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Up in the air again, I met up with a good friend who took some air-to-air shots. Had to slow the Mooner down and ad some flaps to be able to stay in formation, the other ship was a tad slower. Things of beauty, the airplanes we fly!

/shameless plug mode = ON The wonderful MSC's who support the Mooney Summit might be worthy of considering as vendors for your Mooney Parts needs. These great companies along with all of our sponsors allow us to provide not only help for downed Mooney pilots, but enable us to provide fantastic content at the Summit each year for your education and entertainment They are: Oasis Aero Premier Aircraft Southwest Texas Aviation AGL Aviation Daytona Aircraft Services I would be remiss to not plug them for all they have done for us as a community, along with Clarence who has little to gain and donates an oil change kit each year for our raffle. Do consider supporting these fine organizations who support the Mooney community. /shameless pluig mode = OFF

@Parker_Woodruff got me essentially the same rate as last year with my hull value reduced about 13%. Outstanding in this market environment. “Parker helped me lose just 15% on my plane insurance.“

Many people haven’t been keeping there distance and disregarding common sense. I believe if we all keep our distance, wear our mask, keep our hands clean maybe we could get going with the new normal. I just went away for a week, the hotel was cleaner than ever, the restaurant was 25% capacity they cleaned chairs everything after each sitting, workers wore masks. No maid svc therefore no one enters your room. If everyone does there due diligence we’re ok, but a certain small amount won’t

From Bob Kromer: Here are some thoughts. I was the one who did factory flight testing investigating what happens when a baggage door is left unlatched prior to flight. The test airplane was an M20K. I had a mechanical system installed where I could unlatch (from the shut position) the baggage door from the pilot’s seat during any phase of flight. We discovered absolutely no adverse handling qualities or aerodynamic issues when the door is left unlatched and should open in flight. Interestingly, several times when the door was unlatched from the inside it just stayed in position. But if a baggage door is left shut but unlatched and does come open during flight, it most likely will open at rotation during takeoff. The change in angle of attack during rotation allows the airflow in the vicinity of the baggage door to lift it upward. It’s a noisy distraction when it opens, but if ignored it is easy to return for a normal landing. There were no adverse handling qualities encountered in any of the phases of flight we tested where we opened to door, including takeoff, climb and cruise. The key thing we took away from our testing was if someone doesn’t latch the baggage door on preflight, it almost always opened very early in the flight. Usually during rotation or initial climb. And it was a non-event. Now, having the baggage door depart the airplane is another matter. How could this happen, especially at lower takeoff and initial climb speeds? I am aware of only one other situation where the baggage door actually departed the airplane when it opened. I believe it was for an M20K that we repaired at the factory. But this door came open during a high speed descent. When it opened, the heavy air loads at 160KIAS ripped the door from the fuselage and it struck the vertical tail. As it flew past, the baggage door struck the vertical fin and cut the skin, but with no further structural damage. The airplane came to us at the factory and we repaired both the tail and the baggage door/fuselage. We did a thorough inspection of the baggage door and cabin structure before and after the repair and found absolutely no issues that would cause a properly latched door on this airplane to come open. Incidentally, the owner later admitted that someone was retrieving luggage from inside the airplane during descent when the door came open. We think somehow that inadvertently unlatched the door from the inside, causing it to open during the high speed descent. So how could a baggage door on the airplane shown below actually come off at such a low speed and hit the tail? I don’t know, the air loads at takeoff and initial climb speeds are not that great. Was the baggage door hinge broken or worn out? Did the pilot fly really fast in a hurry to return to the airport? A normal baggage door, even if it opens, just doesn’t depart the airplane this easy. I’m happy it turned out okay. Bob

Leave it to a cinematographer to not only make a video of our audio panel informative, he's made it entertaining too! Hope you enjoy watching this as much as I did. SoCal Flying Monkey Mark Scheuer PS Engineering, Inc.

See, you can't do that with your regular wheel chocks! Yo could use a bandsawand cut the front off and double sticky tape it to the panel!

