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Navy pilot going for the three wire? No grade. But, lucky.

Glad they are safe. This is not good for GA image anywhere but especially not around GAI where 3-5 neighbors have started a movement to try to restrict/close the airport. Of 6000 noise complaints something like 97% were from 3 households. We just had a meeting last week about it. They caused a study to be done which the county paid for, etc. Over 100,000 customers had no power last night including many road traffic lights. Schools are closed today in the entire county so buildings can be assessed for heat, water, and connectivity. Power was not restored until after the timeline to make the decision was made. metro (DC subway) lost power to more than one station and may have limited operations. Again, I’m glad they are okay (taken to the hospital after 7 hours hanging with serious injuries) however this really affected the region and it’s going to put a black eye on GA. The Mooney really is built like a tank. That tower must have flexed and caught a 90 knot airplane on approach and brought it to zero in a short arc. I’m amazed. -Seth

I’m not so sure I would use the word “lucky” to describe him. Unless there was a mechanical reason for him tangling with the tower, the fact the controller called him out twice for low altitude suggests something else is going on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Based on this complete blog, reading all the insight, planning or lack there of and all other recommendations seems to make no difference when the pilot fails to make correct decisions. The weather that day was no secret the pilot also had a good look at it in real life since this was a return flight. Another BLACK EYE pitched our way. I agree this is a terrible look for GA most of us on this sight follow the rules, regulations airman decision making proper maintenance of our planes and so on. My main thoughts although are for the pilot and passenger to have a good recovery.

Hi gang - been a long time since I posted. Aircraft is owned by an entity and a few shares, usually 3 to 5 are owned any time be different people. Kind of like a club Mooney. I have flown in this aircraft before and know two of the previous owners. I’ll grab the ATC live link and post it later. They were on the GPS 14 approach to GAI on the way from HPN (White Plains NY). A Cheyenne ahead of them went missed, diverted to a nearby airport with an ILS and landed safely. The power line tower hit is left of centerline and well below glide path. The two occupants were rescued about 7 hours after impact and taken to the hospital with serious injuries. They were in communication with fire/rescue via cell phone. Glad they are alive. -Seth

The alt setting had a spread of .13 on a period spanning 6 hours before and after the accident. That equate to 130ft, no? I don't think there was any strange phenomenon. Also, as stated earlier, LPV doesn't rely on the BARO for vertical guidance. This assuming that the pilot was flying it with a WAAS GPS, which supposedly he had in the AC.

Wouldn't matter on an LPV approach. Follow the needles to the ground. Would have crashed on the runway if all the needles were centered, not 1-2 miles short.

Not necessarily related to our Mooney’s, but I just installed a PAR200B radio/intercom in my Citabria. I chose this radio because of the panel space limitations in the Citabria. The radio is remotely mounted which saved space. Of course I knew the PS engineering intercom would be good but I have been presently surprised at the quality of the radio. It sound better than the radio in my GTN650. - end of my product review- Lee

Yes, that could be, but a few things to have in mind: 1) If you cross the FAF at the indicate altitude and your glideslope is indicating you're below, like full scale deflection below, you should climb to intercept it or even better, go around. 2) Even if flying at 1600 MSL all the way until intercepting the GS, he should have cleared the power line.

That is what I was thinking - could he have incorrectly set the altimeter? He was way low way far out. That said - what the heck was he doing flying in that in the first place? But once he was there near KGAI in below mins conditions - what the heck was he doing trying the approach anyway - were all the nearby airports below min too? KFDK is very nearby and has better approaches, a bigger airport environment, tower and multiple runways. Or heck - Dulles and BWI in a pinch - or just fly somewhere else entirely but I do not know the fuel status. I am a Professor in a department of electrical engineering and several of my colleagues are power transmission specialists. I was talking to one of the profs who is also a pilot - and we were just talking how amazingly unlikely this accident was a survived outcome. First - how many controlled flight into terrain accidents in night low ifr conditions are survived. Almost none. Obviously he found a nice springy metal tower with cables that arrested them from 100kts to zero in short order like a carrier landing but maybe more abrupt. I wonder if he had airbags. But here are the miracles - -they found a springy tower instead of a hard building or the ground or a hillside or a big tree. -the springy tower actually caught them at the right spot so they were decelerated sufficiently but not too strongly to break the humans inside but not too springy to bounce them off so they would fall backwards 100ft to the ground. -here is the part that amazed the power transmission engineer I was talking too - he told me exactly the voltage and capacity of that specific tower just by looking at it and he declared it a miracle that the entire airplane structure didn't just melt/dissolve/catch on fire - I mean aluminum on fire not to mention fuel - somehow it didn't arc etc. Yeah the birds landing not grounded thing but they are tiny plus dont touch the tower structure itself. -the tower didn't collapse in which case they would have been mechanically crushed and electrically fried simultaneously. I would guess if this was a computer simulation you could crash this airplane a thousand times and none of them would end up with this outcome - even if you crash it into the tower - something lined up just right to make everything work. This is what collapsed towers look like - an incident of an ice storm overloading their weight in 1996 I think near Montreal. https://www.inmr.com/looking-back-on-the-great-ice-storm-of-1998/ So overall a miracle these guys are alive and also the weirdest survived accident we are likely to ever see.

