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Just to let you know, there's a couple of us Mooney folks here in Santa Rosa. We have all had a horrific week in Sonoma County. The unthinkable happened in the early hours of Monday evening as a firestorm sped from Calistoga over the mountain into the heart of northern Santa Rosa. My wife and I were awakened by a neighbor for an immediate evacuation with a firestorm raging on the hill just above our neighborhood. The smoke, flames, explosions, severe wind and the roar were unbelievable and what I would describe as evil. My wife was injured trying to wake an elderly neighbor and required an ER visit but our hospital seemed to be on fire as did all of Santa Rosa. We left with the clothes on our back and our cat. We were certain we would lose our house. As we became refugees our day was filled with anxiety as we grasped the reality of losing "our stuff." Remembering that I had webcams it was late morning when I saw that, unbelievably, our home had been somehow spared. We actually felt guilty about that as so many of our friends narrowly escaped with just their lives in Fountain Grove, Coffey Park, and Larkfield/Wikiup where we live. One of our Mooney brothers, M20D6607U, lost his home as did many members of his family. So many families had multiple members in these neighborhoods. You would think when something like this happens you could stay with relatives but when every family member loses their home it creates a real dilemma. I am helping to run an evacuation and disaster relief distribution center and I connected with Ron personally today, getting him and his family some relief supplies, loading him up with everything I could from sleeping bags to Gatorade to toothbrushes and socks. He also knows and is helping several other families who lost their homes and we are supplying them as well. I know he's going to be upset with me for telling you all this but I thought it would be great if you left him some words of encouragement. I'm not sure when he'll see this but at some point I'll tell him what I did unless he busts me sooner. He's a great guy with a heart of gold. All of our Mooneys are safe. The airport was about 2 miles from the fire and has been a base for Cal Fire, National Guard, and several GA relief efforts as have the smaller airports near us like Healdsburg, Cloverdale, and Petaluma. There is a sizable TFR overhead of which a small chunk was left open for KSTS in case you're flying in here. When faced with the possibility of losing your home and everything in it, you often wonder what you would take with you. When the evacuation is immediate and dangerous there is no time or decision making. You leave it all. We snuck in past the barricades the second day as the fires were still raging next to us, expecting our home to be destroyed. My wife and I looked around and wondered what we'd pack into our van. All we took were our important papers, old video tape of our daughters, and a couple extra changes of clothing. We left everything else. The night before, when we were convinced we lost everything, we let it all go. It was just stuff at that point. We had each other, our friends, and we were safe. What we used to think was so important now made us feel embarrassed. The new sofa we took so long to find, the perfect giant HDTV, the piano, and on and on and on. It was just stuff. It wasn't important anymore and it seemed a hinderance. On this second trip in all we brought out was a laundry basket with very few things. The van was empty as we headed back to the shelter and we walked away from our home with no regrets. Lean-of-peak vs. rich-of-peak didn't matter anymore (hahaha). Neither did politics, sports, or any other argument or opinion. It all seems so petty now. I drive through the burn area on my way to work every day. There's no way around it. The familiar landmarks that defined my neighborhood are gone, obliterated. I'm hoping that visible scar on our community will be a constant reminder to not get caught up in the "stuff" trap again. Family and friendships are what's important. Giving to others and serving your community, being generous and grateful and all that good stuff, that's what's important. -Scott

I had an engine failure once in Colorado. I told ATC I was going to land at a dirt strip below me. About 3 min. after I landed 2 highway patrol cars, a sheriff's car, and ambulance and the entire Larkspur fire department came rolling up the other end of the runway. They seemed disappointed that I landed without incident... The Sheriff accused me of fixing the runway! He said they put mounds of dirt on the runway to keep the drug runners from using it. It was smooth as silk and I thank the drug runners for fixing it but I didn't do it!

Don’t let my wife hear this! I use the old equipment sales tactic for all of my discretionary upgrade purchases. It helps make the numbers “work out”.

"Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed." Probable cause: the pilot's failure to file a flight plan.

Thanks for the offer. I had written a reply yesterday but it got deleted with the rest. Definitely appreciate the thought though. I ended up flying into Front Range as it had two perpendicular runways to cover the potential wind problem and they were both incredibly long and very wide. Their 100 LL is under 4.50/gal and the tie down is $5 /day. I got in the air about 9:15 AM this morning, stopped on the east side of Kansas City, Lees Summit (boy was it windy) and gas was 4.08/gal, then flew into Denver Front Range. Did flight following the entire trip which was reassuring. Probably head home with my son Thursday morning. I'll post more when I get home. So far a great experience!

