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Wanted to share this one with the crowd. When we were flying back from the Bahamas through FL, we got diverted due to some loitering military traffic that was out playing. ATC had no clue what it was but wanted us to give them some space! Clipped this screenshot:

Today was my first Mooney flight of 2020. I took my son on a flight from BJC to MTJ, I was really a nice day to fly, even though it may not look like in some of the photos. For those of you with young kids, they grow up so fast!

Negative. Need to pay close attention to the Prop Gov in this situation. Putting grease in the propeller doesn’t have anything to do with it not maintaining RPM. The Grease just Lubricates the Thrust Bearings. Bout 18/19in is where my F model gov would go off line. At that point the prop will be pushing the engine. If you push the power to 20/22in( somewhere in that area) you should get a very noticeable rpm reduction an be able to hear the Gov load the propeller with pitch. I would be very curious to know if you have a Hartzell H-1 Gov. This same thing happened to me. Propeller control full out would only pull it down to 2550 Rpms. Turns out the Gov was internally bypassing the oil that was needed at the prop. Keep a close eye on this issue. “Down shifting” to Granny Low isn’t a good idea at 140Knts

Remember the cheap route is completely valid if factory parts are prohibitively expensive. You as owner / operator / flight department manager get to make that call.

With 51 years flying, 40 years of airline experience, I am amazed at this gentlemen's,( a layman not a pilot,) clear thinking in the midst of overwhelming grief on the MAX fiasco at Boeing. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/01/17/boeing-david-calhoun-airline-safety-culture-lawsuit-ceo-column/4479056002/

I’m the voice at the back of you head? The governor system is proven to not be working properly... could be a simple oil leak. Fly it... risk overspeed of the engine... manually watch/control rpm, full power can’t be available... This goes in the do not fly box until the problem is known... In the shop... it is easy to pressurize the system to know where the leak is occurring... To continue to fly it and hope the engine tells you what is wrong is relying on hope... Hope makes a crummy flight plan... So... Where does this rant come from..? My M20C lost the disc seal at the back of the shaft.. it leaks oil pressure into the case... To produce enough power for continued flight it is in or near the overspeed range... or while flying the plane the rpms climb well past the governed range... The prop would have to be set-up with impossible precision to have the stops be in the right place for 2700 rpm... it just doesn’t work that way... You might consult with out prop guy to better understand what you want to do... @Cody Stallings Call me a friend, looking after the health of your engine... PP thoughts only, not a mechanic... Best regards, -a-

Planning this flight next week.

I asked for a labor estimate from a reputable avionics shop and it's 40 hours for a dual 275 install. They listed the same costs you mention in your post (I won't do synth vision), but ultimately I also came to a $15k installed ballpark. (I really thought given the form factor a 10-15hr install would have been totally reasonable). Then I still won't have full integration with my NGT9000 for example. With an E5 and EA100 I'm guessing (I didn't get a labor quote) that it'll end up also around $15k. Then everything connects - Century2000, NGT9000, IFD440 (to replace 430W) and KX165. So after my initial excitement I've also gone back to Aspen as my preference.

Peter the thing is it’s a good thing to have competition and choices. I wish BK had some offerings. I’m hopeful that Aspen and Uavionix will be successful. A healthy market with viable competition keeps GA going and prices .... less inflated.

Since I don't have a Mooney (yet) I figured I could participate in this conversation.for entertainment purposes. This photo was taken on one of my favorite trips in a GA plane where the journey was the destination. We enjoyed a few weeks flying through the Bahamas, Turk's & Caicos, DR, Puerto Rico and beyond. This photo was taken as we were in transit over Middle Turk. Flying the AN-2 always turned heads and we have some funny stories that I will never forget. Many had to do with Customs, Law enforcement, Airport security and the adventures of finding fuel when we needed it. We had to fly all the way across the DR on fumes because Puerto Plata was out of fuel with no timeline to get more. Your range in a Mooney probably gives you more options than we had. However, I think it's always a grand adventure. Have fun.

That is a very on point piece about Boeing. In the last 7 years, I’ve gone from 757/767 to the A-320 family to the 787 and the Boeing felt like a step back from the Airbus. I commented more than once that a lot of the “old Boeing” ways made it into the 787 and it was a shame. If Boeing is going to catch up, they need a clean sheet design. That said, the 787 has the best wing of any airplane I have ever flown.

The TT/BK Autopilot belief summary: Excited ---> Optimistic ---> Less optimistic --> Mildly Disappointed ---> Mildly Irritated ---> Angry at myself for believing the hype ---> No longer believe Now I can visit this thread for the comedy

Parting out a perfectly good airplane to minimize liability exposure is one of the most selfish things one could do with respect to GA. Anyone thinking in those terms shouldn't be allowed to own an airplane.

