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I just retrieved my 252 from Aero Comfort in San Antonio. Hector and crew did an amazing job and were great to work with. The original 1986 interior was definitely showing its age. The project took just over two weeks and came in on time and price. Hector sent almost daily emails informing me of the progress. My wife picked the colours and the design. I don’t think it could of turned out any better. I think the interior is better than that in the new Mooneys. The quality of workmanship is outstanding. I highly recommend Aero Comfort to anyone who wants to have their aircraft’s interior made better than new. Steve Stansel N252VA KCXW Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

"I will never" and "I will not" are almost directly out of the hazardous attitudes from the FAA. Your post reeks of Anti-Authority, Invulnerability, and Macho. "Don't tell me I'll have a gear up accident one day." Per their advice, here are your recomended antidotes: Anti-Authority - Listen to the aviation community, they are usually right. Invulnerability - It could happen to me. Macho - Ignoring the data and the advice of the larger community is foolish. I point this out to say, your post reads almost verbatum of what the FAA has identified as causeing accidents. A bit of humility would go a long way. We all have out opinions and they should be expressed and discussed but, in my experience, the ones who say "I will not" are the exact ones who do. Maybe you wrote your post more harshly than intended, and maybe we are reading it more harshly than intended. Either way, I do ask you to re-evaluate your "I will never" and "I will not" statements. https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/media/04_phak_ch2.pdf See page 2-5 for my references above.

I love my Mooney M20J 201. There are so many trips and incredible flights that it has allowed me to do. Local flying, lunch fly-ins, poker run, cross country, international, and formation! I am really grateful for the incredible adventures, friendships, relationships, and experiences that it has led to in comfort, style, speed, and safety. Here's a sampling of some of those flights that demonstrate its incredible appeal and versatility. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Mine was installed in 2013 and still looks new after 500 hrs of flight time. I’ve personally pulled the interior out three times now for avionics upgrades and an annual and can attest to the quality of the side panels seats and everything else. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

JD (SWTA) was on the phone with Jewell about doing an engine for one of his customers, and also asking for a quote for my engine as well. When asking about lead times, Jewell said he's swamped. It's all Mooney engines. He doesn't know what happened but all of a sudden, every Mooney engine in the country needing an overhaul seems to be headed his way. The secret's out, it seems.

This is also proof that a new interior from AeroComfort makes your airplane faster! He made it back to Arkansas 43 minutes faster than it took to get to San Antonio on the trip down.

On December 22nd my wife and I planned a trip to Tucson to spend Christmas with our family. We had planned to leave on Friday the 21st but icing conditions in Huntsville made us push the trip from Friday to Saturday. Saturday was a beautiful day to fly with clear skies and good visibility. The headwinds were high but that isn't unusual this time of year. We wanted to get to El Paso by about 4:00 PM so that we could make Tucson before it got too dark. Everything was working great as I called for clearance from El Paso ground and taxied out to 26L for takeoff. After receiving our takeoff clearance I leaned for the high altitude and started the takeoff roll. A few seconds after rotation I heard a fairly loud thump and felt a shutter in the airframe. I scanned the engine instruments and everything looked good. The plane was flying fine. My first thought was that the airliner that landed just before us lost some tire tread or we lost some tread from the right tire. I called the tower and reported the noise and that I though I had hit something on the runway. I stated that I wanted to return to land and check for any damage. The tower cleared me for a downwind and reported that our gear looked fine. He also stated that he didn't see anything on the runway. I left the gear down, did a normal downwind and eased the plane onto the runway. Even though the tower stated that we had no damage I wanted to be careful. We parked back at Atlantic and I checked the plane over. I started at the right wing since I though I had hit something with the tire. I couldn't find anything on the wings or the belly. One of the Atlantic guys asked if I had always had scratches on the prop. When I examined the prop I knew we were done for the day. One blade had scratches across the entire backside of the blade. There were also a few scratches on the front side but nothing like the scratches on the back. What is really disturbing is that you can move the blade several inches fore and aft. The blade also rotates about 10 degrees without any resistance. After seeing the damage I felt good about the decision to land and check the plane. I called Joey Cole at home (what a guy to take my call on a holiday weekend) and he wanted pictures to see the damage. He though I might have had a prop strike requiring an engine teardown. When he saw the pictures he believes that the hub has failed and there was no prop strike. I had called the tower after finding the prop damage and suggested they check for FOD on the runway. They weren't able to find any FOD but i am fairly certain that at least some of our prop hub was left on the runway. So far I have spoken with the tower, operations and the FSDO. It looks like they will be classifying the event as an incident and not an accident. We'll see how that all plays out. I am to follow up with the FSDO manager when we determine what happened. The good news nobody got hurt. The plane will be fixed. My wallet may be a bit lighter when it is finished. Tomorrow we are driving to Tucson. Before I do that Joey wants me to remove the spinner and send him pictures. I'll update the thread when I see the hub. I'll post prop pictures shortly. Jim

