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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/22/2016 in all areas

  1. As probably the youngest pilot on here (25), I learned to fly a 152 at the age of 23. My first lesson in the 152 was the most mentally exhausting task I've ever accomplished. At 50 hours, I transitioned to a Cherokee, with a whopping 180hp. That was another challenge. At 100 hours, I knocked out my Complex endorsement in a glass-cockpit Comanche and my High-Performance endorsement in a 182 in the same month. Those were my new toughest challenges. And now, at 120 hours, I will be learning my Mooney, and I can tell you I would not let my 0-hour self learn to fly my plane, knowing what kind of landings I did to that 152 and how tough I thought it was to fly that little grasshopper. If you can't understand what I am saying, I *highly* suggest he at least knock out his first 20 hours in a trainer before moving to the Mooney. I'd also suggest he stick to said trainer as I could not image the added stress of flying a complex aircraft during the hair-raising PPL checkride. Just more stuff for him to nix your kid on. I *do* think the 152 is a proper trainer as is harder to fly right. He can also easily accomplish stalls/spins without fear of losing control in the Mooney.
    5 points
  2. Rabbit Aviation at San Carlos airport has dedicated one of their fuel trucks to Swift UL-84 (corrected).The price is about the same as their 100LL aviation fuel. I was at a Wings seminar last night at San Carlos, where we learned about the process for using the new Swift unleaded fuel. Anyone who has the old Petersen/EAA auto gas STC can use this Swift fuel without further paperwork, while others can buy the Swift STC IF if their aircraft is on their STC listing. Early Mooneys up to the G series are listed. Apparently there is a company in Sweden that is producing a 100 unleaded fuel, and Lycoming will extend their TBO interval to 3000 hours if this fuel is used exclusively. We heard that Swift is also working on a 100 Ul fuel for the near future. The Swift 84 (corrected) Ul is colorless at this point, and except for the smell could be confused with Jet A. The fuel is pungent, to say the least, and we heard that there are plans to add a dye to the fuel. We also heard about a Shell unleaded 102 octane fuel in development. It weighs about 7 pounds a gallon, but has more "power" per gallon. Aircraft type certificates would have to be revised to use this fuel, if Shell decides to market it. We heard how few refiners are currently manufacturing 100 LL, and how the distribution methods have changed. Consumption of 100 LL is declining, and one day we will see its demise, or very sizable price increases. We were told that Swift fuel is far easier to produce than the current 110 LL, and that virtually any existing refinery could produce it without much change to their operations. p> The Swift STCs are not cheap: $350 is not an uncommon number. It's too bad that neither EAA or AOPA is involved in these STCs. If they were I would hope that they could negotiate lower costs.
    4 points
  3. I think some of us here have forgotten how complicated a Mooney is compared to a fixed gear, fixed pitch prop trainer. What's the quip about the Mooney pilot arriving several minutes behind his ride? I suspect that would be jugglers don't start their training with 5 or 6 sabers or flaming torches.
    4 points
  4. Well my new videos are not as exotic as they were before, but the scenery is still nice.
    3 points
  5. The story I was told is he had some medical issues back then and that's why he sold it. Those issues were resolved and he regretted selling it ever since. He contacted me a year ago asking if I was interested in selling it back but I declined. When I decided to sell it he was the first person I emailed. At first I didn't get the feeling this was going to work because of all the upgrades but it did. He flew 51V for about 15 years so he's one happy soon to be Mooney owner!