My 1st three cars. Wish I would have kept all of them

Go get a beer and a lawn chair. Walk up to a nice hill overlooking the lake. Look over the beautiful view and consider how great it is and don’t worry about it.

Interesting topic, but I'm wondering where this is leading? Are we advocating that it’s OK to operate early Js “a bit” over gross here? What about if 2900 lbs isn't quite enough? IS it OK to rationalize 3200 lbs? What if that isn't quite enough? How much is too much? Where do you draw the line? This discussion isn't limited to Mooneys, King Air 200s come from the factory with a max certificated gross weight of 12,500 lbs, but the military operates them at 14,000+ lbs and you can buy an STC that raises the max weight on the civilian models to well above 12,500 lbs and requires a King Air 200 type rating for the pilot. Is a King Air 200 pilot justified in flying a stock KA-200 at more than 12,500 lbs because other identical aircraft can? Just about every corporate jet I've flown have had max gross weight increases over the years. Is a pilot justified to simply ignore the provisions of the STC? There are other, totally arbitrary, factors that can enter into the equation as well. The main reason the King Air 200 was limited to 12500 lbs was to simply to avoid the need of a civilian type rating. Early Cessna 340s were limited to 5990 lbs to keep them out of a higher federal excise tax tax bracket which went into effect at 6000 lbs. And IIRC, there were also several singles that limited out at 2490 lbs to avoid an excise tax category came into play at 2500 lbs. There are also limits on weight on some larger singles because they must comply with a 61 knot max stall speed and once you've done all of the aerodynamic tricks, the only other thing left is to limit weight. Other things are arbitrarily limited as well. For example, MU-2s were limited on the amount of torque you could pull by the certification requirement to keep Vmc to "less than 100 kcas". When you start messing around with maximum allowable weights you get into all sorts of other areas as well. A long time ago, most aircraft manufacturers adopted the principle of "loading flexibility” - in other words, Mooney, Piper, Cessna, Beech and just about every other aircraft manufacturer make aircraft that have seats than can be used if topped off with fuel. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you're flying a business jet (or airliner) or a Cessna 172, you are probably only able to fill all of your seats or fill your fuel tanks, but not both at the same time (legally). I’ve got PIC time in over 105 different makes and models of aircraft, from gliders to jets, and I can count on one hand the number of them that you could honestly load up and go without regard to loading. Loading Flexibility is a legitimate approach; but history has shown us time and time again that there are many of us out there who have no idea of how the concept works. Silly pilots, many of us still think that if we've got 4 seats we ought to be able to top off the tanks, load up all the seats, and go. However, if you're willing to ignore your airplane's limitations, legalities, and insurance ramifications involved, you pretty much can because there is nothing magical about that max gross weight number – the airplane will continue to fly.

The application demographic seems to be fairly narrow, too: people who want "glass" to go in a spot where a steam gauge was without altering the physical mount or appearance of the panel. The corners of the displays that they cut off on these is really useful space. e.g., the G5 displays things like groundspeed, distance to next waypoint, etc., in those corners where they're really useful, but out of the way. On these it just seems to clutter everything up more than necessary, for the sole utility of not altering the "roundness" of the existing panel location. It seems like a weird retro-mod niche. It's certainly not forward-looking for panel display technology. Have to say I don't get it, other than for that particular niche of users.

Garmin appears to have released this product line to put competitors in a defensive position. The cost/value ratio for this product line doesn't really look right though.

We had the pleasure of meeting Brahim (@Ibra) and Alexandra this morning before their flight to the Bahamas. Bon voyage!

@aviatoreb I have 19 lbs of charlie weights. My CG before the avionics upgrades got rid of the whole KFC200 stuff in the avionics bay was 48 inches. After avionics upgrades: 47.25". Basically right on top of the fuel station and right in the middle of the CG envelope.

FWIW, I'm in A&P school right now and that's how it's been conveyed here, i.e., the signature on the annual only attests to its condition and airworthiness at that moment. Once it leaves your custody you have no control or visibility into what may or may not happen to it that affects its condition. I don't think the concern is as much with the buyer as it is with the buyer's heirs should something bad happen.

