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I finally have gotten a chance to organize and post some pictures on my new plane that I picked up and flew home on January 16, 2019. Shout out to Paul Steen for his insight and advice. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to acquire this plane. N5901Q was factory demonstrator that was purchased in 1966 by Rudy Frasca. He kept it in Champaign/Urbana, IL and flew it as his personal airplane up until 2014 when he donated it to the EAA. It was flown to Oshkosh that year but was basically parked until this past fall. I believe that the paint and much of the interior is still original, but is in very good condition. The plane has been very well maintained and has had a number of nice upgrades in the past 10-15 years ( redo the panel in a standard 6 pack config., Garmin GNS430, GMA340, GTX327, and an S-Tec 30 w/GPSS). It also came with some interesting historical items, such as a Mooney color brochure from 1965, a Mooney PC brochure, and a Mooney Service directory list from 1965. I also got the original Mooney leather key holder complete with a screw driver. here are some pictures if you’re interested.

Gotta love the math! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Okay guys here it is !!! A special shout out to the guys at: Heath Aviation 5A6 Winona, MS 38967 These guys are fantastic...

Don't you feel a little cramped in the Hangar? Pritch

That's too bad. My ceilings where twice that high, but even the mountains where obscured all day and I much prefer IFR to navigate the Bravo. But even so it was an easy IFR flight, IMC to 8300' on the way out and then smooth sailing above the tops at 15000' with a nice tail wind giving us 217 kts over the ground. On the way back pretty much the same except for some nasty clear air bumps in the descent down to 10K as we approached JLI but that only lasted a minute or so. Then it was vectors to the final for the localizer IMC. Steve @stevesm20b was an excellent host and came out to greet us after arriving later than expected Unfortunately, not only did me miss getting Steve's girlfriend Julie and friend Sean in the picture, we also forgot to get another picture when Charles @xcrmckenna showed a bit later.

After attending the PPP in Lakeland this past weekend, Sunday morning's departure let us put to use the instrument work we did while we were there. By about noon, the weather had improved enough it looked like this: And after a brief 15-20 minutes in solid IMC, I was greeted by this view:

Yes and no... There is a resource that has put together a price guide for Mooneys... based on a collection of personal experience and data from selling Mooneys for a living... Is he a God? No, not technically... Find Jimmy... then you can decide for yourself. Think twice about market mechanisms... and how a market works... and statistics... our market is so small, there are very few statistics available... one person either buying or selling can change the market, where you are, or on that day.... Just when you think you have the seller cornered... somebody with more loose dough comes along... Market forces aren’t always friendly... Best regards, -a-

I don't know if calibration will fix it. I just forwarded your photo and message to my contact at Sensorcon. He isn't in their customer service dept but may have some ideas. I'll keep you posted. Cheers, Dan

I need a rain that's going up. The belly is what needs washed the worst.

I've got the same cable setup in my 1981 231. As I recall, the speed brakes are naked aluminum and have no extra coloring. I've never had an issue with them, other than a mechanic placarding them "Electrically Actuated --Do not manually operate".

A few years ago while visiting the wife's family in the Detroit area she asked if I was going to help her brother shovel snow off the driveway and sidewalk, my reply was I didn't remember him helping with the yard work last winter when they came to visit us.

That ain't right.

Someone needs to fix the flag. Tom

We were stuck under a low layer of crap pretty much all day. Would've liked to have made it out otherwise.

Not a terribly uncommon problem. Back to Precise Flight for a rebuild. Nice folks to deal with. Not cheap, but not horrible either.

There are no bladders for the K models- just through the J model. But don’t worry, a properly done reseal (not just a patch job) will also get you leak free tanks likely well beyond your ownership years. Check with Weep No More, or Wet Wingologist or the MSC in Troutdale OR - they all specialize in reseals plus a couple others do it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why? Blank off the removed speed breaks; pull and tag breaker and mark speed breaks as inop. Brian

Sorry I couldn’t get there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nobody here has seen that airplane and nobody here REALLY knows the answer. If the other party is ok with paying for half the annual, and it goes well, why not? Worst case sceneario as you posted it is it goes poorly and you walk away with whatever you have into the annual at that point. It's worth the gamble. Anything that has mentioned here that it was made sound like went out because it was sitting, has the same likelihood of going out in a flying airplane. Airplanes are expensive, if the bones are good, and it's what you say it is, it is worth the look.

Well I finally made it to the party. I missed one Mooney as they were leaving. But I got to chat with a few. Glad you guys came out and hope to see you all again soon!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just added Part 2: Eastbound to the original post

My airplane didn't fly much before I bought it, but I could tell it flew enough. It flies more with me. I intend it to be the last aircraft I own. I'll fly it until I can fly no more, and then I'll sell it for what I can get. I don't view it as my property. I view myself as its caretaker. It was here before me, and my job is to make certain it is here when I'm gone. If we don't have this mindset airplanes will disappear from the world.

I’ve seen this error once as well. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

And airports also have lots of guys/girls young and old, either wishing they could afford to fly, or trying to find a way to build hours. I hope that if I'm ever in a situation where my plane isn't flying, that I'll have the sense to make it available to be flown by some such person. They pay the difference to be named on the insurance, pay a dry rate, or pay for everything and fly it like they own it. That way if I'm ever back in a position to fly, it's still in good shape and ready to go. I like owning my plane without a partner. But that's because I can afford the time and the $$ to fly in excess of 200 hours per year. If I ever got down to less then 100 hours per year, I hope I'd have the sense to take on a partner or two. Keep the plane flying, maintain it, and keep it up to date on everything.

Look at the instructions for continued airworthiness for the sky beacon... you have to get out an iphone and do an annual test using their app. OK, so far so good... Lets say uavionix goes belly up and the sky beacon is unsupported (I guess that might happen regardless of the suit). How many ios apps work that haven't been updated in 5+ years? I guess you could maintain an old iphone with an old IOS version for that. But it is a risk...

I hope you're right but statistically speaking, I stand by "you ain't seen nothin' yet."

Sorry I missed it but it would have been a 5 hour slog out and back with mod icing till I got on top...just too much work for Sunday ,so I stayed home and watched tree branches crashing down on my porch

The GDL-82 was my plan a year ago when the first rebate was running, prior to sky beacon. But the ease of sky beacon installation won me over. Also, having anon mode anytime I am squawking 1200 vs running a switch. I don't want or need to run a switch for that. Also, to give the middle finger to Garmin. Having read both Garmin's and uavionx's patents I want to support the little guy with their innovative design. It is a risk, though, buying something that's getting sued. And it wasn't just the physical installation of the GDL-82. Having read their install document it told me that I basically needed to go to an avionics shop due to needing transponder test equipment. I now have a sky beacon in hand and need to install...

I like this, very well said. This is my plan and justification for what I'm doing with my Mooney. If I had the $$ for a brand new airplane, I would like a brand new M2K 252 Encore. But they don't exist. And so if I can bring my 252 back to brand new/modern condition and at the same time upgrade it to Encore status... it will be exactly what I wanted. The fact that it will only be worth 70% of what I've spent on it is irrelevant to me. I'll have the plane I want and will get more than the 30% shortfall back in use and enjoyment. But this only makes sense for a forever plane. Which is typically not a first plane. I thought my M20C might have been a forever plane, but then realized I needed/wanted a bit more and it was still within the realm of affordability. One other point I'll make is that it's one thing to bring a plane back to airworthy status. Those planes exist for much less than it would take to bring one back. It's another thing to take an airworthy example, and bring it back to "like new" condition. That can be done step by step over time, while still flying and enjoying the use of the airplane. And of course, you're creating an airplane that doesn't exist for any amount of money.

I know, it wouldn't have been a very difficult IFR flight. The freezing level was above 10000 so that shouldn't have been an issue. I'm IFR current and so is my airplane. The flight would have been longer by 20% or so, it always is. I guess my mind set is that HII is just a short hop across the desert and there is never a reason to do it IFR. There was yesterday. Any time I fly into SoCal airspace I do it IFR. If I was based at KSEE I would do all my flying IFR. My last approach in actual was to Gillespie. When you live around here IFR is for going far away and KHII isn't far away.

Is there a question here?

Well if Alaska can't kill the mosquitoes not sure what the point of freezing your ass off 9 months out of the year. And then there is the 6 months of grey. It's going to be 80 highs earlier in the week then 40s

55 with rain on Friday, if it makes you feel any better......