Yes. The full open position is draggy, noisy and kinda uncomfortable, but there's a detente on the canopy rails which is about perfect. On the other end of the spectrum, the Mite has a heater, but the stock heater is kinda weak. Most owners who need heat have enhanced it by wrapping a screen door spring around the exhaust pipe inside the muff to increase heat transfer. The screen door spring is generally available at Lowes, or Home Dept's PMA section.

I have already been using my Loran as a wheel chock.

I've found the King ADFs make great wheel chocks!

Just installed 2 GI 275s in my 1986 M20J (picked up the plane today) to enable me to not have to replace the KAP100 autopilot. One flight so far, the autopilot works great with the 275. I will shoot approaches this weekend. With the magnetometer and OAT, the system provides heading (vs track) inputs and standard rate turn indicators. Total cost with two of the Garmin USB chargers was under $17k and I can replace my KAP100 if it ever breaks.

I appreciate that... maybe it is age based... I just turned 41! ;-)

Something would have to rip the cover off and then snag the lanyard to pull the hitch pin. That’s a lot of stuff in sequence. oh actually look at the photo again. The hitch pin is installed in the shaft. But the handle is tripped. It looks like the hitch pin was UNDER the handle. The handle couldn’t even be in the proper stowed position.

US Patents don't apply elsewhere in the world, so if an inventing company doesn't file patents internationally in countries in which it has a market, those markets are free to use US Patented devices. People have been doing the same here for years, bringing foreign inventions in and making money on them. And often patents are not written well enough to prevent a work-around where a knockoff won't violate the patent, so knockoffs often survive even when there's a patent if the patent isn't broad enough. Lived that world for a long time. It's a minefield and often not productive.

Cheaper than an annual inspection and probably catches more issues

things for a devil’s advocate to consider... When the airplane is in an unknown condition... Similar to flying with a load of ice... Change as few things as possible, shallow changes, get on the ground... Anything that is bent... Can become broken... Where the door is resting, can get worse... If the tail stalls... the plane becomes a lawn dart. Even Sully put the injured plane down, nearly straight ahead... How many choices do you get to make under these conditions? (Many) One wrong move, and your career as a test pilot comes to an early end... Do what ever you can to avoid becoming a test pilot.... if you somehow become a test pilot... minimize the number of tests per flight... You don’t want to find the killer variable, if you don’t have to... Simple changes like slowing down or adding flaps could end disastrously... flaps will change the airflow around the tail... resist taking on additional chances, resist making unnecessary changes... Dang... those Mooneys are built extra strong... PP thoughts only, not a test pilot... Best regards, -a-

Ok, so the bill of sale for my B is in the works and the settlement should be done this month. Once that is done, N74562 will be parts unless/until someone salvages it. So, the good news... I have been having a discussion with David (Sabremech) and the plans are for me to buy his plane (N2652W) and give it a new home! We’re working out the timing and the details but, knowing how David is, she’ll be in great flying shape. Yes it WILL have the new Sabremech cowling (drool ;o) I’ll be patiently waiting for David to get his FAA STC paperwork done for his new cowling. Once the stars align, we’ll get the deal done. David and I spent about an hour on the phone tonight going over the details and, needless to say, I’m excited. With all the speed mods, new interior, and all the great work David is doing to her to get it ready for me, I’m expecting an exciting flight back to Texas when the time comes. David and I spoke about him doing the annuals for the next couple of years with me doing an owner assisted so I can get to know the plane. I’ve always believed things happened for a reason and maybe this was the ‘plan’ all along. It’s going to be fun and I can’t wait to fly her... -Don

No worries on falling asleep. Just watch the TAS and GS. That will keep you motivated!! Tom

Retro kit Pn. 660051-005 also available at LASAR. Last time I checked it was about $60. Call Dan. The "kit" is pretty basic, you can probably find the necessary parts from Spruce cheaper. I'm not sure what paper-work is required; maybe the professional mechanics can chime in on this? @M20Doc

If you get your oxygen system dialed in well (X3, O2D2 with comfortable cannulas and masks) you really don't want to fly low again unless you have an abnormally large headwind to contend with. There's no doubt that those who fly around at 8-10K feet will be happier with an Ovation every day of the week.

