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Yeah I am in Grenada , MS now, and clear sky's. The way I have to look at it now, is that I am a local VFR pilot, and if I want to do a VFR XC I have to make absolutely sure I am clear. Keep in mind that the last trip I planned, was good VFR, but I got an illusion that it was worse ahead of me, when I was over that layer.

You won't go absolutely broke until you go to have the cowl enclosure painted and realize your plane's paint is faded and you decide to have it painted, only to find the interior looks drab compared to the new paint and you need to have it redone, which you do, but find that your sorry looking panel needs an update that you update and it goes on and on and on...

My clairvoyance tells me that the storms will start at exactly 13:13:13 on Sunday and end exactly at 02:13:13 Monday. Don't ask me if this is local or zulu time because my alter ego has not made an indication yet. Also, don't let the recurring 13's make you nervous. These are the times that a fly-by would not be recommended unless you can maintain at least 1.67" of airframe icing as well as ensure that your fuel injectors don't ice up. These kinds of problems make most people nervous but because I learned to fly with a kick-ass guy (he flew in WW1 and signed Orville Wright off to go solo in the Wright Flyer) I should be OK. Don't worry about me. I think I have the all the tools to make it happen and at least squeak out of the other side without damaging something. I'll be taking my hermaphroditic dog with me so I hope to have some company. I love my dog and don't want to put him/her in danger so I hope my posts here on MooneySpace make everyone comfortable with my piloting skills. But my next 27,354 posts here on MooneySpace should flesh out a lot of the issues I encounter on my long journey to becoming the first normally aspirated pilot to successfully survive while breathing pure helium at FL 293.34 while drinking a nice hot cup of coffee and petting my puppy. Best of luck to me.....I love you all!

One thing worse than no ice protection at all is a home made half baked de-ice system that doesn't work, but lulls you into ice only to discover that the pam/rain-ex home made concoction on your wings either doesn't work at all or works slightly and encourages some unwanted behavior like run-back.

I learned to fly in a Beaver (U. S. Army) on wheels. Later, chartered a Beaver on floats in Alaska. Great aircraft. Wish I could afford to have a Beaver on floats to pair with my Mooney.

There is one other way to save on the wear, but I find props to be much more expensive.....

The event is a GO in Santa Maria. Thanks to all for signing up. Mitch and I are looking forward to meeting many of you from the list. Teresa from ArtCraft Paint has donated a wash/detail [$350] value, so that is super fun too. We are working on rates at the Raddison. As far as other areas of the country, it is best to email Jerry at: jerrymantheysr@gmail.com I know that Indiana did not go last month due to decreased attendance. We are super excited! Fun fun

Nate, it was nice meeting you as we'll. I didn't know you were a CFII. Maybe we can get together so I can pick your brain. Also, that oil leak that we were talking about that my mechanic has been trying to chase down, is now gone when I switched from mineral oil to detergent based oil. The only squak she has is a vor that's off 4 degrees which I will get fixed.

That could quite possibly be true. I ran into a flight crew of Air Trek in BUF last year. They were surprisingly forth coming with what a "shady" operation it used to be. A lot of Air Ambulance operators are squeaking by, by doing the absolute minimum. However, it doesn't excuse what an idiot that FAA inspector was. Well that's easy........if your medical says you need glasses then take them with you.

You know what's even better than TKS? The skin friction generated from 400+ kts.....

sounds like a much better deal to me.. One point to consider, if your new mission requires more than 60 gal. in a -J it will probably require more than 100 in an -R Your mpg will drop from about 15 nmpg in the J to around 12 nmpg in the R

mark, as far as the ice was concerned, it was just a little building up on the windshield, and we decended and it instantly blew right off. And like I said he was an instrument rated 8,000, CFII, with ATP and Helicopter ratings. I can understand the non IFR punching through a small cloud issue, I get it. But as a student, how the hell am I going to call the CFI with 45 years of exp an idiot? Or, being low time student pilot, how am I going to identify if he is an idiot? Oh, and BTW the weather said the ceilings were at 3700' with no precipitation. I guess you dont get it, I was a low time pilot, this all happened prior to solo, before I even hit the books for the written. I didn't know about weather planning, aeromedical factors, about carb ice, aerodynamics or any of the rules and regs. I was with an instructor that was giving me my first few lessons, how the hell was I susposed to know? Now, fast forward. I passed my written, I went through a 7 1/2 checkride, it would be a lot different if I did any of this after the fact. I do know one thing for a fact.. You dont know me. If you had just met me, and we decided to take a flight somewhere you would be impressed with my preflight action, use of checklist, knowlege of my plane, flying ability. (I did make a bad decision, learned from it) On a forum, I look like that guy that scud runs under thunderstorms, macho, its not going to happen to me, lets go have some fun and puch through clouds, fly bys, one beer wont hurt etc... That is entirely not the case.

Hey Jose..why dont you try this stuff out on a nice winter day with frontal passage on a flight 2 or 3 thousand above freezing level and report back how well it worked!!No fair testing out over Bahamas or Baja California in summer!!I await your report..kpc

I'll make ya a nice deal on an M20K that I logged about 120 hours in during 2012 and quite a few more this year - just got a May annual signoff at Maxwell. You won't have to sort out 5 years of cobwebs and you'll be up to 10,000 in less than 10 minutes. Who cares about the turbo when the fuel savings will quickly eclipse any marginal extra maintenance

Robert, after continuing my reading of your posts, I'm afraid for you. I thought at first you were humbled by the experience, but you continue to believe the training you received saved you and your family. It didn't, you got lucky. You came hear to confess your tempting of fate and the emotional ramifications of putting your family in harm's way. Most of us tried to console you but also make you aware that putting your head into the mouth of an alligator wasn't a smart thing to do. This forum is populated with pilots who I venture to guess have ten of thousands of hours of flying experience in just Mooneys alone. Most of us have been directly impacted one way or another with an aviation tragedy. Mooney owners are a tight bunch. We may not like each other all of the time, but like a family we do look after each other. We're trying to look out for you...

Robert, I was surprised at the turn this thread took. I just spent the last hour reading through it again. I am worried about you friend. Scud running, ice, IMC all with less than 100 hours? This shows a lack of critical decision making skills. Flying a Mooney in weather, cross country is a complicated thing, full of risk and unexpected dangers. Flying around the local field for fun is not the same thing as loading up the family and heading into weather. I change my earlier advice and suggest you not pursue your IFR rather stay close to home in severe clear weather for a long while. Please evaluate what you said you have done on this thread. Besides incriminating, it is downright dangerous. One phrase you said really scares me: "scud running with ice building but ???no issue???? because lots of airports around." Come on man, that is a frightening statement. Scud running with ice - no problem? I see a problem. Don't you? You were lucky with this IMC thing. You need to back up and reassess the real issue. It's not the plane, the weather or the instructor - look in the mirror and get serious about flying or find a better hobby. At the very least, increase your life insurance and keep your family and any passenger away until you can be safe.

Because your excessive confidence and comfort has been leading you to do extremely stupid things! Maybe that's the part you should be re-evaluating?

So, let me get this straight... On your landing thread (too bad it's gone), you discarded all of the recommendations from this forum on how to land in favor of your old salt instructor because according to you he can fly anything with wings. Is this the same guy that you're now saying isn't even a CFI? What were/are you thinking man??? I would seriously consider selling your Mooney. You really don't have any business flying that plane right now. Take some time off... six months... maybe a year. After you've had time away from aviation, re-evaluate if aviation is for you. If the answer is yes, find the best flight school in your area and get yourself current an something like a 172 and rent their planes. It sounds like you need a very structured environment that a flight school will provide. Enroll at the best flying school in your area, train in their planes and forget flying your Mooney. By you going out and purchasing IFR training materials before you have an instructor tells me you still don't get it. ... no more from me on this topic.

Robert, You keep digging your hole deeper and deeper with every post. This brings to mind a great movie quote by Wilford Brimley that I think is applicable at this point. That saying is: When you're up to your nose in shit, don't open your mouth With every post you make you seem further and further from a cohesive story about what happened and how you got there. You need to get with an instructor - one that can help you evaluate what you've said and done. This instructor needs to help you "get your head straight" about flying: What it is and what it isn't What risks you're taking and how you can mitigate them Whether and when you should be taking passengers What a good maintenance plan for your airplane is - you've had a lot of technical/mechanical problems in such a short flying career Best of luck to you - but flying is a lot more than luck. Attitude is a BIG part of flying.

win the lottery? I can't image a mission change that would warrant a change to an Ovation over a M20J.

Lemme see: though unsure of the terrain and obstacles, you dove with you family into a hole doing 200 mph because you didn't want to shock-cool your motor. Interesting priorities.

You don't need more training, you need to get your head out of your ass! You're playing with fire. The last few stories I read about someone going VFR into IMC, the outcome listed fatalities! You don't need more training. If you got a private pilot certificate just recently, you have received all the training you need to safely fly VFR. Attitude is a whole other story. No amount of instruction and training will solve that. You don't need someone to teach you how to fly in the clouds. You need to stop being an idiot and not putting yourself there in the first place. And you shouldn't be taking anyone up flying with you until you can get 50-100 hours of trouble free flight and be confident with yourself to be able to take them with 100% safety. To drag others through your situation is completely unacceptable. As a next to zero time pilot, you have to set some BIG safety margins for yourself. Minimums aren't meant for you. They are meant for guys with lots of experience who are certain they can operate at those minimums. You have to set your own minimums and better on the conservative side until you learn what your lower limits can safely be. Most sane VFR pilots with a healthy fear of IMC turn around when they begin to encounter it. You decided to break the rules, press on, and put everyone at risk of DEATH. Either quit flying while you're still ahead or fix your attitude and give it the seriousness that it so strongly requires. *All that said with your safety and the preservation of GA in mind.

No other to say this but to blurt it out(i did count to ten and remembered the golden rule)I do not think you have a lick of common sense Robert and given the choice I would rather be in an airplane with the parrots piloting