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I'm at the McDees in Yearington NV on a fuel stop to KHIO. This door lock made me laugh...

Right after my flight yesterday, glad I didn't fly the pattern twice !

No matter how much equipment you have on a single engine plane, you still only have one engine. Therefore the question is: With your visibilty reduced to feet until breaking out, at what altitude and with what visibilty do you think you could pick a safe landing spot once clear of the clouds? Personally, night IFR is very high risk unless the ceiling is very high and the terrain is flat with plenty of airports along the way. Day IFR, generally 800-2 for me over flat generally unobstructed terrain and then only when improving conditions are expected. From there it goes up depending on the conditions and terrain. Then the question arises, why install a WAAS capable navigator? Any LNAV, VOR, ADF approach will get down to those minimums, plus I do have ILS. I fly for a living. Why should I risk it with a single engine airplane?

Hi I give you news...after that, you will be autorized to call me "Stupid" I put my KC192 computer to the avionic repairer....He found some light troubles in the FD circuit but nothing very serious. By the way he replaced all the unit buttons and lights because, according to him, problems come very often from worn contacts. He told me to try again with the unit installed and to come back with the plane if the problem is still there. So I installed back the unit and the problem was still there with something new: the bips that indicated that the test didn't pass were not audible anymore!!! I bent over to the left side of the cockpit in order to switch off the avionics circuit......took support on the horn that turn a little and I heard the "bips" again!!! What the hell: it's a bad contact, I thought!!! I caught the wires that are coming from the horn and began to try to figure from where came the problem. In fact, it was a safety rotative plug that was almost completely unpluged.....Was pluged enough to make contact on the ground but when airborne, with the bank of the aircraft and the vibrations, it was slightly unpluged and caused bad contacts enough to put the autopilot on fault! So my new first name: DUMB! Second name: DUMBER! Please before trying to sort an autopilot problem, don't be so stupid as I am, and check all the plugs under the panel My 2 cents

I would be very, Very, VERY careful of accusing someone of committing fraud on this or any forum. Fraud has a fairly specific meaning in law, and if what you are describing here is not fraud, you have opened yourself up to some potentially nasty remedies. Might it not be wiser to sort out your problem in private, then report on the outcome?

This is not the way to handle a disagreement with a repair shop. Certainly not if it has not been preceded by an effort to resolve your dissatisfaction. We have no way to judge whether your tank needed a complete reseal or what you were or were not told and what you agreed to or authorized. As Anthony observed Paul Loewen and LASAR enjoy a fine reputation among Mooney owners particularly for innovative mods and their efforts to keep our plane flying while the factory was almost in mothballs.

if you want a good paint job that is the same cost as Mena, or less, and is far better, take it to Hawk in Tampa.

If I don't have much actual recently, I'm a little tense when I finally hit some, but after 5-10 minutes I'm relaxed again. If I can tell it's just one cloud, it doesn't ever bother me. Having moved twice in the last 2-1/2 years, my challenge is finding a safety pilot to practice with . . . At least I'm still flying, and I've been comfortable in the system since I got my license at an uncontrolled field on the edge of Delta airspace and always used flight following; with IFR, there's just a few rules that are different, plus the approach procedures.

Flew frm W. Washington to Pasco in E. Washington for grandaughter's softball tourney. Returned home this morning to pick up two other grandkids and take them to N. Central WA (Omak) to meet up with the other grandpa. Saw this brand new AirTractor on floats. It has an intake nozzle to pick up water as it flies. Omak is the site of big wild fires in past couple of years. Looks like it would be a hoot to fly. Nice 5 blade prop. Flew home VFR between clouds & Cascades

San Marcos, TX to Panama City, FL this weekend. The little C easily went both directions non-stop with plenty of fuel reserves. IFR on Friday going East and VFR on Sunday coming home. 7.6 gph... only in a C.

Have you thought about going early in the day? I routinely fly 6-8000 ft on a longer flight, but you'll have several descents and landings on your XC.

Anthony I think it's coming, now that the iPhone has an oximeter I expect they will have an app along with there watch. sam I have a nonex and two Walgreens brand oximeters, the Walgreens are down to around 30-40 bucks, not bad. A few yrs ago my first one was around $150 there coming down.