To answer @M20Doc's question, I have practiced controlled flight using the backup indicators on the far right. It is doable, although if those were really all I had I'm with Paul K that my first reaction would be to declare an emergency and seek help getting out of the clag and to an airport with a visual approach if at all possible. However, if I do go with the GI-275 as @GeeBee has done, it would make that a lot more comfortable.

Your question might’ve been better in the Avionics section. A lot of that stuff is all over the place right now as people upgrade their panels. Your best bet is to check average values from eBay and then just post the stuff for sale in the Mooneyspace classified section with your price for each, or best offer.

You're definitely not overthinking it. In fact according to your POH you are underthinking it, since you are still flying the airplane. A working ship's oil temperature gauge is required even for daytime VFR flight in your Ovation. Having a JPI 730 does not supersede that, it is only supplemental information.

Hey Ross, if you're still interested in the wing leveler system, let me know and I'll send you some pics and show you what I have. Thanks Wes

The 1965 models had a blind turn coordinator for the PC autopilot. The roll trim was a silver knob mounted at the center of the pilot yoke. With the later model yokes in this plane, they couldn't do that so it may have been mounted to the panel. A short test flight, does the PC work? Does that knob control the roll trim? A 55 year old modified airplane, some of the paperwork is going to be missing. It is not a perfect world.

The "PITCH" button you pull to activate the pitch portion of the Brittain for alt hold.

I believe the GI 275 HSI will couple to KX-155 Nav/ILS & the Garmin 175 GPS. Also the Garmin 175 GPS is full panel mounted WAAS receiver w/LPV approach capability.

I saw this one in the mornings ASIAS daily stats. Although not always reliable, the report listed both pilot and pax as having minor injuries. News reports indicated they were taken away in ambulance and picture implied the plane came to a sudden stop hitting the trees and with the tail elevated as well. Hope they had and were both using their shoulder belts!

I think my USAF experience isn’t the best model for this because being able to bail out right down to the landing gives you some “room to maneuver”. Like flying to a longer field with crash crews. If the airplane becomes uncontrollable on the way there? No problem, eject. Or doing a controllability check? If the airplane goes out of control, eject. In general, I think the methodical approach you’re talking about is highly desirable. However, I also don’t know how hard he was having to pull or roll. Just to circle down to the field. I guess my thought is that he definitely had that field made, unknown structural damage, and difficulty maintaining control (unusual forces). I think you might not want to try flying far or for long in that condition. I also think structural damage isn’t necessarily fixed. It could get worse. What if he hit some turbulence and the door riding on his elevator Shifted and jammed it? All in all, if he had flown successfully and methodically to a bigger field and gone over little ones, we’d be saying great job. But I think landing soonest has some merit as well.

Unless you have a king or century autopilot, it doesnt really make sense to install a gi275. The g5 hsi is way cheaper than the gi275, but if you want it can be done.

Thanks for the tip on Jeev Old Guy. I’m reaching out to him now.

Sounds like you covered it.

Thank for considering me! I’ve been up to my neck looking at a variety of planes. Not on purpose! Just had the opportunity to go to lunch via a 2006 Cirrus SR22GTS last Friday and fell in love with having A/C. First time ever in my short GA career to fly with A/C in this unforgiving Texas heat. Well that opened Pandora’s box. I ran into a real nice fella that just bought a 2020 TBM 940 which is now my final goal plane! Anyway I haven’t made a decision on my interim plane but I’ve run into another super nice guy that brokers partnerships, he has 27 groups with 80-85 pilots partnered up on planes. Looking at planes 2006 and up is going to cost more but I’m hopeful to not have to deal with all the surprises that earlier planes will give. Meeting the partnership guy tomorrow for lunch. He’s pro 182 until I get hours to move up to a G36 or something equivalent. I’m thinking I’d like to pull off the bandaid and go for the G36 right away and not mess with the 182. I’m super appreciative of @gsxrpilot and his passion for Mooney’s, he’s a great guy! One day I’ll meet him in person! I still haven’t seen a Mooney in person! Did see an Icon A5 at Hooks tho! It’s tiny!

