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Do you depreciate the CapX over the GAAP standard 3 year or a more aviation-realistic 3 minutes?

I separate CapEx and OpEx. CapEx is the price of the plane and any upgrades I make or money I spend on improvements. OpEx are the recurring costs such as fuel, hangar rent, annual maintenance, other maintenance, nav subscriptions, etc. I flew approximately 250 hours last year. I have no idea how much I spent in either of the two categories last year. But all the bills got paid, so I guess we're ok for another year of this.

Like many above stated I don’t keep close track of my costs nor do I keep a fund for long term expected maintenance items such as new engine etc. being an accountant I’ve become anti-numerical outside of work, if I can keep making the expenses I’ll keep flying if not I’ll sit in the corner and wither away. Having a pristine Bravo at least mechanically which is expensive to maintain I’d rather not keep track. Some years I’d guess on the low side of $30000+ on the high side like last year $60,000+ many of us are on our final plane just hoping for another year of flying. My wife mentioned yesterday to start planning for our flying season, last year was the best flying year we’ve had flying over 120 hours of long cross country ie vacationing...was awesome. Onward to 2019. Have fun keep flying in you can, the years fly by.

Spoke to Paul Odum this afternoon with the stc group... he was very helpful in explaining the process and installation of the pro pilot. Paul was here briefly with a couple posts to explore the possibility of producing an autopilot for our ships. He mentioned that much of the design was already done. I think he was somewhat disappointed after one or two of us weighed in. I told him don’t let a few outweigh the many. I for one, really like what they have in the way of a cost effective digital autopilot... and hope they know there are a lot of Mooney touring aircraft here and around the country, seen and unseen, that can benefit from all their hard work. Also I would like them to know that I for one, really appreciate the stc group helping General Aviation... it’s a huge contribution. let em know they are appreciated

Went to Los Angeles area yesterday to pick up a friend who dropped off his Bonanza. It was busy as usual but ATC was professional, efficient and friendly. There was a Mooney pilot at KPOC that couldn’t figure out the ODP and the ground controller patiently talked him through it, reviewed all the altitudes and headings and even told him where he could find the written version-all with patience and not a hint of frustration. As we were flying home I commented to my friend how impressed I was with the controllers and he said “It’s even more impressive when you consider the fact they’re not getting paid!” Ran across this article today and I guess it’s true (although I’m not sure how it works for contract controllers). Not trying to get into politics here, but I just wanted to say kudos to our aviation colleagues who show up every day, do their job and act like true professionals, even in the face of personal hardship. I wish more people acted that way... https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/11/politics/shutdown-paycheck-what-it-looks-like-trnd/index.html

How many of you have flown an early Mooney with and without the positive control operational? In other words with no autopilot at all? It sure seems different than a Cessna. Edit: That is, flying them on instruments with and without Positive Control?

What you describe is not a lot of metal. Typically the lifters fail before the cam. Lifters breakdown rapidly when they stop rotating. The cam typically follows rather than leads the this type of failure. I do not understand why you've not had the cam lift measured. This should not be a major endeavor. A dial indicator and a few ours max for an experienced A&P. This is the first thing I would do.

Or “rat socks”

My transition instructor said I was too tall to try hand propping a mooney. I have a rule of never go forward of the wing when plane engines are running. It's a good rule since the plane lives in a $100 hamburger airport and there are lots of yahoos with spinning props.