I think we all go through that to some degree unless we live in a really awful climate. FWIW, here's my story. Some of it is a reapeat. I did my instrument training in New England, mostly after work at night. 6 hours actual including a real missed off of an ILS. My first solo IFR flight was a week after I got my ticket. Mostly in the clouds; half of it at night, over water too. Then I moved to Colorado. VFR almost every day and, except for a few weeks around June, no flyable clouds, so very few opportunities. Given the MEAs, not even much reason to file IFR unless heading east (there were exceptions) 20 years later, a move to North Carolina. Even though I was now a CFII and had far more knowledge of the system and procedures than I had before, it still required getting re-acquainted with instrument flight. I knew I could do it and my flying club requires an annual check that includes an IPC so I had feedback too. Fortunately, the weather cooperated with me, handing me flights with a little en route weather, then more, then some approaches to very comfortable ceilings. Then lower. My personal minimums at this point are based on what I feel most comfortable doing, with a bit of the conservatism that comes with age and experience. Folks have wide ranging opinions on personal minimums. But generally, I think you'll find older, very experienced, pilots and instructors are generally more conservative about what they will accept.

Obviously if the car engine dies it doesn't put your life or vehicle at risk. For those with large boats, also warm up their engines, because boats don't have brakes, they use reverse, if a boat engine quits you have lost control, around marinas and bridges and jetties this can cause a lot of damage.

I don't recall ever having to give out my medical certificate during any insurance purchasing procedure. And when I fill out the form every year for renewing coverage, it never asks about the date of last medical, only flying experience. Also, I have read in numerous spots that even in the case of an accident, insurers are not likely to deny coverage if a medical is out of date. And they have been covering LSA for 10 years now, with no increase in risk exposure due to medical issues. So this is the first I've heard about the insurers having any real influence in this area. Tom, what are your credentials that lead you to have this opinion? Are you in the insurance industry? Any facts to back this up?

I had a Bonanza painted at Lancaster Aero , Smoketown PA , Shot in Imron , Multi Color scheme , full strip , also magnesium surfaces , South of 15 K , 5 weeks start to finish.....

The report seems to say the pilot was responsible for not following his gauges or poor inflight planning... It neglects to discuss the interesting details that we cover here... 1) knowing our useable fuel in each tank. 2) knowing our fuel burn rate in climb. 3) knowing our fuel burn rate in cruise. 4) Knowing our fuel burn rate in descent. 5) actual time of each segment of flight. 6) knowing our fuel level equipment is working. The piper's was reading one thing and it changed after some turbulence. It wasn't working. Follow up questions... 1) How much fuel did he have on board? 50 gallons. 2) How much fuel was required for the trip? Start/taxi, Climb, cruise, descent + intentional extra reserve fuel. 40 gallons + reserve = roughly 50 gallons. 3) What was the headwind he was intending vs actual? Not mentioned. 4) Why would a pilot with no method of knowing accurate FL with a back-up device like FF, plan a flight for maximum distance? 5) where did his reserve extra fuel go? 6) why didn't he stop around the halfway point? (There seems to be something that a good fuel gauge isn't going to provide) The FAA seems to have some flexibility to allow for being human? Did they really prove the float sensor's fault? The Piper pilot ran two tanks out of fuel. Running one out is a subtle hint that something may not be going as planned. The second tank should take you to the nearest fuel station or land safely in a field under power. Having accurate FL and FF are what makes safe flying (from this aspect) fun. Otherwise the pilot is relying on a simple thing to not go awry. My M20C had no FF device. It's burn rates were calculated continuously over a year. Climb on one tank, cruise on the other. Measure the gallons used. Leaned with a single EGT gauge... From old memories... Climb 15gph, cruise, 10gph, descent 8gph Any flight over 3 hours had a refuel stop in the plan. 52 gallon tank. My ability to be comfortable reading the analog gauges to +/- 2.5 gallons just isn't there. Nice to have these kinds of technical solutions to an age old problem. Best regards, -a-

I'd like to relate two points that are non-speculative: 1) Many if not most all malpractice insurance providers will state that they don't cover aviation medical certification except for aerospace medicine specialists. This historically is not an issue for AMEs as AMEs simply strictly follow FAA guidelines and are thus practically shielded from liability. 2) The PBOR2 language, as it currently is written in the various bills that it has been attached to, essentially precludes the ability of AMEs to "certify" exams unless the patient/examinee meets 3rd class criteria. Do we really think that an AME is going to sign off a private pilot with a medical history that the physician (and incidental AME) knows is disqualifying for a 3rd physical? No way. Do we really think that regular physicians are going to "certify" pilots for flight without malpractice coverage??? It needs to he understood that PBOR2 does not do away with 3rd class physical, rather it makes it non-compulsory. It should probably be assumed that to maintain your current liability/hull coverage that you'll need to maintain a 3rd class (at least at current premium levels). It should also be understood that 98-99% of people with a third class can keep it even with serious medical problems (though FAA has some wonky mandatory grounding periods for some conditions). My take is that, in a PBOR2 world, most GA pilots will keep their 3rd class except after certain medical events that FAA considers to be "groundable." The GA pilot might elect to fly signed off by a non-AME, though the pilot later will want the 3rd class back.

