly that day, but my son and I had supper together and watched the fireworks. The big day was Sunday. Angel Flight Central flies patients to a camp at Moose Lake MN for kids with life threatening illness. The kids come from all over, and AFC moves more than 20 campers that day. I voluteered to bring three sisters from Lansing, IL (IGQ), and then because there were still campers in need of getting to MZH I volunteered to fly a second load, going MZH to Stevens Point, WI (STE) and back, again to bring in three campers. Let me pause a minute in describing this adventure and say something about the Mooney. First, with the turbocharger it was an easy, fast trip in the morning from FCM to IGQ, about two hours. Although we could have gone to the flight levels on the return, because there was practically no wind, I did not want to do that with two very young and flight-inexperienced children on board, so the return was a more sedate 8,000. Even so, cruise speed was a little better than 150 knots. There was another ship behind us with two more kids on the same mission, a Cessna. My passengers were delighted that we were going to beat their brothers to camp. I don't for a minute want to take anything away from my fellow Angel pilot in that Cessna, he was a great guy and I enjoyed meeting him, but to get in two loads in the day, I needed Mooney speed. MZH is a small, typical northern MN airport. One runway, and it is not long at 3200, self serve fuel only. There was another very generous Angel pilot flying 6 campers in from IN that day in a Citation, but he needed the long runway at DLH, which meant a drive for the camp staff. Yet another wonderful pilot was bringing two kids in his Malibu, but he needed the longer runway at Clocquet, another drive for the camp staff. I don't mean to take anything away from any of those generous pilots, but it is worth noting that I was able to cruise the flight levels at 170, and then put it down on that little strip near the camp, and do it all with time to spare. The first "crew" from IGQ to MZH were the three sisters, 13, 6 and 7. What a riot! Maybe a little more playing with the headsets than I would have liked. The older girl just took hers off to enjoy the quiet, I have the ISOL button that worked for me. I got alot of the "are we there yet" questions but explained to them what they could see on the moving map and GPS, so that took care of that and made it a little quieter in the cockpit. We made the trip from IGQ to MXH in about 2:45, and were able to cruise with ease above the cloud layer and its associated turbulence. It turned out they were out of fuel at MZH. I only got 11 gallons on board, but still had a couple of hours of fuel left from the IGQ to MZH trip, so I was good to fly to STE for the second load. I put fuel on there, filed a flight plan with FSS, loaded up my three passengers and we went back to MZH. Since the flight is short there was no time to go high, so we stayed at 8,000 just above the layer and made it back to MZH in about an hour. Having done two loads, I was the last plane of the day. The last adventure was the return home. It was a short flight, about 50 minutes. To make weight I had only been able to carry about 48 gallons from STE to MZH, and then there was no fuel at MZH so I had about 35 gallons left to get home, plenty of fuel for the short flight. The only exciting part was that some build up had started on my exact route home, so there was quite alot of deviating and about a half hour in turbulent IMC. I was glad I did not have campers with me, it would have been uncomfortable for them. Happily, no instrument approach at the end. It would have been fine, but I was one tired puppy. I did get routed directly over KMSP and got "the view," something that has happened a few times before. Landing on the short strip at KFCM was uneventful. So that's it. Well over two thousand miles in the air (I didn't count), fast time saving trips in the flight levels, a ton of endurance even with my 75.6 gallon tanks thanks to the low fuel usage, the ability to use the smallest of strips even with a full load. And for those who wonder whether I was in my right, careful mind putting four people and baggage in the plane, twice in one day, there was a careful w & b for each flight. These are, after all, someone's children, no unnecessary risks. I have pics, sorry I can't share them, we respect the kids privacy. I will say that as far as charitable giving is concerned, it is hard to beat flying for AF. I am sure many of us give to charities, but even with the best of them you know that a significant chunk of your contribution is going to pay the salaries of those who raise the money from you. At AF, your entire gift of your time, aircraft, and money, is going to the person in the seat next to you, and you get to spend time with them, most are delightful people, grateful for the help.

A little less hair and a lot less weight. No more sidewalk cracking for me! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hey Guys, The attached PDF summarizes the market for M20s on Trade-A-Plane Last week (7.1.2015). The M20J data are for planes from 1977-1987. It seems to confirm that M20C's are a good value. It also shows the F models have the lowest variance. Mooney Summary.pdf

I have a Boxed Special Edition of THE AL MOONEY STORY on eBay at this link: MOONEY BOOK It's a beautiful book and it's signed by Al Mooney and Gordon Baxter. I thought maybe someone on this forum would be interested.