    3 points
  6. So, I'm going to jump in and say, yes, you can learn in a Mooney. Why, well, why not? Every person is different and one size does not fit all. I would not have any issues putting my 18 year old son in our M20E (before I sold it...) and allow him to get his PPL with it. He already had almost 150 hours of observation in the right seat and had hand flown it numerous times. My insurance company was even okay with it and was surprised to learn that my premium would only go up an additional $750 a year to add him as a student pilot and there were no additional requirements like he must have 25 or 50 hours dual before solo. Having said that, the right instructor is CRITICAL to making it work. You don't want someone that still has a soaking wet CFI ticket doing the training. You would need to find a Mooney instructor that has tons of hours instructing in Mooney's. Really, flying a 180 hp M20A/B/C/G or 200 hp M20E/F/J is not rocket science. There are a few extra steps to work, but it's simply not that difficult. If you are taught the basics from day one, you do not learn/develop bad habits. That is why people have a hard time transitioning from the Piper and Cessna trainers to Mooney's or Beech's or what ever.....they have to have the bad habits they learned in a more "forgiving" aircraft beat out of them before they become proficient with a slicker air frame. The more time you have developing those bad habits, the rougher the transition will be. Would I put him in an Turbo M20K/M/TN for primary training, probably not. Would probably skip trying it in the long body M20R as well. Those are higher performance aircraft that need some more time under your belt to conquer, but it does go back to the same premise above, everyone is different and if taught the skills up front.....anything is possible. Just my $.01 for what it's worth. Cheer,s Brian
    3 points
  7. Heck, it's the panel placard with "drain & spin" that has me confused?!
    3 points
  8. Just curious why you're getting the 540 (which is standard wifi and BT) and a 440 with Wifi and BT too when they sell a cheaper version of the 440 without the wifi and BT. Could save you some money since it's not really necessary for both to have wireless capability if they are cross feeding. I had two 440s installed and only one has wireless connectivity. The avionics shop said its not really needed and I would just be spending extra money unnecessarily. Food for thought. P.S. - I've had no issue with my 440s and they really do blown Garmin's GTNs out of the water with features. I learn new features all the time that are well thought out and useful. I also agree with your "other than Garmin" comment. But in the case of the Avidynes, they're a much better product. However, Garmin is like a religion with very devout followers and anything else you speak of is pure heresy.
    3 points
  9. My son did about 40 hrs in a cub before transitioning to the Mooney. We had a very experienced Mooney instructor and it worked out well, He pretty much had the bad landings worked out with the cub (and learned to use his feet) He still is quite partial to the cub.
    3 points
  10. Jim, I'm the "other one" carusoam mentioned in his post. I have been following Sam since before I started my training and every time I fly in the little Cherokee 140's that the school has I am glad I am training in a simple, forgiving plane. I'm coming up on my check-ride soon and although I am just a little over 40 hours I 'feel' I am ready. I guess I'll find out this Saturday how ready I am when I have my stage check with a different CFI... I don't think there is any way I would be this far along if I was training in a complex plane. I don't have the experience that others on this forum have, but although it may appear to be cheaper for your son to train in a Mooney that you own, in the long run with the added hours he would need, it might not be. My plan is to finish up my PPL, then buy a Mooney, get my complex endorsement, whatever transition training insurance will require, plus whatever training I need on top of that to feel comfortable in the plane. Good luck to you and your son! When my son turned 18 a few months back we gave him a discovery flight for his birthday. I sat in the backseat and took pictures and video as he did most of the flying with a little help from my CFI on the take off and landing. On the drive home he said "That was the best birthday present ever." I think he's hooked...
