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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/04/2015 in all areas

  1. Just a couple of observations: There are other CXX titles than just CEO in most companies. To pin that title on conjecture is stretching it. The Mooney world and Kerrville are both very small worlds. The restaurant business in Kerrville is even more so. Could be they felt safe in the restaurant and then felt exposed, they're doing or not, as I have no information who said what. I could also find issues with contacts as described by any CXX of any company. Having met the top of the Mooney pyramid (whom I hold in high regard), I am dismayed at this turn of events. Having in decades past worked where "Dark Programs" were numerous, we had stiff legal issues if we discussed same anywhere but in secure areas. In the civilian world of aviation none such exist so mistakes can be made. I also think of the competitive nature of the civil aviation world and I can only begin to envision the pressure placed on those at the top of each company whereby even one decision can mean the complete make or break of the company (much like Boeing betting everything on the outcome of the 747. If it failed we wouldn't have Boeing today). Could be that a softer approach containing an initial apology about a "misunderstanding" brought through a phone call to the Secretary of the individual involved might get a similar response in return and lead to an amicable settling of the issue. Most people in responsible positions are ultimately reasonable to deal with (even if they have had a bad day). In the end, such a settling of the issue may bring about their feeling, once again, to feel safe a secure in their choice of restaurant. Regardless, I'll probably be going through Kerrville in January and I'll stop and eat at the restaurant.
    3 points
  2. Thanks to all for the advice. I am a professional pilot of a corporate jet and very involved with it's care and maintenance, so I know a bit about taking care of aluminum flying machines. I am familiar with corrosion and airplanes but not as it threatens Mooneys, hence my caution. If a proper pre buy "inspection", and diligent maintenance thereafter, will eliminate the threat of a serious corrosion event in the future, I am much encouraged. This is what I'm hearing. When I receive further information on the prospective aircraft, I will post it here in the hopes some of you are familiar with it. At this time I don't have much information except a few pictures, none of which show the N number. I can tell you that this aircraft is not a "bargain bin" special, and at this point priced well above market, so much is expected where condition is concerned. If the logbooks check out, I intend to fly to Boston for a "look see" sometime next week. I really appreciate all the help and advice everyone here has offered. I look forward to learning all about Mooneys from the folks on mooneyspace.
    2 points
  3. This thread is just getting too weird for me.
    2 points
  4. There is no way the M20 will be pressurized. I can say that with certainty as a structural engineer with no inside knowledge.
    2 points
  5. Great. Poke the bear. Thanks.
    1 point
  6. How does Nancy like being able to open her own window? Anything that makes the finance administrator happy has got to be a good idea. Best regards, -a-
    1 point
  7. Yeah... there was no action. Evidently it's because it was mounted too far from the leading edge. I plan to go pick the plane up from the avionics shop today and the AOA is supposed to be properly mounted as per the instructions this time. Previously I'd mounted it in one of the inspection panels under the wing but so far back from the leading edge, the airflow just doesn't change much and the vane didn't seem to move anywhere between straight and level and full stall.
    1 point
  8. I'll fix the boots and retest. Rigging looks ok by my eye. The rigging problem can be a number of different factors and not just the control surfaces. In my case, I had a gear not fully retracted that created drag. A genius mechanic decided to fix the drag issue by mis-rigging the flaps to compensate. You should verify that drag of flaps or gear isn't causing the roll issue. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    1 point
  9. I just made a phone call to Timmy. He said he is willing to come back and entertain all. [emoji15] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    1 point
  10. Sorry about that! My Brittain units are much better than me . . .
    1 point
  11. And in this case I firmly believe the feds got it right. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    1 point
  12. Here's the thing... sr71's would have been on a center wide TAC UHF freq, they couldn't change freqs fast enough to hop sector to sector. You would have to change frequencies every 2-30 seconds, it's not possible. Most fighters also use UHF and not the usual VHF freqs.... so the likelihood of all these folks being on the same freq at the same time is about zero.... He sort of describes the TAC freq early in the story when he mentions "we wouldn't talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace..." Normally it's monitored by everyone and the aircraft would just be handed from sector to sector and whoever had him when he needed something would respond. But it's baffling because the story comes from Brian Shul's book Sled Driver and he's a well known and respected 71 pilot. FWIW you can find sled driver in the library sometimes, there's one copy in my state so my local library ordered it in from across the state for me to check out, pretty neat and didn't cost me $700.
    1 point
  13. Please just make it stop!!!!
    1 point
  14. It will fly any couse in APP mode. It will not fly an actual approach course in NAV mode. Sometimes flying along tracking what seems to me perfectly the course with wind correction applied in NAV mode just for fun I'll put it in APP. It's pretty cool to watch uncle Otto sit up and listen and tweak to track what it now thinks is an approach course!
    1 point
  15. You got that right. I flew up to GGG a few years ago with a PC pulling to one side and the master himself replaced an aileron boot on the tarmac in front of his shop hangar. Watching him do it I know I could not begin to R&R one without losing lots of skin and damning my soul many times over with cursing!
    1 point
  16. Just gorgeous...not to mention...super.
    1 point
  17. Weird, but highly entertaining just the same. A comedy of errors indeed. I believe we all want to see success for both Mooney and Kerrville's restaurant proprietors. Let's hope it all gets worked out. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    1 point
  18. Yhanks! Yes indeed, I kept mine in the shipping box and kept my ceramic heater going which kept the acrylic warm through the nights. When we were working in my (normally) unheated hanger we ran a kerosene heater. This time of year we have cold nights warming up during the day. Pics from today's flight to Smyrna TN. Like the vent in the door?
    1 point
  19. Brittain's service is great. A functional PC system is wonderful! I've used mine 11.5 hours in the last two weeks, mostly with the heading bug steering.
    1 point
  20. Wow. That is amazing. I've been told nothing but horror stories about the FSDOs and how they are pretty much denying everything. Stuff like putting the factory stock 201 cowl on a vintage Mooney. Clearly not all FSDOs are created equal. It seems so inconsistent. Why not skip the STC, sell the kits as is and tell everybody to go down to the FSDO, get approval and file a 337 like you did? The FAA and the FARs have become sort of nonsensical at times too me. Just let us all certify our planes as Experimental / Factory Built, have the same privileges as somebody buying a used kit plane and be done with it!
    1 point
  21. All airplanes corrode and from time to time you are going to have to address it on your airplane. Things like corrosion-X, climate, etc. can slow it down but you will always get corrosion. The thing to keep in mind is properly addressed it isn't a big deal, where you find the chronic corrosion issues is where you do a lot of pencil whipped annuals over the years and never look in the spots where getting corrosion is really bad. Thus if you get a competent pre-buy on a plane you buy and follow it up with good annuals along with some corrosion-x then no big worries.
    1 point
  22. This is a nice winglet on this mooney
    1 point
  23. I have a suggestion for the Mooney Angel Flight pilots. The "legs" are deliberately short so that pilots with limited range VFR aircraft can handle them. Many times I have taken two legs at a time and just fly it as one Point A to Point B trip. I have even on a couple of occasions contacted a second leg pilot and asked if I could take overy her/his leg and just fly it as one continuos trip for the patient's sake. Everyone is in it to make sure the patient is cared for, so no one ever says "No." Mooneys are very able long range aircraft and it is nothing for me to fly to, say Chicago, and pick someone up to come back to MN. I have even gone to Chi, picked up a passenger going to SE Ohio, and returned home from there. Our aircraft are among the fastest and most economical out there, so why not do that for your next AF passenger. AF gives you credit for both "legs," not that credit is any big deal you are doing it for the good of the patient. Go for it. Use that Mooney the way it was intended.
    1 point
  24. Glad you got it diagnosed and are on the road to having your PC fully functional.
    1 point
  25. Did some diagnostics today. The pilot valve is working fine, hoses are fine but the aileron boots are completely shot and one rudder boot is not retracting right and is getting hung up. It also doesn't hold vacuum. The other rudder boot is probably so so but I ordered four refurbished boots from Brittain anyway. They will be here on Satuday hopefully. The aileron boots will be a beoch to remove. The rudder boots are simple.
    1 point
  26. Probably my eight week old puppy...regarding the Cheerios. He has the pissing and defecating locations covered fairly well at this point...
