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So- time to update this thread. I’m about 18 hrs into training and got my first real IMC today- over two hours of it. I thought I had gotten decent at tracking a localizer/ glideslope. But today I really sucked at the loc as we got close to KGED, which had a legit 250ft AGL ceiling this am. My brain just did not work the same way as when under the foggles, and I was all over the place. I went almost full scale deflection as we approached 300ft msl minimum. I looked to my instructor and said “go missed?!” with beads of sweat on my forehead. At that moment he pointed out the runway, which was emerging way to the right in my visual field. I was surprised at that point that I was able to put it down smoothly, despite the extreme stress moments earlier. All part of the process I suppose.

When arriving and departing an extremely busy untowered field with heavy training ops, don’t double, triple, quadruple...quintuple or sextuple check to make sure your ctaf frequency is correct because you’re not hearing any of the other planes you can clearly see. Nope, that’s not enough to verify you have the last two digits backward. Nope, I should have made that 7th check digit by digit. I’m sure all the CFIs were pointing “that mooney” out as examples to their students! Doh! I guess there is no substitute for eyeballs though.

.05 KTS additional speed? Go Mooney!

My wife and I were driving east on I 10 in South Texas on our way back to Cincinnati from Phoenix when I saw a sign "Kerrville next exit". I pulled off and explained to my wife that Mooneys are made in Kerrville and maybe they would be willing to give us a quick tour. She was ok with it and I called Mooney. I talked to the girl on the other end of the line, she took my information and said she'd have someone call me back. We went to an antique shop to kill some time and while we were there a Jeff from Mooney called and asked if we could be there in about 20 minutes or so. Daaa, I agreed. So, after arriving at the guard shack, signing in and getting our name tags we were greeted by Larry, a long time time Mooney employee. He gave us the full tour, maybe two hours, and answered all my questions and then some. Great tour guide, great employees and a very clean and neat work environment. Very impressive! I learned some new things like the the new two door planes have fiberglass skin around the passenger compartment instead of aluminum skin. No weight penalty. I assume assembly cost was reduced but more important to me, I would imagine interior noise would be reduced?? Also, I didn't know that aluminum could be heat treated but it can, he showed me the furnace and explained that after it is heated it is dipped in glycol(?) to keep the air from the surface then it is cooled to approx 32 degrees (?). It remains soft and can be metal worked and formed. After it is worked the glyco is removed and when air hits the surface the aluminum becomes hard. Hopefully I have this right. Anyway, a great day. I think these guys just might make it. They all have a good attitude and they sure make a great product.

I like the image of your instructor calmly pointing IMC is MUCH different from working under the hood. On the one hand, when under the hood you still get subtle cues about your orientation--shadows moving, the horizon out of the corner of your eye, the motion of glare from the sun, etc. On the other hand, in IMC, you do get cues, but they are often misleading--false horizons, reflections from clouds, and having to move your eyes from inside to outside as you go in and out of VMC. I'm "lucky"--there's no shortage of actual IMC out here in the Northwest for much of the year, so I actually did most of my dual time in IMC. When I started doing hood time in VMC, it felt kind of like cheating. Realistically, of course, training in actual IMC is important because you have to get used to looking outside the window as part of your scan, which you don't have to under the hood. If IMC is forecast, try to collar your instructor any chance you get.

You mean silence isn't always golden? Our community requires us to turn on the runway lights for both day and night ops (warns the kids on golf carts). Lights are on the unicom freq, so if I can't get the lights to come on, I'm either keying the wrong freq, the wrong radio, or both. No help for a low volume setting, though.

FWIW, Lycoming recommends it in a Service Letter. https://www.lycoming.com/sites/default/files/Spark Plug Fouling.pdf I have great respect for Mike Busch and have learned a lot from his webinars. I also regard highly Lycoming’s recommendations and guidelines. I have learned and continue to learn from their literature.

I'm one who regularly runs a tank dry... or about once a month or so. But my fuel selector is smooth and has never given any indication of trouble. So I don't expect it to just quit moving one day. I would expect it would get sticky or difficult to move in which case it would get serviced before running any tanks dry. I also only ever run a tank dry at altitude which for me is almost always above 10K ft. which gives me options. I use a very similar system as @jetdriven. But I do it based on gallons used. For example I might take off on the left tank and burn 15 gal leaving 20. Then switch to the right tank and run it all the way dry. Finally switch back to the left where I still have 20 gal and plan to land with at least 10 still in the tank. If I've reached my top of decent and am ready to start down but the right tank isn't quite empty, I'd probably switch anyway. I don't like to be running a tank dry when I'm doing anything other than straight and level.

Right - that gasket was not being changed early on in my ownership as I was using the local guy....I have corrected that. That and many other mooney-specific issues can be either costly, dangerous, or both if overlooked. Oh - I read about the pvc pipe thing and I assumed it was a height of pilot thing.

Love this picture! It totally debunks the "don't jack with the tail tie down" story. This jig has two jacks for the wings and a tail tie down strap at the back on a long body . . . . .

I never run one tank dry unless I am going to land with less than 10 gallons total and Ive already switched tanks during that flight. For example, depart full. Run on LH tank 1 hour. RH 1 hour. then run left another 45 mins, which leaves 12 gallons in that tank. then run right empty., which takes 1.7 hours. I may joggle this schedule somewhat to time it to run the RH tank empty near top of descent. If tank isnt dry at TOD, switch anyway there isnt much left. Top of descent, 12 gallons good in one tank, 15 minutes left to fly. If landing with more fuel, dont run RH so low, but always land with 10 gallons in the selected tank. You must plan the fuel imbalance at top of descent.

@mike_elliott could probably explain it better than I, however one of the driving factors to holding the Summit in PCB stems from one of the Summit founders generosity each year. Ron @rocketmanhappens to own multiple properties in the area and has worked out deals allowing the Summit access to conference rooms and lodging. The FBO is also very supportive as well.

Shortly after getting let loose for solo flight with The Mistress I decided to fly over to Liberty (TX, T78) to get some of their cheap, self-service Avgas. So I'm approaching the airport and the engine begins to cough. I panic. You know how people say that just before you die your life passes in front of you? Well, as I tried to figure out what was wrong I remembered reading an AOPA article a few days before where they explained that the FAA had determined that most accidents were caused by pilot error. Of the pilot error accidents, the number one error was fuel management! I looked down and saw that the fuel selector was pointing to what was now a near empty tank. Seriously, why fly to Liberty with full tanks? Anyway, I reached down and switched and the engine literally roared backed to life. The rest of the trip was uneventful excepting the chill from my soaked shirt. Thank gawd my luck bucket was as full as it was at the time. I take fuel management very, very seriously and all components that affect it now.

Yes, I really like having the AXP322 remote transponder. You typically only set or change the squawk code once or maximum twice during a flight. And its so easy to do from the IFD540 screen. So why have a transponder taking up space in the panel when you never use it. I put everything in the tail that I could including the EA100 autopilot interface for the Aspen. You might not need that with a C41. As you can tell, I wanted a clean minimalist panel. And the more I fly with it the more I like it. The reason for the gap between the KX165 and the IFD is just that it worked out that way. We didn't move the KFC150 and because the PMA450a audio and the IFD540 were slide in replacements for the 530 and the GMA340, we really didn't change up the center stack. But I did remove a KNS80 and replaced it with the KX165 which was just a little bit smaller leaving the small gap. I keep thinking that one of these days I'll open up that gap and line it with felt or something to make a tray where I can toss a note pad or something. I tried to think of the things I use regularly on every flight and spend money to have the best of those items and not spend on other stuff. The second nav/com is just not used that often in the current /G environment. So I just found me a used KX165 just to have a second nav/com but without spending a lot on it.

can you make a similar flush mount for the JPI EDM-900?

My fist time being on Mooney Space. Apparently this community is super large and everyone has something good to contribute. I’m glad I started this topic and everyone asking my questions. Thank you All! Shawn Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My trick is to have the right frequency but the wrong radio.

Again guys we're going around in circles on hypotheticals. Most shops that have issues with TBO will know that upfront before any work begins. If they do, take it to someone else. If an A&P does "maintenance" he's required to sign off what he did and he's only responsible for that work. If an IA doesn't want to sign off an annual inspection (if he did it) so be it, he doesn't need to get paid Either it passes an annual inspection or it doesn't with an accompanying letter of discrepancies. Either way the annual inspection has been done and should be signed off. Don't pay for what you don't get. The IA should realize that its only an inspection and it either passes with flying colors or it has discrepancies as noted to the owner. Don't over think this folks.

I won’t say it happens to all of us, since I can’t speak for all of us. But I’ll never forget the day I did much the same thing very early in my flying career. In my case I had the correct frequency dialed in, kept looking at and wondering why I couldn’t hear the other very visible traffic in the pattern. Until I finally realized I had the volume turned way down as I was abeam the numbers and only then got the volume up in time to hear another pilot complaining that I obviously couldn’t hear them! Felt like a total idiot but it was a lesson well learned enough that’s it’s never happened again. And that’s the only positive thing I can say about such experiences like that, that such difficult lessons like that usually never needs repeating. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would not use this product whether or not it turns out to work, unless it is PROVED to work. Period. Yes I would use as a preflight fluid the actual de-ice fluid that you get from the fbo - that pink stuff they spray on - onto airplanes with boots before you fly into known ice. IF I ALSO HAD BOOTS. I would NOT fly into ice with any of the following fluids on my wings: rain-x, or tri-flo or butter, or margarine, ant-jemima pancake fluid, or maple syrup, or preparation-h, or oragel, or talcum powder, or dessenex antifungel, or motion lotion, or hair styling gel, or gasoline, or avgas, or EVEN not tks fluid spritz onto my wings - and expect that it would stay and do the job (we had a local guy who used to do that). Now just because any one or several of the above fluids might actually end up doing the job, does not make it a good idea because it needs to actually be tested instead of blissfully flying into ice thinking you are good to go until that day that you actually find yourself in ice and turns out you were not. Or SOMEONE ELSE who actually listened to you. You have continually suggested that your idea is a good idea, and I will not say I have any right to suggest that you can't jump off a bridge if you want to, but please stop posting here dangerous information that might get someone else killed, someone who might actually take you seriously. Luckily I think most people here have an appropriate level of general skepticism. You are doing this community a terrible disservice by spreading this false narrative. It is false whether true or not, until PROVEN to be true. You of all people know the STC process - so set up some test pilots, file the paper work, and design some icing test flights and get an STC to use the product as you wish. Prove it is sufficient. Until then at the very least please include with your suggestion something that sounds like the warning label on a box of cigarettes: "WARNING: THE SURGEON GENERAL HAS DETERMINED THAT CIGARETTE SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH."

well it is unfortunate but sounds like you got in line politely and made your landing.

Or the idea of flying a non-deiced airplane into icing conditions. There are a lot of aluminum-plated mountainsides and dead pilots for that. But not just their pilots, their passengers who didnt know any better.

I use gallons too, to the gallon. and the truck fills it up the exactly what i thought it will take but now my FF meter is broken. Time for more boxes fro Aircraft Spruce.

There is a massive cost to Rain-X relative to TKS. TKS cost is high in terms of dollars cost for acquisition and dollars cost to operate. But the opportunity cost regarding acquired risk is relatively low since you are operating a product that works. Rain-X is very low cost in terms of acquisition and operations. But the opportunity cost is very high in terms of probability of death is dramatically higher if flying near ice and you think you have a product that works but does not. Just think of the lost income if you are dead. Or think of the cost of carrying insurance as cheaper than not carrying cost if you think of the cost of risk and think like an actuary. If this does not make sense to you then I have a very cheap bullet proof vest for you made out of silk, and it looks good and it is comfortable too.

No, we came close one time driving home through the lakes region but we knew they were out of time at the time. My grandsons have an interesting DNA mix. Farid came here from Pakistan for grad school where he met and married Sylvia who was here for grad school as well - from Korea. Nancy's DNA is half Swedish. Only in America.

Of course not - That would ruin my sunshine narrative. We were talking housing costs.

Those gascolator o-rings should be replaced every annual when they are pulled for inspection, but its seems that doesn't always happen. I didn't think any of the K's came with out the fuel selector not being in the center, making it easily reachable by all pilots. The problem requiring the PVC tool was for the vintage Mooneys where it was placed in front of the pilot seat along with the gascolator drain ring and if the pilot flies with his seat forward the first required step is move the seat back and then use the PVC tool to reach it. With the fuel selector positioned in front of the trim wheel this issue is eliminated entirely. Its a shame Mooney wasn't able to do this much earlier.

