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Hello folks, After much planning and some shopping around I bought a nice 74 Executive a week and a half ago. We bought it from a gentleman in Colorado Springs and flew it hope to Dayton over two days taking the opportunity to do some sight seeing along the way. It was like a mini vacation and we started to get to know the airplane. It is pretty amazing. When I was doing my research I was looking at speed numbers, weights, fuel capacity, range and things like that. Now that I am starting to plan and execute flights the capability of this plane is just fantastic. I just transitioned from a Cessna 175 which was a pretty good traveler but this Mooney is great! It feels good that my research paid off. I have a fully IFR outfitted traveling machine that makes good time and uses relatively little fuel to do it. I'm excited! Gerbil

I did it and bought a 74 Executive last week. Its a really good plane and I am excited about flying it. Since it is an "older" model I'll probably spend most of my MooneySpace time here but if you are interested I posted to the general board with a little more information about our trip home. As you can imagine I am going to have a lot of questions coming up. I am getting used to the new handling characteristics and I have some bugs to work out of her. She hasn't flown much over the past few years. I put more hours already than she has had over the last two years. I am looking forward to many years and bunches of trips with this plane. It's great! This forum has already been a huge help to me. Thank you all. Gerbil

I've had my Bravo 25 years, making me one of the longest owners. Been through one engine and ¾ through the second. Have taken the APS course and installed Gami Injectors. Gami spread is .5. Having said that, I'm running ROP except on descent. No matter what the Hartzell rep said he's not flying the airplane and his life is not at risk. I don't like anything above 1625° TIT. Even with this conservatism, a couple of years ago I needed to have 2 cylinders overhauled due to leaky intake valves. Also cracked exhaust pipes coming out of cylinders 1 and 3 one time and 2 and 4 another. At midtime on both engines the turbo and waste gate needed to be overhauled. I always mouse milk the waste gate at each oil change. I fly at 75% power most of the time and usually at altitudes of between 15 and 17K. I maintain O2 sats no less than 96%. I won't be testing higher temperatures anytime soon.

I’m partial to an 80% nitrogen mix...

Buy a 2nd airplane, be sure annuals are separated by 6 months....problem solved!

"Cha-ching"

Air is 79% nitrogen. Oxygen (19%) leaks out faster than nitrogen. Each time you fill (assuming you don't empty before adding) you increase the % of nitrogen remaining. Fill a few times and the resulting nitrogen % won't be much different than filling initially with 100% nitrogen. I haven't had any issues with moisture from an air pump during the winter. I'm not sure what difference high altitude cold would be over winter cold, since the cold at altitude would only be temporary anyway. I use Camguard, so maybe that's the difference.

I've had jet pilots work with me going into AUO. We were both on the radio, him from the north, me from the west, closer and lower. He flew the pattern, kind of wide and fast, in a continuous bank. Had a nice view of his landing as I crossed the field. He stopped his taxi and watched my landing before heading over to the FBO. Nice guy, rather large business jet. See, we really can work together.

If a Jet asks nicely if he could cut in front of me I will always accommodate. If he tells me to get out of the way he can go #$%^ himself.

Explain it? that would take Garmin to weigh in to explain, but I'll share a hypothesis- We're at an inflection point in the avionics world. Over the last 10 years we saw a dramatic price divergence between panel mounted avionics and experimental avionics. Dynon's introduction of the D10A in 2016 and now the Skyview (STC pending) in 2017, it brings the lower price point of experimental avionics to certified avionics. Certified avionics are expensive to certify, but one would expect already certified avionics to have a higher margin to recover that certification cost. The competitive landscape is changing, but it remains to be seen exactly how it's going to shake out. The low end of certified aircraft with light sport airplanes are already using "experimental" avionics. Heavy twins are still pretty solidly in the certified world. Dynon's attempt to STC the skyview for the 172 to the B58 Baron stakes out a range of aircraft to have access to experimental avionics. Assuming Dynon is successful with the Skyview STC, we'll see piston singles and light twins end up with previously experimental avionics. When Skyview is available, I suspect Garmin will have a much more difficult time selling the G500 txi. At this point, I suspect Garmin is trying to segment the market in order to preserve as much an investment in the G500 and GFC600 as possible. The Garmin G5 and GFC500 are from the experimental line @ Garmin. The G500txi / GFC600 are the certified line. I suspect the reason the current product lineup doesn't make sense is because we don't know about everything yet. If Dynon is successful with Skyview, Garmin will not ceed that whole market to Dynon- Garmin will respond with their own lower cost EFIS product that is compatible with the GFC500.