    3 points
  11. So, I sold our M20E last month as mentioned in the classified section and I had made a reference that we picked up our new bird roughly 4 days later. Decided to finally reveal that I went to the "dark side" and ended up buying a 1968 Beech E33A Bonanza....I know boo-hiss... I was targeting a later model M20J or even an early model M20R but the prices and useful load that I was looking for with my current/future mission just didn't match as well as I had hoped. All the M20J's had really low useful loads, most were less than 900 pounds??? So I started looking at the F33A, S35, and V35 (straight, A, and B versions) Bonanza's just to see what else was out there. Unfortunately, prices for good F33A's are rather high (over inflated in my opinion) but we got lucky and found ours in the sub-$100K range. There are only 51 E33A's on the FAA registry, so this particular model is even more rare than some Mooney's. Production on the E33A only lasted 2 years (68-69) before changing to the F33A model in 1970. The useful load on ours is 1174 pounds and will carry 270 pounds in the baggage compartment. Huge improvement over my M20E and no way I could have my son do what he did in the second photo with a Mooney. The CG limits are not an issue (unlike the V tails, which can be a challenge sometimes) so managing our flights is easy, even with full fuel on-board. Speed wise, I gained about 20 knots over my M20E while burning about 6 gallons more per hour (...ouch) with the 2 additional cylinders to feed. The biggest selling point for my wife was the back seat area (never should have put her back there when we were looking at F33A's...) and passenger comfort. The rear seats lay almost flat in the fully reclined position and can be positioned anywhere from full up to full down. Not sure if the split seat Mooney's were capable of doing that??? Interesting to note that the Bonanza is 6 feet shorter from wing-tip to wing-tip than my M20E (I had the 201 wing-tips on mine). So, here she is just outside my hangar: Cheers, Brian former 1967 M20E owner/driver.
    2 points
  12. whoa!! I was just looking at this today and thinking hmmm maybe I should increase the budget by $100,000. She was sure a good looking airplane and a new owner should be thrilled.
    2 points
  13. I believe my IFR panel flying has evolved from a "read the needles and create a mental situational awareness visualization" to directly observing graphically-depicted flight, navigation and weather data. The all-screen panel is a quantum step up in capability compared to the six-pack panel I trained on 30 years ago. My recent 5,000 mile cross-country would have been harder without the graphical presentations and automation. I probably would have landed a couple times more to see what FSS reported if I didn't have on-board weather. Deviation decisions were greatly aided by being able to "rubber band" the route on the iPad to avoid weather, then send that route to the panel. The smooth integration of compatible screens is a key feature of my panel. Route changes show up on all screens after entry in one. The route shows on weather screens, traffic appearis on the geo-referenced approach plates, the airport diagram that appears at taxi speed after landing are examples of the many valuable assists to single-pilot flying. With 600 hours of flying the G500 I am still impressed with how much more it tells me than the standard six ever could. That it all works together so well is an impressive achievement. My panel happens to be nearly all Garmin and I have no reason to think I'd do better with a more diverse mix of vendors' gear. I doubt anyone who can afford to upgrade has regretted it. There are no folks planning to rip out their Aspen or G500 to install a KCS-55A, are there?
    2 points
  14. My first Garmin Pilot screen shots (thanks to Marauder). I can check weather in-flight or on the ground on my cell phone. Weather correlation is very good and accurate. The lightning depiction correlates very well with my WX10 stormscope. Moving weather trend is very helpful in assessing future weather. Horizontal and vertical format. José
    2 points
  15. My son is getting his private and he is NOT doing it in my Mooney M20E. Yes I think its possible but I think it makes so much more sense to keep it simple until he gets his private. We've found an excellent instructor who doesn't overcharge ($35 for instructor $100 for his Piper Archer if you put $1000 in advance) with lots of students and great attention to detail so my son can easily compare notes with the others. I checked with my insurance company for their guess at covering him in the Mooney when he's a new private pilot and their guess was half again the price I get with my commercial and 400+ hours and they'd require him to get 10 hours in it with an instructor. I didn't ask them what the insurance cost to do all the student work in a complex aircraft.... When my son goes flying with me I get tips of things he's learning that help me polish up my game and of course I let him take the controls a bit and help me with the navigation.
    2 points
  16. I remember the repeated crash and goes that I did in rental 152 and 172's during training while learning to land. I eventually moved up to flying arrows for the complex and retract experience. I got my high performance endorsement in a staitionaire and spend a lot of time in G1000 172's before moving up to my Mooney. Brad
    2 points
  17. I'm a fairly new Lightspeed headset user. I ordered the tango's basically the day they came out. The company is very focused on customer feedback and participation, I really like that. Every now and then they'll send me stuff, looking for feedback and what not. The customer rep I worked with went well out of his way when I placed my order to make sure everything was up to snuff. I also feel like I might have had something to do with the update they made to the battery door and the usb charging port. When I made my initial 'out of the box feedback' video, I specifically called out that design flaw, and it has since been changed in the new version. Good headset, good company. And your poster is pretty awesome too! With that hand flicky thing you're doing, you should be on a gameshow!