The C.A.P.S. is the Shiznit!!!!!

There is no expiry date on this coupon. Someone shall print cut and walk to Jerry and redeem this :-) just to see their face. Yves

Also a fellow Mizzou grad. BS in biology. Then my MD there. Now a Urologist.

Amen to that comment brother! I also think there are a lot of older pilots who just don't want to let go.

Some people are not in a rush to sell their things. They can keep flying it indefinitely while it is for sale. Especially if it is the last plane they will ever own... A nice Mooney may be listed at an MSC for sale. It will attract the right buyer to match the higher asking price. Some people take a long time to get ready to sell. They may tell their mechanic what their intentions are... Word of mouth or the MS effect are pretty powerful when the market is so small. Even TAP takes a month to get mailed to most of it's users... As a buyer... To be up on the market. MooneySpace. TAP. MSC web sites. Controller. All American Aircraft. There isn't a one stop shopping experience for all levels of Mooney... My first Mooney was languishing at a nearby airport...a paper for sale sign was posted in the FBO on a memo board. It takes effort to find what's being sold by some individuals. Best regards, -a-

I was just through this with my avionics shop. The Aspen does indeed have a battery backup, but it is only good for a half hour. I have also read too many stories about failures. Not enough for me. I am sticking with my steam gauges and although it may not be certified, my backup is going to be partial panel plus the Stratus 2 and Foreflight. I have had occasion to actually depend on batteries for backup, generally they last about half as long as the spec says, and at that point it gets really dark in the cockpit.

Clearing up my intent... 1) there was something wrong with what the cirrus pilot was doing. 2) I promote saying something. 3) Ross and many other people on this board are qualified to give good advice when you see something like a pilot adding a gallon of oil at a time. 4) not everyone will take well to good advice even when it is well intentioned. 5) with a leak that is that large, it is hard to say that it will remain stable and predictable. 6) to keep flying it with high or unstable oil use, has a high probability of leading to a predictable engine out landing. 7) if the plane could talk, it would be asking for help. I'm sure it wouldn't want an off airport landing either. Let me know if I have implied something different. I'm still working on my knowledge and writing skills. Best regards, -a-

Anthony - I'm not fluent in Cirruese, so I am not sure if it was seeking my help or not. I am however, fluent in sarcasm...smartass.

The data is all pulled from sales prices on Trade-A-Plane. The C,E,F, and Js are the ones I may be interested in buying in the future. I was just interested in summarizing these Planes for my reference to see what may be a good value, or worn out, or really nice, relative to the overall market. Cheers.

I suspect these are asking prices gleaned from trade a plane. Since I easily talked my seller down by $4000 from $39,000 to $35,000, I suspect that actual selling prices might be a bit lower. The fellow I bought from had been trying to sell for a year.

I saw it on TV yesterday. If you are a go pro user. This is an improvement... Expensive. 'No CBs invited' they said.... Best regards, -a-

anthony your not being suspect r u ?

This ^^^^^ is it in a nutshell... The thing that was troubling me is that I felt like the plane was telling me too. I may have felt better if the pilot had said something to indicate he had some understanding of aircraft engines and why his was using oil. If he knew he had case that was fretting or a case crack or a bad rocker box gasket etc...then it becomes a calculated risk. Not that I would suggest that makes it safe or sensible, but at least there's an idea of what's going on. I would never depart in an aircraft using that kind of oil. I understand that everyone's tolerance for risk is different. I once flew the 24NM home from KFDK to KHGR with a bad coil on one mag...at night. I threw that out as a hypothetical on the red board and the majority of responders considered it just a little short of a suicide mission. Everyone's limits are different. The limits ought to be adjusted considerably when there's a passenger on board; especially one that does not fully understand the risks.

Stupid is as stupid does. You did the right amount of the right thing. The wife's "We'll see" response let you know she was fully aware that there is a problem with the engine. If she decides to climb in a plane that may NOT climb to chute deployment level before catastrophic failure....so be it. I find the burning of four quarts in 2.2 hours also terrifying. I would not be flying that plane without knowing WHAT is wrong. If they had gone down that is NOT an accident. The plane was telling them and they were not listening. People are goofy...to the point of being seekers of Darwin. The primary contributing cause when it went down would be "Stupid cheap bastard" for the pilot. For the wife? Same.