My A&P and I installed mine in less than 5 hours - if you don't want the optional fault light and anonymous switch it's a power and ground wire, install a GPS antenna and splice into the transponder coax. I opted for the options.

Yes I had my AP clean and lube them...they’ve worked fine since. Tom

that's a pretty bird, and yeah that hangar is a bit small.8)

It most certainly can take off at max gross weight, but I am a bit confused since the POH's (from memory) will refer to a maximum ramp weight which is 8-12 lbs more than max gross weight which enables you to taxi to the runway a bit overweight in order to takeoff at max gross weight.

I had a really good chuckle when I read this...because it is probably more true than any other piece of advice that you could give to someone who has never bought a “cheap” airplane. Ask me how I know...

Me to. But we just got back to Vegas before all heck broke loose.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Marauder, thanks for the link to Griggs. I have the A&P at the Mooney Service Center checking with them.

That was my plane. I have taken it through rain myself several times, mostly light rain showers but I did get caught in a heavy down pour as a front came thru. My visibility to the side and down was 6-10 miles. My forward vis was almost nothing because of the rain on the wind screen. That being said I did not feel uncomfortable continuing thru it, and I knew it was a very narrow band I would not have flow like that for an extended period Brian

Dan, the sensor inside the particular device is typically life limited, and it's life is independent of unit calibration history. Typical life expectancy is 5-7 years but varies with the particular sensor and possibly also with the ambient conditions that the individual sensor has been exposed to. My home units ship indicating that they should be disposed of after 10 years in service.

So far, I've found isolated patches of rain can often be flown through VFR safely. However, it seems wise to be able to be able to see the other side of the rain and absence of major vertical development above before venturing in. Leaving an easy out by skirting near the edge may also be better than blasting through the center. Not that I have a ton of experience with it, but in some sense I feel safer doing it VFR because I can see well enough not to blunder into an embedded T-storm. Lawnmower in IMC? I thought you had a C model, not one of these My C is a kick ass IFR platform as far as I can tell.

I don’t know how much I pay, but after spending a long time finding good Mooney instructors I have to say that I don’t mind writing the check for quality instruction. I consider it cheap life insurance. If you’re really getting good instruction it’s worth way more than the $50-100/hr the instructor is charging you. If you’re worried about what your paying, you may want to find an instructor that is worth your time and money. Saving money by getting a cheap instructor seems like it would end up costing more in the long run.

By accusing vendors that their bisiness plan is selling faulty electronics, you are doing a major disservice to your fellow mooneyspacers. JPI as well as EI make excellent quality engine monitors. Neither one of them would knowingly sell faulty equipment. It's electronics! I've had an EDM for ten years now almost 900 hours and it's been solid. Not one issue. I'm sure many EI owners can say the same. But if and when an issue arises they both step up and take care of their customers.

Minnesota weather is brutal. My last 3 days have consisted of: 1. Drink several cups of coffee in the morning and look out the window. Surf on Mooneyspace.com. 2. Drink beer in the afternoon and look out the window. Surf on Mooneysace.com. 3. Drink beer or wine in the evening, can’t look out the window because it’s too dark. Watch TV and surf on Mooneyspace.com. 4. Go to bed. Thank goodness for retirement. It’s supposed to be 60 degrees warmer on Saturday than it was this morning. If I make it that long I hope to go flying!

we were just in Minneapolis last night and this morning. The temp was -38C at 8000'. This morning it was too cold for Type 4 deicer fluid. I did the walkaround in the suit coat and it was physically painful.

Your wing tips have white position lights in the rear of the wing tip on both sides. That's why your tail only has a strobe which you need to maintain. I am sure you could get by with a UAT solution but it will reduce your Ovations service ceiling back down to under 18K which will prove to be a sticky point at resale time; i.e. considered a downgrade till fixed properly.

I separate CapEx and OpEx. CapEx is the price of the plane and any upgrades I make or money I spend on improvements. OpEx are the recurring costs such as fuel, hangar rent, annual maintenance, other maintenance, nav subscriptions, etc. I flew approximately 250 hours last year. I have no idea how much I spent in either of the two categories last year. But all the bills got paid, so I guess we're ok for another year of this.