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This is kinda silly, but since we've gotten to our stopping point for the week, and our real destination for this trip I decided to run through a few stats on the trip so far. In one week we have entered the airspace of 19 states and landed in 6. Previous to this trip I had only flown in 4 states, all of which we have hit on this trip. We've burned 239.11 gallons of fuel (not including our last leg) at an average 8.05 gallons per hour and average price of $5.03/gal. We've also talked to 71 enroute traffic controllers plus tower and ground controllers at most of the airports we've stopped at. Total logged hours so far 33.1, 5.2 of which were in instrument conditions. Yes, I am a nerd. https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11873421_10207482000518328_4752331486049239387_n.jpg?oh=0d9eb0b2ee55d6bf9d267e0d5a2bdcbe&oe=5671DD10

Hello everyone. I’d like to introduce myself as an apparent Mooniac and new owner of a ’66 M20E! After stopping flying around 2000 for the all too common reasons (income, cost, marriage, home purchase, children, etc.) I made a vow to return to flying at some point and never gave up on the dream of ownership. As with a lot of us, it is in our blood. Inspiration came from my father who owned an Aeronca Champ and a Mooney Mite before I was born. He also built a Rotorway Scorpion Too (2) in our garage when I was very young (I gladly assisted when he asked for help). Additionally, he was a balloon pilot and flew second balloon for a friend’s local NJ balloon company (I gladly chased when I got my driver’s license). All just for the fun of it. He was a home builder by trade. Two years ago it dawned on me that a lot of time had gone by since I’d last flown and that I shouldn’t wait too long to get back in the air. I also wanted to shrink the distance between myself and my father so we could visit more, schedule some trips, and enjoy aviation together. He had stopped flying a long time ago. Circumstances have fortunately put me in a place to re-engage, so I began researching all things aviation and specifically ownership. After defining my mission/s, I narrowed down my options which led me to joining MooneySpace just over a year ago. What a great site! Plenty of great information, folks eager to assist and impart their knowledge/wisdom, and quite humorous too. After much reading and cross-referencing with other sources, I felt comfortable knowing what I was looking for that was suitable for my budget and mission. Part of a longer story, for another time, is how I accidentally found the airplane I ended up purchasing. So, as expected, I found a Mooney knowledgeable mechanic and enlisted him for a PPI. It was a very enjoyable experience and I learned a lot more during that process. I’d like to thank a few MooneySpace members who have given me great advice, guidance, and support through the process. Thanks to Bob_Belville, Marauder, and Carusoam. Can’t wait to meet them and other Mooney owners in person. The plane will be based at KBVY (Beverly, MA). I conveniently live 2 miles from the airport so no excuse to not get there as frequently as possible. I’ve seen a few other Mooney’s there but don’t know their owners. There’s an A model hidden away in a hangar in need of restoration, a J on the line outside, an E in a hangar, and I think a C somewhere. Could be others too, of course. Please reach out if you want to connect and discuss all things Mooney. So, I’m happy to be here and excited to get started on the training. I'm planning to bring the plane back here (MA) next week. It is currently in NJ. I know everyone needs proof or it didn’t happen, so I’ve attached a picture from last week. Best Regards, Lance

Hey Guys I thought I would update our rigging fun. Summer has been so busy I haven't had a chance to address the problems. Today, we finally got to it. Problems: 1. Rolling to the right flaps up 2. Rolling more to the right flaps down. 3 Right rudder to keep heading with wings level. 4. Slower than book speed. 5. Yokes not centered 6. Ailerons drooping. Gear tight in the wells. Engine is per factory specs. No, we don't have travel boards (the guy that rents them has a long-term illness and closed his business). No matter. Solutions: Found flaps asymmetrical. Many thanks to Piloto (Jose) for clearing up the difference flaps up and down adjustments. After centering the yokes and setting the ailerons where they are supposed to be, we found BOTH flaps improperly rigged. WAY off! Like 1.5 inches off compared to the aileron. Now, flaps out, little to no rolling (still needs a little tweaking) and flaps up has a SLIGHT roll to the right. The up stop was adjusted but I haven't had time to test fly it again. Anyway, we are making huge moves to perfectly straight flying. Chris, I finally got time to do a TAS check. Four-heading method. 7500MSL and slightly above standard temp. Pressure slightly lower. @ 22"/2500 (72%) I got a solid 147KTAS. That is right in line with the book. This is up from 139KTAS when this party started! I am still tweaking and looking for more. I am shooting for the 150 mark with zero speed mods. This is a stock (except for Brakett air filter) 1975 F.

I have been a member of Mooneyspace for a while now and it has been a great tool to obtain information in my quest for a Mooney. On Saturday, I picked up a new (to me) 1977 M20J and had the absolute pleasure of piloting this craft from Michigan to Alabama on my maiden voyage. I'm all in. What type of initiation rituals do I need to go through?

