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I ought to know better than to take your rhetorical questions seriously but... As a matter of fact my vacuum AI gave up the ghost a few months ago. We sent it off for overhaul. It had been overhauled or replaced about 10 years earlier. (In my 1st year of ownership of this E, before replacing most of the panel, I had to also have the Stormscope and the KNS80 overhauled. The Narco HSI needed work but there was no one who worked on it anymore. And three avionics shops had not been able to make the KNS80 play nice with the STEC50 unless you think steering away from the needle in NAV mode is nice.) Gullible? Name calling doesn't pass for logic in this league. An Aspen may replace an 20 year old HSI but it is almost infinitely more capable. Likewise a GTN750 vs. a KNS80. Choosing greater single pilot IFR situational awareness is being gullible? Dependability? I'm not at all sure your claims for the unmatchable mean time between failure for the legacy instruments is supportable by the facts. There is a whole industry devoted to rebuilding legacy instruments. Someone is experiencing failure of those miraculous old workhorses. Hopefully not at a critical moment. As to the effect the Part 23 rewrite will have, we'll see. I'm not holding my breath. (By comparison, I expect to continue to get an old fashion Class III Airman's Physical every other year even with the much ballyhooed change in that area.) Headed to the airport to put access panels back on someone else's Mooney. Y'all be kind to each other in my absence.

I would think that you guys would know by now that I would never pay somebody to do something that I can take ten times as long and probably spend the same amount of money doing myself. [emoji13] Besides, where would I learn all my new cuss words if I did that?

Can the new forum be renamed "Hell," since it will be? Then when someone makes an inappropriate post, we can chime in with "go to Hell" and a link to take them there!!

I like to fly with my cat Barney.Unfortuately I don't have a cute photos to share because he refuses to be photographed.Come to think of it ,there aren't very many things that cat will do!..I mean he acts like I tried to run him over!Wont come when I call and basically ignore me!His "aim"when he in the litter box isn't great,and he's got bad breath!Last time I took him flying ,I got his carrier out ,opened it and than forgot to feed him for a few days.Than I put some fresh tuna in his carrier...would you believe it ,it took three more days till he would go in there and I could slam the door shut!The drive to the airport was pleasant except while stopped at a redlight ,the car next to me complained about all the noise coming from my backseat.Ive been kinda deaf since the late eightys so it didn't bother me.I get to hanger ,open it up and pull out the plane and preflight.Next I get Barney and put him in the back seat ..I gotta admit,he's not looking so good..kinda crazy eyed and frothing at the mouth.I guess he forgot how much he enjoys flying with me!Anyway I've got him secured to the seat belt so can't jump out and chase birds like last time.Barney likes to do slow flight and stalls and mild acrobatics like steep banks and chandells.Any way after an hour or so he tends to get a little antsy..so I land at an airstrip 20 or 30 miles from my house to give Barney a breather.Wouldnt you know it ..Barney did what he did last time..bolted for the door and took off running like there was no tomorrow.I guess it will be a couple weeks till Barney comes dragging himself home!That cat sure loves to chase birds and to fly!

Remind me again, how long have those "legacy instruments" been there working quietly? How did we aircraft owners become so gullible? Is 4 years such a big accomplishment? What are our expectations of these ovetpriced vga boxes if they want to replace legacy instruments that are 20 or 30 or more years old and running? They've got some big shoes to fill! That's for sure! There are two sides to this severely lopsided equation that I see: price and dependability measured in years in service. They'll never compete with legacy in years. But if price comes down to earth it offsets if it has to be replaced sooner. So far we've been fed bs that TSO certification is a must to safety and some of us have paid thousands for boxes that are no where near as dependable as the instruments they aspired to replace. It has been very dissapointing. We've been told that there have been no accidents attributed to certified imstrument failure and we've believed it! Newsflash: there have been no accidents attributed to non-certified instrument failure either! The market with these overpriced boxes is cold due to part 23 rewrite. We'll finally see a major correction in the price part of the equation. At least 50% would be my estimation. More options to choose from as well.

What difference does the processor make, if they can perform the functions as advertised with intel 8086, that's the only thing that counts. And ditto for the screen, it's not like you will be watching movies. You need graphics that convey the information, precisely and with no ambiguity, that's it. Oh, by the way, those screens have to be readable in direct sunlight, and not overheat, and it needs to be supported for the next 30 years. Try calling Apple about a product they built in the 1990s and You want it upgraded, like Garmin did by upgrading 430 units to WAAS. oh, and they only going to sell a 100,000 units, max, over it's lifetime, as oppose to Apple that sells millions of iPhones and expects them to be upgraded after 3 years. I think some of y'all expectations are completely devoid of realities of certified, low volume units that you expect to be supported till end of time.

1) It is a challenge to behave appropriately even when we are all on the same team. 2) we have important topics to cover for mooney related topics, and aviation related topics. 3) as soon as we get outside these narrow topics the wheels fall off and the thread gets shut down. 4) It is challenging to not be misunderstood. 5) It is challenging when somebody writes something accidently hurtful. 6) There are several places I go for the non-aviation stuff. Why would I want to go here for that? 7) We get several new people each week joining us here to learn something about Mooney ownership. For this we are special. Are we looking to increase our membership with non-aviation, non-mooney interests? 8) We have enough hurdles to get over as we are from different parts of the world, different countries, different orientations, different age groups, different economics... why would we want to add more stress to an already stressful situation? 9) What is the upside to adding this section? The Timmy thread made us all look like neanderthals. Even those that didn't take part in it. Guilty by association... 10) Maybe I misunderstood something. But it sounds like a couple of guys sitting around a table deciding that New Coke could easily replace the standard old Coke. Only this time the company has asked the customers how they feel about the situation... I'm still a fan of the old Coke. As of yesterday, I have kept up reading every post put up here. The only things I have not clicked on are the endless photo streams that appear when people post their photos. This change would give me the opportunity to do something else... Some wise person once said, all good things must come to an end... On that note, I voted to stay the same old MooneySpace we were yesterday. Different than all the other places available on the web. Best regards, -a-

Had some ratchets that needed to be rebuilt for 5 years. Some of my grandfathers screwdrivers got some new blades. And I bought a new #2 phillps. $20.00 Was driving out I-10 and saw him at a shop. Had to make it happen, was only several minutes late to the meeting

Alrightly. I will take down the forum More that 90% of you not in favor of this tells me it is a bad idea.

oh, we're posting panel pics?

Update: ArtCraft is providing door prizes for our little event. 1. One complimentary aircraft detail job for your Mooney will be given away. 2. One set of custom propeller socks [covers they could be called I guess] with your N number printed on them will be given away. Also, we have a very special guest you will be honored to meet and visit with. Stand by for that announcement.

No. I didn't think "Little Timmy" helped me with my Mooney at all, but it did make me dislike some of the posters. Who needs it?

Probably won't have a choice except to rip it all out and install steam gauges...

Bob quotes $2400 to OH a KI256 and align with the KAP. I had to have my "fine swiss watch" KI256 overhauled for the second time in less than 600 hours since new a couple of weeks ago. The J I fly had to have its' KI258 overhauled in Dec by Bob for $2400. Bob is a great guy, but these POS king AI's are making him a very wealthy man

there are many things going on and economics is a very powerful driving force. Purely speculation here but if a basic Nav/Com like an SL30 could be had new for $1k plus installation and the CDI would be say $250 you might see people upgrading the KX170 radios that still work and you might see people upgrading them more often regardless. I bit the bullet and replaced my GPS with an IFD540 and few other gadgets $20amus by the time I was done. It didn't hurt as bad since I purchased the 540 before they were certified. Do I like the new box yes I do and I'm glad I did it. I still feel that the FAA should let up and allow us to put avionics in our planes that we feel would best suit our mission and goals regardless of TSOs STC and any other alphabet soup you can come up with specifically for personal private use.

For those who own a WX-500, it will display on the MFD or the third screen. If you look at my MFD, in the lower left hand corner is the WX-500 cell/strike counter. Bob - with the MFD, you get a second HSI, not a CDI. At my home airport served by a VOR approach, I keep the GPS overlay on one HSI and tune the VOR in on the second HSI. That way I am legally flying the VOR indication but have the GPS overlay as a cross reference. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Full is at the base of the pipe or fill tube. Above the base of the fill tube is for expansion. But yes you can keep filling above "Full" but you should be at rated capacity at the base. You should empty each tank and actually measure it as many Mooney owners have done since many have found they have less than than rated capacity. One reason for this is if sealant was applied to vent holes in the top of the rib, then the inside bay will not be able to vent the air and won't fill on its own. Before you count on gallons you may or may not have its a good idea to measure your capacity and calibrate your own dip stick for measuring partially filled tanks. It will also ensure you have an accurate weight for any fill level you decide to use. if you have the little fuel gauges on the top of the tank you can also verify their accuracy. They are usually pretty good.

2 or 3 years ago I would have most likely bought an aspen at near half price if it were. But now I think the promise of a part 23 rewrite allowing more modern avionics and at cheaper prices "soon" is freezing the current market for current 10 year old technology certified equipment. The idea of a 25k ten year old g500 is not appealing. For 25k I want a screen and processor that is competitive technology to my iphone. For 3k yeah maybe I would be happy with vga. Sort of. Meanwhile - I have steam guage. But I sort of think these rube-goldberg swiss-watch grade mechanical instruments are just plane neat. I wear an analogue watch.

I might just take them up on the offer- my guess is declining sales, though... like you said. They would move twice the units if they were half the price- maybe they are finally figuring that out....

This is one of those times where, instead of selling your strengths (where you make money), you may be required to buy your stated weakness (lack of expertise and tools) to do it for you. Like this. The unfortunate consequence of this action is complete and utter loss of any standing in the CB club. Sorry.

The 4th Annual Mooney Caravan Formation Flying Clinic is back at KHYI on March 31 to April 2, 2017. FBO: Redbird Skyport at KHYI: (512) 878-6670 Contact: Bucko Strehlow 8 Corby Lane San Antonio, TX 78218 (210) 887-0144 bucko.strehlow@gmail.com Purpose: Train pilots to safely perform formation flying using classroom briefings and actual aircraft in actual conditions. The clinics provide a professional learning format, with pre and post flight briefings, along with skilled observer pilots helping to conduct the clinic and riding in the training aircraft. The Mooney Caravan organization is dedicated to facilitating a safe and enjoyable formation mass arrival flight into AirVenture Oshkosh each year, as well as developing opportunities (such as these clinics) throughout the year to get together and fly our fantastic airplanes. Our participants share a strong sense of camaraderie and the friendship’s born via our common interests in aviation and Mooney aircraft, spanning the continent and the entire year between Oshkosh Caravan flights. The enjoyment and enthusiasm which we all experience at AirVenture doesn’t wear off; we keep it going throughout the year! Why you should do it (Check all that may apply): 1. Because IT WILL BE A LOT OF FUN !!! 2. To learn new skills and make yourself a better pilot. 3. To be able to fly into Oshkosh in an organized group (with the Mooney Caravan), and with more safely than using the FISK arrival. (Note: this is totally optional. A lot of you may not even be going to KOSH this year, but this will hopefully plant the seed and you can join us in the future.) 4. See #1 above- IT IS A LOT OF FUN DOING THIS TYPE OF FLYING. Sign Up Deadline: Friday, March 17, 2017, which is two (2) weeks before the actual clinic. This is to allow us to get enough Observer/ Safety Pilots for the course. These pilots may be coming from California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, and we need time to organize how many are required. Also, please note that attendance may be limited, so it is best to SIGN UP EARLY. Also, if Safety pilots are limited, some preference may be given to pilots planning to fly in this year's Caravan. Cost: $ 100. This is due at Sign Up. This covers dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. It will also be used to buy beer and sodas for the dinners. Hotel: Still deciding. (Negotiations on room rates are presently ongoing.) You will pay for your own hotel room, and are free to either stay with the group or to make your own arrangements. A list of participants will be provided about a week before each clinic so that you may make arrangements to share rooms, if you wish. Transportation: You fly there and we will get you back and forth on the ground. Anyone getting a rental or having a personal car available would be appreciated and pressed into service. Homework: Download and read the "Mooney Caravan Formation Guide" prior to attending the clinic. It can be downloaded from the mooneycaravan.com website from a link in the "Training" section. Newbies: Watch the Video of the ground training (filmed at an earlier San Marcos/ KHYI Clinic) also in the training section of the website. I know: there is a lot of information there. The important items will be reviewed at the Basic Formation Ground School on Friday morning, but you need to have read the Guide so that the information presented at the briefing will be somewhat familiar to you. Note: If you have not read the Guide prior to coming to the clinic, you may not fly in the clinic. So, sign up if you are coming by sending your $ 100 to me at the above contact address, along with your email and phone information. Also include your ratings (SEL, IFR, Comm'l, etc), approximate flying hours, Mooney Model, home base, and whether you'll be flying with the Caravan into KOSH this year or in the future. If you are like me, I originally was going to go to Oshkosh years ago but was planning on landing at a satellite airfield because I did not enjoy the VFR/ FISK arrival. Having done multiple Formation Flying Clinics in Yuma, AZ, El Paso, TX, Kerrville, TX, and San Marcos, TX, I have now flown with the Mooney Caravan and arrived in style and safety for the past three (3) years. Warning: This type of flying is very addicting: I have flown over 100 formation hours in 2016 alone, and almost 30 hours so far this year (2017) as part of multiple formation elements (2 ships, 3 ships, and 4 ships). Texas has a lot of people interested in this and a lot of opportunities abound to fly together. Tailwinds and High Speed; Bucko M20-E

You don't have a 2nd battery by chance: Emergency Backup Battery, possibly for a glass avionics?

And you guys know how I feel about the looks of my woman! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If you can only afford an airplane, or a hangar, go with the hangar. You will get far more utility out of the hangar. A side benefit is that it is more acceptable to drink beer in your hangar than in your airplane.

Are you calling Jose god or are you implying that even he doesn't know? Which is it?

The Cies fuel senders work well and should be more reliable over time (especially with a lifetime warranty) than the standard resistive types. They fit in the same hole and use the same gaskets. The one problem you might run into is that they need a power source to the sender in addition to the ground and signal that already exists. This might involve running a power wire through the wing to the outboard sender (if your model has an outboard sender) and through the cabin sidewalls to the inboard sender. They draw very little power, so my 4 were powered off the switch-breaker for my EDM-930, since that is where my fuel quantity is displayed. In my airplane, since the EDM-930 doesn't use the fuel computers needed for the Moritz gauges, I used one of the no-longer-used wires in the cable that goes from the fuel computer to the outboard senders to transport the power needed for the outboard senders, so I didn't have to string new wires in the wing. (If you're not familiar, the fuel computers are in the cabin sidewall, just in front of the inboard fuel quantity sender, and were used in the Moritz equipped Bravo/Ovation/Eagle, don't know about other models.) The Cies senders can be set up for either resistive output or digital frequency output. Digital is recommended for use with digital displays such as the EDM-930, and I had to send my 930 back to JPI for modification (~$150) to work with digital senders instead of the original resistive senders. The advantage on the 930 is you get a digital readout on the tape which shows the current quantity in the tank, as shown on the attached inflight picture. The disadvantage of digital frequency output is that the change in frequency is minimal with change in quantity, unlike resistive output which has a much bigger change and is easier to fine tune. In mine, it appears that a 2 gallon change yields a frequency change of 1, and the 930 only allows whole number displays of the frequency (when measuring the freq for calibration) and input into the calibration table. I'm still fighting to get the calibration correct, even though we jacked the plane up to a level flight attitude for the initial calibration as required in the maintenance manual. The damping effect in the Cies senders makes calibration a long process, since it seems to take up to 5 minutes for the sender to settle on a stable output number. The advantage to this is more stable quantity indications in flight, but a real pain when you're trying to calibrate with the fuel truck there with other people waiting for fuel. The frequency change is generally linear, except around the crossover point where the outboard sender stats to come into play. At under $400 each, the cost isn't to much more than a questionable overhaul of your old senders, but there is some labor involved in switching over, even if you use them in resistive mode. I did a lot of the work myself, which saved a bunch of labor hours, but i would guess you're looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 labor hours if you use a Mooney shop who knows what they're doing. The biggest hassle for me was removing the interior and the seat belt retractors to get to the inboard senders. If you have any questions, feel free to call me (928-710-7874) or Scott at Cies. Scott is very good about answering questions and helping with any problems you might have. He recently told me that the Small Aircraft Directorate at the FAA has decreed this to be a minor alteration (because they comply with a TSO) which only requires a logbook entry, not an STC or 337.

with the monroy tanks, god only knows.

I voted no, but if it really does keep political discussions out of the other forums I might want to change my vote. So far I think it is working well, but time will tell. For now it seems like MooneySpace members are a cut above those that frequent the other sites.

You are right, but....as a consumer, I want to be really excited when I put down 15-25k for an elective expense like this.

Is that what we and the FAA know as an "ELT"?

Just kidding...EBB=Emergency Broadcast Beacon

It's sad that it would occur to anyone to use MS for any purpose than fixing and flying Mooneys. I've left other forums, even Facebook, to keep my day from being ruined by such rants. I fear that giving them their own rubber room will just encourage them.

I'd recommend against wasting your money on the HF tool - we've seen far better borescope tools become available than these requiring the mirror attachment making these a needless risk. The one cited by Marauder above is the best one currently available and a real bargain since it's fully articulating and performs as well as the best borescope out there for 10x the price. It displays on a android cell phone or tablet as Chris noted above but for another $100 you can get their accessory to attach it to an apple IOS device. If you don't have the $150 for the above, then I highly recommend one of the cheap dental scopes available online which are well documented on Beechtalk. These cost only about $30 and like the above come with a USB connector to connect to a PC or android. To perform at the their best they need to be slightly modified with a dremel tool and some heat shrink which only takes minutes. But they take good pictures sideways of the valves - which is what you really need. Also Mike Busch wrote a good article not long ago on just how good the Able scope is - you should be able to google it. The HF type scopes can be helpful for inspecting your tank sealant and occasionally checking in wing inspection holes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Per www.godchecker.com, I think the correct deity is Kui-Xing, the Chinese God of Official Documents and Paperwork. I would ask if he has any sway with pushing Sabremech's STC paperwork through the FAA. Also tell him my engine burnt an exhaust valve for him recently as an offering

This is the very reason I'm not on POA, the PurpleBoard and any number of other "Aviation" themed forums. It gets to be a group of people trolling each other. And soon after, there isn't anything of value left. Just in the last month we've had at least a couple of new members specifically state how different this forum is from POA, and how much more useful and friendly it is here. Let's keep it that way.

I agree with others that it is just asking for trouble. There's a reason they say "Don't talk politics and religion at the dinner table." This reminds me of last November when I went to AZ for my Dad's 75th birthday. I was at my parents house before going over to one of my sister's homes for the party. My dad and I were discussing politics and my mom chimed in with "Please don't talk politics at your sister's tonight" because she knows there are some very strong opinions on both sides. (Six siblings and we don't all agree on everything) Everyone knows the other's opinions, and really no amount of debate (civil or otherwise) will probably change it so there's no point to hurting friendships over it. I think that what will end up happening is that things will be said in that forum and even if those are not shared elsewhere it will affect the way some think of others and interact on the rest of the forum. It may even have someone ignoring a thread in the rest of the site or blocking a user that they would not have blocked otherwise. I think of all the advice and knowledge I have received here and am grateful for it. What if I had offended someone in the rant and rave forum and they blocked me, then later I had an actual question/problem I needed help with and that person who had an answer that could help never saw my post because they had blocked me? I guess then that would be my loss, but it would also be a loss to the rest of the community here. I have had many questions resolved by searching old posts (in Google put in mooneyspace followed by your search and it works great) and some of those old posts would likely have been different had there been the rant and rave section all along. This will likely go the way of some of the other forums where the loudest and most obnoxious drive away the others and the usefulness diminishes. There's a reason I spend most of my time here than the other aviation forums, it's just been a good community.

Mageto looks like a great dog! I'm in the Mutt Muffs camp but will make a suggestion. I replaced the chin strap with an elastic strap that allows me to simply slide the muffs over Eli's head and into place. Not quite 5 years old he's logged 175 hours and has only dislodged them 2 or 3 times. IMO big floppy ears makes the muffs a bit less important but with Mag's erect ears I'd definitely use them. Since some of the funniest stories I've ever heard in aviation involve small dogs loose in airplane cabins we secure Eli in back with a harness and 3' leash which allows him to get up and turn around as desired. He's a big boy so the back seat's all his. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Lynn Mace has an inexpensive (Harbor Freight) camera. He was able to inspect the valves of my engine using the mirror. I'll get him to take some pics on one of the Mooneys he's annuaing now. (I had a hard time maneuvering the wand myself, it apparently takes some practice.)

If you have 420+ deg F CHT temps in climbout (in the winter no less) there are some serious holes in your doghouse. Just sayin.......

I would like to apologize to Vladimir Putin for my comment regarding Russian NVGs being crap. I don't want to die a mysterious death from polonium poisoning.

I would just like to say I was WRONG WRONG WRONG about GaGa's half time performance. She was awesome and set a standard that will be extremely difficult for anyone to match. She was uplifting and celebrated with a diverse cast of characters that emphasized all that is GOOD about this country. The game was the most entertaining SuperBowl ever and as a Packer fan I understand what Ryan and his Hawks and their legion of fans are feeling today. They had a great season and bested the Pack twice...but ran into a living legend that showed "It ain't over until it is over"....W.O.W.

Pic was from a previous owner.