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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/15/2018 in all areas

  1. My journey to PPL and Mooney ownership was a L O N G one. Started training in 2001 then my instructor left for airlines (didn't tell me he had been hired) and school let me slip through the cracks and never mentioned anything to me about a "written test". They soloed me and sent me off into the crowded airspace of the L A Basin to survive. Started up again in 2005 for a few hours then again in 2006. Moved out of the USA for a few years and started again in 2015 with American Flyers. I made it through written and was about two weeks away from check ride when the school shut down due to issues with KSMO and the Santa Monica leases. Life got in the way again and in 2017 I committed to myself that I would see it through. I flew 2-3 times a week, took the written again and in February of 2018 I passed my PPL with 165 hours in my log book. Was it worth it? You bet!. The sense of accomplishment was incredible. When my DPE asked me what I wanted to do with my ticket I showed him a picture of the 67 Mooney M20 F that I purchased in December that was waiting for me in my hangar. Having my fiancé Shannon by my side every step of the way has made a huge difference. We met when we were 10 years old, dated in high school and reconnected again 10 years ago. We've known each other 45 years and she's a great life copilot and support system. FLY FLY FLY as much as possible and set your sights on a Mooney. You will never regret those two decisions. Welcome to the club.
    7 points
  2. I'm kind of partial to these "action" shots: But for pure background scenery [despite the canopy cover], I like this one:
    3 points
  3. A final follow-up (at least I hope). A few weeks ago I dropped the belly pan and removed some of the interior pieces so that I could find the gear warning connectors and diodes. The RC14A/PL14A connector with the D1 diode attached is located beside the pilot seat at the point that the wiring harness passes through the floor. I couldn’t find any loose pins or corrosion on that connector. I held off on replacing the diode as I wanted to look at the other connections first. The RC09A/PL09A connector with the D1 diode attached is not near as easy to access. It is behind the pilot side panel about 6 inches below the gear switch. I couldn’t find any loose pins or corrosion on that connector although it was very difficult to access. I didn’t replace this diode either as the radio racks would have to be removed to get enough slack in the wiring harness to replace the diode. The next step was to check the up/down limit switch connections under the belly to see if any were loose. I found one of the ring connectors on the up limit switch was fairly loose. I was able to get about a half turn on the screw when I tightened it. While I had the belly pan off I checked the remainder of the connectors (gear and flap) and everything else was tight. I have about 20 hours and 20 gear cycles since I tightened up the loose ring connector on the up limit switch without any issues. I believe that the up limit switch loose connector was causing enough extra resistance to cause the 1 amp breaker to trip when the gear was in transit. If it occurs again then I will have to replace the diodes and breaker as there isn’t much left. I hope this is my last post to this thread but if the breaker trips again I will report back.
    3 points
  4. You just can't catch a brake around here! Or is that break? I should be working anyway instead of Mooneyspacing....
    3 points
  5. I for one am very happy they didn't shoot down the Q400 in Seattle. There is way too much preemptive killing of people already. And as it turned out, it was just fine that they didn't. Kudos to the controller who very calmly talked to the guy and kept him out of harms way and never gave up trying to talk him down.
    3 points
  6. I really don't think I can even qualify with so many great Mooney pictures in this thread. But she's beautiful to me... Sitting on the ramp in Churchill Manitoba after getting us safely across hundreds of miles of tundra out of range of radar and radio. My beautiful co-pilot and our fur-kid hiding in the shade.
    2 points
  7. Your compass is probably ok. Check if it works outside your plane to make sure. If you want to hear about degaussing adventures, I offer you my previous thread. I am working on the screenplay version. It is an epic story of heartbreak, struggle against adversity, and eventual triumph . Pro tips: (1) take your compass out of plane and put it in another zip code while degaussing - otherwise you will really need a new compass. (2) More current through your degaussing coil is better, but don't burn or electrocute yourself. (3) turn off coil AFTER exiting the plane - otherwise it will remagnetize your steel frame (4) If degaussing the steel frame doesn't do the job, you have to do the engine mount. Ask me how I know...
    2 points
  8. Guy committed suicide because his wife showed him the door? Most guys I know would use that as an excuse for a party!
    2 points
  9. Tom pardon me but please bring us up to date again on this. Have you talked or communicated with the person or persons who actually have the STC data and ownership? Have you tried to do a lease / purchase or licensing type agreement with them to use the STC? I'm thinking like $500 to $1,000 per STC. You get to sell the parts and have more of your systems out there (future parts sales) and they get some monetary benefit from it as well. Eventually after so many licenses you would own the STC outright and have full control of it. If the total cost of materials and STC can be kept reasonable (I'm thinking $15k+/- for a kit) you might just be able to sell some kits.