Eight years ago we had a case crack on an engine with 855SMOH. At that time I was very active on the AOPA forum (Red Board). Many folks told me that it was best to just overhaul (what’s $30K to remedy a case crack right?). At the time I had just punched out of a corporate banking position with a nice severance due to a merger. I elected to remove and reinstall the engine myself and utilized a “local” Engine shop about 50 miles away to do the engine work. I learned quite a bit during that endeavor that may be applicable to your situation: 1) There is a tendency in aviation for mission creep towards “while you’re in there” kinds of items without knowledge of the actual condition of those items. 2) The relative ease with which a case can be split once the engine is off the aircraft. I dropped my engine off at the engine shop around 11:00 AM sans accessories. The case was crated and on its way to Tulsa that afternoon. 3) Owners have a tendency overstate the paper advantage of an overhaul. Some buyers want something run out so they can choose where to rebuild it. Some like to see “Factory zero time”. If you have no reason to sell the plane, the best value is typically to simply correct the problem and get back in the air. It’s only when you find an engine with multiple issues that an overhaul starts to become a better value. You’re doing a lot of hemming and hawing (just like I did) over what if’s before you really know what you have on your hands. I was terrified that we’d open up my engine and find corroded lifters and a spalled cam. We didn’t, internals were beautiful at 10 yrs and 800hrs. At the end of the day the IRAN with crankcase overhaul and going over the cylinders was about $4000. Engine was returned to me painted and wrapped just like an overhaul. My local IA charged $500 to supervise my reinstallation. If I had paid someone could’ve been closer to 3k to R&R the engine I was really close to overhauling. At the time I was out of work but has been given a check for more than a year’s salary. I had both time and money but I’m glad I chose the route I did. I’ve put 400 hours on the engine since and it’s running beautifully. Do you have an engine shop close by? This endeavor sounds best suited to a shop that will advise you as more info is garnered. Lycoming won’t give a core credit on anything if the case is split (must be in running condition). For what it’s worth, 1 quart every 6 to 7 hours is perfectly acceptable and healthy oil consumption. Pull the jug and take a look.

I think you should take into consideration, the memories you will get with this plane. A rental can only get you so far. Back when I rented the Cessna 172, I'm sure it was considerably cheaper than what the ovation is per hour, but the capabilities that a privately owned Mooney offer over a rental Cessna is massive. when I rented the Cessna, a good day was flying to an airport 80 to 100 miles away. I can take the Mooney any day I please 300 to 500 miles away in 2 to 3 and a half hours and not have to worry about not having a plane available. I also love the fact that ownership motivates me to travel. I can hear about a fly-in 3 days away and not be concerned that an aircraft is not available. The memories I've gotten with the plane are priceless and will be with me for life. Flying from So-cal to Canada to ride some of the best bike parks in whistler with one of my best friends over 2 weeks. Taking day trips to Oakland with my family or flying to Kernville to go camping. Flying the aircraft over 1500 miles from Kenosha to the southwest. A rental will give you 20% of those memories for 40% of the price. I can plan a trip from So-cal to Oshkosh next year. Ownership opens up new opportunities, but it comes at a price. A lot people open that door and most seem to like it since they still own a plane. I'm sure a lot of people will back my opinion, that ownership has given the opportunities and memories that would never have been possible without consistent access to an aircraft and the desire to go anywhere when they feel like it.

If the engine is running well, why mess with it until you have to? New and overhauled engines can have infant mortality, so you may or may not get better reliability. I recently replaced a A3B6D (broken oil control ring took out piston skirt and cam was spalling) with a factory rebuilt A3B6 after duscussions with Lycoming and mag overhaulers. Roller tappets are clearly a design improvement worth the extra cost to me. Dual mags are reliable in my experience, but are no longer made, some parts are hard to get and fewer mag shops will work on them. There are numerous internal differences between A3B6D and A3B6 which has more parts commonality with other engines. The A3B6D will likely end up being more expensive to maintain as time goes by. Lycoming will give you a break to retire a A3B6D core which says something (to me) about its commitment to that engine. Lycoming has standardized timing at 20 deg on 360 series engines with the exception of the dual mag engines for many years. Some think this is a big deal, some not so much. I don’t want to open that can if worms, but personslly I haven’t noticed much difference. Hope that helps. Still really currious about the injector lines. I think the newer lines are just thicker walled for fatigue resistance and have the same ID, but I’m really interested to know for sure. And, even if the ID is different, it would be interesting to see if that affects the flow rate through the nozzles since the tubing is so much larger than the nozzle orifice. Skip

The vacuum pump is a posative displacement pump, it pumps a volume of air, not a pressure. The vacuum regulator is actually just a controlled leak. So if you block it off it will be working pretty hard. But you are just blocking off the suction side, it can only make a vacuum. If you were to block off the pressure side you could destroy the pump. Your best bet is to hook the filter to the manifold.

I used to fly a gazillionair around in a Falcon 50. I once started talking about operating costs and he told me, “You never think about what it costs per hour or you will never do it.” If you want the plane and you can afford it, buy it. At the end of each year, add up the total cost to own it. If you can live with that, keep it. If you can’t live with that, sell it.” Works for my Mooney. (Which my wife has christened The Mooney Pit!)

