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So, I found a gear manufacture that manufactures the same exact gear set, that we are looking for, for a "CUSTOMER" that ISN'T Mooney, he is reaching out to said customer to see if he is willing to contact me to discuss the ability of us ordering the gear sets from them. Was told it will be a day or so before the customer will be available to reach out. So, hopefully this pans out and allows us an immediate sourcing for these gear sets...will let you know what I hear. I am still looking at other vendors though, just in case. V/r Matt

There is another insidious issue with products like this, which is based on bad policy. I used to work in a manufacturing plant that made specialty tools for the oil production industry. It was started by three guys in their home workshops and grew into a 300 million dollar a year business. Almost all of the items they made were highly specialized and complex, either in machining, metallurgy, or both. The company was privately owned, so when a customer ordered a tool that wasn’t in stock, we evaluated the situation based on machine setup time and margin. What this means is that some parts took dozens of hours just in machine programming and setup just to make one part. Even though the actual machining of the part may have only taken a few hours or even minutes to produce. So the owners decided it was cheaper and more efficient to make 20, 30 or a hundred of the part and just store the extras in inventory. This worked well for the 30 years they owned and ran the company. I was hired right out of college with an industrial mechanical engineering degree and two years after I started they sold the company to a publicly traded company. The bean counters came in and discovered what they called “dead inventory” which was this massive stockpile of parts, and wrote it down to the tune of about $80,000,000, and nearly ruined the company. Apparently when you add value to raw stock to create inventory you have to pay tax for it sitting on the shelf, and if it isn’t sold in some arbitrarily determined amount of time, they say it’s worth zero. Which is strange because when the “one” part was ordered the price for all the setup was billed, so the next time they sold the part the absolutely crushed it with the profit, and the people were happy to have it on hand so quickly. It was called a win win The point being, it is a great disincentive to companies to stockpile, and figuring out what to keep in stock and what not to becomes a lot more challenging, and it seems to be an unnecessary burden on manufacturers. There is no doubt in my mind that this plays a role with something as niche as aircraft engines and parts. For any industry to be able to able to tell customers you must wait two years for a product that you aren’t capable of replacing with anyone else is insane, and deeply broken. Especially when it is something as simple as an air cooled engine. these engines were made in the hundreds of thousands a year in the 30’s and 40’s. The technology is old, and it is no where near as complicated as some of the parts we used to make. It’s also a function of the captive nature of our genre. Where else will you go? They can tell you whatever they want. And if they want to wait until they can make 50 engines in a run and it takes two years, well that’s that.

That's an interesting argument...how dangerous is a go around? We're taught that we should be able to safely go around if things don't look right, too fast, runway contaminated, don't break out of IMC at DA/MDA, per controller instruction, etc. I think in this case it was a squeeze play, so when the aircraft behind was told to go around, it was probably still on final and perhaps even 0.5 mile out? Also surely I would expect that the go around pilot should have been able to see that an aircraft is on the runway and be hearing the controller so they should ALREADY be prepped to go around. The go around should have been a non-issue, I think. There may be times when a go around is unable, but it seems that for most traffic that it should be a non issue, especially in a tower controlled environment where you have someone sequencing and giving instructions. EDIT: to be fair though...from my perspective the break in flow from a go around makes me paranoid of gear up so I probably quadruple check my gear when I've gone around...the break in flow certainly has the risk of missing a check list item.

Garmin has a myriad of solutions. Not everything works with everything. The GFC 500, G3X and G5 were designed to work together as a system. The GFC 500 autopilot software is in the PFD. The software was added to the GI 275 so it will work with a GFC 500 also. The G3X and G5 PFDs were not designed to drive legacy autopilots. The GI 275 is unique in that it will work with legacy autopilots and the GFC 500 as well. If you want to retain a lot of legacy equipment including autopilots and want a large screen, the G500TXi is the best solution. My advice is to always decide first what autopilot you want and then go from there to build out a panel. The autopilot is the keystone.