Flew from Taos to Las Vegas via the Dragon corridor today. Thanks @gsxrpilot for the suggestion. That route takes you over the Colorado 4 times. Spectacular, BUT I’ve done that now. I’m sure that the engine sounded a little off each time we flew over the edge, similar to when we fly over lake Michigan in the winter. The mind plays tricks....

besides, the plane probably stops a lot faster with the gear up

Today was one of the rare flights for me where I wasn't IFR or even on FlightFollowing. It's on FlightAware though. I was on business in Tulsa and after lunch flew back to Smithville where SWTA is now based and is doing some work on the plane. JD was with me and we wanted to do some GAMI sweeps, inflight MAG checks, and run a tank dry to further tune the senders and JPI. With all of that going on, I didn't want to deal with ATC. So we just went quiet. It was also nice to go right over the top of the DFW Bravo without having to talk to anyone or fear of being diverted around it. We were at 12,500 and the ceiling of the Bravo is 11,000. But it was comforting to know that even though we were quiet, ATC could see us as could other airplanes in the sky. #ADSB

And a few who aren't family... like ME. I have FlightAware alerts set up for several of my favorite Mooney travelers. It gets one inspired to go places.

Bad relay would be my first guess

Since the inception of The Money Flyer way back from May 2012, I have read every single magazine online. Each edition has fresh information and tips and techniques which are timely and appropriate for the beginning Mooney owners as well as the most experienced pilots. This is a product of the hard work of Phil Corman from California. And the reason I recognize him is because, like us at the Mooney Summit, he provides his product completely for free. Yeah, he might get a few dollar from advertising, but not nearly enough to defray the cost of the man hours this requires. He and Jim work on the magazine full time and has about 10 contributors to help in the contents. This is no easy job. Especially when you have another job to do so he can pay the costs of producing The Flyer. Speaking with Phil today, he thinks like Mike and I. We love the Mooney community and love to make better pilots through education. So keep up the good work Phil and keep making the job of flying Mooney's more interesting, safer, and entertaining. Ron Dubin

Well, I've gone and bought myself a plane. Been doing research on what I wanted for my mission/budget for a couple months now, and came across this beauty in my price range. Took a test-flight in her and fell in love. This aircraft has been very well taken care of, too. Couldn't be happier. Now just to knock out 10hr of dual instruction so my insurance will let me fly it... Got two pictures right now, I'm sure more will be forthcoming.

I have 2,000 hours. CFI, CFII, MEI and multi-ATP with 600 multi hours but I'm not taking a 90% pay cut to go to the regionals.

Check http://themooneyflyer.com/ for a listing of Mooney specific instructors in the back of the current month's magazine. You should find someone close to you in there.

Had a partial power loss taking off at the home field on Sunday. Was able to make it around the pattern and land. One of the city trucks followed me to my hangar and had me fill my name and phone number on a city airport incident report form. Fingers crossed that that's the worst that it gets for me.

My shirt shipped and should be here Friday!

I had a ramp check. I like to live dangerously.

Thanks so much! Yeah I wish V-necks were available. If they become available I'll PM you and put your favorite design on a v neck. Shouldn't be too long, I'll keep an eye on it for you! Dark Heather really is the best color, its the softest as well. The print shop has been testing a long sleeve shirt option for us to offer. Once it becomes available I'll let you know!

Better have your drucks in a row.

A boring career is a good career....so far, very boring.

Or they become a paperweight in my office.

I wouldn't bank on that Richard (pun intended). You might be able to get $1-200 for your old instruments total. There are tons of them out there and no one wants them. I ended up giving mine away. Just an FYI. I do agree 100% about stepping up to the 900 if you can swing it though!

I tried getting them to provide a snubber and they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. They suggested checking connections, etc...after about three years I sent mine back for the CiES sender hardware modification, and supposedly they fixed the software issues that cause the MAP fluctuation as well. Hoping to fly it this week to verify it.

Definitely go straight for the -900 instead of the -830. Leave enough slack in the wire harnesses so you can move it around in the future too in case you do another round of upgrades. Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

I went through the same thing with my EDM900 MAP fluctuating when installed a couple years ago. Definitely ask JPI about it, but don't expect them to be knowledgeable or helpful. My process toward getting this issue fixed is outlined below. Step 1. Based on Bob's experience, I call JPI and ask them if I need a snubber because it worked for Bob. They said no - I needed to have the unit removed and sent to them for a software update. I say nope - I ain't gonna do that. Step 2. I whine to my installer to see if they can get JPI to act reasonable. JPI then agrees to send a "software fix" to him to install. I take off work to fly back to his shop. This "software fix" does nothing to help. Step 3. I talk to the JPI CEO in their booth at Oshkosh. He says there's no software fix and that I need a snubber and to please call their tech support folks so they can send me one. Step 4. I call JPI tech support and try to explain that their CEO wants them to send me a snubber. Step 5. I take the received snubber back to installer, only to find that it doesn't fit on the JPI MAP transducer. Step 6. I call JPI asking for a snubber that fits. They said no such snubber exists and that I need to find an adapter. Step 7. I look through snubber manufacturer's catalog to find that JPI is correct on there not being one that's threaded to directly fit their MAP transducer. Step 8: I call JPI to explain that it's their flawed MAP transducer that it doesn't fit, so can they please just send me the correct adapter for the snubber or at least give me a part number. They said nope - I'm on my own. Step 9: I beg the installer to find the correct adapters for both ends of the snubber so it fits in the MAP line. Bingo! Problem solved. Hopefully my experience can help you cut out at least a couple of steps. But when you call JPI, please do not mention my name - I am not popular there, and they will likely hang up on you

There is a pretty broad price range on jet charters out there, just depends on the aircraft. I was chatting with the pilot who had my job before me and he now flies right seat in a Citation CJ2 that is used for both charters and medivac. He told me the Phoenix-San Diego round trip he was on that day would cost a charter customer $6-7k. The same trip in a newer Gulfstream would be more than double that. Jets aren't cheap to fly and the company wants to make a profit as well, but I'd be surprised if any company that flies single pilot certified aircraft (like the CJs) would turn down money for an hour long scenic tour with you in the right seat. That's just easy money with nearly zero logistics work. Wouldn't be as cheap as your first cessna flight, but certainly not $20k

SolidWorks will be my stating point, but I do not have access to the add-on utilities to have it spit out an answer. I will take the solid model an input into a stress analysis software to complete the calculations.

Yes. THE University of North Dakota My work schedule is inflexible, but I have two week days off every week and the afternoon before and morning after those two days and a commercial, multi, instrument, cfi and cfii. It doesn't even have to be meaningful, I'd do just about any flying for a buck within those constraints and other than instructing have found none.

Above the transponder would work well.

There's a big difference between avoiding ADS-B all together, turning if off, turning your transponder off, etc, and the desire not to broadcast who and where you are each and every time you fly. If some of you like to be tracked and ID'd each time you fly - by all means, go ahead. That's the way it is for me at work (121) where everything is closely monitored, and why not? There are 150+ people behind the door entrusted to your actions. But for a pleasure flight... no thanks. Would you want a device installed in your vehicle that transmitted your license plate and speed for all to see, each time you drove? There's a lot of liability in that, even for the up-standing and safe driver.... but everyone messes up at least once in a while. I'd rather not - quite literally - broadcast that on a flight where I'd otherwise squawk 1200. That is why, when I equip with ADS-B, I will do so with a device that offers that anonymous mode when squawking VFR. That way, everyone gets the benefits (traffic avoidance), while not *always* assuming the liability.

Verify there is no a short on the output side of the battery relay. A short will cause the relay to drop and reconnect due to the voltage drop caused by the short. Eventually the relay contacts will just burn. Before replacing the relay verify there is no short. Check for chafing of the relay cable going to the CB panel. José

I'll order one as soon as there's a Dark Heather in XL available

While I like (and use) the AWC forecast pages a lot, they do have shortcomings. Scott Denstaedt has commented numerous times on what they are (sadly he favors Beechtalk ). The main one: while very decent for stratus it doesn't really capture convective well at all. It can predict clear skies and you'll fly under/above/through cumulus all day long. Most of the SkewLogT apps and websites have route functions that give you a very good idea of convective as well as stratus. A funky site is GRAMET/Ogimet. Not the most intuitive and user friendly interface and It doesn't work when the RUC Soundings are being processed (i.e. evenings East Coast time) but when it works it gives a very nice route visualization of the weather you can expect at various altitudes. http://ogimet.com/display_gramet.php?lang=en&icao=KDXR_KASH&hini=02&tref=1508286034&hfin=04&fl=100&submit=submit (Look at the sidebar for Gramet Aero). Another site with route function is: http://www.skewt.aero/# and it seems to work 24/7 but is harder to interpret. Robert

@Marauder (what's that about?) and several of our family members track my plane when we're going somewhere. I check out FlightAware for the tracks myself much of the time. (Today was a 4.7 hour VFR flight from 6B6 to KMRN.) Personally, I hope everyone installs ADS-B and leaves it on whenever they fly, there's a lot of traffic concentrated in populous areas and I wish those planes that could become potential conflicts would appear on my moving maps.