Another interesting thing was on that audio from ATC. There was a plane that the controller called out at being at 2,300 with an altimeter setting at 29.44. The pilot responded that he was at 3,000. Can a strange atmospheric condition exist where barometric pressure can be different in a small geographical area? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I also note that this was this pilot's second flight of the day - returning from West Chester, NY. Flew up, departing at 8:40 am arriving at 11 am. See post with Flight Aware log. Then starts back at 3 pm. Long day, on top of the weather. I am wondering if fatigue may have been a factor.

My big takeaway is we fly a very structurally sound plane and when equipped with shoulder belts our chances of surviving a crash are high. Any other aircraft and this likely would have resulted in two fatalities. In this case a BRS would not have helped.

In the safety world, we do not use the terms accidents. We use mishaps. The word “accident” implies that it just happened and could not be prevented. Most mishaps occur from a chain things going or being done wrong that lead to the final situation. Yes, many times there are things to learn. But too many times the sequence is well know and perfectly preventable.,

If the RPM drops when you reduce the throttle any, you've hit the fine pitch stops. at that point, you can crank the blue knob forwards. In the pattern, you can just listen for the RPM drop on downwind or base, you can keep your eyes outside

A testament to the once piece Mooney wing. I shudder to think of the result had it been another brand of aircraft with bolt on wings.

Then you still have three threaded connections. Just in different places. They also don’t make an adapter with an AN flare female. So you gotta put a hose section on it. Then a AN nipple to a NPT pipe coupler. ww had a plane in the shop the other day for a prebuy. It had a race car shop male-femal adapter on it and the OP sender screwed into the side of it. Now this was also a 45 degree car flare fitting so they just over torqued the hell out of it to get it to fit. Now this was a swivel fitting so it could have snapped in two at any point. The JPI was installed a couple years ago. Passed a couple annuals at esteemed Mooney shops. Anyways. ir also had this beauty …..ugly but functional

Live ATC - N201RF starts around 18 min into recording. https://archive.liveatc.net/kbwi/KBWI-App-WOOLY-128.7-Nov-27-2022-2200Z.mp3

y'all have not been around computer and it shows. Netflix created this idea of design to fail. Then they created a chaos monkey to test out their design. https://netflixtechblog.com/tagged/chaos-monkey The title of this thread is telling. Bad design. When you do redundancy you do it for all systems. Power, avionics, etc, redundancies in my plane. Tablet, Phone, Wisky Compass, hand compass. There are two main screens and I know how to switch them to PFD. Then there is the D10A All three screens have batteries. several Flashlight to see the airspeed and TC which are still steam. Hanheld com radio with VOR with headset adapter. Redundancy is separate systems that don't rely on each other.

I am tied down outside so closing the hangar door and walking away is not an option for me. Spindle stands allow me to remove the wheel assemblies and leave the plane supported on its own gear without Jacks.

Arrived back from NH in time for this beautiful sunset flight down the Hudson River.

No. 20W-50 means when it is hot, it has the viscosity of hot 50 weight oil. When the oil is cold, it has the viscosity of cold 209 weight oil. A straight weight 50 and 20W-50 have the same viscosity under normal operation in climb and cruise. But when you start it is much thicker. And when it is very cold it is more like jello.

There is a process by which TCs and STCs may be declared abandoned, which can be initiated by requesters. A TC or STC that has been abandoned allows the FAA to release the data on request. It may take up to three years, however, and isn't guaranteed to be successful if an heir responds. https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/air/abandoned_tc I don't know whether anyone has started this on any relevant STCs, but as often as this gets asked about it might be worthwhile for someone to look into it.

Gaithersburg MD, Mooney N201RP or maybe RF landed in high power lines, reports say they are OK. Foxnews reported.