I went on the wrong taxiway once headed to takeoff and got held at the end of the runway for a long time due to "wake turbulence" from the landing Archers. I was actually really amused by that.

Unprofessional and 'exact opposite' the AIM, 100% agree. To be clear, I am NOT defending his lack of knowledge. But, foolish? Vehemently disagree. Foolish is continuing into a situation that you PERCEIVE to be potentially dangerous even if you have the slightest doubt; that to me is the height of BAD judgement and poor ADM. All of you 'Monday morning QBs' can continue to point out that he only stopped because he "didn't know the rules". Well, DUH, thank you captains obvious! I'd much rather have the pilot that stops when he's uncertain, regardless of reason, than the one that has the "it's all good, man" attitude and just keeps on going when confronted with a possible safety issue. The idea that "his foolish/dangerous/ignorant/fill-in-the-deprecating blank" action would result "in a tragedy" is ridiculously overzealous hyperbole (I realize not your post, Mark). If the guy behind him can't perform a safe go-around REGARDLESS of the reason, that's on him, not the pilot stopped on the runway! Are we going to give the go-around pilot a pass if the plane on the runway gear-upped? I guess so, since the guy blocking the runway was at fault for not putting the gear down, right? Or, blown tire? I guess we can look and find out that the tire was bald; once again, blame it on the guy on the ground! Maybe the tire blew because of FOD on the runway from a previous departure? Let's blame that guy, and give the incompetent pilot that couldn't perform a safe go-around another pass!

A single phrase rebuke may be constructive or even required, but a radio diatribe is never necessary or professional.

Legally, when you are cleared to land you own the runway, but to needlessly dawdle or stop on the runway is unprofessional and selfish.

I wish we could reform the tax system and/or change the accounting rules that have driven nearly every industry to a just-in-time model, because it really fails the customer in the lower quantity/niche markets like GA products. Automobile manufacturing, sure, I think it likely works very well once you get everything humming along, but that is just not possible in our little world.

You’re still missing MikeOH’s point.

They're generally safe, easy to use, and easily removable if they do ever cause trouble. The expensive in-panel ones are generally just more expensive and not necessarily any "better" than plugging in a cheapie adapter. The main risk is whether they generate much rf noise that might interfere with radios or other avionics. I've looked at this a couple times, and the last time was four years ago and so newer devices may be different than what was tested. The bottom line every time I've tested this is that the cost and pedigree of the unit has little to do with how quiet it is in an rf sense, so just get something decent and if it gives you trouble get a different one. The quietest one I ever tested was a cheapie spiff giveaway unit branded with the name of a bank. http://ericjacobsen.org/Files/USB_Power_Supply_RF_analysis_3.pdf From here:

So, August 20th I, as a newly minted Mooney M20J pilot, flew N82KL down to Sarasota Avionics in Venice, Florida for some work and upgrades. As a Mooney Service Center I figured I could kill two birds with one stone so to speak, get some great deals stemming from AirVenture installed and take care of the awful trim issues it had. So, its still down there. Ground Zero for Milton. As nervous as I am for my airplane, I am really, really feeling for those folks who live and work there. If my plane is destroyed, I have insurance. If their livlihood, or lives, are disrupted, there is a distinct limit to what insurance can do. I'm hoping for the best while fearing the worst. But overall my heart goes out to all of the folks at Sarasota Aviation right now, and their families. Just wow!

Interesting, okay so it did happen …. but wasn’t a great business.