    2 points
  18. I vaguely remember doing repeated touch and goes in the C150s I trained in a very long time ago. It's a pretty efficient way to get a maximum number of reps learning to land. Almost no one does touch and goes in a M20 Mooney, certainly not in primary training. However, when you have a Mooney your child can get lots of useful experience in the right seat while going places that will come in handy once he/she has a PPL. Radio communication, xponder codes, navigation, holding heading and altitude, talking about weather decisions... are all aircraft independent.
    2 points
  19. +1 on something other than a Mooney for the PPL. And depending on size (@Yetti chime in with me) it needs to be a plane he fits in comfortably. When I sat in my first 152, my knee firewalled the throttle with the seat fully back. No such problems in any Mooney with my 6'5" frame or others even taller from comments on the forum.
    2 points
  20. my two cents is get his feet wet in a rental. I felt sorry for the 172 that I slammed into the runway on multiple occasions. Definitely glad that it wasn't my mooney.
    2 points
  21. Depending on when his birthday is I can give @Raptor05121 a run for his money on the youngest one around (Im also 25). I recently finished up my PPL and have been lackadaisically looking at getting an M20C or E (life has that habit of getting in the way more often than not). I did all my training in either a Piper Warrior or Archer, so here are some thoughts, the truth is, its up to you, you have lots of hours and you know what goes on in the cockpit, keep in mind a lot has changed in the last 10 years. 1. There is a lot going on during training, adding prop management and gear management (and cowl flaps) out of the gate will either build really good skills or get you into hot water fast. 2. Mooneys are fast, and from my understanding slippery, decent management is a real task even in older mooneys from my understanding. You can pitch an archer pretty steeply and pull the power and not really worry to much about the yellow arc in my experience flying them. 3. Trainers take a beating, beatings = maintenance costs. 4. I wont get into the nuances of landing a mooney (since I dont really have any experience doing so). But the various Cherokees (235 and 6 aside) are pretty much easy as it gets to land. Authoritative in crosswind and wont float that much with provided flair angle. 5. The Cherokees/Cessnas of the world are about as benign as a plane gets, I have had days in the warriors and archers where getting the plane to actually stall was tough. You can slam them on the stall horn doing power on stalls and the nose just wont break. This provides a bit of training safety in some regards. 6. Trainers are only so good to actually own. I have been doing a lot of speed/cost/number crunching on various planes and the Mooneys win out over the Cherokees/172's etc for so many reasons when looking at them as cross country machines. Just some thoughts.... Regards Dave
    2 points
  22. Ever consider that he might simply be bored? I can't imagine being a cop in a sleepy little town. What beats watching airplanes, other than perhaps attractive young ladies?[emoji846] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    2 points
  23. We used the M-20D Master in fixed gear configuration for primary training in the '60's. It worked well enough. (It was either that or a Tri-Pacer). (The PA-28 really hadn't come along yet.) None of those were all that demanding in terms of stick and rudder skills. I guess for my money, I would opt for a 172 over a 150/152. More room, upward mobility (4seats), and I discovered a student could make more trips around the pattern per hour to offset the cost difference.
    2 points
  24. While there are a few "geniuses" on the planet who seem to be able to master a skill almost instantly, most humans have to learn by progression. You start at A, move to B, then C, etc. And unless you really are a genius, the problem with trying to start at "D" is that you haven't formed the fundamentals required at A, B and C. You might actually become okay at some of the skill sets that D requires, but that lack of fundamentals will sneak up on you. And in flying, you don't want anything sneaking up on you. That's how we get 777s that crash on the visual approach to San Francisco because the pilots only know how to fly an ILS. I used to teach karate, and there is an expression there that fits: "When the student is ready, the master will teach." Besides, learning to fly should be fun, and it's going to be a lot more fun to learn in a slow, forgiving airplane that will tolerate mistakes.
    2 points
  25. When I was instructing regularly many years ago I had a similar situation. It was the local sheriff and he was just checking to see why I was out so late. We chatted for a bit and no harm no foul and it was completely pleasant. I'd walk up and talk to them.
    2 points
  26. There are cops hanging out at our airport all the time. They are just goofing off, they can hide behind the security fence with the rest of us. They never give us any trouble. They just like airplanes and the people who fly them and just want to talk about airplanes.
    2 points
  27. Should've bought your last plane first. Everybody says it. The Mooney really does seem to be the beginner Bonanza. I don't think anybody keeps stats, but I have found it pretty consistent that if a Mooney owner decides to "trade up" and they don't go twin or turbo prop, they go Bonanza.
    2 points
  28. Agree Peevee, and remember garlint, Mooney Lives Matter. I think we need t-shirts... (couldn't resist) :-)
    2 points
  29. My 68 M20C has a 1051 lb useful load. That's 200 lbs more than my 56 182, 20 knots faster, 4 gph less. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    2 points
  30. I was holding off replying to see if you got some more technical info from somebody but here's what I can offer. I installed a set of 5 nulites at annual in June and can finally see everything very well at night. I have 2 stock dimmer controls (panel and radio lights) and tied these into the radio pot (independent of the under-glareshield lights which have a fair amount of current draw by themselves). I don't believe you'll have any problems unless everything is on one dimmer circuit. But I have to ask if you have "incandescents" as I'm not sure the LED versions work without upgrading the dimmer circuit. Here's how it looks now.[emoji846] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    2 points
  31. +1 Join MAPA and take their PPP course! Best regards, -a-
    2 points
  32. Welcome aboard, Jim. Search for learning in a Mooney. You will find that you can, and it has been done. But you will also find, there are better planes to learn in. It will be much faster and lower cost than using a Ferrari to learn how to drive. There are a few threads here by a user called Samarai husky. He is enduring learning to fly in a more challenging plane called a Cirrus. Another student pilot and writer is documenting learning to fly in something much simpler. Read their posts. As for knocking off rust, get a Mooney and a Mooney specific instructor. That is really fun! These are simple Private Pilot thoughts, -a- For some easy model selecting ideas, you might go here....
    2 points
  33. Thanks Anthony! So...who's comin' to FL next week? I'm offering selfies with my panel for $2.00 each during the Friday Airport Day. (kidding)
    2 points
  34. If TT = transition training, yes I did skip it. When I recently bought my current 231 I had 50 hours in M20Ks, previously owned "C", "Turbo F" and "M" model Mooneys, have 800 total hours in Mooneys, 2,000 hours total time, CFI, CFII, MEI & ATP. I think I was OK skipping transition training.
    2 points
  35. Hello Friends, I own a 1962 M20B . Have it for 5 months and still looking for precise speeds. Can any member help me with the Best Glide speed for this B model?If anyone has a Speed table will also help.The Manual is to old and with incomplete speed description. Thanks to all Bruce.
    1 point
  36. It's good to have friends everywhere!
    1 point
  37. Jim, if you are allowing someone else to fly your plane, they can do so with no changes to the insurance policy IF they meet the open pilot qualifications. For my Mooney and now my Beech, the open pilot clause is 500 total time, 125 complex, and 25 Make and Model. If they don't meet those requirements, they need to be a named pilot on your policy, which usually incurs a small increase in the yearly premium (sometimes it does not) based on their qualifications. For training, I was going to add my son as a named pilot on the policy and that would have caused my policy to go up by $750 for the year. Best bet is to just call some insurance companies as carusoam mentioned above and find out what they can get for you with quotes. Insurance is a very individual thing. When my son is flying from the right seat, I'm still overall responsible for the flight as PIC. Just make sure you aren't allowing them to put you in a situation you can't recover from. As a side comparison, our auto insurance went up by $1,600 a year when we added him to the policy...ouch... Cheers, Brian
    1 point
  38. Oh yeah, for sure. I was totally joking about the profiling. My kids are like mini-celebrities. Lol. None of us are afraid to talk to them. We go through about 4or 5 officers per year due to low pay so it's a little difficult to stay current with them. I tried to catch him today, but he wasn't in. But yeah, that's the beauty of living in a tiny town. We know people for who they are, not their skin color. Wish it was the same, all over the US right now. Tough times for reasonable people of all colors. Tough to watch crap from extremists on both sides.
    1 point
  39. Like watching different movies by the same great director! The grass strip has been widened, lengthened, and paved. The volcanos have been replaced by large buildings. Thanks for sharing this one Oscar. Best regards, -a-
    1 point
  40. It could be he's driving his patrol car by AOA and not using his AOAi properly. I'd consider watching his stop and go's more closely. Agreed break the ice and make a new friend who will watch your property more closely for you, turn it into a win/win for you.
    1 point
  41. Get your bearings back in a trainer, then no problem to finish up in an F. I got my ppl in my F after soloing a 172. Took a couple hours to get used to the handling differences.
    1 point
  42. May want to just flag them down next time and talk to them to get some answers?
    1 point
  43. Can't improve on perfection, so no... Actually, I've found the Bo to be a lot easier to slow down in the pattern and put it on my intended spot every time. The flaps are huge compared to the Mooney and the gear speeds are higher, so that makes it easier to slow down. Not that the Mooney was hard, just different technique. Speeds on final are very close, so didn't take that long to figure out how to land her. Brian
    1 point
  44. about 150 of your close and not so close Mooney friends, Steve! back on topic, Avidyne will be there Paul, as will L3. You might get some of your answers from them. There will also be a number with Avidyne boxes in their plane, including one owner of an Ovation, (but he's flying his Lake Amphibian, also Avidyne equipped to the Summit) Garmin wont be there, but I have a nice D2 watch they donated to the drawing some lucky Mooney Summit attendee will win. The L3 Lynx might be something you should consider for this stack, one will be available to win on The Mooney Summit silent auction. Bring your checkbook! I have one, and I love it. While a nice unit, I find the Lynx superior to the Garmin 345 I have flown behind, as the L3 Lynx can display wx, metars, traffic, etc not only itself, but other non L3 boxes. It plays nice with my Aspen, My GNS, wifi's to my IPAD, and is software upgradeable to active traffic, and other future software features (can you say FS510 functionality?) Something to consider and ask Bill Ladigo about at the Mooney Summit while your here!
    1 point
  45. Nice looking plane. You need to have what suits your mission no harm in that even though you defected from a Mooney. I think we will let you hang around.
    1 point
  46. I really like how well Garmin avionics interface with one another. I have the GTN 750, GTN 650, AERA 796, GDL 88, their remote transponder, remote audio panel, FlightSteam 210 (exchanges data with my Mini 4 via ForeFlight). Everything works surprisingly well, and Garmin has constantly upgraded both firmware and software. A G500/600 would be nice, but I still like the "sacred six" round gauges- I'm old, and I still prefer needles to tapes.
    1 point
  47. The commercial pilot PTS defines it as 1.2 Vs1 +_5kt. It then includes maintaining specified altitude, heading, turns to a heading and maintaining specified bank angles. This typically puts you riding the stall horn while flying a requested series of turns to headings. Forces the pilot to coordinate not just rudder, aileron and elevator, but power as well. At the lower end of the speed you can feel the buffet and know you are getting close. In the turns you get close to the stall unless you bring in power to accommodate the loss of lift. I find the key to doing it reasonably well is to be gentle on any movements and lead turns with rudder and use minimal aileron while maintaining coordinated flight.
    1 point
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