Vision Jet, Chutes, swims! T/O power issue… -a-

yes, inside a cyclone

If you are considering two CGR30's, you should consider a single JPI EDM 900. It clobbers two holes, but frees up a bunch of panel space too. Probably for the same cost.

expect they left out an important part of the discussion…. On a scale of 0 - 10…. All Mooneys are in the 9 to 10 category…. Depending on the individual’s mission… some Mooneys score lower than others… personal opinions at work… The M20G is a great way to get the mid body volume, with the carburetor’s simplicity…. But, if your goal is all out speed…. The M20G only scores a 9.0… Often referred to as the turtle of Mooneys… Realistically, still way faster than brands b and c flying behind the same engine… All in the context…. Best regards, -a-

If you dont want to spend three days , pump up the brakes with the pedals , and crack the lines where the flex line , meets the hard line , in the wheel well , It is the highest point in the system , there is this new thing called "Gravity" ... It will gravity bleed out at that fitting , you will see bubbles come out with the fluid , when you stop seeing bubbles , tighten the lines , and see if you have a pedal , if not , let it sit for a few minutes , and crack the line again , They will bleed , unless the fluid is so old , it has solidified.... The air wil always collect , at the highest point in the system... Tilting up the plane does nothing...

Quick plug for these lights. I upgraded my landing, taxi, strobe and nav lights with LEDs at my recent annual. @jetdriven did a kickass job getting the strobes synced and they all look great. More importantly, I had a night flight back to my home field that is in the middle of rural Maryland. Our southerly runway does not have REILs, VASI/PAPI or an approach, all I could see was runway lights in a black void. As I turned final, I was able to make out the ground because of the LED landing lights. I know I would not have been able to see as well with my old bulbs. Looking forward to the recogs coming soon!

Oiler, clear hose from the lowest point or caliper works every time. Just make sure your clear hose stays on the bleed port and have another clear hose off the reservoir to clean container. You or somebody helping you can see the air come out. It's a bit hard sometimes on your hand.

Pretty good testament to the strength of the tower, too. One thing about tower structures is that every member is load bearing -- there are no redundant components. There were several accidental tower collapses when TV antennas were upgraded for digital transmission and the crews removed a piece before inserting a new, stronger member, or sometimes when a temporary brace wasn't strong enough to take the load. Skip

I'm pretty sure that's the same thread I linked in the previous message

I agree with this. First of all, good that they are alive. We need to do better. Better preflights, better planning, better ADM, etc. I'm quite new to the GA world, but really, even with 10k hours flying LIFR at night, in a single engine, it's pushing it. Anything goes wrong and you have very small room to have a successful outcome. I'm not a fan of more regulations, I think the GA should self impose on them higher standards. The main beneficiaries is ourselves: we stay alive, we pay less insurance, etc.

I have asked.

If anyone on MS had this happen to them and wasn’t injured, they better be courageous enough to make some posts on the thread while awaiting rescue! ps, I really hope they are ok.

The only reason for pushing the prop forward is to have full power available in the event of a go around. You should do it after power and airspeed are low enough to be outside the prop governing range so that you don't announce your presence in the pattern with a mighty roar, but anytime after that up until the point where you initiate a go around is a matter of choice and habit. In the Mooney, I do it after reducing power and putting flaps down abeam the numbers when I do my first GUMP check. I think the airlines used to do it on short final which is what we did in the museum DC-3 and B-25. That's also what I did in the float Beaver. Skip

Great pirep for PSE Lee! Let’s invite @Mscheuer to see the appreciation…. Mark is our PSEngineering guy…. Mark gives great support… if you have any tough questions to ask…. Best regards, -a-

Taken last weekend crossing the Mississippi River north of Memphis on a flight from Tuscaloosa to Kansas City. The Mississippi at its historical low flow since records began.

Some of the best drivers in racing history… also flew Mooneys… His future is looking brighter every day! Best regards, -a-

Let’s help Thomas out a bit… Let’s say you come upon something that seems too good to be true… You could ask… out loud, and in public…. Or… you could start at the end of the thread and read backwards…

Graham airport RPH has a BBQ place behind the dairy Queen that was good. Had a unique food item i had not seen before, spam fries. Yes spam the lunch meat cut into fries and fried. It looked like sweet potatoes fries but when you bite into them they were crunchy spam. Very tasty but the salt content was probably off the charts.

Last night departing Chandler, AZ.

There is no question those are hybrid weights and they appear to be deteriorating. This further illustrates that no paint removal is need to determine if the weight is a hybrid. Paint removal may be needed to determine the condition of the counterweight.

It’s not the paint.

They could have used it for the picture in the SB.

Just dropped my latest video on YT. Got multiple cameras recording all the action. Let me know in the comments if you like the “24” style format.

We left KFUL just before sunrise. We weren't in the clouds until about 11,000' but it was spectacular. Between layers the rising sun came down through the layer above us and lit up the layer underneath. After about 20 minutes in the clouds we were treated to surfing just above the clouds.