Not much, if any - depends on the insurance company

Close, Mooney mentioned at MooneyMax that there about approx. 7000 still flying. They delivered their 11,000th Mooney back in 2006, so less than +/- 11,300? https://generalaviationnews.com/2006/03/24/mooney-delivers-no-11000/ But your point is well taken. The ones destroyed aren't coming back. I still believe though that corrosion is taking more out of the fleet every year than natural disasters.

something similar happened to me in my Mooney...Just stay calm

I run mine off a panel mount Garmin USB. But I have the cable routed to the left and then between the edge of the panel and the side wall. Behind the panel, then a few turns around the yoke shaft. I found a cable that is almost flush, so you don't have that connector sticking out. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CCJLS4R5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

It looks like the Piper Comanche actuator may use the same gears....

One of the great things here in the US is readily available flight training and often significantly cheaper than other parts of the world (as in EU). I too have looked at GATTS and would consider such a program ($10K USD, their aircraft). The following are listed on their websites as Pilots must have a current BFR and medical. Pilots must have flown a minimum of 5 hours in the past six months or 15 hours in the past year. Pilots must have the instrument written passed upon arrival. Pilots must have a minimum of 15 hours of instrument time logged before starting the course. A minimal 50 hours of Pilot In Command Cross Country time are required to start training. So you might want to get those taken care of first. I'm sure it would be helpful no matter who you ultimately train with. There are also instructors who do intensive 1-on-1 in your aircraft or yours where you fly real-world. I couldn't find the link that I was looking for, but did run across this website with some pretty good references: https://flightsimcoach.com/blog/accelerated-flight-training-guide/https://flightsimcoach.com/blog/accelerated-flight-training-guide/ The website proprietor is basically marketing a 'flight sim' approach to learning IFR. While it will not get you an actual rating, it might get you well on your way to a rating without having to travel to the US and all the expense of that. Finally, the Mooney Flyer lists many qualified Mooney-specific instructors who offer 1-on-1 training and have their own aircraft https://themooneyflyer.com/cfi.html

Nope. His lack of knowledge resulted in a disturbance of the flow. That domino could of resulted in a botched go around that resulted in an accident. That it didn't is NOT the issue. Just because his ignorance to a very basic procedure didn't result in an accident is a non-factor. Bottom line: His lack of knowledge on procedure could of resulted in a tragedy. Had HE NOT been ignorant the accident chain would not have begun. No pass for "erring on caution" given. Do better next time. I DO understand what you are saying. I just flat out disagree. I have made many errors of ommission and lack of knowledge. It is how we learn as pilotsand humans. You have a history of "feeling" that we are throwing other pilots under the bus. We are not. We all learn from reading and discussing others errors whether of ommission or commission. We are ALL fallable.

I ordered the one @Lax291 posted but returned it. It stuck out from the panel a bit too much for my liking. The Anker I posted above is short and fits the adapter and makes it look like a built in.

Yes mine used to not be perfectly aligned and the plane had a tendency to roll to the right. The first shop i brought it to fixed the roll by adjusting one of the flaps. I then had another mechanic rig the elevators so they were flush with each other and then we also lined up the flaps so they were even. The plane now flies perfectly straight.

Here's the newer version of the one I use and recommend: Anker USB C Car Charger Adapter, 52.5W Cigarette Lighter USB Charger, iPhone 16 Car Charger with 30W PowerIQ 3.0 Fast Charging for iPhone 16/15/14/13 https://a.co/d/8wprXWn Comes with USB A and C ports and is 12v/24v compatible. I did try the Sporty's version which had the digital bus voltage displayed on the front, and those did not work. Would not keep my iPad mini charged for some reason.

With that neat an operation and production line, why is there still such a terrible wait time for a new engine. Or am I misinformed.

Get rid of the stupid Q line, it's for their system and not intended for pilot reference, so don't disseminate that line. Only provide relevant NOTAMs, not all of those for several hundred miles in every direction from the proposed flight. Put them in order of priority, where a closed runways at the proposed destination comes first. Followed by changed/closed approaches at the destination, frequency changes, taxiway changes at the destination. Unlit towers form the hundreds of miles between origin and destination should be last, well after affected runways and frequencies at these airports. Other than this off the top of my head will require study to determine a priority system, not determined by the person who files the NOTAM. Just because you have a tower light burned out 8 miles east of your North-South runway when I'm planning to pass west, 120 NM away, is not very important.