As expensive as a go-around is for a big jet, it is often much cheaper than not going-around.

I understand the benefits of ADSB, I love being able to see traffic BEFORE being informed by ATC. Def get it. Really not comfortable with people at work telling me where and when I've flown. Now that's just people I know.

I like N2. Bottle rental is minimal. I use it several times a week at the shop. I've only changed one bottle in 10 years. N2 tends to last longer in tires N2 is more stable. I never need to wait for the damn air compressor to turn off. I can wheel the bottle anyware on the airport. I don't need AC power to fill tires. The pressure is much higher than any air comprsssor. But I don't fault anyone for using compressed air. It's cheap. -Matt

So some friends wanted to meet up in St. Pete for some dinner and walk on the beach. Mapquest says 3 hrs 30 mins. Skyvector says 55 minutes. So away we go! VFR on top. 8500ft near Crystal River. 147KTAS. Descending into St. Pete Great little place, got Tampa Class B clearance in and out. Going out was kinda scary, took off at 11pm on runway 7 with winds gusting 19. 30 seconds later, out over the bay, holding at 900 feet waiting on approach to give me clearance higher. Got 20 min north and sky cleared up, winds died down and temps dropped. Was chilly last night when we got back at midnight.

Lovely home on 1.7 acre lot with 48x48 hangar on Mallard's Landing airpark, 35 miles SE of Atlanta on I-75. Wonderful non-gated neighborhood, with 4000' of well-kept grass (2800 usable for T/O) and other amenities. See attached flyer. Interior photos coming soon. Moving to PA to be near family. House has 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths, plus. Hangar has "crew lounge/office" inside. Grounds are park-like, including a woods and a vegetable garden, on cul-de-sac. Pintail house FOR SALE.pdf

Good ideas, but after buying the new propeller, my wife wouldn't go for that

It varies from jet to jet, but as a rule of thumb, 9 minutes of taxi time =1 of flight time fuel. There are other costs to consider since taxi time doesn't count toward flight time on the engines and airframe. If the jet was headed northwest on an IFR, using 16, it could be 20 miles before ATC got him identified and turned back around. We try not to cause upheaval, but yes, we've (wind, runway permitting) asked to turn the airport around for our departure. We are painfully aware that everyone must abide by the same rules. Fuel isn't always critical, but it is always a concern with a jet, particularly at low altitudes!

Sorry for your aircraft loss. Glad you are looking to stay in aviation. I LOVE my Mooney Missile but as I've been instructed, if anything bad every happens, first thought is: This airplane belongs to the insurance company. Make sure you live. If any storms are heading to any locations in the future, maybe setting up a better network to help move Mooney's, or any airplane for that matter, could be put into place. I know insurance covers some of those expenses, as they'd rather not have a full loss. Moving an airplane may not be possible with a storm bearing down, but if a group of owners like us got together to help out, or at least provide an option (even if using a one way airline ticket, parking fees at another airport, etc . . .), that may be something to think about in the future. -Seth

Hey Mark, i flew up to KRUT(Rutland, VT) on Wednesday to do some fall hiking. I wanted to check out 65% at 8,500. See photo below. If you figure an additional 2 kts per 1000 ft, you're at 160 at 10.5k. Any plane that can do 160 burning between 10 & 12 gph is nothing to sneeze at. My edm930 is accurate as far as %hp is concerned, the power numbers adjusted to oat do indeed come to 65%. Jack

Thanks...something like that may work. I have dropped off at the FBO at GGG in the past, so I don't think that would be a big deal. If my wife didn't already have plans, I would try to sell the game to her and she could just meet me in CS. I dragged her all the way to the swamp last weekend though, so getting her to cancel for another Aggie football game would be a tough sell!