I use X-Plane for proficiency and the airplane for currency. Your airplane being down cramps your currency opportunities but you can still maintain procedural proficiency with a less-than-AATD desktop simulator like X-Plane or FSX. I've looked at Redbird, FlyThisSim, and other stuff that's in development and came to the same conclusion Skip @PT20J presented above. It takes relatively big $$$ to acquire an AATD that you can legally log time with. Your cost/benefit analysis is dependent on your individual situation and I can see some instances where it would make sense. But you can probably get set up with X-Plane with the computer you have with some decent flight controls that won't break the bank and maintain your proficiency in much of the procedural stuff, and its great for emergency practice. I also sometimes use it for "rehearsal" before going into a strange field, especially if there's an interesting approach or I think I may have a challenge visually locating the field. If you go the non-approved desktop sim route, I recommend taking a look at www.pilotworkshop.com and purchasing their "Getting Started with Flight Simulation" module. It has some good detailed info from Jeff Van West and Keith Smith on how to use X-Plane to your best benefit for proficiency. Trying to replicate control feel gets very pricey very quickly so I don't recommend even trying as you'll probably be disappointed. Your money would be better spent on a very large area display or VR goggles for better immersion. I use a 27" Mac and would like something larger. Cheers, Rick

Save your money and downtime, buy a portable O2 system, a few tanks if you need that much, fill off airport. I have a sky ox, small enough, hangs on seat back. I have filled it 2 times in 3 years. You can borrow my system for a few flights if you come get it and bring it back. See if your wife wants things stuck up her nose for the whole flight, or will you be upgrading to a pressurized airplane Which will still put the cabin above 6K if you fly it where it needs to be To get the performance you paying for My .02

There is an easy answer. Buy some seller's liability insurance. It is cheap. I just sold my PA-18 and it was a single 500 dollar one time premium. End of problem.

They just spent a lot of time certifying a lot of other manufacturers autopilots with the 275.

Yes, that’s why I did it. If I hadn’t fixed it, there would NEVER be certification and availability. Murphy!

Yes, TruTrak (recently acquired by Bendix King) say they have been working on an STC for Mooneys. And they've been saying that for almost 2 years. Maybe another year?

SBA is Class C

I went Med Express at the local urgent care. It's good for 4 years, ran me $60. My nearest AME was almost an hour's drive away, and I didn't care for him.

Can the E5 replace the BK KI256? Why is the 1000 ProMax $5000 more than the E5? What additional features does it have?

I’ll pay you Henry’s standard $120 fee if you’ll guarantee the FAA will accept your Medexpress filing

No I didn’t read it but I did read others like it. But I agree! I was only talking price wise the price effective way to do an auto engine Is in experimental category. That a certified car engine is unlikely and won’t be cheap if there ever were one. then again I remember one article by a fellow who got an eggenfeller-Subaru engine for his rv7 then after years of expensive of nuisance issues especially cooling and gearbox stuff he finally pulled and put a lycoming on the nose. personally if I would ever build an experimental I will put some kind of aviation specific purpose designed engine. Continental-lycoming-rotax from their x-menu or... pt6. Ps - Erik with a k. :-)

1) you might be right. They had a crisis with availability of their Diesel engines at some point and I think they did what you said. I haven't followed so closely. I thought their current astro diesel was largely based on or a reworked version fo the Mercedes diesel though. 170hp sounds right. Its not completely a comparable number to a 200hp IO360 since it is a turbo engine so you get that power at altitude, but also somehow they are able to cruise at 90% so a lot of that power is available in cruise. 2) I meant in a real experimental airplane. Get a Vans 10 and put a corvette on the nose. I think you are quite right you can't convert a certified to experimental for normal unrestricted use. E

In 2018 the shop I used was Bevan Rabell Inc. Since then the name has changed to Bevan Aviation. I haven't dealt with them since the name change, so I don't know what else has changed.

There is no shortcut. You have to do Continental SID 97-3F to accurately set up the injection system.

According to both Inogen and Aviation Consumer their units are FAA approved and meet the requirements for supplemental oxygen. However one unit is only rated to 15,000 while another is rated to 18,000. You should consult Inogen about your needs. Right now, most airlines do not supply supplemental oxygen bottles anymore. You have to bring your own concentrator and sufficient batteries for the flight duration. http://www.inogenaviator.com/products.html

Which is fine. While I was pulling out the wires, I was considering if the the wiring loom guy and the Engineer did not have a deal to build in job security.

They stopped making P51s. They’re worth north of $2M each now

TBH Garmin did add some value to the GTNs with software updates, for example the approach guidance to VFR-only fields. While this might not be an issue stateside, with a field with an instrument approach within a stone's throw, it is over here, and the OBS trick, while useful, is much more prone to human errors than what the GTNs provide. But I'd also rather buy an IFD than a GTN, just because I've been buying AMD instead of Intel most of the time.