I just picked up another 540 , just back from Avidyne... Andrew, Alan isn't too far from NYC. If you can make a deal that includes delivery to me at JFK Terminal 1 this Tuesday afternoon, you can have that 540 before the end of the month.

Yea, they are so cool inside. Little ruby jewels are used for spindle races. I found a place in PA I may send it to get fixed.

I second the AXP322, Paul helped talk me into it and not one regret. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche was mentioned earlier and I will just add that it is required reading for any pilot. My personal favorite is West with the Night by Beryl Markham. I frankly think she was the greatest female aviator of all time and when you read Lovell's biography of her (Straight on Till Morning) you get to really wishing you had known her--she slept with Denys Finch Hatton (who taught her to fly) as well as Antoine de Saint Exupéry (Wind, Sand and Stars and Night Flight.), but blew off Hemingway--not literally, who called her a bitch but grudgingly admitted that she was a great writer. She made Amelia look like a student pilot.

One Aspen panel allows you to remove the TC, the VSI, and the DG/HSI. You still are required to have a secondary AI. A second Aspen would allow you to also remove the ASI and Alt. I was keeping the Altimeter and with the IFD540, decided the second Aspen would be redundant. If the Aspen could drive the vertical speed and altitude preselect for the KFC150, I'd have removed the Altimeter and ASI and installed an Aspen MFD.

So I was there last June and I don’t know what is happening now, but I remember seeing some engine nacelles for Citation jets that were part of some company’s retrofit process. There were also parts for another company that makes a warbird scale model that is pretty familiar (I believe that’s confidential so I won’t say the name in a blog). They were also getting some sales for non-aviation projects for their precision cutting machines. So they have both aerospace and other industry contracts for their new capabilities. I was pretty impressed by what I saw.

Yes. And the CiES were an easy swap out which I did while adding the bladder 64 gallon capacity. I've flown only one hour long test flight after that work before pulling the cowl to ship to @Sabremech. Hopefully in a week or so I'll be making pireps on all my new toys.

I think they're saying close is good enough. None of the transport category aircraft I have flown have a turn coodinator, which led me to remove the one in my 201 as well. Circling maneuvers are rare, but I do have them on my Type rating for the 747-400 and the 737NG. We were always trained to use ~25 degrees of bank. If course use all available information (DME, GPS, etc) to remain in the protected zone. Yes I agree strongly with you, that less than standard rate turns can get you into trouble. https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC91-75.pdf "Replacing the rate-of-turn indicator will mean losing an easy reference for standard rate turns. However, in today’s air traffic control system, there is little need for precisely measured standard rate turns or timed turns based on standard rate. Maintaining a given bank angle on theattitude indicator for a given speed will result in a standard rate turn. Pilots using this AC to substitute an attitude indicator for their rate-of-turn indicator are encouraged to know the bank angle needed for a standard rate turn."

And pull the alternate static first. Its the cheapest speed mod.

There is a fair amount of bashing of the electric gear. Properly maintained it works fine. The actuator units are very well built. I prefer the crank down method of the F over the pull the rope method of the J Before someone bashes the electric flaps. They also work fine. Some contact cleaner on the limit switches will usually fix any issue. Unfortunately there are some mechanics that are great with mechanical stuff, but not that great with lectricity. One thing to look for is an unmolested wiring under the panel. if there are a bunch of clip on wire stuff and wire bundles that are ty wrapped vs. factory cloth tied. That could be a sign of issues up the road.

That system is also available in the M20K 252's and Encores. I can't remember the last time I had both rear seats installed. I generally have neither or just one rear seat in the plane. It's a really slick system requiring all of 60 seconds to remove or install both rear seats.

Part of my preflight is to not just switch tanks to check the operation of the switch after I sit down, but feel all around it to make sure I haven't had a little pebble off my shoes or something else fall in that could jam it. Running a tank dry really is a non-event. Maybe because I'm still in my 40's it's easy for me to reach the switch. In my transition training I told my CFI I was going to switch tanks and reached down and changed them. A minute or so later he asked when I was going to switch tanks and I told him I already had.

The autopilot has no problem reading those lines and flies a perfect standard rate turn every time.