No I didn't. There would NOT be a conflict to stop for! So sorry, you can't convince me they just blew it. No clue as to why as I stated. Now maybe we'll find out he saw someone booking down A and didn't think they were going to stop. But that's not what he said. He said he was stopping for the "Primary Runway" and he was on and owned the Primary Runway. Did he get a visit from the FAA, I doubt it. Did he get an ear full from the Controller for probably having a number of people go around while the Controller figured out what the issue was. But as soon as he found out it was not an aircraft issue or physical issue, just the guy blew it, I'd be pissed too.

That means the regulator isn't regulating, since the output is proportional to rpm. The usual architecture with a backup alternator is that each alternator has its own regulator, and the main regulator output voltage is set a little higher than the backup. e.g., if the main regulator is set to 28.3V (like yours), then the backup would be set to 27V or something like that. The difference should be enough to reliably keep the backup alternator from producing power until/unless the main alternator fails. If the backup regulator is set to 27V and the main regulator is putting out 28.3V from the main alternator, the backup regulator will essentially turn off the backup since the system voltage is already too high from its perspective. If the primary alternator fails as soon as the voltage drops to 27V the backup regulator will try to keep it there with the backup alternator. So there should be two regulators, and the backup alternator shouldn't be putting out any power if the main alternator is putting out more than whatever the backup regulator is set to.

NOW

If anyone needs to evacuate, Missouri is having great weather right now!! We had to fly to Southern Georgia last week to pick up our two young grandsons. They still don’t have power at my son’s house just north of Valdosta and school is cancelled until Oct 17.

I've never had an autopilot, and the new Dynon autopilot ain't approved for my homely little C model anyway, so please bear with my ignorance.... If you're installing the Dynon Skyview system and you need to install an IFR-cert GPS from another manufacturer, why can't you install one of multiple Garmin units and drive another autopilot (say an Aerocruz) with that? Is there no way to drive the autopilot, or is it that this becomes a Frankenstein system that is a PITA instead of a fully integrated system from all Garmin. Thanks.

Although I have a TSO'd USB power source built into my panel, I use the cigarette lighter socket for auxiliary USB power, and found a nifty little adapter that also includes a carbon monoxide detector. The CO detector has a digital readout (blue LED between the two sockets) as well as a very loud buzzer that goes off if it detects the presence of CO. It's on whenever the master is on, and it works great. I tested it by lighting a match a few feet away when the aircraft was in the hangar. That triggered a warning in about 3 seconds when the indicator reached about 20 ppm. Had it for almost 3 years now. It's on Amazon for $34. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GCQR19G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It does sound potentially like a parody. The end is funny, too, with the change in tone and "thank you." Maybe they're taking advantage of my east coast stereotypes

When we went from TCA's, ARSA's, and TRSA's, to class A,B,C,D,E,G, that was an improvement. With recent ICAO changes our "/g" transmogrophyed into all that PBN gobbledygook. It seems to me that this new NOTAM format is more of the same. They took what was modestly decipherable and FUBAR'd it into gibberish. Oh, and GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

You'll need a WAAS GPS (Garmin 430W, 530W, GTN750, 650; Avidyne IFD440, 540, 550 - those all have coms and navs as well)

Thank you for sharing your adventure in your Mooney. Brings to mind some great Mooney flying adventures for me along your routes. Enjoy each moment!

Coriolis force. There is little it cannot do.

All, Thanks to life and avionics updates, I finally did my first step towards Arizona with a flight to Apple Valley (KAPV) on Saturday. It was certainly high DA, and bumpy on the way back. The cafe on airport looks to be closing its doors on October 20. The new G5s, GI-275 EIS and Century IIB worked great, I just need to better figure out my settings for speed vs efficiency for leaning. Next step is the leg to KPRC, maybe in the next couple of weeks! Thank you all for the help and encouragement so far! edit: Added flight plan and tracks @carusoam!