Not to sound like a jerk but I don't care how much it costs for a jet to do a go around. And typically a pilot of a jet isn't paying the bills so I'm sure honestly they don't care either. It would be more they feel inconvenienced by it. And if the jet pilot is concerned about the cost then wouldn't it be worth doing everything they can to fit into the pattern to keep from doing a go around? Rather doing a ten mile call out and expecting traffic to adjust to them at an uncontrolled airport, get to short final and realize a cub wasn't moving out of the way and doing a go around? I was in Bend this last weekend. Beautiful clear day with wind blowing 7 knots at 160. They have two schools there. They teach fixed and helicopters there. Helicopters make left traffic for 16 and fixed wings make right for 16. There was easily four planes and two helicopters in the pattern the whole morning. Everyone was using 16 obviously, but a jet taxied down to 34 then he called and lined up on 34 after a few minutes of the fixed wing planes either stopping their touch and goes or moved their pattern to accommodate the jet, the jet took off. 7WD's captain wasn't being a jerk on the radio saying get out of the way I'm coming through, but he sat there for a period of time burning fuel and the pattern planes did have to do some extra maneuvering because of what the jet was doing. If fuel was that big of a deal he could of taken off on 16 easily 10-15 minutes sooner with two quick turns and been long gone and not moved any other pilots out of their standard pattern. And probably been a cool site for the other pilots watching the Falcon climb out. Maybe he had time to burn for his IFR release I'm not sure. But the pattern was disrupted for a period of time. I will gladly give way to any airplane at any time if it means keeping me alive. And if that means letting a jet cut me off at some point then so be it. The only time I have an ego is when I'm making fun of a Cirrus:) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

waiting is worse when it is artificial drama created by Repair Stations that think they know what they are doing and then you end up getting a box of parts back and have to fix it yourself..... You want to trust the certification process, but it has lots of issues.

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.

Clever packaging for a WAAS GPS and ADS-B Out solution. It should be very easy to install on pre-J Mooneys with the flat wing tips....unless you have to route a separate wire out to the wingtip for the certified version. Configuration via a smart phone app looks straight forward.

I picked up my Mooney and did transition training in August in Georgia. I'd prefer to suffer 100 Ohio winters to those 3 days! I've never been so hot! I have no idea how anyone put up with it other than hiding in air conditioning. When is cold you can put on a coat. When its hot there isn't a whole lot you can do, other than jump into the AC.

Life in the mountains is different . . . . After four Ohio winters and 9 years in West-by-God, Virginny, I'm done with snow! Work closed once last winter, a State of Emergency was declared, everybody hunkered down because we were forecast to get a couple of inches. The snow stopped over 50 miles away . . . My kind of snowstorm! This weekend we're suposed to reach the low 80s again, then fall another 10-15° next week. It will be great flying weather! DAs will be coming down, takeoff rolls shortening and climb rates picking back up.

Yes. We were already doing S turns when the Aeronca made the offer. Thankfully, tower accepted his offer. If need be, we would have done a go-around to avoid a conflict. There were very few airports we flew into without an operating tower. There were several, however, at which the tower was closed when we arrived or departed. When that was the case, it was either so early or so late that there was rarely any other traffic.

For my F, RPM has the greatest effect on oil temp. LOP/ROP/MAP doesn't change much. OAT of course has a big effect too. (OEM cowl and oil cooler location) I usually have to crack the cowl flaps in summer cruise.

It very well may not be worth it, but in my case, it was a 3K+ difference.

I ordered through my A&P who gets an FBO discount which he passed on to me, I hadn't really thought shopping around would be worth it while buying a new prop Thanks for that, I suppose broken plane is better than broken pilot.

I've played with the G500 TXi Sim extensively. I was excited when it was announced because it is relatively simple to upgrade from the G500. I found that it takes more icon pushes to do the same thing as the G500. I'm surprisingly particularly annoyed with the lack of symmetry between the PFD and MFD. For me at least the fact that the PFD screen is bigger than the MFD screen feels off. The G500 has them the same size. When the EIS is added, the sizes are the same, so that is probably the reasoning. I thought of emailing them to ask them to provide for screen scaling, but thought they would think it was too picky. The MVP 50 is still way better than the Garmin EIS in my opinion. The full screen PFD mode is nice. I still haven't decided whether to do the upgrade. I was really looking forward to installing the GFC 600, but at Homecoming the Garmin rep said they weren't going to certify it for the Bravo. I hope they change their minds. The idea that there wouldn't be anything else to upgrade in my plane is out the window. If I like whatever new gadget Garmin comes out with, it's going in the plane. I could have about $600K (less 75K for a new engine coming up in 500 hours) of new gadgets before it would make sense to have bought a new Ultra. I don't think Garmin is going to come up with that many new gadgets in the next few years, though knowing their productivity, I could be wrong.