    2 points
  10. +1 for Windy! aka: https://www.windy.com/ or the app with the same name.
    2 points
  11. One “e” and I’m marked for life!
    2 points
  12. I would say a C172 is hard to get into a spin, but I would not say the same of a Mooney. Fly the numbers /AOA and it is fine, but an uncoordinated stall or an accelerated stall can get you there if you don’t correct it quickly.
    2 points
  13. 67 M20 F. I had Don Maxwell arrange for the yoke wrapping for me on my purchase/annual. I am totally satisfied with how they turned out. I've since updated the panel with a complement of Garmin products. Audio Panel, Transponder, 345 & 650, Voice Command...etc.
    2 points
  14. I think the mental health issues facing pilots is very real. Although I’m not a psychiatrist, I did marry one and we’ve talked about it quite a bit. Based on my experience, I would say some of the risk factors for suicide (like impulsivity) are probably over-represented in the GA population. As was just pointed out by @jaylw314 some of the traditional risk factors for suicide are also over-represented in the pilot population (https://www.mdedge.com/psychiatry/article/59790/depression/revised-sad-persons-helps-assess-suicide-risk) Maybe a useful outcome from this tragedy would be to discuss how we can help each other with mental health challenges since, statistically, many of us have them. There was recently someone here who posted that he carried a handgun on every flight so he could commit suicide if he was going to crash. The response to that was pretty disappointing. Even if it’s just a joke (which he later clarified it wasn’t) it’s not very funny. Not to get on a soapbox, but I’ve seen lots of suicide attempts, some of them successful. I deal with suicidal people on an almost daily basis. If we don’t do a better job addressing mental health issues in the GA community, me fear is that someone else will do it for us and probably not in very desirable way. edit: corrected link
    2 points
  15. Here is another one to contemplate Pritch
    2 points
  16. One of my favorite airports to fly into for breakfast when I used to fly my father's Cessna 150 TD was Butter Valley. Since purchasing my Mooney at the end of March 2018 I didn't make it back until now. This is my first landing at Butter Valley since purchasing the Mooney. Runway is 1535'x24' with 900' of grass overrun. My dad and brother flew over first in his brand "C" and shot the video. You can hear my father in the background urging me to add power.
    1 point
  17. Hello Mooniacs, as I have now become officially retired and have resumed my love for painting I want to do an original painting for one of you. For any of you that might like to have a portrait of your pride and joy Mooney please send a reply to this thread or PM with photos of your Mooney attached. The image file should be a jpeg or PDF showing your plane in its best form it can be parked or in flight. My future plans are to do these on a consignment basis and will be expanding out to other forums but want to keep it to more of a hobby than a pure business.. i will allow a couple of weeks for folks to send me there photos and I will select one that I am most inspired by. attached are a couple examples of my work. I hope to get lots of responses. Thank you in advance for all that participate Bonal
    1 point
  18. These will clean up nice , they are as removed from a J model.... Hard to find , Alan 856 419 5209 ...
    1 point
  19. The generally accepted sequence is: P - reduce power A - neutralize ailerons R - opposite rudder E - elevator to level flight
    1 point
  20. That is also coming as a feature on a few of the new and to be soon certified digital autopilots.
    1 point
  21. and my profile pic of course!
    1 point
  22. Cygnet Aerospace has an adapter that allows use of their yokes with the older, smaller shafts.
    1 point
  23. That is purely retrospective thinking. Given the risk to a potentially large number of innocent people and the uncertainty involved and the window of opportunity to abate the risk over an unpopulated area it was a poor decision. If it ended differently the government would have drawn a lot of flak( no pun intended).
    1 point
  24. And while you are at it throw that CO card as far as you can and get a real CO sniffer, a couple hundred bucks may just save you life someday. Pritch Ck white gizmo bottom center
    1 point
  25. It has been very smoky out here in Oregon and Calif. and you can easily get suckered in to thinking you can see through the stuff and then it has got you. Pritch PS picture is on top at 12.5K and you can't see the ground.
    1 point
  26. We are indeed fortunate!!!!
    1 point
  27. Dave at Lasar took care of me and the U-Channel is on its way. Thanks for all of the useful replies.
    1 point
  28. Shop has the manuals. Should be an easy install because plane it came out of had 14V, same DG and 430gps.
    1 point
  29. Maybe as pilots we just have another tool in our suicide toolbox. I guess it depends on weather you want to go quietly or in a blaze of glory! I personally plan on dying from a hart attack while riding my bicycle in a race when I'm 110 or so.
    1 point
  30. Nope, better not run for office. You admitted making a mistake!
    1 point
  31. I'm not doubting Scott at all, obviously he's flying with the yokes and shafts. But just to give my experience with my M20C. I bought a set of used yokes and the shafts with them that were marked for an M20J. I had two shops, and one avionics shop tell me they wouldn't work. One of the shops I asked was Don Maxwell. He went to his parts room and pulled out a set of shafts for an M20C and we compared them to the 201 shafts I had. The fittings at the forward end of the shaft where it connects to all the linkages, were completely different. He told me I'd have to order shafts from Mooney that were the thicker material and would fit the 201 yokes but had the M20C linkage connections. At between $600 and $700 per shaft, I held off for a year or so before going ahead and ordering the new shafts from Mooney. Once I had the new shafts, the installation was quick and easy, under an hour. I will say that 201 yokes covered in leather by Aero Comfort in San Antonio are really nice and worth every penny if you got them.
    1 point
  32. Forget what I said- probably best just to call LASAR!
    1 point
  33. The grass overrun is on the north end. I knew that when I consistently got off at the first exit at my home field I would have no trouble.
    1 point
  34. If that's not success... I don't know what is.
    1 point
  35. A couple of my favorite photos. Jim Simmons, Cheshire, CT
    1 point
  36. I just scrolled through these pics again. Dang Mooney’s are cool! This one is with my mechanic on the right and flight instructor on the left. Putting her in the hangar for the first time after getting her to home base.
    1 point
  37. Beautiful work, Bonal! I think i’m Going to need a composite... piece of art... Background, Eric’s desert scene... Close background, SDB’s Arch... with Rich’s 201turbo turning to shoot through it.... Middle, A good pic of my O in flight... don’t have a pic of that... Foreground, Seth’s safety patrol kids... A super nice ray tracing art of everything reflecting off Bryan’s finely polished spinner! My O would look extra nice with a borrowed piece of clothing... a nice coat of Bob’s paint would work... All framed up and getting squished by ILC’s boy’s finger and thumb! Titled “Pilot Perfect. Or I’m Squishing You.....“ Bonal, Thanks for sharing your awesome skill. To get all that would probably be an 8’ X 24’ mural! Who’s got a new hangar home in need of some awesome Mooney wall mural.... Best regards, -a-
    1 point
  38. Still my fave of my beast:
    1 point
  39. Obviously mine will be the winning picture (my plane is the one on the left). What you can’t hear him saying is “I’m crushing your tail.” Followed by, “dad, why can’t you get one of those?!”
    1 point
  40. You are very talented. Beautiful work. Here is my 67 M20 F
    1 point
  41. Wow, what a cool contest. There are some really amazing shots so far! Here are some of my favorites with my airplane!
    1 point
  42. I'll put my old E in the hopper, 2 pics from Madison, one from Oshkosh...
    1 point
  43. Man, first reply throws down the gauntlet with an amazing pic with three little kids. It's hard to compete with kids or puppies! But alas, it's worth the try.
    1 point
  44. Evidently us vintage guys have to stick together.
    1 point
  45. I will email these to you separately - PM me your email please. It's the picture I posted a few months ago. My daughter is in the middle leading her friends from the airport cafe to our hanger to look at her airplane. However, can you insert my Missile as to what the kids are walking to? Maybe crop down the picture as well as bit? Make the - background nicer? PM me your email and I'll send more pictures of the Missile. -Seth
    1 point
  46. Yep, both of ours are out of the nest and aren't welcome back ;-) The Mooney is a lot more useable with only two of us and the dog.
    1 point
  47. For repairs, there is Dawley Aviation in Wisconsin or for a complete STC/PMA there is Knisley Welding in California. Didn't use them, but heard good reviews.
    1 point
  48. Better for night vision! No lights required!
    1 point
  49. I have Dynon's roll and pitch servos in my Rv7, manual but no electric trim. No electric trim in any case means no auto trim. When the autopilot is engaged both servos will do their thing holding altitude and heading (or whatever is selected) as any modern autopilot. If a downdraft is encountered the pitch servo will hold altitude but at some point there will be a message on the PFD, "Trim Pitch Nose Up". A big enough downdraft and out of trim may cause a message on the PFD, "Pitch Servo Slip" simply meaning the force required to maintain altitude exceeded the capability of the servo. No biggie, usually this message will flash a few times on a bumpy day. Flying a coupled approach with a lot of speed changes will generate a bunch of trim advisories. If I built another today, would I include electric trim and therefore auto trim. Nope. Would I buy Dynon again versus Garmin? Yep.
    1 point
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