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I'm off to a good year. With the headwind trip back from Florida and flight testing the Lancair, I already have almost 20 hours in this year (will be over that before today is done). I will fly 2 hours this AM to finish off my 40 hour test time in the Lancair, and will take my building partner and best friend for his first flight in the plane he must have close to 1,000 hours helping build (no passengers allowed during Phase One Testing). Here is the only picture I managed to take yesterday. I had the power pulled back to a measly 27.5 gallons an hour going into the wind, seeing 135 knots GS, and pushed it up to cruise power going down wind (winds howling pretty good out of the west yesterday). I just couldn't resist seeing what she would do with a tailwind. I heard center calling me out as VFR traffic (verified by my ADS-B too). I have to wonder what he thought seeing me at 133 knots west bound and almost 400 knots east bound? Tom

It appears the Dynon D10A and D100 now have an STC for all Mooney M20s. http://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/aviation-communities-and-interests/pilot-resources/eaa-stc-low-cost-avionics

And you should let them believe that they are always like that. When you have one that isn't perfect and they're in the plane you just say, "Sorry, every now and then I have one that's like that."

With that smirk on your face, you're starting to look like the rest of us dirty old men.

Where are you gonna put that fifth passenger Alex? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Version 2.60 should take care of that. That being said I think these make great backups, a good replacement for the Turn Coordinator if you don't have an S-Tec autopilot, but there's not enough history to make it your only attitude indicator. http://www8.garmin.com/support/collection.jsp?product=K10-00280-00

Last night was fun. It really is true that Mooney's attract the women. My girlfriend invited two of her friends to come to dinner with us. The two backseaters have never been in a plane before. I almost had to hit the intercom isolate button they were "oooohing" and "awwwwing" when I rotated, banked, and saw the sunset and moonrise. Flew over downtown Jacksonville, then swept down the beach down to Flagler. I made THE BEST LANDING IN MY LIFE. Nice cool air, ~60*F, absolutely no wind. Approach was ROCK solid. Transitioned to a "flare" and held it...held it...and just felt the tires start rolling. No screech, no plunk. Just perfect. The ladies thought that was normal! haha.

I currently have an electric backup horizon (with battery) but no HSI. I keep hoping someone will make a matching HSI to complement these electronic AI units, with reversionary capability like the Sandel units but at 1/5 the cost. I'm ready to remove my vacuum system too. Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

LED landing and taxi lights make the best recognition lights - they draw very few amps, are cool in temperature and last longer than the airplane.

I was trying to fasten my belt, lol

Nice work, Richard. Thanks for sharing your experience. Would it be more reliable for traffic controllers to get your tail number if you throw them a pause in the right place? November 78 878 PP thoughts only, not a speech therapist... Best regards, -a-

I thought I gave the clue with my highlight in your post. Notice that on this approach, the LNAV/VNAV minimums are lower than the LPV minimums (don't ask me why, beats me). But since LNAV/VNAV is a "lower form" of precision those lower minimums can be used. Many pilots don't even look past the LPV line to even see the lower available minimums.

Liked All of your stories and this 1 is another winner! Keep that typewriter lubed up...

Side note: why do these Dynon units have such clunky amateur looking graphics? I would have trouble installing any of them for that reason... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Went flying again Wednesday night and put another 1.9 in the logbook. Only another 1.9 of dual to go before I'm free and on my own. We went airport hopping, KAJO > KSBD > KEMT > KFUL > KAJO. Good times! http://intothesky.us/2017/01/11/pattern-work-and-airport-hopping-at-night/

Right now my mod will fit 1966 and up C, E, F, and G models. It's my intent to work on the earlier models on the future.

i saw that one when looking previously. dont love it but it may have to do. Or maybe Ill just go crazy and just cover the yokes in $100 bills. I keep throwing them at it anyway lol.

Yup just a typo. EPR was used mostly in earlier jets like 727, early 737 etc. as the primary thrust setting instrument. Many pilots that I taught got into the habit of not even looking at the other gauges once EPR was set. The FL accident woke a lot of them up.

Caught this during annual. Right side hanging on by one ear, the left side cracked. So be sure to check, the new ones are considerably stouter. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Today we had a local school come on a field trip to the airport. Myself and a few others showed the kids the airplanes and the basics. We even had LifeFlight stop in to show the helicopter, a local RC pilot did a little airshow, and a powered paraglider did a few passes at 10mph. What a great day, I think my smile was bigger than theirs

I guess you never had to earn living operating in and out of one way airports.....Ever been to Aspen? The hundreds of times I flew in and out of there I guess I was unsafe...I should have told the boss to stay at home and still pay me of course........... Oh and the 1000 hours of flying banners with no DG in the airplane probably made me unsafe as well.......... Maybe I should just stick to making 90 degrees bank turns from base to final......

I thought I would start a separate thread to document the STC process for my Mooney cowling mod. I welcome questions as I show and detail the project. My intent is to update the look of the older Mooney cowlings, namely the C,E,F, & G models. Certainly performance gains would be nice and I hope to report any increases once I'm flight testing the prototype cowling on my 66 C. My cowling will incorporate round air inlets for the cylinder cooling air and carburetor air on the carbureted engines. I will be keeping the plenum system as I feel it's the most efficient system for cooling the cylinders. It will also include new baffling. Some of you may recognize the parts I'm using as coming from James Aircraft. They are fantastic to work with and have supported me with parts I need for my STC. This project is being done through my company called GDS Aero. I merged my other company (Vintage Airworks) into GDS at the end of 2104. No sense having 2 FAA quality systems to manage and 2 separate audits each year. On with the pictures: Here's a couple of pictures of the plenum and new baffling being made.