Dunno 'bout him, but it's impossible for me to be that nice!!

Buckeyes are strong and mostly right. We’ve beatened Alabama in football!

Yeah....I know. That wasn't fair was it? Jet guys are all the same. At least that's consistent. Your point is well taken. Jets are very capable in some ways, but limited in others. We just have to use our respective strengths to make the uncontrolled environment as safe as possible.

It's almost as good as the Shell gasoline with nitrogen blend for cleaner engine parts.

I think you are taking what I said the wrong way by quoting just those lines. And ignoring everything else. I was being facetious by saying that jets have the right away. And I said earlier we can't use the FAR's or the pecking order only when it fits our argument. And I'm okay if things are not fair, just consistent so I know what to expect when I am flying. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jets don't have right of way over you, or anyone else. We're bound by the same FARs and etiquette as you. We have limited visibility, need more real estate and can't go as slow as you. We will do virtually anything to ensure a safe operation. We expect the same from you. Is that fair?

The short answer is because some if them don't want to. "I'm in a ______, move over" doesn't cut it, whether it's a jet blowing the pattern to pieces, or a large truck taking the half of the highway that he wants. Both will get their comeuppance one day. But so far, my limited jets-in-the-pattern experiences have been good, we've worked things out nicely without having or wanting fisticuffs at the FBO. Asshats will be asshats regardless of what they are riding, driving or flying.

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

The bulletproof O360 was named when smoking was considered healthy... everybody was doing it... An engine monitor would be a great way to identify a sticking valve before you are descending with a stuck valve pounding the piston. This doesn't happen to everyone all the time. But you can look up valve maintenance procedures and realize what bulletproof means to different people. my O360 stuck an exhaust valve on departure... it was able to maintain altitude and return to landing at the airport, near sea level. Funny, nobody was wearing seatbelts back then either... Times have changed. +1 on seatbelts. +1 on engine monitors. +1 On CO monitors as well. MS affords us the ability to see what has happened to planes similar to ours. No need to rely on old wives tails... OWTs Best regards, -a-

If #1 is a WAAS GPS... w/ vertical guidance.... #2 should have at least ILS capability... If flying in IMC, you want to get beneath the clouds, before running out of fuel. Many VOR or non-precision approaches require to be out of the clouds by about 700' agl. Not always doable... Compare that to an ILS that can get you down to about 200' agl with precision. If a portable is your best #2, get one with ILS skills or better... PP thoughts only, not a CFI... Best regards, -a-

That's what I was implying. Besides, I like being tracked and being able to track the flights of my partners.

Doing some flight planning... -a-

I learned something today working on Matt's cowling. I am able to kee the ram air with some minor tweaking of a flange to make it fit my new lower cowling piece. We'll be able to see if the ram air makes a difference or not with the air filter moved into the high pressure area of the cowling. The real challenge with keeping the ram air is hooking up the under cowl air filter box to the original air filter chamber with the oil cooler in the original location. We'll get it but things are tight. I also installed my new carbon fiber spinner on my airplane and it fits perfectly!

To Erik's point: I remember reading when I did my homework that the best performance increases show up the higher you get. It'll be interesting to see what you find at 11-15k ft.

If my post bladder install/annual flight goes okay, I will be there!

You Guys are just too eager for this event. If I had a large fortune I could make a small fortune in aviation with planes like this.

I have heard a rumor that the Grim Reaper will be serving gourmet burgers and refreshments all courtesy of Grim Inc. Not only will he wine and dine but he will also be offering up amusements and entertainment. Come out this Saturday for a goolish time. Lunch at noon, cutting up a Mooney all day long starting 8AM. Bring your appetites, saws, and sickles.

Stealth Mode. Makes you invisible to radar, ground attacks, angry controllers and FAA big brother when cruising class Bravo when you just have to get there and don't have time to re-route. -Tom

Well, as long as we’re spending your money G500 GTN750 GTN650 ES transponder to get ADSB-out/in Lynx or other small electric AI for backup now get rid of all the steam gauges and vacuum system, enjoy the clean panel and u/l gain. enjoy!