@Aerodon is building a new panel for my 77’ J. We started the ground work about December and are very close to the final. We’ve had a lot of extra time to plan things out and get everything the way I would like. And this mount with my single G5 will look great. The front plate is just to simulate the panel and will give me a template to drill the mounting holes. It’s super stable with the aluminum spacers that give the flush position. Hard to go wrong with this mount. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree. Their new value is dropping quickly. Someone on Beechtalk has been trying to sell a class 3 Aspen 2000 system (for >6000 lb planes) and is down to 10k now for the pair. Nearly new units too. I'd take one or two, but I'm waiting to see how the new autopilot landscape (and Dynon kit) shake out before making a decision. Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

I totally agree. When I had my 261 conversion I generally flew her in the low to mid Fl20s. I always had a secondary oxygen bottle hooked up with attached masks strapped to the passenger seatback. I had the red/green ball flowneters in all the oxygen lines, and I religiously checked to to see that oxygen was flowing about every 10 minutes. In retrospect that was not often enough. On a flight across the country with a friend who was also a CFII /ATP, we decided to take turns taking off our masks at Fl270. I didn’t last very long - about 2 minutes before breaking into laughter and then becoming totally incoherent. I put the mask back on (these were the really high quality expensive masks with built lt in microphones), and took a good 5 minutes before I felt normal (but probably wasn’t). We repeated the test with my friend who simply dozed off, and his recovery time was a bit better than mine after we got his mask back on. Thereafter I tried to fly no higher than FL230, and mostly less than FL210. Now with my J I use oxygen above 9500’ as I feel sharper in my thinking than without oxygen. If I am on a long flight in less than ideal conditions, I’ll use oxygen at 8,000-8500’. I can feel my age (82) being a factor now, but I have no trouble breathing in non-Flying situation. Hypoxia can sneak up on you. (As can CO). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I find most of your posts quite useful whether we agree or not. I appreciate you relaying hard won experiences. I did not sense that you were advocating conducting Non FIKI aircraft operations in ice as a matter of SOP. I think that fear is an overrated motivator. While it heightens senses, releases adrenalin and increases heart rate, it does little to improve one’s ability to handle the challenges of managing a stressful situation in the cockpit. Fear that has degraded to panic can reduce a formerly well-functioning pilot to an indecisive mass that acts as if they’ve had no training. I have always disliked the “178 Seconds to live” CASA campaign and all of it’s offshoots. Telling VFR pilots that if they enter IMC they will depart controlled flight in less than three minutes on average might motivate them to steer clear of IMC, but it’s not helpful if it happens to one inadvertently and may lead to panic (and the performance degradation that comes with it) when calm assessment and decisive action would save the day. Ice in a non-fiki bird is not to be taken lightly, but the OP ended up encountering ice in the descent when there was no forecast of icing. Having just passed some large rocks prior to descent, it seems his only real option was to continue the descent and approach. In that situation, I would much prefer to know that the bird I’m flying will carry a reasonable load of ice before becoming a stone than wondering if I’m on the edge of a stall with a light layer of rime. I would not be comfortable with ice out to stall strips and your post makes me no more likely to fly in icing conditions. However, knowing the airframe will carry ice would likely provide some measure of comfort (an antidote to panic) in an inadvertent icing situation because it’s good to know the airplanes abilities exceed the comfort level of the pilot by a large margin. When that situation reverses or is an unknown, bad things can happen quickly.

The deals will continue to get better. Two years should have more options and cheaper prices.

I didnt see the 2000 system listed online; if it helps anyone, they quoted me $16,900 and included the AOA and SV with that price. My wife said no. If this is an annual cycle, Ill just wait a year or two until she forgets.

Paint being applied!

I know its only the masking tape, but that shade of yellow looks stunning with the silver. Reminds me of the carbon cub.

Took it up for a 2 hour shake down post maintenance flight today with @"Chocks". Flying Austin to Minneapolis tomorrow. I'm glad we were able to flush mount everything including the G5. There are still a few squawks, but it goes in for Annual on August 1st. I'm going to put as many hours on it as possible between now and then. The pard of the panel not yet done is the right side with the holes covered and the breakers. That will all get redone in August. I'm also still waiting on back order Kalixon switches from Mooney so a few are non-standard right now.

Happily, my Aspen has never done that... but I was a late(r) adoptor. These things happen, no matter who the manufacturer is.. the highest risk (like an engine overhaul), is in the infant stages of the devices operation. I'm happy to see that you found this while VMC. just goes to show you: no manufacturer is immune from this type of problem... sometime you just need to "find the bugs."