Working on a clone of Don's tug. So far, so good

Trek Lawler told me to upgrade the software to 2.6 so I really hope that fixes it. All the more reason not to rely completely on one instrument. Check that VSI, altimeter, heading, and TC... make sure they all jive with your AI.

You are right, I strap em to the cowl!

I didn't know they made a Mooney for the U.K. with a right hand PIC location (kidding)

Scary stuff Steve. I would have thought there would not be any bugs like this. I know the AHRS versions of these AIs are unique in both their presentation and sensitivity. I found it a bit challenging to use initially since the scale of the AHRS is different than the mechanical indicators I was accustomed to using. The biggest challenge was the degree of descent or climb. A 10 degree climb looks huge as compared to the mechanical indicator. Once I got comfortable with the display, I find it much easier to see minor attitude changes.

While I do not know the exact amount of force but since both rod ends are side by side they will introduce a twisting motion on the idler arm and a shear force on the bolt through the rod ends.

Postdam very near , we have to meet someday ! 3% per avgas volume is the absolute maximum approved by TCM to use in their engine . The same for P&W . In the gold old days when i used to fly Beaver in the north side of the country we only use 8 ounces per tank at fill-up . But we used it constantly from fall to spring to make sure we dont have fuel icing probleem . At the time fuel was 100-130 . In my 182T , i use about the same amount but every other fill-up.Never had a problem with fuel icing .

I'll bite - Is that for the higher minimums when using the Raleigh/Durham altimeter adding 81' and 1 1/4mi vis? Or is there more?

In my last job, we bought rather a lot of 98% IPA. It came in one gallon brown glass jars. At that concentration, it readily absorbs moisture from the air; the higher the humidity, the more water it absorbs. A recent trip to the store to buy some for home, I was shocked to see they had a shelf full of 50%. Most of what we used at work had been 70%, with the 98% used for extremely water-sensitive components (fingerprints would ruin the surface finish in just a few minutes unless wiped clean with 98% IPA). The whole water control thing comes down to keeping the containers pretty full and tightly closed. Good luck . . .

You must be really good at something to allow you the financial ability to own an airplane. Take it to the best shop where they are really good at what they do and they won't be learning on your dime. They do this everyday and have seen it before and will get it right. There are things that are fun to tinker around with on our airplanes and sometimes we can get it right and it feels good. The complexity of trim switches and autopilots and trim servos are best left to the experts. I had a trim problem which turned out to be the trim switch. The guys at Central Texas Avionics in Georgetown TX knew exactly what it was in about 5 minutes. They rebuilt the switch and the total time and labor was just over $460. I never had another issue with trim on that airplane after that.

See this link: https://markforged.com/introducing-markforged-high-temperature-materials/

On my 77J the trim switch goes to a box that I originally and mistakenly thought was the voltage regulator but it's not. It's another box whose function I'm still wondering about. That is where the "click" noise comes from when the switch is depressed. When I pull the circuit breaker for the trim motor I believe the box still makes noise- if I turn off the trim rocker switch it no longer makes noise. How's that for precise. More like a description on car talk. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah--the only time the GS comes alive is when the 430 is on an ILS...no GPS-based vertical nav at all.

Get yourself a Take-Off Computer and never guess again... I've had one in my flight bag for 20 years. https://sportys.com/pilotshop/takeoff-performance-computer.html

I may have a replacement for you from my 67 F. If you need a replacement I'll look through my parts. John Breda

Oh come on, he's only the grim reaper for those that can't be saved.....he's not that mean, even if he's from Jersey... Cheers, Brian

This is me landing on ice. Be careful not hitting the brakes too hard....

Andy, actually I am a "checklist guy". I was beaten up in the Navy, I matured at the airlines and post-airline am still employed "doing checklists". I believe in checklists and I use them both at work and in my Mooney. Yes, flows work and are great for getting everything done, but they work differently than a checklist. Flows and checklists work together, not in lieu of one another in the operations I'm familiar with. My comment about "Gear Down....everything else is a detail" was a humorous attempt to emphasize that "some items" are killers and some are details, but I believe in checklists. The only thing that I've noticed is that when things "get crazy", the same thing that is making you forget to put down the gear is also making you forget to do the checklist! Checklists and landing gear have got to be habitual, disciplined and ingrained. YMMV

Here is a YouTube video of the lake in question. Lots of planes but I haven't seen a Mooney

6 years and 1000 hours Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Clarence, I'll echo Anthony's ( and the others') comments. Humility can be in short supply on this board, and you starting this post shows that you have it and aren't above recognizing what went well and what didn't go so well. You have made many valuable contributions to the discussions here and have served the Mooney community faithfully. We'll remember those contributions long after we have forgotten about one thread having gone sideways. Best, Robert

Just added another notch in my plane ownership belt. I'm on my 26th year of owning the same Mooney. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

7 years and around 650 hours in my J. thankfully fought off the temptation to buy a 310 last spring.

I like the guy lifting on the elevator. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On my M20J I am more concern about freezing myself than on the fuel. At those temps I still need to wear my parka because the heat is not enough to keep me warm, specially for those on the back seats. Stuff in the baggage area will freeze. Best battery to have for subfreezing is an AGM battery like the sealed Concorde. Some avionics may stop working at subfreezing temps. I always pull out the avionics cooling fan CB. Beware that unlike the old steam gauges LCD displays may not show any reading after engine start until the LCD warms up. Besides engine preheating is a good idea to preheat the cabin. José