Exactly .... not. While the Aspens were getting long in the tooth and were ripe for a screen and processor upgrade, the IFD's and all the recently obsoleted Garmin products like the GTN's (new Txi versions) and the G5 (todays announcement) are still fresh and really have no need for a hardware upgrade. With every new announcement, Garmin is generating buyers remorse. Avidyne on the other hand, is handing out freebies with every new release. My IFD just keeps getting better and better. On the other hand, my G5 is now ready for the bin because the new stuff is in a new piece of hardware. AND I have to throw out my panel as well since the new shit is a different shape! No thanks, Avidyne/Aspen/PSEngineering/JPI = Best of Breed

Typical of Garmin, did you notice that it only lists Garmin products for GPS source? I guess if you have Avidyne or some other system you are out of luck. I am still planning to wait for the Dynon autopilot approval and then install the full HDX system.

We continued our winter safari departing Flores Guatemala back to Mexico via Cozumel. Mexico only allows two ports of entry, excluding from the US border, which are Tapachula on the west and Cozumel on the east. We went into Cozumel so it would be easy to make additional stops in the Yucatan and Palenque. But the only real concern on this flight was realizing despite that we were going by a couple good alternate airports along the way we only had permission to land at our destination. Although if we needed too we would have declared and landed wherever, yet likely with considerable delay and added expense. We had pretty nice wx departing Flores and once again climbed on top of three different layers for a smooth ride north east to Cozumel in VMC. As we arrived and began our descent we saw we would find the forecasted 40% chance of rain in the TAF and stiffer than forecasted winds. But luckily we just went through the rain on the approach mostly over the water east of the field. The field was dry. But we encountered a very stiff direct cross wind gusting to 20 kts. Note in the picture on final, we're centered and tracking right down final, but see how crabbed we are into the wind! (At this point winds were over 30). In fairness, I should point out that I did not have to land on this runway with a direct cross wind, I could have circled to a more favorable runway - they have 4 afterall. But I always enjoy getting some good cross-wind landing practice in when opportunity presents. Being an international flight we were greeted by over a dozen officials before we finished shutting down. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just arrived at my friend’s place in NY and this is what I saw when I got off the elevator. Took me a few seconds to understand why they were segregating people based on what type of Mooney they owned...

Who in God's name would put an old M20C on a Part 135 certificate? Whatever. I'll take my chances that the one idiot who wants to do so might not buy my airplane.

There's no overboost on the Chandelle if you keep your power constant throughout the maneuver.

The word "Retirement" is not in my vocabulary. It conjures up the image of being an unproductive person. Having said that, I haven't worked for anyone since 1975. I started buying houses when I was 26 thinking that in 25 years they would be mostly paid off. After buying a few I tried to talk my engineering cohorts into doing the same--unsuccessfully. (They're probably still having to go to a job they may not like). That time and many, many more years have passed, so I have the perspective of much of a lifetime. As Bob Brinker would say, I reached "Critical Mass" (not have to work at a job) by age 38. Getting started on an investment plan early in life works. Compounding works and inflation continues. Be frugal until you don't have to. Doing those things means that later in life you will not have to worry about whether you can keep your toys or have to give them up. It also means you can have all the toys you want, and do whatever you want. Planned properly, while others may have to work, you will have more income coming in than you would ever need without having to work at a job. I also got my Private at age 26, but it wasn't until I was 49 that I decided to devote the "time" part of my life to aviation, and what a ride it has been and continues to be. I chose to become an expert in one specific area of flying and that was the Mooney. As a result, I think I have more teaching time in Mooneys than anyone else in the Country, and have never had to go looking for students. Of course time was needed for that. And I have met and worked with so many great people, and feel I have helped most. So Retire? Never!

I'm in my 30's and a long way from retirement, but the way I see it: I would rather have a job and a Mooney than no job and no Mooney, if it ever comes down to that.

I'll fly up and give you a ride back from KGGG anytime. I'll fly up there just to sit and ask a few questions of Don. Here's my experience with Don... I flew up and dropped my plane off for it's annual, and a friend was flying up to pick me up and give me a ride home. My ride got a little bit delayed. Because of TSA rules, Don couldn't let me just sit out on the curb and wait by myself. So Don waited 45 minutes past closing time with me. All employees and Jan had left for the day. Don sat there and told me stories of different Mooney's he'd worked on and stories about Mooney's he'd flown. It was an enjoyable and very educational 45 minutes for me. I'm sure Don would have preferred to be home at dinner, but never let on and was just happy to sit there and talk. I'm also very curious as to what it was that Don said was fine, but Shaune says is unairworthy. Or was it the other way around?

Don isn't just an excellent mechanic but also a really really nice guy. I consider him a friend and a real asset to this community. Aside from that I'm not exactly sure as to the point of your post. It sounds like you disagreed with him on something and then pissed him off. Posting something like that here does nothing but make you look like a fool.