    1 point
  27. I was able to get the approval through the FSDO (no DER yet) and no fly offs before signing it off. I did submit a 337 with my data for pre approval before starting my project as I didn't want my airplane potentially unable to fly while waiting on the STC process. Thanks, David
    1 point
  28. ADF are going (if not mostly gone). I got rid of the ADF VOR are going (although many will stay) and are being replaced by RNAV / GPS ILS approaches are here to stay Only ones you miss without WAAS are GPS LPV. But at $20,000 / install cost, that would make the cost per approach down to say a 450-250ft minimum high. At least, it does in my book. But I understand it is all relative.
    1 point
  29. I am still in and will likely swing by NE Philly to pick up Dev on my way!
    1 point
  30. Here ya go: http://selectaircraft.com/id6.htm
    1 point
  31. The STEC is rate based and therefore sensitive to yaw. If you try to help with the rudders, the way many of us learned to make small adjustments on the localizer, you can induce unwanted behavior. I had the same problem on my first approach after installing my 55X. The autopilot settled down once I stopped unconsciously trying to help.
    1 point
  32. Sounds like a lot of the Internet which is a one sided story, without knowing the other side it is really hard to make judgements.
    1 point
  33. I had a very similar issue arise a few weeks ago. The difference was that I was having troubles with transmission and reception. I had one radio bench tested and it failed. Second radio bench tested good. Replaced the failed radio, but the problem persisted. Checked the screws on the ground plane for the accessible antenna, sprayed with contact cleaner and ran the screws in and out a few times to assure that any corrosion was broken up. Still no joy. To my embarrassment, it turned out to be the charger for my Ipad causing the issue. Unplugged it and all is well. If you have any 12v devices plugged into the accessory port/cigarette lighter try to unplug them and see if that resolves the issue for you.
    1 point
  34. Let me add a little bit of corporate twist to this. If the "rumor" was started based on an overheard discussion by Mooney employees in a public forum, shame on the Mooney employees. My corporation has very clear rules on how new product concepts and subsequent development are handled. One of those rules is managing how company private information (like a new product concept) is handled. We all sign CDAs and are clearly required to respect that confidentiality. And that means not discussing the confidential information in a public venue. If on the other hand, Dave was soliciting information from employees about the "rumor", I can see where I as a Mooney executive may resort to a cease and desist letter to protect my company's interests and privacy. That letter wouldn't come from me, but from our legal team and it would call out the allegations of the activities that are being done and include the customary "or else" phraseology. It would be highly unlikely that I would issue a letter or email by myself without legal review. That said, being a small company, these codes of business conduct are probably not established. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    1 point
  35. If you are referring to Slick mags, don't be so quick to blame the technician that installed them. Saying the timing "slipped" could have just been his way of saying the timing is not what it was when he set it a few hours before. Theres a well known (but completely ignored by Champion) issue with new Slick points. They all seem to be incapable of staying timed in the first few hours. We change points in Slicks every 500 hours, most of those mags come back off before the next oil change to have the points retimed. We are a 145 repair station with a full engine overhaul facility including magneto capability. We know what we are doing and have all the fancy test equipment to back it up. It is by no fault of ours, something in the way the point sets are being made has changed, and not in a good way. Voicing concern to a Champion rep netted us a bunch of free T-shirts and a bag of mag timing cams. If your technician simply retimed the mags to the engine and did not retime the internal timing of the mag it is very likely that your lag angle is incorrect and will cause the engine to be hard to start, amongst other things. If he/she is uncomfortable inside a mag PM me and I will arrange to have them sent to my facility and I will personally go over them free of charge.
    1 point
  36. Well David... First, if they did not want something seen in public or announced to the public, then it should stay hidden. If they need complete privacy, then trucking the secret item to Mojave, CA for testing etc. would seem appropriate. Also, it might be a good idea for Mooney employees to keep their mouths shut if there is some sort of innovation that is being worked on. Having had face to face conversations with several of the higher-ups at Mooney all of which were cordial, and having followed your postings here for quite a while, something definitely seems amiss. I do not think it is ever appropriate to contact a third party (in this case the family restaurant) if one party or the other feels offended, injured (financially), hurt, etc. David, you are already in Kerrville. Take a drive over to the sales office and see if you can talk to the person that called the restaurant or sent the email. Go with a smile trying to alleviate the situation, not to exacerbate. Maybe you can find a way to know if they are in town or traveling. Remember that there is a guard shack before you get to the sales office so you might need an appointment to get through. Let them know that you understand that they might want to keep certain things secret but also that it is not appropriate to contact other family members if they have a dispute with you. If they want to keep their project a secret then they should keep it in the hangar and tell their employees to keep their mouths shut. They should already know that you are a pro-Mooney guy and that you hope for their success. Whatever you saw and whatever you heard from employees is all fair game as far as I am concerned unless those employees asked for you to not repeat what was said. If you had taken a picture then that is your property to publish but only do so knowing the back lash or consequences. To this point, you have not let the cat out of the bag, it was only teased a little. I am not sure if anyone really feels slighted in any way, that is up to you and them of course. I would think that it would be an easy decision for any of the officers at Mooney to take a 10 minute meeting with you to clear the air. Dave
    1 point
  37. Who pissed in your Cheerios this week? You've been snarkier than usual and without the typical humor to balance it.
    1 point
  38. I would need to look for my paperwork on the Stec 30 Alt Hold. I think it was about $3500. The Accu Trk I bought from a forum brother. The hard part would be finding a serviceable Accu Trk. They seem to be few and far between. I think I'm into all of it serviced, tagged and installed for under 7K. I'll see if I can find receipts and give you a better idea.
    1 point
  39. Hi francisg, on my first test flight the cylinder temps are down about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm sealing up my baffling and replacing one of my baffle seals to close an air gap. My new carb airbox almost works too well in that when the carb heat is pulled to full on, the engine stumbles briefly. I need to limit the travel of the carb heat to keep it from stumbling as the temp increase is more than sufficient in less than full on position. I'm also adjusting the cowl flaps in different positions to see what impact that has on cylinder temp. It will be about a week and a half before I take it back up on another test flight. I'll do a couple more general test flights to work cowl flap data then do the performance flights to see what gain in performance I achieved. Thanks, David
    1 point
  40. 1 point
  41. Also displays on the Aera 500 series, on a display bigger than the 430. (Not as big as Scott's 696, though. Nice!)
    1 point
  42. Sure! Why not? I'm with Shadrach and gsxrpilot ont this one here, but for a reason many may not be accounting for. I have learned the hard way that you can't just rest on the things you read, see or hear all the time as a generalization and not understand why first. Just agreeing with a technique, or procedure because "that's how everyone else does it" is a detriment to evolution. Figure out why that technique or procedure functions or doesn't function in your scenario and go from there. In that C Model, the gear is manually actuated and is able to be retracted and deployed in under 1 second. That makes it a flow item, period. No matter what the incidence, the PIC is able to deploy the gear without interruption or delay at his/her discretion. I completely understand and agree with most slow, standard RG deployment aircraft needing to leave the gear down until either blue line or no more usable runway. It's for very good reasons, but it's just not appropriate technique in all aircraft.
    1 point
  43. After thousands of hours in piston twins I lift and accelerate with a very shallow climb until blue line,as I cross blue line the gear comes up. One has to fully realize that ANY Part 23 twin has no guarantee of any climb single engine. When in an MU2 at least you can look up in the flight manual and see how much you will descend in ft/min at heavier weights and at what T/O weight will give you level or slight climb on one engine. It is a significant download of T/O weight to get up to zero climb rate. T/O at full gross and you loss one, and if your DA is high you're going to fly to the impact, no choice, do not pass go, do not collect $100. Even if you're Bob Hoover it ain't gonna fly. In the Mooney with charlie armstrong gear I lift, get to 80 mph and suckem up, accelerate to 100 and while passing 90 I pull the flaps up. JMO YMMV
    1 point
  44. Just in from a reliable journalistic source: Diesel engine (445 hp) with revolutionary 5 speed transmission for those high altitude take offs. (No more fouled plugs) Back up electric power source with wing embedded solar panels and high tech ni cads. On board entertainment system with free porno channels. (Secretly coded for when wife is on board) Comes free with your choice of ANR headsets Enough said.
    1 point
  45. hahahahaha aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha I wish...
    1 point
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