Paint shops are hard to recommend. If you plane was just painted, you have no idea of how it will hold up long term. If you had your plane painted a while ago, you have no idea is the shop is still as good. Mine was painted by Hawk in 2014 and looks great. @jetdriven had his plane painted there at the same time and is happy.

Just don’t do it at your home drome. They can carry a grudge for a long time.

@PeteMc You COMPLETELY miss the point: What he did was the SAFE decision. Keep right on bashing him for "not knowing" he 'owned' the entire runway, but his 'pilot error' showed good judgement: he was concerned with conflict. The fact that there was NOT any conflict is irrelevant. He was uncertain about a PERCEIVED safety issue and acted to eliminate it. That's good ADM.

Kogd (Ogden) tower has been terrible for this a few times. I came in one day and they were just screaming at a local helicopter pilot. Very unprofessional, but also a significant detractor from everyone else’s SA. I asked for the tower supervisors phone number and eventually talked to him (he wasn’t in the tower at the time). Im sure pilots (me too) do stupid stuff from time to time and a quick mention of “you missed 3 radio calls” or “when i say X i need you to acknowledge” is fine but screaming at someone is going to cause way more problems than it solves. Get or give a phone number and deal with it when everyone is safely at zero knots.

No

Doesn’t seem that bad to me. 35 years ago we didn’t have Class A, B, C, D etc airspace. We had TCAs, ARSAs, TRSAs, etc. When they decided to change it, everybody complained but it wasn’t that bad. We also didn’t have METARs and TAFs. We had SAs and FTs. When they decided to change it, everybody complained but it wasn’t that bad.

tough call, $30k is the medium range for Mooney, if you want an excellent job it will be more and may take 3 months, ask the painter if they vaporize the stripper, you may have to travel a bit, get 3 recent references from each shop that you are considering, talk to the owners, if you have never had an airplane painted hire somebody as a consultant who had lots of airplanes painted, visit the shop every week or have the consultant visit every week, when in doubt pay more for stuff that has not been discussed in the initial quote. The biggest problem with aircraft painting is that most shops do not have any environmental controls, this means a paint booth with precisely controlled airflow, temp and humidity, they paint in some garden variety hangar instead. The few shops that do prefer to do jets where a paint job can run a couple of hundred k. Bottom line, look around, talk to people, and then choose wisely, big commitment, once a job is started it is virtually impossible to extract a semi finished plane, ask me how I know

Keep pressing for the pre-J models to be added to their AML! The hard part is now over. Honestly they should have included F and G in this initial approval, but oh well. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

Earlier this year when I was having issues with the KFC-150 an avionics shop told me that my system was too old and unsupported, and that I needed to upgrade to a "G" panel. The verbal quote was "about $50k" for a G autopilot, a new GPS to replace my Avidyne IFD540 and 2 G5's to replace my Aspen. Besides the fact that I really like the Avidyne navigator and the Aspen, Jake was able to fix my KFC-150. I only saved 49 AMUs.

Did we just have a discussion about potential AI created descriptions. But that's one I would have thought AI would get correct, so again, my vote is for human error.

FWIW, everybody seems to refer to the nose gear as a "truss". Actually, the nose gear comprises three parts: the upper part is the truss, the middle part is the leg, and the lower part is the spindle. It is usually the leg that gets the dents, However, if the damage is severe enough it can damage both the leg and the truss. Check the damaged parts against the IPC to determine which parts need to be replaced or repaired. If the damage is over 1/32", I would not purchase the airplane until after it was repaired. If you buy it and move it and it collapses you will be the proud owner of an expensive repair.

I believe the answer is that it’s not right. But, if it’s been that way for 26 years, it may not be worth fixing. In rigging, often if you change one thing you mess up another.