Hi, yes. Not sure if that’s a doubler on the back or not, couldn’t tell. Just want you to have a safe airplane. My inspector eyes couldn’t help themselves. Take Care! -Matt

I know there is at least one Mooney owner on here that is from that area. I'm down at Auburn. If you can't find anybody closer, let me know. Under the current conditions I can't offer you a ride, but we could meet someplace to let you look at the plane and talk. Bob

I flew to Dallas for the weekend FXE>DAL non-stop at FL240 there and FL230 back. Trying to really make the most out of the Mooney "personal airliner" marketing message! Since the fuel is obviously too expensive at DAL, I made a short hop to LNC to buy fuel at $2.85 before departing. I thought I got lucky when they cleared me direct to FXE as I was climbing through 2k feet (I was planning on requesting a slight deviation later on in the flight so I wasn't so far over the gulf, but I did have my raft in the passenger seat just in case). After about 5 "I have an amendment to your route, advise when ready to copy"'s later, I made it to FXE in 5:13. Unfortunately, I couldn't catch one of those days with a nice tailwind up high heading east and even had a bit of a headwind (I had a little tailwind once I got past Tampa and started descending). Oh well. For anyone who's interested in going to DAL, I highly recommend TAC Air. It's a brand new FBO and very reasonable ($15/night and no handling fee with $10 gallons). Very nice people too from the line crew to front desk.

Good morning MooneySpace! Airspeed Insurance Agency is happy to announce that we are bringing on a new agent this morning. Paul Havelka @Paul_Havelka joins us from Grove, Oklahoma, just east of Tulsa. Paul has a background in offshore oil service and recently sold his Piper Cherokee. It's yet to be seen what airplane will replace it, but I think a Mooney is high on the list. Paul and I will be working closely over the next few weeks to bring him up to speed on Airspeed's business flow & operations. He has a few accounts lined up, so we'll have plenty of his own prospects to use in making sure he starts out on the right foot. Airspeed has experienced a successful startup and that is much in thanks to the great support we have had from MooneySpace. In fact, we insure about 1% of the registered fleet of Mooneys right now and that number grows weekly. Have a great week, everyone! Parker Woodruff Parker@airspeedinsurance.com 214-295-5055 (office) Paul Havelka Paul@airspeedinsurance.com 918-314-6139 (direct)

Going to visited the AC today. I’ll keep you all in the loop once I have more info/photos. If anyone has a spare hatch door for a model K I maybe in the market....... think mine is a little unsalvageable. Thank you for all the kind comments, my wife and I really appreciate it, lots to take in. The first question she asked when we got in the cab home was ‘how long do you think it will take until we’re flying her again?’

I installed Medco locks in the baggage door and side door a couple of years ago. For some reason, the baggage door lock will not release the key unless it's in the lock position. So my baggage door is always locked. If it's not, the airplane keys are in the lock and you won't be starting the airplane.

I'm gonna quote myself and explain why I thought putting the gear down was not a given in this situation: In September 1996 I bought a new Mooney TLS Bravo, and in early summer 1997 a friend needed me to drive him up to catch a commercial flight in Austin TX. No problem, I'll fly you to Austin Mueller (now closed). He had flown with me many times and knew that hot starts in Texas summers can be tricky. We went over it before we ever left the ground. He was going to exit the airplane, get his bag, shut the baggage door and walk behind the airplane to the FBO for his ride to the terminal while I kept it at idle and didn't have to shut down. We landed, taxied, we went over it again, he exited, got his bag. I got my clearance, taxied, took off and shortly after take-off I heard a loud bang from the back of the airplane - the baggage door has popped open on my new airplane. I was sure it had probably exited the airframe and had taken the tail section with it. @RedSkyFlyer's pictures are exactly what I was imagining. I let the tower know what happened and that I was coming around to land on the perpendicular runway - all the way picturing what my airplane must look like. I turned final and wanted to get this thing on the ground to assess the damage. On final, a Delta pilot waiting for take-off, who had heard everything, says "Mooney, check your gear down". I got that horrible feeling. I would like to think that I would have made a short-final gumps check, but I'm not sure. After all was said and done after landing and then taxiing to the FBO and looking over the airplane, I closed the baggage door, locked it and there wasn't a scratch or a bend anywhere on the airplane. I had turned a minor distraction into what could have been a major problem. Although I already knew this, after that it really confirmed that gear up landings can happen to anyone - all it takes is something out of the ordinary thrown in the mix. Don't ever say it couldn't happen to you. Again, great job keeping your calm and getting it down on the ground safely to be able to share this with us. Ever since that flight I always lock the door with the key and give it one last tug just to be sure after loading bags.