As a younger person, I've weighed in before on this issue and I'll weigh in similarly again. If you have been in the market looking around and decided this is the plane for you it's worth putting some effort into it. If it's local it makes the entire process somewhat easier. Here's how I would handle it: Talk to the seller and see if he is willing to agree to an entire annual done by a different mechanic. You can negotiate the terms of payment of that cost, or discount the asking price by the price of the annual. After the inspection is complete and the "laundry list" of items that need attention is compiled then you and the owner can negotiate some more. Theoretically, if he doesn't sell you the plane, that annual is now on record and should the airplane come back "unairworthy" he's either going to have to discount the price and sell as-is to someone else, or fix the plane himself and try to price and sell accordingly again. If you are fiscally set up to buy the plane a few extra dollars to initiate, or in the worst case end up paying for only the creation of the "laundry list" items is not that big of a deal. In my opinion without seeing logbooks or anything else, 43k seems like a heavily "good engine" weighted price and may well be too high. For me, without a list of "potential problems" it's very difficult to determine the actual value of the plane.

Either acquire it for $20K or walk away. Take a look at my gallery and see if that plane is only $5K away from mine.

Still scraping teeth and drilling holes in the jaw. Nothing has changed since 2013.

Taxis do that all the time. I've had them refuse to take me because I was paying with a credit card for a 10.00 ride, even though I could see the credit card machine. I've been charged 27.00 to go from DFW to the holiday inn (6 miles). I've had them refuse to turn on the meter, saying it's cheaper to pay the 20.00 flat rate (the way back was metered at 12.00). I've had them "oops" the exit and take the next one, driving extra miles and charged me 129$ to go from IAH airport to Clear Lake (38 miles). I had one guy showed up 39 minutes late at the hotel, let me go into a wall mart in MIA and when I came out 4 minutes later he was gone. He came back after 10 minutes and the meter had run up an extra 15$. He took someone else while I was in the store, then refused to own up to it, then called me a mofo when I handed him the credit card at the airport. I took it back and walked, then he changed his mind. Nearly all of them have the cop car style vinyl covering on the back seat with God knows what stains on it, check engine light on. ABS light on. Airbag light on. Engine missing running on 7 cylinders. Rear bumper falling off. 400K miles and really, after paying one of them 80$ they should hand me the title, not the receipt. They have their place, but for most inter urban travel, Uber totally kills them. The cars are 9 years or newer, most much newer. The drivers make more. Win win win. Well, except for the taxis. But I don't feel sorry for them.

Alan, based on your wonderful review and description, you mean Cris with the Screamin' Eagle? Right? Bo may know some things about music. Cris knows Mooneys.

That is a truly awesome transformation. I thought you were joking when you posted before. Congratulations. You just gave yourself years of life on your airframe. Like our old Mooney's with a lot of work and TLC transformations that show the beauty that lies within are there...Where there is will there is a way. It is better to look good AND feel good. And darling...YOU LOOK MARVELOUS!

Peter I rec'd his email and plan to attend AC again. Very worthwhile

Ah, that's the real beauty of a three-blade prop.

Funny how somethings stick in the memory. That memory was from the Flying W drive/fly-in. Memory retrieval is the other challenge... I thought you may have painted your plane. I'm pretty sure I would remember that. Whoever knew memory is a two step process. 1) put it into memory. Good sleep helps... 2) retrieve it back out of memory. Try again another time if you know it's in there... As we age we get to share some nifty details about life...

Hi Clarence, I'm sure I could do one, but you'd have to leave me your airplane for way too long I'm afraid. My target price is way below the LoPresti cowling. Thanks, David

So I guess everyone already knows. Yves flew me into Clarence's shop on Sunday where we planned the next steps to get C-FSWR back into the air. She was in the local avionics shop for the 24 month Pitot-Static check (apparently failed the pitot side of that too), but we had it back in Clarence's shop by 10 am and started filling in the logs. The journey log was good enough for me to do the 40 minutes over the airport at 3000' AGL (4000' ASL) followed by the 90 minutes airport to airport fly by running it at 2500 - 24" for the 75% power (first hour) and then alternatively at 2500 - 22" for the 65% power / 75% power run for the next hour per the Lycoming break in procedure. See the pics below (not very good, but showing the actual conditions). I used the iPhone App to determine the settings for 75% and 65% at given altitudes. Then the oil change. No issue. Back in the air for another hour. I looks like CBs here tomorrow morning, but later in the day, they may clear out enough for me to fly home. All told I should get another three or four hours of break in, bringing my total to 6 or 7 hours. The last three hours will be from Ottawa the next day and then she is good to go for formation practice with Yves and Houman. If Andrew and his team are not available on the Saturday, one of us will fly formation with Houman, while the other can act as safety pilot for him, if he wishes. If not, we will be doing three ship formation flying on Saturday next. Stand by for the pics and vids from that effort.

What you said was just about right. - Once long ago I saw a brand new pilot greatly overload a Cherokee 140. He was fueling it up and I stopped him. I told him the plane might very well not get off the ground and not to put any more fuel in it. Two giggly young girls and a strong looking guy all got in with the pilot. I had told the pilot not to turn the plane if climbing became difficult. Several of us watched the plane try to take off and the stress was killing me. That Cherokee flew between the tops of a few trees and we never saw the plane make the left turn he needed to get to its destination. He was just too low. It was a rented plane and those kids had no clue. If I have a "next time" I'm going to say more because I don't care what they say to me.

It may or may not be a big deal, and each airplane (and owner) is different. You're buying the plane as well as the previous owner(s), and that presents a lot of unknowns. My plane has missing logs as well due to a flood at the original owner's maintenance shop where they were stored (big mistake!). However, the original owner (an attorney) kept meticulous records and what came with my plane has WAY more detail than any airframe logbook of the era ('77 through ~2002) before computer-generated stickers became popular. My bank hesitated when they learned about the missing logbooks, but as soon as they saw the records they said "no problem." I have binders with every maintenance receipt including itemized labor and part entries, AD compliance, letters of correspondence to various shops, Lycoming, etc. He re-created the history of the plane in fine detail. I still had an expert Mooney PPI to confirm the condition of the plane and closed the deal. I'm only the 3rd owner, too. Just be careful with the process and make sure you know exactly what you're buying. I'd want to know the ownership history for the missing period, and check the accident records thoroughly by serial number since the N-number can be easily changed. There might be a way to search insurance claims but I don't know...you don't want to buy a franken-plane that was rebuilt from a bad accident.

Since several posts were lost during a Mooneyspace software update, I'll repost some of the information. The airflow for my cowling will be similar to the Vans aircraft RV series running the same engine as the Mooney and with the air filter in the left cylinder cooling air inlet. Not a lot of new engineering required. Thanks, David

I would wished him a good flight and go on about my business....

My flying is not a hobby. I use the aircraft primarily to travel in a 2-3 hour "Mooney-time" radius of home. I am a VFR pilot that knows my plane and doesn't take unnecessary chances with weather. I have had a lot of great weekends because of my Mooney. I say F.U. to your judging others. Judge yourself. I will respond with my thoughts on another thread regarding my wishes...NOT this one. Callous? Look in the mirror... Maintain, Train you and your plane. Statistics are just that. You can put the "odds in your favor". Holiday traffic vs. 6500 feet in my plane in VFR weather? I will take my Mooney thank you very much.

Ummm... holiday weekend??? Not everybody stays glued to MooneySpace 24/7/365. First I've seen of this thread. However, you're right. Many of us are likely jaded and callous. I know I am. After you have been on airplane forums for a decade and read the Nall report every year, you come to realize that on average one person dies in a GA crash every single day of the year. The news media likes to sell advertizing with it, so we hear about nearly every single one of these fatalities. It's just a reality. What we choose to do as a hobby, pastime, passion, or even profession is not one of the safer things we could do in life. The drive to the airport and back is about 200% safer. Truth is, that crumpled wad of aluminum in those pictures could be any one of us on the very next flight. Please, nobody here over estimate your skills, your airplane's reliability or get complacent. When you break the surly bonds, there is a tax collector searching for you. Stay sharp. Having said all that, my condolences to the family and RIP fellow Mooniac. My sympathies to all that grieve due to this accident.

I thought I'd post a few more pictures of the new cowling mod installation progress. Also included a picture of the completed new carb air box. Looking forward to having this on and complete. Thanks, David

Smart. You got the inverted oil system.

Retired Law Enforcement (Portsmouth, NH)..Later moved to Tennessee and now I currently own two health-fitness centers. Also have some small commercial real estate to supplement.

I can tolerate the AU decals. If you show up with gator stickers, I'll have to burn your plane.

Police officer/commerical helicopter pilot

Deputy Sheriff

Used to be a high tech electrical engineer. Now a tree farmer. Why trees? Trees don't talk back, they don't run away, they dont quit growing because they are mad or having a bad day, they don't threaten to sue you, you don't have to learn a new version of software every year to keep them growing, and I can fly over them in my Mooney and see how they are doing. And until people quit using toilet paper and wood products, the market looks pretty secure. There are a lot of things good about the tree business! I am actually featured in the current issue of Progressive Farmer Magazine if you want to know more.