A C model, with a fixed step, external camera, and the roof vent open... still smoking anything else in it's class or price range.

Well, we made it! Despite the warnings we did land at 5B6, and yes it was a bit tricky, but not bad. The hardest part was finding the airport while also avoiding the TFR inner ring which is roughly on the south downwind. I'm so used to the CA landscape where airports cant hide easily that we were right on top of it before I found the runway. Made for some interesting maneuvers to get lined up without busting the TFR. Thankfully BECAUSE of the TFR we were the only ones flying! I did get a bit of a roll on short final as we cleared the trees which got my attention, but I was able to salvage a safe, if not elegant landing with plenty of runway to spare. Even ran into another Mooney Pilot who is based at the field and was taxiing to get fuel. Really nice folks here. The flight here was pretty exciting too. We stopped in Georgetown, DE to get fuel and lunch and the people there couldn't have been nicer. Spent some time at the desk chatting with them about the trip, and when we left they gave us a couple shirts as souvenirs! They also offer a 10cent/gallon discount if you eat at the restaurant btw. Pretty good deal if you're in the area. The clouds had closed in though and we had to go IFR to get in, and got another clearance to leave. We had really wanted to do the Hudson River Corridor to check out NYC but we were starting to think that just wasn't gonna happen, as we had been solid IFR the whole way up. Just as we got off shore of the VZ Bridge the skies opened up for us and I called approach to tell them I wanted to cancel IFR and do the tour. They kept me on my squawk and guided us through at 1500' so we didn't even have to do the exclusion. We actually transited the corridor 3 times, North, south, and north again to head to the cape. Once past Alpine Tower I asked for an IFR clearance to Falmouth again and that's when everything got stressful. They climbed us into the clouds on an initial heading, then gave us a rather long clearance while getting tossed around trying to figure out all these unfamiliar intersections and navaids. It took some work but we got it headed in the right direction, clicked on the A/P and I finally got to breathe......while getting bounced around in the clouds. Fun stuff. I think today is my record for actual IFR at a bit over 2.5 hours. Most of it was fun. Getting set up on that second clearance was definitely work though.

Guys, on Monday I was flying my usual practice instrument flight in early morning. To my surprise what was going to be a simple practice IFR flight to enjoy the view (first video) became an ILS approach to minimums due to ground fog that moved in (Second video). Up to 5700 feet MSL (800 agl) everything was fine, I could see the ground and forward visibility was ok, then ground fog started to move in and 5500 it turned IMC and broke out at 5100 which was exactly at minimums. It does not look as dramatic as I am describing it here, but if you are mentally not prepared for it...you have to change plans and make sure that you are ready for a missed... After I landed fog became even worse and they even closed the airport for 1 hour for commercial flights... Enjoy. Oscar https://youtu.be/mZwGYPbNeVM https://youtu.be/XncMLVackZo

After 25 years of mishap-free flying, I finally had to file an insurance claim. Fortunately, no one was hurt. And I wasn't anywhere near the aircraft when it happened... Our (i.e. my mechanic & the prop shop owner who's been at it for 30 years) best guess is that a tug ran into the prop while it was parked somewhere. Scary thing is I just flew 100+ miles over water to Grand Cayman. I'm a fanatic pre-flighter but I never noticed anything until I had the cowl off for an oil change. Something caught our eye so we pulled the spinner. Not a single mark on the blades. No vibration in flight. Obvious hub damage. More details to follow (and pictures!) We are following the letter of the law: prop damage means prop overhaul. Prop overhaul means engine tear-down. My TSIO-520 happens to have ECi cylinders, and the fine print in the AD requires me to throw the jugs in the garbage if they are removed from the engine. Alas, I've decided to go ahead and overhaul the motor. So I've been taking the bus to visit customers all month. I'm probably preaching to the choir but nothing beats a Mooney for cost-effective, fast transportation. Just to help me justify the rather large check I'm going to be writing, I've been keeping careful notes on the travel times on various 757's, 737's and A-320's. Would you believe that my Rocket can get me from Ocala to DENVER (my driveway to customer office) faster than a non-stop commercial flight out of Orlando? GA is a game-changing business tool. A big reason I'm posting this is to tell the Mooney world about the fantastic support I'm getting from Rocket Engineering. Even though they haven't done a piston conversion in 20 years, they still support the product like it was their #1 line of business. They have the original jigs for the engine mount & exhaust and they quoted a very reasonable price to bring those items back to like-new condition. What's even more impressive is the tech support they've offered gratis. When the prop shop asked for engineering drawings for the prop setup, Tim Moore spent an hour digging up exactly what we needed, scanned everything, and emailed it over to me. When the insurance company balked at the estimate for removing and reinstalling the motor, Rocket researched their records to figure out how long it used to take them to do the job. If anyone out there is considering buying a Rocket, rest assured the factory support is outstanding. And they turned a great airplane into the best damned airplane I've ever flown. Yes, these numbers are real: http://www.rocketengineering.com/content/rocket-performance Can't wait to see what she will do at 24,000' with Gamis, Tempest fine-wires, and Millennium cylinders!

Thanks. Ha. Yes, and I made a note to steer clear of Little Timmy topics too while taking it all in.

Congratulations and best of luck with your new acquisition. I am worried about you getting advise from some very notorious people, however. Be more careful in the future.

Excellent! What's most impressive is you were able to sit back and not comment on all the nonsense and valuable posting going on for a year I think I would not want to play against you in a game of poker...Welcome

So I thought I'd give an update. The Lucky Strike is now mine. Presents as clean as it did in the photos, very very nice Mooney. Flew my Cherokee down to Atlanta, took Mooney driver on a half hour flight and I think he fell in love. Did a pre buy with a local mechanic next day (not really what I wanted, but when running a trade you don't get everything you want) while his mechanic worked on my Cherokee. Quoth his mechanic, he'd never seen a cleaner Cherokee. The Mooney came out pretty well devoid of squawks as well. Very, very clean. Did my ten hours of dual down there (had some trouble finding a suitable CFI here). Had one hell of a time working the J-bar, locking it in place on the down swing was problematic at best and took awhile to "get". I just about melted in the heat, we northerners just aren't used to the incredible heat in Georgia. Funny story (I hope), after my first colonoscopy (dating myself) I swore I'd never drink Gatorade again. Those of you who've had the pleasure probably know of what I speak. When we landed at PDK after the first day's training the bottle of Gatorade in the machine looked SO inviting, I bought a 20oz bottle, drained it in a heartbeat and drained another 20oz of water besides. I guess I'm back to drinking Gatorade. I took quite a few hours and quite a few gear swings to get the J-bar. My other problem is after I'd done it 3 or 4 times my arm turned to jello. I guess no Young Eagles in my future. I did have the distinct please of following a Skyhawk in the pattern and having to swing wide because I was so much faster than him. Anyway, after the ten hours the CFI (Mike O'Neal out Skybound Aviation at PDK, I could not recommend him more) gave me my complex endorsement and I was off. Had a hell of a time in the mountains north of Atlanta, had to power down pretty dramatically to keep it slow enough to creep through all that. Problem with being a VFR pilot in a fast airplane, have to dodge wx at 155mph. After that though, up to 9.5K, set the autopilot to fly home and didn't have to do a damn other thing. 140kts at 8.3 gallons an hour. My landings still suck, but they're getting better and will get better more still. The Mooney isn't what I'd call easy to land, but I'll get there. Last hour of solo for the insurance tomorrow, and my first passenger (Mrs. Steingar) on Sunday. I am going to fly the wings off this thing. I LOVE Mooneys, such efficiency! I may not love it as much come annual time (thing has a LOT of scores) but might laze out and take it to a Mooney service center. We'll see. Thanks to Mooneyspace for lots and lots of wisdom during this process. With luck in time I'll be able to give some back.

When I was flying T-34C's in flight school, they taught us to ditch parallel to the wave swells, when ditching in the ocean, gear up, flaps down, with the canopy already open. I would recommend similar action, regardless of wind direction for the ocean, and keep that door cracked open. Flying into even a 3-4 foot swell at 60 knots will most likely end poorly... But if you can fly parallel, you've got a chance.

I would say get the Oral part out of the way. Then you can fly when the plane is ready

The issue didn't develop in 2012 it developed in 2015 after flying 200hrs a year in the last 3 years (600hrs after it sat). Sitting had nothing to do with the issue, the cam just wore out. This is evidenced by the metal coming off it which only occurs at end of life, you can verify that by getting the cylinder inspected as AES highlights. No matter how much cam guard we use, how often we change the oil, and how much we love and baby our engines they eventually wear out and need to be overhauled.

Make sure it is what you want to own. Negotiate with owner, regarding PPI, how AW issues will be handled. Go directly to GGG. Don can get the plane moved /relocated using proper Mooney skilled pilots. These are just my ideas on how I would do it...a simple PP is all I have. I also used this method when I bought my O five years ago... Best regards, -a-

Take it to Maxwell at GGG. If the seller won't move it there for his scrutiny, it's probably not worth buying.

I was actually toying with the idea of designing winglets and pursuing an STC. Of course, all in my spare time! LOL!!

One more bit of trivia. I just looked at the calendar and realized that one year ago today was my PPL checkride.

Maybe I missed something, but how did you manage to take photos from outside the plane?

Your step is hanging down. I think they make a pill for that

They own a Missile. I met them back in the early 90s at a Homecoming. They were acquaintances of the guy who got me hook on Mooneys in the 1980s. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

As in Rae And Candie? I haven't seen them in years, but did email Rae asking about another Mooney owner I lost track of. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If anyone gets the non-Mooney P/N post it here. I'll try to get out to my plane next week and measure mine if not.

I do the same- view it as a convenience and safety feature to turn off the coding for ease of access. It's a flight planning and cockpit tool only so no need for security.

Without a doubt...Islip Avionics at KISP. Call Rick Kattermann at 631-588-3543 and tell him I referred you. He will go out of his way to make time for you and get things back in order.

Welcome to the neighborhood! I know of at least 2 other Mooneys at KEET and there are about 10 over here at KPLR (Pell City). Maybe Hank's right - we need an Alabama Mooney gang. John

You are all asking to be Marauderized again!

Bet your clearance was a satanic verse as well... [emoji83][emoji84][emoji49] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Now we're talking! With the mods I have, I am seeing 152 at those power settings and altitude. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks for all the input. Local avionics shop won.... Rebuilt 256 on the shelf. Total about 2.5K installed and aligned. One year Warranty...... Hope to get 1000 hours out of it. Why.... Didn't want to be in the first iteration of the 300. What I have now with the 530 and the GDL88 installed is more than what I need. I liked the Aspen twin pack but could not justify the expense. Thanks Again...... Rick

Get 3M adhesive remover in a spray can. Spray area heavily and cover with plastic (keeps the solvent from flashing off in warm weather). Wait and hour.... Start removal process. Use a Blow Dryer.... NOT heat Gun to assist. It will help maintain elasticity and keep the plastic from constantly breaking. Mineral Spirits works great to get of any residual. Rick

None of those things are even remotely an issue as long as you have your Cam Guard in

LPS2 is a penetrant and shouldn't be used on the sealed bearings which attach the various control surfaces. Tri-Flo and the like is good stuff but it should only be used where recommend. The let's talk lubrication thread is really good and clear on what should be used where both in the thread and in the corresponding MAPA article in addition to your service manual. WD-40 though not mentioned here I will toss in as bad and not to be used on aircraft.

FTFY, and he must be watching ADSB traffic and the AoA indicator, and running Tempest fine wire plugs with Camguard and Corrosion-X for protection, wearing flame-resistant flight suit and has 3 days' of survival supplies in the baggage compartment. We won't mention the short, obstructed grass field that's responsible for the hard slip . . . Or the coyotes and gopher holes . . . Oh, the joys of being the FNG!

Was it this one? I was out visiting friends in MDD and my C was parked next to it.

Mine was exactly opposite. Any smi lies put in using my desktop and Explorer went away, but those from the ipad stayed. Now that I'm running Winders in Compatability Mode, they all stay. [Note: that is not "incompatibility mode." I'm just a little incompatible with Bill Gates and his alleged operating system.]

Stinky, I generally run 23/23 down low on lunch runs and step down descents, generally 3000 msl or so; above that up to about 6000 I like either 22/2400 or 23/2400; above that, it's WOT - a tad/2500. I pull the throttle back enough to make the MP needle move, hoping to create turbulence in the carburetor and get better mixing. Now that I've repaired my doghouse twice and the carb heat valve once, I'm not only faster but seem to be able to run slightly LOP. Keep up the safe flying, and have lots of fun! Be careful of the SFRA headed to New England!

It ain't over until the fat lady finds metal in the filter.

Since I own both a Bravo and Rocket, I can comment on the two with relative authority. The Bravo is like driving a Ford Flex (which I also own) with twin turbo chargers in a long body vehicle with relatively more comfort while the Rocket is like driving a (four seat) NASCAR vehicle (which I don't own but can just imagine) with more power, speed, and acceleration in a modestly smaller cabin.

Have you checked with O&N? They might have some used ones left over from bladder installations.

Taking the Advanced Pilot Seminar course and installing a modern engine monitor (if not already equipped) would pay massive dividends when operating any piston engine plane, and especially a turbo.

Congrats for the initiation you need to shave your head and get "Mooney Nut" and the Mooney logo tattooed on your left arm and run around the hangar screaming in ecstasy.

Welcome aboard, Brandon. i think, therefore i is...a Mooniac. Best regards, -a-

Welcome to Mooney ownership! Maybe we need to have an Alabama get together?

Gotta love Texas, cause you sure cant forget what state you're in when you're there. Even our waffles had some texas pride goin on this morning. Unfortunately we didn't get to do any formation work this morning, as GSXRPilot had a mechanical issue, but just before departing we did get to see a flight of Texans, a couple bombers and a P-51 take off, which was pretty cool. The flight today was nice and smooth with just a few buildups along the way. We just got to our hotel in New Orleans and are relaxing before we go out and do some damage to our livers tonight. Hopefully the hangover wont be too bad cause tomorrow we're gonna go ride around the swamps in an airboat.

I like twins....