That has to be a first! I have heard of the baggage door popping open many times, coming off maybe a few Times but wrapping around the horizontal stabilizer, never! Glad you got it to the ground safely! You had me worried with the gear!! I used to always lock the baggage door before flight until recently since I have been flying with the kids in the back seats. I felt like the benefits of being unlocked out weighed the risk of the door coming open with back seat passengers. With only the front seats full I always lock baggage door.

Dan @ Lasar has been pretty good at supplying consumable Mooney parts... See if anything has become available for that item... Best regards, -a-

Don’t worry. After spending your funds on your interior you will have LOTS of time to save money for the TruTrak before it is released, that is if it is ever released. I just turned 71. Even though I am in great health and may still be passing a medical for another 20 years, I expect to lose my medical before ever having the opportunity to install a Trutrak in my Mooney. It’s been almost two years since the Trutrak guy sat at his table at a trade show telling me it would be available next month.

Hello to all you Mooney Guru’s . I am new here and in the process of purchased a 252. I have been out of general aviation for 30+ years. Requesting help and opinions on the Best EFB (for I-PAD) I will probably be doing 30 to 40% of my flying on an IFR flight plan. Planning on staying in the lower 48 States 90% of the time. Requesting opinions on best subscriptions and most bang for the buck and ease-of-use. I have about a thousand more questions on upgrading the cockpit but this is a good start. I appreciate any and all responses. Also looking for a PDF file for 1988 M20K 252 POH, and what ever else you all think will be helpful. This is a GRATE place for the best information on everything Mooney!! Cheers

I second the advice to try them. All the major players will give you a month free.. very much a personal choice, and keep in mind that the latest update of any of them might be a game-changer. If you cut your teeth on paper charts and E6B whiz wheel, any, even the free ones, will blow your mind. While the big gorilla, ForeFlight, is very capable, with more bells and whistles and detailed pictorial briefings than you can process in one sitting, it has lengthy drill-down menus and multiple ways to skin any given cat, which I, in my dotage, found convoluted. Amendment to my routing? Gah. Ummm...Stand by. And third, didja want fries with that? All the extras add up in a hurry. If you want the whole thing, you’re looking at an outlay of $200+ per year. Number two in the popularity hit parade is probably Garmin Pilot. I use this one for preflight planning and updating my G650 nav system data.. The latest update is a nice improvement. Garmin has never played nicely with anything but Garmin, though. If you have any portable ADSB in that starts with anything other than the letter G, you’re SOL. There is an android version, unlike most others. My personal favorite overall is FlyQ. I got a lifetime subscription some years ago, so I’m good until I’m 147 years old or so. FlyQ plays fine with any ADSB that doesn’t begin with G. I find its user interface to be fast, reliable, intuitive, uncluttered, full-featured and frequently updated, which I find fun. Like early Christmas.. Amendment to my clearance? Sure. (No problem) Ready to copy. The latest update, now in beta, has some really nice adsb weather products. And the app comes in just two sizes, vfr and IFR.. Fries included. For about half the annual price of FF. I haven’t tried the others in years, shouldn’t comment.. But play your cards right, you can put off the decision for a long time! Try them all, free, a month at a time. You’ll find some may fit your needs and budget better than others. And they’re all fun to learn, especially coming from the Stone Age as I did.

That’s wonderful but I don’t already have two G5’s so I’m not prepared to lay out $25K for an autopilot.

With every passing month this saga becomes more and more sad.

There are many ways to land an airplane depending on the circumstances. For normal landings, however, full flap landings should be the norm--especially at high DA. At the slower speed there is much less energy to be dissipated and much shorter landings can be made. In my opinion all landings should assume a short field. so when you actually want to land on a short field, plenty of experience has already been gained. If done correctly, with practice, you can roll the mains onto the runway without even a chirp.

I decided to spend my plane upgrade money with Hawk this year so that I'm no longer waiting for the trutrak. If it comes this year, cool. No pressure from me. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk