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My first flyable mooney was a wood wing M20a mooney. I got it on a trade for a cessna 140. What a fantastic upgrade from a 100 mph airplane. I had to get the mooney painted since it was not painted. This set me back 1900.00 which was a lot in 1984. The new 3 tone paint job made it look new. Fortunately for me the wing was recently rebuilt and the wood was good. I really enjoyed flying it and if I remember right it cruised about 155 mph. This was quite a speed increase of the former airplanes I owned (piper tripacer, cherokee, cessna 140, tired 1947 bonanza and c-140). The mooney had a third fuel tank and gave me lots of range. Once, I flew it non stop from Cheyenne, Wy to St.George, Ut. One other interesting thing I learned is how well it glided. One time the engine quit about 3 miles from the field due to a leaky fuel gasolator, which later the electrical boost pump brought the engine back to life. Anyway it glided good. I had many good experiences and trips with this plane. I now have a 201 mooney and enjoy it as well.

My husband's opera-buff partner had tix for four to see Pavarotti and the Met on tour in Cleveland. Alas, he ran late at the office, they had a sitter issue, and there was no way we could make an 8:00 curtain time driving. Those seats were dear, too. I offered to fly us up to KBKL, a three-block walk from the venue. We took off at 7:30 into a glorious sunset, greased the landing at Lakefront just as the lights were coming on, breathlessly settled into our seats five minutes before curtain time. It was a magnificent performance, followed by a good after-theater supper. Every star in the galaxy was twinkling as we climbed in the plane to go home, 70 miles south, severe clear and glassy smooth the whole way.. Three of us couldn't stop grinning at the wonder of it all. The fourth swore it was the most horrible experience of her life. Her eyes were shut tight most of the way. Go figger.

My grandfather taught flying in Jennies during WWI. My father learned to fly after WWII, made a career of it.. As far as I know, my grandfather never climbed in an airplane again, even with his son. My husband logged many hours of F-4 time, back-seat, but never got his own ticket. Said he had more confidence in me than his own abilities. Used to making risky decisions in medicine and not turning back, being pressed for time, being up all night and tired, being sure HE knew what he was doing always, no need to ask second opinions, made him a poor risk, he claimed. So a successful career, plenty of brains, ambition, and technical expertise, weren't enough, in his mind. Worked out well for me! He is the world's best, calmest passenger. The mildly nervous but motivated passenger can be reassured, but I haven't been successful at talking truly frightened people into enjoying the ride, no matter how smooth, fast, or beautiful, the trip, or how perfect the landing. They will readily admit it was a fine trip, and they wouldn't have gotten where they needed to go any other way, but they hated every glorious second of it. The phobics impose their own terror on others, unfortunately, and seem impervious to reason.Other than putting Prozac in the municipal reservoir, I have no useful ideas.

Interesting. Last Friday I flew to KBVI, Beaver County, Pennsylvania....you probably guessed it; Pittsburgh approach asked me to report Beaver in sight.

Fair enough. It definitely looks recoverable. I’m just glad everyone is ok.,

No, that has not been my experience. I also have a GDL-39 but I have the FreeFlight ADS-B out. I can think of 2 reasons this might be happening to you. The display for your AdS-B can be configured with filters to show or not show traffic, such as only showing traffic within 2000 feet of your altitude. The other reason, and probably more likely, is the configuration of the GTX-335. It should be configured to let the ground system know that you have ADS-B IN on a UAT receiver, otherwise the ground stations will not be broadcasting the band that you need to receive.

Which would put me $100 over what I have spent for the same functionality..... and have my CB revoked

My Mooney will get better mileage than most people’s cars. It will go 160 miles and hour burning 8 & a half gallons. There isn’t another certificated airplane that can do that. In no other airplane can a 0360 produce that kind of speed unless it’s experimental. And it was built 5 decades ago. I love my Mooney all right.

Ive been lucky, at best, average intelligence and a 2 year degree. I went to the regionals then a freight co, then got the 4yr online degree then the economy got right and got picked up at a major. Now, the job is rather easy, get the plane from a to B to C without messing up, get paid good and go home. I would say most people work way harder to make that kind of money. But being a pilot is like being pregnant, everyone congratulates you but never asked how many times you got screwed to get there. 1. it is definitely a lifetime shortage for the next few years, dont waste time, though. Sooner is better. 2. get a commercial instrument multi, then the CFI and get ATP mins... FAST. civilian is faster. pay it back with the ridiculous bonuses the regionals are offering. 3. 4 year degree is still a requirement for a major. Do it online at ERAU while flying for the regionals, when you get the 2 years jet time to upgrade, the 4-yr degree is yours and now jet PIC, you become a candidate for the majors. That is my story, again, I went from high school dropout in Oklahoma to pilot, he can too.

This is always a classic. Flying down the Hudson Corridor from Boston to Gaithersburg MD.

I had occasion to fly out of Heathrow a month ago on an Airbus A380 giant. After we broke ground on the climb out I shot this cool video of the left inboard engine's nacelle strake generating its vortex trail back over the wing. I was surprised at the boundary layer thickness. It's hard to scale due to the size of the wing but there was actually about 2 feet between the wing and the trail. Thought everyone would enjoy some pilot-aero geek stuff. Sorry it wasn't edited better.

I've been flying behind a Stratux ( a homemade-equivalent version of the Stratus) for about two years now, just before they were getting popular. Since then, the Raspberry Pi has released a new version, the SDRs have been upgraded multiple generations, and new things such as AHRS have been released so I retired my old unit and decided to start anew. I mainly did a little "show and tell" for the local EAA newsletter but I thought I'd share here, too. I've got a Samsung Tab A, utilizing DroidEFB. I like to think of it as a "Lite" version of Foreflight, with most of the cool features, W&B, E6B, flightplan export, IFR approach plates with live tracking, etc etc etc. I'm not an Apple/Foreflight fanboy, and as presiding cabinet member of the CB club, it does me well for most of my flying. Stratux- $155 Tablet- $230 RAM Mount Setup- $75 DroidEFB- $70/yr Photo taken on the way to the Mooney Summit:

I have just the thing for you. Has a mix mode too.

You are supposed to use a sheet metal screw to attach the duct to the defroster diffuser. Just slide it on (not easy) screw the screw in till it just bottoms out (almost impossible) don't over tighten it and strip the hole. Then put a ty-rap around it for good measure. The job is a lot easier if you remove the windshield and all the avionics first!

It's receivable for somebody . . . . .

Agreed, yet in this months Mooney Flyer, they recommend using It. They also do not warn of using Wash N wax red on plexiglas, which also is a no no.

Kerosene or mineral spirits. Aviation simple green is still not safe for aluminum.

I put the Zeftronics in but still see the same low voltage. My A&P thinks it is the generator. It took Aircraft Spruce a few days to get one in but it will be installed tomorrow or Tuesday and then I will see. My suspicion is that it has been dying a slow death and now that I can actually see the numbers on the 830 I am aware of it. I considered upgrading to the Plane Power Alternator, but the last Generator lasted 19 years and about 1,400 hours so I'm willing to put in a $300 generator and hope for the same results.

Maybe Mike us one of those old timers who remembers when the 1st gen AHRS chip (or was it the GPS?) required soldering. The latest collection of parts snaps together in 15-20 minutes. Of course, some folks are more inclined toward DIY than others.

Here you go.

The TKS panels really save the paint on a Mooney. Many M20's flown in the rain at high TAS frequently will have the paint eroded from the leading edge of the wings. It looks terrible and is not easy to patch. The TKS panel completely cures this cosmetic mess.

So now that I ordered a $199 Merlin, guess I can sell my 1st generation P2 stratux and hopefully regain partial CB status?

No Soldering involved. It's just a couple of minutes to order and assemble. And then you have the knowledge of how to fix it once it breaks. But it has not. Then I have more money to spend on relief flying and buying supplies like we did for Hurricane Harvey. When Harvey all started, (after driving all night back from Colorado) I told Mrs. Yetti that we were fixing to go through $10K. She did not even bat an eye.

I have a several year old P2 and the older software version from when Stratux first came out. and the original antennas velcroed to the ceiling by the rear window. Works great. Never had a problem with yanking the power off a PI before. I added the $15 USB GPS a couple of months ago and it picked it up. Droid EFB lets you select the GPS source. Bought the AHRS chip, but have not added it to the board. Biggest issue I have had is downloading the updated software from Stratux. I have tried the stratux.me page and the github.

Anthony the big gain is how less tired we are after a day when your not in traffic for 4+ hours.

I don't know but the JPI EDM-900 mount works great to recess the G5.

I shouldn't have ignored your thread.....My backup vacuum pump failed due to oil in the vanes. My the backup vacum pump has been replaced and the clear pvc hose is going to be completely replaced from the front to the back on Monday. The plumbing and the pump was installed by the factory in 1997 so it lasted a long time. Glad the failure was caught on the ground....

Big Thanks to MCDSiena for letting me check out his C. Enjoyed meeting you and chatting. I’m gonna have a look at that plane in TX and see how many reasons I can find not to buy it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Joey Cole, MSC, Dalton, Ga. can probably do a pre-buy.

I assume you already know how to put a link to a web page on your home screen. load the Stratux Settings page and shut it down from there. If you tap on this link, http://192.168.10.1/shutdown, it will open. It won't do anything in your browser, but you'll be able to add it to your homescreen from there. If you run it, it won't actually show anything in your browser, but if Stratux is running, it will shut it down. or, if you prefer, you can set it up manually.

Found that one of the defroster tubes had indeed slipped off the defroster port. Was able to get it reattached so well see if that makes a difference. Haven't seen the rumored cooling hose that goes to the avionics deck from the copilot side. Does anyone have a picture of theirs? I've attached what mine looks like. Sorry for the closeups. You can see only one large diameter scat tubing from the copilot side that goes to the mixer.

Marauder, hello again ! Please pass on to Bruce that I'd be first in line for a kit. Was actually scouring his site and seen that they had a "kit " priced of around $2100 for the long body...panels, etc. but it was dated about 2015 or so. I was going to call to check on getting all the plastic panels and anything else he would have available to make the install. Love doing that stuff myself so a kit would be perfect. I'd sure be interested in the video and any kit ideas he would have. annnnd, just for his SA, I have an '80 K model. thanks again !!

I've had only one truly frightened passenger. Took 2 ladies from work flying at their request; it was one of them's first ever flight, and the other one's first small plane flight. The first was so nervous she had to stop and pee on the short drive to the airport. To help relax her, I let her sit in the plane in the hangar, with the big bifold door closed. She was comfortable, but when I pushed the airplane door closed, I thought she was gonna freak out! When we took off, I raised the gear and asked how she was doing, with a reminder that I could be back on the ground in 3 minutes. With a look of wonder on her face, she said No, this is great! So we had a nice time flightseeing all over. He husband became my home AC guy. Took the other one, her husband and my wife to dinner the next county over. Left after work, came back after dark, a magical experience for them. Don't push, just show up several times in a rental car. Being able to pop over and back much more often than you can make the laborious long-weekend-only drive will help them to see the bright side. Good luck with them!

Based on what you described, I would start with cleaning the connector on the back of the radio. My Narco was notorious for having issues there. As for the radio antenna location, most Mooney’s have them located on top. Most forward is usually the Com 1 radio’s antenna. If you clean the connector and check the antenna connections, I think the next easiest thing to do is try to find someone who has the same radio and slide it in. If it is a radio issue, there aren’t many places still working on them due to parts availability. I eventually removed mine and went with a GNC 255B from Garmin. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Having dealt with my fair share of radio noise over the years, the root cause could be a number of things. I would start with the basics. Pull the radio, clean the contacts using a good electronic cleaner. Check the connection for the com side to make sure the cable is securely attached. If you can get access to the antenna, check the connection there as well. If the radio static is fairly recent, make sure you check if you added anything new in the way of electronics (chargers, etc). Also try turning non essential electrical stuff off to see if it improves. I had issues with a new JPI 900 causing one problem. Also had a bad antenna cause another issue. I eventually had enough and pulled all my plane’s original RG-58 coax cable and replaced it all with RG-400. Made a world of difference. Also found that the RG-58 had worn through the insulator in a few places and was compressed in other places. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

From an unknown aircraft waiting in a very long takeoff queue: Unknown aircraft: "I'm f...ing bored" Tower Air Traffic Control: "Last aircraft transmitting, identify yourself immediately". Unknown aircraft: "I said I was f...ing bored, not f...ing stupid."

Final decision. After looking at several options I have decided to keep what I have for now and proceed with some panel upgrades and ADSb compliance. I did it the first time, but now I refuse to finance even a penny on a used Mooney so I'm gonna stash some more cash and watch for the right 252 with TKS to come along. Who knows, by then I may get over the itch to trade and have a pile of cash too. And I think my friend has found a decent Mooney and is headed for pre-buy armed with little experience, but lots of information and a list of things to check.

General life advice: Don't insert yourself between your spouse and her family. Let her deal with them. Its between you and your spouse if you fly somewhere together, not you and her and your in-laws. And ultimately its up to her if she wants to get in the plane with you or not, everything considered including her tolerance for a long car drive vs her decision to defer to her parents. She's a grown up, neither dad or husband should make the decision for her. You're a grown up too, you can fly down and meet her there if she wants to drive herself. Reading all ten pages, its clear some people aren't interested in our itty-bitty-GA planes, some people don't even like the big ones. I generally try to let people make their own decisions about flying with me and make sure they want to be there. Coaxing is not an effective means of persuasion in this case. As for the comments on relative inexperience, I suppose it depends on the actual weather day of the flight and the routing, etc. I will say in the first few years after having my pilots license (and even now), I liked flying with other pilots. Even though I was PIC and fully competent flying the plane itself, talking things through with another more experienced pilot, even if not an instructor, really helped me improve my flying, catch bad habits, and prevent errors. Its different flying with another pilot than "taking care of" a passenger. I don't know who I am to talk here. My mother was my first passenger when I was 17 years old and the ink was still wet on my license. My dad treats airplanes as "contraptions" and though he was willing to fund some of my flying, there was no way he was getting in an airplane with me. Last year, though, he was coaxed in with Byron flying and an aerial tour of his favorite fishing lake, so I supposed it took getting him a pilot with 10,000 hours of experience and fishing to get him in the plane, but its unlikely that it will happen again.

As Don Maxwell once said "I can teach an ape to land a Mooney". What is most difficult to impart is good decision making, especially to some who have had some success in one form or another during their (usually short) lives to date. Listen to the old timers like Gus who have racked up the hours yet are still a student to aviation and be appreciative of some of the free wisdom and advice you may receive here. No one is trying to beat you up or disparage you, but rather encourage you to continue to learn and cautiously so that it can be added to your experience and properly cloud your decision making.

The fact you started the thread at least either confirms your concern over your own your skills at this point or for a rallying cry to support your own ego. Either way, you asked. And quite honestly, in my 30 years of GA flying, the ones who listen to the advice, at least understand this activity has inherent risks and offset those risks with continuous training and taking the activity seriously. Many of those who have responded are not 100 hour freshly minted PPs. There is some serious experience on this board ranging from military, career professionals and high time GAers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Some people love flying. Some people love their flying jobs. Only a few people who really love flying get a great flying job. I am absolutely amazed at the number of professional pilots who really don't care that much for flying. Strange. If your son really loves flying, HE will make it happen. If flying is just a career choice, he may realize late in life he chose the wrong mountain to climb. As his dad, give him the wisdom to choose wisely. Sadly, most of us only have the time and energy to climb one mountain in a lifetime.

Advice is worth what you pay for it! 3. Yes, a 4 year college degree is absolutely mandatory for access to all the "major" airlines (the ones that pay that minimum wage you mention). Some people will tell you "I know a guy" that did without. But those are few and far between (and you sometimes find out that "the guy" is the nephew of the chief pilot or something"), this is about the odds, and the odds say go to college. As Byron mentioned you don't have to go to college right away, but will have to eventually, and it only gets harder and more expensive when you get older. I used to be on all these annoying pilot wife forums and I feel like that was the number one thing holding many of their husbands back in miserable regional jobs and they were like "well i don't want my husband to go to college, he's barely at home as it is, and we need to buy a house we can't pay his tuition!" Those problems are solved if you do things in the more responsible order which is school->profession->family. However, things can be done differently, its just harder. Byron touts the version of his online degree, but it was expensive in a lot of ways -- for instance, he missed an airline hiring window in the years he did not have a degree but was otherwise qualified for major airline jobs, also ERAU online is WAY more expensive than your local In-State-U that you could go to at the same time you work on your initial aviation ratings. It was what it was, but it wasn't optimal. 1. yes, there's a shortage for low paying regional airline jobs. And that's driving up wages, which I think is really really good. For major airlines (the ones you mention pay like UPS), there are still 8 qualified applicants for 1 opening; the military will still be producing pilots to fill these high paying slots; and the average age of a new hire at a major is 39 years old, so you should still plan for a 20 year career BEFORE that job that does not look as good. 3. there's no right answer. Do you think your kid would do well in the military -- does he like to follow orders, is he ok moving once every 3 years, is he athletically fit, does he value his hair? If so, especially considering it sounds like he's not very directed right now, maybe he should consider enlisting for a few years - it will give him some direction, focus, and good experience. I think a lot of people would benefit from that experience and he can sort out what he wants to do with his life. He could take advantage of military flying clubs and get his licenses on his days off, etc. Pilot slots, though, go to officers, which requires a college degree. So go to college and do ROTC, for example. Or go to college and then do OCS. He can still explore his flying interest while in college -- Georgia Tech, where I went, had a very reasonably priced flying club, many students became CFI's by their sophomore year and were instructing on the side their junior year. I imagine the same thing can be done at a local FBO or flight school in proximity to college. There are also aviation colleges, but if it were me I would not pay ERAU's ridiculous aviation prices to get an "aviation" degree that is worthless to do anything else, when you can get an accounting or engineering or something else degree if you decide a career in aviation is not for you, while getting all the same time-building aviation experience for probably cheaper. But that's me. I am really glad your kid enjoyed his intro flight, but one intro flight does not a career in aviation make, its just a good start. Get him some flying lessons, let him consider further. Have him talk to pilots. Even when you "make it" at an airline, its lots of days away especially in the summer and holidays, until you are super senior (think your late 50's), that's not for every family, every wife, every parent, etc. There is still uncertainty. Not everyone wants a professional spouse, but given the cycling of the aviation industry a second income is essential to pilot families. This does not work for everyone. My own experience was I learned to fly at 17, and did a lot of soul searching and realized I wanted it as a passionate hobby. Not a career. My career was aerospace engineering, mission control, project management, and now lawyering. We all change over time. I have 5 brothers, not a one of them had any form of direction at 17, it works itself out.

Help him with what he wants, but don't force him to drink water. He really has to really obsessed with flying to get a career in it. There's nothing wrong with not knowing what to do. I'm 26 and still confused.

We keep our baby at L36 tucked under the Sacramento Charlie airspace. We've driven up to see my stepson who was attending Oregon State in Eugene. A I-5 interstate drive that takes you the winding way past Mt Shasta. A 9 hour drive ... each way ! I decided to show my new wife (of 1.5 years) how cool GA and especially our Mooney really is for those not-so-long-trips. We got to the airport at 0830 on a Saturday, off the ground by 0915, 1 hr 50 min flight time (right next to Mt Shasta - cool pics at 12k alt), wheels down and tied down by 1130. kids picked us up, had a cool lunch and hung out with them for a while. back to the airport and off the deck by 1545, landed at L36 and at the hanger door and out of the plane by 1800. All that in the same 9 hours that it would have taken to just drive up there. I love my Mooney! ...and to think I was looking for a twin when a friend suggested a Mooney!

A captain has a heart attack and dies in flight. The first officer lands the plane, deplanes and heads for home. Passing through the pilot lounge he hears a group of captains talking about the amazing feat...a first officer saving an airplane without the supervision of a captain. A bit further down, he comes across a group of first officers. They call him over and ask him: "How did you know he was dead?"

Brushes wear out. Properly charge your battery Your tractor needs the generator rebuilt

Took my Granddaughter up for the first time day after Thanksgiving

Yeah what kind of owner does that. Even when I committed to installing just the PFD, it taken long for me realize it looked lonely. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

i use wash&wax blue for top of plane and red for the bottom. lots and lots of paper shop towels tip: wheel wells will stay much much cleaner if you make sure to hit the breaks before retracting gear.

Riddle: What makes a helicopter fly? Answer: They're so ugly the earth repels them. (Sorry Dave)