A few days ago I was interviewed by Max Trescott for his Aviation News Talk podcast. It's worth checking out if, unless you are one of the unfortunate ones that had to listen to me at the last 2 Mooney Summits. If you fall into that group you might want to skip it! Max mentioned that the discounts were not active but he was mistaken. They still work. www.sensorcon.com 20% off Code: aircraft2017 www.guardianavionics.com 20% off Code: coaware Link to the Aviation News Talk Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/aviation-news-talk-podcast/id1223782070&ls=1 or https://aviationnewstalk.com/ Cheers, Dan

Merry Christmas to all our MSers, have a great day and wonderful New Year, Praying all of us have a safe 2019..

Mine drips on my foot occasionally, so I know there’s fluid in it!

If you get the mountain high O2D2 your built in oxygen tank will last a whole year of flying. You will never ever have to fill on a trip.

Your post should be re-titled, "A bad day ends well in El Paso". Think about if that loud noise had happened as it was getting dark over the mountains between El Paso and Tucson. Your good decision making means you get to figure out all of this on the ground with the expertise of some on here. And the drive from El Paso to Tucson is not so bad.

Dan, I keep pestering you, you should do a TED talk.

A little holiday cheer- looks like Santa has started his rounds

All the more reason to fly behind a G100 w/ synthetic vision...interesting that he gets a lot of kudos from followers, so positive feedback for stupid decision making. I've had a couple of similar experiences. Just recently flying the LPV into my home field at night through the weather, I broke out at about 500 AGL only to find out the lights had not turned on even though I had keyed the mic. The other time we were training on NVGs (not in a Mooney) and did a touch and go or two before we realized the airfield lights were not on. It was a full moon night and under the NVGs the runway was easily seen, still not strictly legal though.

“Good Job!” Reminds me of this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_à_deux

I don't think the insurance company will provide any coverage for the event. It was a maintenance failure rather than an accident. I plan to check the policy to be sure but I expect to have to pay the full cost of the repair. Jkm

That suggests to me that their autopilot isn't very good and needs the additional information.

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The prop snap ring is gone. Some impact damage to the spinner. I plan to talk to the local maintenance guys about pulling the prop this week. I'll let you know how it goes. Wonderful diagnostic effort with just a few pictures. Thanks guys. Jim

It sure is nice to be 2.5 minutes from the hangar !

I may be dating myself but....isn't that Airwolf?

That's where the Long Range Tanks can help pay for themselves.

Agreed

IF you encounter icing FIKI equipment probably won't be enough.

Thanks for the input. Reading the wiring diagram does seem to point to the up limit. Will search that post. phil Exercised the up limit switch and started working. Thanks again for the input. Phil

If you have the SWTA 201 windshield mod, you still have smaller access panels. David

Most unusual, but FWIW, there is no "gear pressure switch" on your plane; there is a airspeed switch that has nothing to do with the cowl flaps. Some investigation on the ground is warranted to see if the motor isn't working right which is what it sounds like. If so, they can be rebuilt at a fraction of the new price.

+1

Google "anti authority hazardous attitude." You won't find any references other than the FAA. They made it up.

That’s an exaggeration! Mine only lasts 9 months on a single fill.

After I replaced it (both indicators are one long narrow lens) This is a partial pic of what it looked like before only much worse further down This is what the indicator looks like that sits behind the lens: If anyone finds that their LED indicator goes out on the trim/flap indicator, here's what worked for me:

I spoke with Joey this afternoon. He has been very helpful and has followed up on each question I have asked. He told me today that Sensenich Propeller is the shop that has been servicing my prop. He said that they are a good shop and stand behind their work. He felt that letting them do the work to repair the damaged prop might result in some credit for the previous repairs. He also said that it is likely that the hub and one blade is ruined on my existing prop. My plan is to talk to El Paso Aero to repair the prop. I will probably go with whichever shop they deal with. We have a trip to Nassau planned for January 10th. Annual is planned for February and a family ski trip for March. If I can find a replacement prop ready to be installed that is the route I will take. With the amount of time we use the plane it will will cost us more in down time than the new prop will cost. Jim

This is from the Concorde manual for its RG batteries:

Too bad. Sorry it won’t work out. Done the arch thing. ATC made me promise that I wouldn’t fly through it. Flying down the Mississippi at night is crazy the lights from the barges look like aliens.wanting to land....

+1 for the LASAR combo tie down/jack points. Tying down the plane using the my LASAR tie down points on the ramp in Kanab, UT today. It was my first landing in UT (need to update the map) Visited Zion and Bryce.

I'm working through my list of things that have to be done before interior. But when I finally get there on the list, Hector will be putting a new interior in my 252. I'm convinced he's the best there is.

@gsxrpilot

I’ve got two Bollt eyes.

Bingo. Staying ahead of a fast airplane with a lower drag profile starts earlier than staying ahead of an airplane with a higher drag profile.

There's nothing particularly special about trimming a Mooney. It's a matter of nailing the attitude and taking the care to get it properly in trim. With a lower performance airplane like a C-172 or a PA28, the airplane doesn't gain or lose altitude very quickly with small pitch changes, so if they are slightly out of trim you don't notice the excursions as much. With a higher performance airplane, it will quickly gain or lose altitude with very small pitch changes. In other words, it is more sensitive to being slightly out of trim. Also, the nose attitude in level flight is relatively low in a Mooney compared to some other airplanes and this can cause a tendency to trim it too nose up. Cross checking with the attitude indicator will help with this. Another way to get the feel for proper trim if you have a 2-axis autopilot is to set power and put the autopilot in altitude hold and let it trim. Then disconnect the autopilot and manually move the trim wheel slightly each way to get the feel for finding the perfect trim again.

Pretty sure I saw the Modified GUMPS check on here before: G - Is the gear down U- U sure the gear is down M- Make sure the gear is down P- Positive the gear is down? S- Surely you put the gear down.

If you’ve ever forgot to do something in an airplane on a checklist then it’s possible dropping the gear will be one of them. I’m sure 99% of the people that forgot said they never would. I’ve had this conversation before but I believe there have been people that don’t put their gear up on purpose to get out from under their loan. Or not wanting the ex to get it in the divorce. FYI, I’m not married and my plane is paid for. So if I land gear up it’s because I had a brain fart..... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks @donkaye explains things. Since you apply so much thought to this: in "bigger" aircraft the autopilot controls is always on the top of the panel between the two pilots. In small GA aircraft the autopilot ends up at the bottom of the stack, well away from any normal scan and in an obscure place if you're having to twist a heading knob (in exactly the case where you don't have a 485). In planning my panel I'm considering breaking this GA norm and putting the GFC 500 right at the top of the radio stack followed by the GTN 750. (The planned PMA 450 can shift to the right in front of the P2) Thoughts?

Old guy & I prefer the LPV. A technical aside: Even if the published minimum for the LPV is higher than the ILS the GPS-based steering information is valid below DA. The ILS is surveyed to DH but not below. Once you have spotted “paint, pavement or lights” (my loose paraphrase of 91.175) you may rely upon LPV steering below the DA. Not so with the ILS needles. That can be a useful assist as you transition and continue visually to the runway.

A nice IFR trip from Chesapeake, VA (KCPK) to the Dayton, OH area (I73) last week. Above an ice containing overcast at 8000 ft. The sunset approaching Dayton was truly a sight - the photo, although nice, does not due mother nature justice. Admission was a near 40 kt head wind. It's Unfortunate that there so many terrestrial based individuals have no idea what we are so fortunate to experience.