Disassemble, clean out the old grease, check the rod ends for wear (almost guarantee there won't be any). Strip, paint, and reassemble. Done!

The airplane I fly at work can read fuel capacity to a digital accuracy within 10 pounds (+/- less than 2 gallons). Until that level of accuracy exists for my Mooney, I'll trust my dip stick and watch, thank you very much. And I made my dipstick for free from a paint stirrer from Lowes, so the price would have to be comparable as well.

You would be wise to keep your CHT 400 or less and your TIT 1600 or less. This will be kind to your cylinders and your exhaust system.

I have a 1975 Mooney M20F with an STEC 30 and the Aspen 2000 setup. I would love to upgrade to a DFC90 system. Would an electric trim upgrade also be part of the package? I would order this in a heartbeat for the additional IFR capability.

The reason I asked... your are coming up on the time where many MS pilots started their Mooney acquisition efforts. You are now significantly more trained and more knowledgable regarding aviation. No rush. You will be more trained and even more knowledgable as you finish the PPL... There is nothing more dissapointing than paying the full price for flight hours that occur while sitting in line to gain access to the runway... Wait until you go for the IR. You will learn that there are certain rush hours to be avoided at towered airports. There are also work-arounds that get discussed here. More details and location specific fun stuff. Keep up the diligent work! Best regards, -a-

Yep; I really like the lean assist on the avadyne system. It makes leaning really easy; You cant see it well, but in the picture of the dash on the map screen you can see the CHT's and EGT followed by a 'leaning' title a little higher up. I was always told to lean for best power, but i think there is also a lean for best economy. Either way i think it takes about 2 minutes to do. Once its set just monitor the engine page to make sure that things dont change and you go out of range. I was getting about 11.2gal/h at 4500ft with 135TAS, but there was also a 21knt wind that was helping me along. -for the nearest airport; You cant see it, but its listed on the top Garman 430 along with distance to next check point. The bottom one has skywatch with 2km>6km; Though it will also put traffic up on the MFD. I normally have the engine page up, but i put that map on for 'effect' i went back to the engine page after the picture; During the entire flight i kept thinking to myself what do i do next, what am i missing, redo check lists; etc (which was good because i forgot to switch tanks at some point and was 7gal less on one side) . It wasnt until i landed and pushed back into my tie down that it actually dawned on me... This is real flying In that, I actually went somewhere far away, on my own. No pattern flying 15 times in a row, no maneuvers.. just Point A to Point B. IDK, it wasnt until later that i felt a great sense of accomplishment.

LOL. only when taking pictures and selfies Its funny, at some point i was over a bunch of farm fields, had everything trimmed out, was in a very quiet area for nor cal and i thought to myself.... Now what? Im so used to being busy every second of the flight that i didnt know what to do once i had nothing left to do

Inasmuch as my bottom cowl is off and the generator is removed and much of my Mooney is strewn across the hangar floor, it is summer and no time to go tilt at windmills on a parts quest. So I ordered a Plane Power conversion. (I should teach a class on rationalization skills.) So if anyone has need for an Interav setup, it's available.

Been a while since an update, had a bunch of delays; so here's one. 1. Had to go away for work... Like a kid i went up into the cockpit and had a nice discussion with the co-pilot before the captain kicked me out 2. Came back and scheduled my first XC; Only.... PotUS was in town TFR over the entire bay area for 2 days. 3. Met with my CFI to go over the flight plan, only to have it cancelled because the XW was higher than my sign off. The unfortunate thing was he left for the weekend a day early. Though we worked it out so that if i called him with the winds and emailed him the updated flight plane calculations then he would give me the go no go for today. today... At 2PM the winds were 35012kt 1kph over my XC sign off I called my CFI but he didnt pick up. I sat in the plane for about 30 mins and the wind changed to 33015; Which was just enough for me to do pattern work. So i sent my CFI a txt message asking for him to respond and in the mean time did landing practice with the wind just to make sure i wouldn't get in over my head. After about a hour i decided to call it quits. It seemed like everyone in the airport was skipping town and after 6 landings and 2 go arounds i thought i should just call it quits before the wind got to bad. It was now at 33018. So i get the plan back to the tie down and 'just' push it into place when my phone rang. Guess who? My CFI applogized and said he forgot and took a nap. :/ Anyway he asked if i already left, i said no. He asked what the winds were, do i looked at the new Metar and they said 32015. He said he was sorry and that i should schedule it again.... I was like wait dude, its only 4:30... He said, well if you are going to go you better get moving. I was hot, thirsty and had to pee, so instead of just running off i went back to the club house and 'chilled' for about 30 mins. Long story longer; First Solo XC is in the books! KPAO> KMCE with flight following. Approach only vectored me twice and changed my Altitude 2 times But i am glad they were there, they started moving some planes out of my way too; Obligatory pictures: BTW, Samurai Husky is starting to get a little Husky