There's no luck involved. Fine wire plugs provide 1-2 percent better fuel economy, so they pay for themselves well before they wear out in 2000-2500 hours. RAM Aircraft published findings on the topic. In which time you will have had to buy 3 or more sets of massive plugs, and pay for gapping and cleaning that fine wires don't need.

Seems like a lot of work. Most people just wait for Chris to fix it for them.

When I was in High School I had a summer intern gig at a local university in a high energy physics lab where they had a massive electron pulse gun that shot a massively powered arc through a 2 ft vacuum for a very very very very short time burst. The thing was about 2 stories tall, round and probably 50ft long on the side. My job was to make little anodes of various shapes designed by the professor, who would specify the shape and material and I - and a few others the same - would spin those special shapes in a machine shop lathe for like 2 days to get them perfect. Then we would literally blow them up in a glorious nano-second. This was the mid 1980s during the "Star Wars" research era of Reagan and high energy pulses of all sorts were all the rage. On the side of that very big electron pulse gun someone painted Champion One very artistically looking like the real trade mark logo of a real spark plug marking. Because that was what that thing was - one very big spark plug.

Sorry to hear that your wife went through the boat ownership thing with you. That is like telling a woman you are going on a first date with that your serial rapist days are over. Hopefully you can convince her that airplane ownership is different. Instead of throwing money in the water, you’re throwing it in the air. [emoji1787] As others point out, pride of ownership, the ability to have access when you want and knowing the condition all of the time are great benefits. The downside is that you own the costs when you own and you just can’t throw the keys at the FBO anymore and say “it’s broke”. I am sure that I am paying more than renting, but I also eat lunch with a Pilot friend and hear the whining about the availability of the rentals at our airport. As for the financials, you have heard some clearly say they ignore certain costs. If your financial situation can allow that, great. If it can’t, it can become a pain point with the family when you are deciding whether Johnny is going to get braces or you are going to fix your plane. I look at ownership cost as all in. I count everything because if I didn’t own a plane, I wouldn’t have those expenses. Also, I do reserves because the money is clearly earmarked for an intended usage. If you need to rebuild an engine, it is nice to have saved up the money and know it’s covered. As long time owner, I flew a number of years with an avionics reserve that kept building up. In 2012 it allowed me to do this: Be realistic with your finances. I can’t tell you the number of times we have had people post here about buying a plane and then a few months later are dealing with huge financial hits. And on other side of this, you only live once. And unless you plan on being buried in a gold (or gold lined) coffin, enjoy the ability to own and participate in something that most people never get to do. How many people can say they are able to fly a plane and capture a picture like this? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I purposely don’t keep track. Quite the contrary its one of those things I try to have amnesia about.

Discovered this website for weather last week. Does winds clouds waves Metars and a bunch more. Take a look at it and it is FREE. Click on the orange circle to open more options. WINDY.COM Pritch

I concur with Jim... I'm not sure that juice is worth the squeeze. One could deduce that if the Acclaim S doesn't have them, then it is for a reason. And I'm saying that as an uber-drag-reducing nerd that has thought about it myself too! Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

Ha. Yes.

I'm in the same situation as well. Back from a 19 year break when I stopped at around 38 hours. I started back in October and I'm in check ride prep mode now. Plan is to start looking for a nice F or J once I get a few hours logged post PPL and perhaps post complex endorsement. Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

My guess is they are being over run with orders and can’t keep up with the production. They probably have supply agreements with Chief among others and are pressed to keep up with those commitments. Sounds a little like the issue Phil has with the Quiet Comfort headset. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Changing the eyeballs (both sides, pilot and copilot) really improved the yoke sliding. But now I have to wait for warmer temperature in order to check that the stiffness is totally gone. My point was, despite what is written above by other posters, this eyeball should not be lubed. Actually lubing this eyeball may damage it but only newer maintenance manuals mention it.

I'm not quite sure I understand this. Do you mean that carriers insure aircraft that you don't own policies on as a bonus, or does it mean that I somehow get limited coverage on aircraft that are owned by my companies?

Plug the hose that went into your AI. The regulator will take up the difference. Do not plug the intake of the pump itself. It will overheat and fail.

Or as John D. Rockefeller, replied to a fellow partier aboard his huge magnificent yacht back in the 30"s: When queried about the cost, he replied, "If you have to ask you can't afford it".