Wow! Thank you Dr. Dubin. Jim Price and I are just having fun trying to give back to the Mooney Community in the same way you are with the incredible Mooney Summit.

I like it, I am going to try an experiment on the same day take off two times in as close to the same way as possible retract the gear at the exact same speed AOA etc and one time tap the brakes and the other letum spin and see if there is any difference in the amount of etffort it takes to put them up

That's no fun . . . Did that once rerouting to avoid ice over S. WV. Went west across the Carolinas, crossed over to TYS, north to LEX then east to get home. Ground speed bottomed out dodging freezing cloud tops at 10,000 msl right at sunset; I was indicating almost 140 mph [+20% = 168 mph True, ~142 knots], but groundspeed was 68 knots--thankfully when I was able to descend to 6000 msl, groundspeed picked up to just over 100 knots.

While I have a fancy EDM-900 installed in my plane and love it, I'm with you 100%. These engines have been around since the 1950's and they've been run to TBO and beyond time and time again without any kind of engine monitor. Some don't even have EGT gauges at all! I know plenty of flight schools to this day that do this and get 2,400hrs or more out of an engine. The biggest benefit of the engine monitor to me is the ability to diagnose engine issues without spending as much time troubleshooting the engine itself. They are certainly nice to have, but I would first invest in shoulder harnesses and Mooney specific training first, followed by lots of 100LL. Congrats to @ShuRugal on your purchase, have fun!

Why would you want to fly anonymously? Your airplane is already registered with the FAA with an N-number for everyone to see - if anything, put your airplane in an LLC where mail goes to a P. O. Box if you don't want people to know your personal name, address, etc. If it's just Flight Aware you're concerned about go to http://flightaware.com/about/faq and look under privacy for options. Turning off the transponder is defeating the purpose of installing ads-b in - you are now missing all of the traffic advisories that you paid for when you installed your new equipment and potential traffic can't see you. Seems like this goes against one of the basic aviation safety principles - see and be seen, whether that was just eyes out the window years ago or electronically as well now. Once you have traffic appearing on your devices it's surprising how much traffic is out there that you can't see visually.

You guys posting the resources are great! The power of the MS community is awesome. Best regards, -a-

This is a tough group! I wouldn't dream of saying there is absolutely no comparison between the GNS 530 and GTN 750 that I've been using now for over 3 years. Who needs display of 30 traffic intruders with TargetTrend vs 8 and no TargetTrend on the 530? Who needs airways when ATC gives you a complicated clearance using them and additional time is required to do the same with an iPad? Who needs Topo showing what is below you when you can have a black screen of the 530 and be ignorant of it? Who needs a verbal interface to do almost anything you want with the 750 when you can fumble with the 530 in turbulence when given, "Have an amendment to you route. Advise ready to copy"? Who needs Range Rings that correct for headwinds and tailwinds to tell you with a quick look if you need to make a fuel stop enroute vs a sheet of paper noting gallons in each tank and how they change to keep track of fuel. Who needs automatic data updates via the iPad vs taking home a card and spending time with updates each month? Who needs Comm and Nav alphabetic frequency ID when you can't remember whether you flipped the frequency or not? And so much more....

Clearly, the easiest thing to do is have a full panel remake. Way, way too hard to get to some of those items.

If it is a vacuum AI the hoses can be a pain. You don't have to take out the seats to crawl under the panel. At 60 it is getting a bit harder.

I don't see how putting a 750 in a bravo is a waste.

My gear comes up as soon as we break ground. The flaps come up as soon as the inevitable settling won't cause any issues with obstacles or terrain.

I dont think he bought a new Ultra type S, Alex. Used Acclaims go for a lot less, and the g1000's can be made to read 2700, am working with an owner of a type s right now that does it. Perhaps his shop needs to check a little further on how to do the Type S 310 upgrade.

A few more

Not an EE but I was thinking it is better to use PWM rather than rheostats to control the output of an LED.

Here is a pic of the Fiberlites in action. I think they came out pretty good. The 337 was a non-issue. Highly recommend!

Factory new airplanes have dimples too. Some are caused by accidental handling or tool dropping. Typically these dimple are filled at the paint shop. Sometimes is quite an endeavour to replace a wing skin section that also contains integral tanks. A shop replacing a skin may create dimples on the new skin because of rivet gun setting or accidental handling. It is easier, cheaper and safer to just put filler on the dimples. José