If you fly in non ADS-B coverage areas the ATD-300 or a TCAS systems are your only options. Unlike ADS-B/UAT the ATD-300 will alert you on the ground of Mode A/C traffic in the pattern that ADS-B can't. I found this very helpful at uncontrolled airport. Unlike the ADS-B products that requires a tablet or a separate display the ATD-300 has its own display. This eliminates the interface compatability problems and gives more options for installation. BTW it is easier to read the ATD-300 larger display than on a G530. Oldguy try turning ON the ATD-300 after the avionics master is on. Some planes generate spikes that can affect the ATD-300 self protection and shutdown the bias voltage to the antenna (ANT-300). This causes the ATD-300 to only see nearby traffic. The problem is not noticeable with the portable or transponder type antennas. More info at: http://www.monroyaero.com/ATD300Webpage8.pdf José

"Piloto" on Mooneyspace (Jose Monroy) developed the ATD300. Maybe he'll chime in and discuss the benefits of active traffic. My thoughts are if it's in there why take it out?

Thanks for the offer but for someone in my position there are other things that would enhance safety more at a similar price point. The gauges in my J are accurate enough to tell me which tank is fullest, or if one is losing fuel via leakage. And my annunciator illuminates if a tank gets low. My k-factor is damn close and I always keep good reserves; I never fly with less than 8 gallons in each tank unless purposely running a tank dry (which I don't do enroute). I simply don't push it with regards to fuel. I'm a helluva lot more likely to land gear up and think my money would be better spent on a voice gear-up warning. Or maybe an AOA Indication system. I might feel differently if I was hot for a JPI900, but my 830 works great already. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've never liked night flying due to safety concerns and looking at my logbook I see the last night flight I logged was in 1985.

IFR may be less frequent but it's safer. Why do you think you get an insurance discount? Involves more planning, experience, and thought. Less steep turns, higher speeds, more straight in approaches, controller oversight. Less likely to stall which accounts for 3x more accidents than loss of power and 30x the fatalities. The pilot is the plane's weakest link.

I find it ironic that I'm comfortable flying over a couple of hundred mile area of 100 foot ceilings but I'm not comfortable flying at night. Go figure. Lee

I'm going to try and bring it up. Not sure where it will end up being parked. David

In the fuel tank stripping procedure forwarded to me several years ago by someone here on Mooneyspace, the IA performing the write up suggests using the "cheapest aerosol stripper" you can find. I never tried using a Methylene Chloride stripper as I had to purchase a minimum quantity of four gallons of SR125A. I think under the circumstances if I were you guys I take extra precaution to flush the fuel tanks, paying special attention to the seams, with generous amount of water. PPG and RPM (SR125A, Polygone) industries both have a cleaner they recommend using post stripping with their products. I tried to find something that would neutralize a Methylene Chloride stripper and since it's a water based solvent, that appears to be the best solution. Keep in mind that anything sandwiched between two pieces of metal can be corrosive over time, even 100LL from what I understand. After stripping and washing I'd recommend using MEK for a final wipe down. I'm going to strip and reseal my left tank (five or so years later) but have opted to use 3M SR cutters and radial discs to remove the bulk of the sealant. I'll provide PIREPS as I go.....just as soon as I get up enough gumption to start.

That could qualify under an owner-produced part provided it conforms to the original design. You could heat the Plexiglas and bend it over a form or perhaps by hand. For 3$ its worth a try. You can duplicate the curve and saw it with a bandsaw out of an 6x6 chunk of wood. Heat the plexiglass, then place between the wooden forms and clamp them. Trim to fit and drill the tiny holes at the top when done. perhaps you can even install it under FAR 43. 7. Replacing bulbs, reflectors, and lenses of position and landing lights. 12. Making small simple repairs to fairings, nonstructural cover plates, cowlings, and small patches and reinforcements not changing the contour so as to interfere with proper air flow.