I love how these things look like musical instruments.

As long as it isn’t March or april Norman is 1:15 away. I’m not going anywhere near Norman during F5 tornado season!

I'll send you a picture when I get to the hangar this weekend.

Mine had about 1800 hours Pritch

My point

Not sure what model you have, but the Gen2 will be easier than the older Mooney with all the screws. Ram air is deleted as there wasn’t enough gain from it after moving the air filter inside the cowling and the cost to keep it was too high. I have a couple of Gen1 parts sets still on the shelf and they could still be installed. The Gen2 looks much better and fits more airplanes. There’s quite a bit more labor involved on the Gen1 and especially so if there’s been previous nose cowl damage as I found on both Bob’s E and Matt’s F. Lots of hours to make this cowlings right and thankfully I had other cowlings to use for parts. All in, I believe the Gen2 will be more cost effective and the aesthetics are certainly much better. David

The pipers used aluminum battery cables. They are notoriously bad. A lot of them have been replaced with copper cables. Mooney has always used copper cables.

Parker is a straight shooter, and a nice guy.

I'll say... and at that rate he will be facing an engine overhaul pretty soon which will make the 2020 compliance and the Flight Stream add on seem like chump change.

I was told that flying coupled approaches is a significant certification challenge, and has to be done with each pairing of approved GPS navigators.. Any truth to this? What does the Garmin need additionally to be certed for this? Nav

First, Paul's approach is mine as well. But for our OPer, @GH3, my fixed costs - hangar, in a relatively low cost region, insurance (for $95k hull, high time instrument pilot), Garmin subscriptions for GTN etc., property tax, annual (owner assist), static sys check (half of a 24 month requirement) total $6000. Half of that is the hangar. Fuel runs me about $50/hour, about $4000 per year for my 75-80 hours. Maintenance has become a pretty minor though unpredictable annual expense now. That's after 7 years of fixing anything that needs fixing as soon as it is found. At "only" $10,000 per year for all the above, guys like me with "forever" planes can explore the big boy toy stores. With appropriate apologies to @Ameliaet al for couching this from my masculine point of view, vintage Mooneys are beautiful women with great bones just begging to be bedecked with jewels. Last year for me that included extended fuel bladders, SabreCowl, and new paint. The cost of the bangles (Paul's CapEx) dwarf the necessary items.

Ours failed in Dec. At about 700hrs. It was bad, turned on the heat and it was like sucking on the exhaust...because I effectively was. If you zoom in you can see the crack. It was around the entire tube because I could move it by hand (slightly). 4 weeks later, good as new. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

There are a few threads discussing various sources of the same data... Essentially an ADSB vs XM discussion... How often each data set was updated... what the lag in the data is before it can be made available to even send... The clarity of the grapghic data... the monthly cost... XM is available while on the ground... ADSB is free-ish but not very useable until 1k’agl or so in some places... Time has changed all of the issues... frequently... You really have to know how old the data really is when you receive it.... Tactical route planning is a storm scope kind of device... staying out of lightening strike areas... The bundled graphics are just too old to be used tactically... you can probably find a few threads where people gave up the XM after a while based on the cost.... PP thoughts only, not a CFI... Best regards, -a-

I Those are one of my customer's spark plugs in the blue trays. I've been involved in the Champion fiasco since 2010. They finally changed their basic resistor design in February 2014, but they did NOT change the fine wire insulators that are prone to cracking. I would not use a Champion fine wire plug. Their massive electrode plugs are OK if the date code is newer than March 2014. I would recommend the Tempest fine wire plugs for any application.

After having a significant issue (high resistance) with a set of Champion massives, I opted for the Tempest. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I have fine wire Champions in my Ovation but the next time around I’m going with Tempest. I had 3 of my Champions go bad therefore I wouldn’t use them again.

I throughly understand the engineer’s mentality and wanting to understand. In your Dec 3 post you mentioned several issues with your engine monitor and I read into it that you may not trust the data. I always believe that first you need a good data set that you can trust before analyzing a problem. What I intended to convey, is you may not have a problem because you are being mislead by your data. The injection lines and talk of cam wear could be red herrings. Bill

She's a keeper.

Lucky it didn't run his ass over..... should have pulled the chute

Tri flow is the correct answer. You might want to lube everything else in the system all the way to the elevators too. Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk