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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/04/2019 in all areas

  1. x Overall, I’m pretty happy with the final result. I did make some errors in the process, but once I’ve started flying with it, it’s become less noticeable. I only wish I had done it a few years ago! I did get extra vinyl to redo the armrests and trim, but I haven't gotten to them yet.
    6 points
  2. Weather was bad today so my son had to take his lesson in the flight simulators.
    4 points
  3. Call Don Maxwell at Maxwell Aviation in Longview TX. He’s a highly regarded Mooney specialist with decades of experience. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    3 points
  4. A supercharged(turbo or mechanical) engine/airplane gains 2% of TAS per 1000ft at a constant horsepower. A normally aspirated engine loses about 3% of horsepower per 1000ft. You cannot go faster by making less horsepower. It sounds good on paper but simply isn't possible. Mooney tried really hard to get the J to 201mph. It would only happen at sea level and it certainly wasn't a typical production aircraft.
    3 points
  5. We have a very...very... accurate GPS receiver with anti-spoofing encryption. But it’s not “WAAS” certified. the ILS antenna in the F-35 is in the nose wheel well- I have to open my gear doors to get an ILS signal. The sensors in the F-35 are far more accurate at detecting and updating traffic than the ADSB receivers in my mooney. And if it means that I’ll be detected easier in combat due to adding an ADSB antenna, then I’d rather skipper ADSB, and just use my radar. trust me- we are not wandering around blind out there... the whole of the sensor information is projected onto the visor in my helmet- when I designate an air contact, I literally see a box around it, and if I’m not looking at it, I get an arrow that points directly to the target. It’s pretty amazing... and honestly- I hope that some sort of “google Glass” comes along that can tie into ADSb to give me some fraction of that capability in GA. But I hope Garmin doesn’t build it... because they’d charge 50K for it!
    3 points
  6. If anyone talks to Cory tell him I can't count the number of 14 hour duty days (16 hrs hotel to hotel) I had with the 121s when I was working. Long days and flying go together. Its part of the life you accept. Everything has trade offs.
    2 points
  7. So, living in Eclectic AL, do you realize there are two military training route just a couple miles north of town? Both IR21 and VR1055. Also if you think a C-130 at 300AGL and 220KTS is just lumbering through the air and you will easily see it, you are sadly mistaken. I fly these routes in a Beech 400 at 500 AGL and 240 KTGS, trust me we are not easy to see. Of course even if you had ADSB it would not will change this. Of course if you have ADSB-out and/or your transponder on, I would be able see you on my iPad and TCAS and maneuver to avoid you.
    2 points
  8. My wife was a “fearful flyer” when we first got the Mooney although she was fully supportive of the purchase (and helped pick the plane). I suggested that she take flying lessons because although there are certain issue to be worried about when flying, they weren’t really the ones she was worried about. She went to the flight school and told them she wanted lessons in a 172 so they gave her the paperwork and told her that she should get renter’s insurance before her solo. Apparently, this turned into an awkward exchange when she replied “Are you kidding? There’s no way I’m flying a plane by myself!” She got too busy with work after the first few lessons, but she’s really helpful now with setting up the avionics and will talk to ATC and even fly a little during cruise. I wouldn’t be flying if I didn’t have a supportive spouse!
    2 points
  9. I flew fighters and trainers for 14 years. We ALWAYS flew IFR unless there was an operation need to fly VFR. For example, flying a VFR low level route where we were below radar coverage. Or during the controller strike when we were finally allowed to depart VFR if we could not get an IFR release within 15 minutes of reaching the runway. Other than that we took off IFR, flew IFR to our MOA, did our work in the MOA and came home IFR. Air to mud fighters do a lot more low level flying than air to air pilots. As an air to air guy I probably only got to fly low level less than 6 times/year. You would be surprised how easy it would be to miss a C130 on a collision course unless you got lucky enough to look directly at him. Your focal field of view is pretty darn small. The rest of your eyesight only sees in blurry light and relies on motion or change in light intensity to detect traffic. And getting ADS-B is not as expensive as you claim. There are several boxes under $2000 now some of which only require a few hours to install. And you can get a portable ADS-B in box for a few hundred. I give up though. You've convinced yourself that ADS-B is worthless. That's your choice. No amount of talking is going to convince you otherwise.
    2 points
  10. My dad flew HC-130's all over Alaska, around the mountains, through mountain passes, etc... for four years back in the early 80's searching for downed/missing planes, stranded/missing climbers, and boats in distress. He is amazed at all the information available on my tablet.
    2 points
  11. I have friends who flew helicopters / C130s in tall, rocky regions north of the Middle East a decade or so ago, with their personal Garmin 296 & 396 units velcroed to their panels for improved situational awareness and easier navigation.
    2 points
  12. Now for the fun part! Removal of the old foam and installation of the new. The front seat back is removed by a couple of screws (picture is useful to remember the sequence of washers and spacers. The seat back in my vintage of Mooney had a solid plastic piece held by a bunch of screws. Once this is off, there are a bunch of plastic rivets. Some of these will be needed on the reinstallation, but not all (so you don’t need to be too careful removing them. Once the rivets are off the seat back and bottom, the foam can be ripped off. This leaves a fair amount of foam that still needs to be removed. I experimented with a range of methods to remove the excess foam and glue (including heat gun, mechanical and chemical). The best method I found was chemical, with the best chemical being MEK (I also tried IPA, acetone, and xylenes). I’m a chemist, so I’m comfortable with all of these, but be sure to have proper gloves, safety glasses and ventilation. The process can be repeated for the back seats backs. Once the foam is off of the seat bottoms, take a look at the surface. I had 3 cracks in the aluminum (2 on one, 1 on the other) at the front corner of the seat. I decided to stop-drill these, although, on a 44 year old airplane, I don’t know if it would have gotten worse. The back seat bottom is a stand-alone piece so there is no need to salvage the old one. Once the foam and glue has been removed, it’s time to put the new seats on. For the seat backs, the foam will need to be trimmed. I tried a few different ways of doing it and felt that trimming it to cover the tops and sides was best. If you want the foam to extend to th back, it will work as well. I felt it was best to glue the foam on. I used a 3M 1357 neoprene contact adhesive (available from Aircraft Spruce, among others). Since I took a few sessions to do all 6 seats (4 seat backs and 2 seat bottoms), I just used a disposable brush. Good ventilation, gloves and eye protection required (again). Slather the adhesive on the metal seat and the foam (the foam will suck up the adhesive, use liberally). Take th foam piece and carefully align it to the seat. Once, it’s aligned, place the foam. The working time for this adhesive is pretty short, so you may not be able to reposition it afterwards. Once the glue on the foam has cured, you can put on the covers. For the seat bottoms, it’s a matter of folding the leather over and using those plastic rivets to put it into place. I used an awl to position the leather, but a small screwdriver would work as well. The seat backs are a little trickier. I tried to fold the cover inside-out and fold it over the seat. This didn’t work as well as placing it over the foam and “massaging” it down the seat. This took some time (10-20 min), but it worked well. At the bottom, the seat cover is velcroed into place. Reinstallation of the pieces. The pilot side panel has a pocket. I thought this would be nice, but it has to go behind the gear extension panel, so is less useful than I thought. Installation of the panels is tricky; this is where the awl is most useful...as are the pictures for the specific screws and pattern that you’ll need to reinstall everything. Front seats are relatively easy to install, just a reverse of the original process. I chose to put in new cotter pins (the old ones looked pretty beat up). The back seat bottom is pretty easy to put in. The hardest is the back seat backs. I found it easiest to sit in the cargo area while installing them.
    2 points
  13. Taking out the seats is relatively easy. Take the cotter pins out for the front seats and forward/back to get them off the rails. As an aside, if you don’t already have 3-pt seat belts, this is a good time to install them. For the back seat, I have a ‘74 M20F. The seats are designed to be removed. A pin in the lower-inboard side is pulled out and the seat can be removed. The best discussion of the process is here: http://flying-geek.blogspot.com/2018/07/seat-back-removal-1969-mooney-m20f.html The seat back bottom is held in place by a couple of short metal rods; simply pull the rod out of the bracket holding it and the seat will come out. Once the seats are removed, the removal of the side panels and carpets is straightforward. This is a good opportunity to vacuum, clean out old foam, etc. most disgusting part of the process...when I took out the right side panel, I noticed a bunch of insulation. When I took it out, there was a mummified mouse head. After that, I did a close inspection behind all the panels; luckily no other sign of mice (and the one I saw was small and old. Of course, here are some pictures of the process.
    2 points
  14. The adds popped up this morning... reminding me it's that time of year for me again. Donation sent. And thanks again for keeping the forum up and running.
    1 point
  15. Anyone ever see something like this on Flight Aware. It shows I was traveling 1070 MPH from San Antonio TX to Hondo TX. I was actually going from Houston to San Antonio and did not pass up San Antonio as it shows.
    1 point
  16. I am sure you are right that it would be tricky to properly shield an extra antenna but I am also sure if properly funded that our good ol American engineers can solve that one too. i quite understand what you mean by the speed and climb differences between the aircraft. An analogy is a ga airplane like a Mooney is a canoe and a fighter jet is a jet ski. The avoid part is almost impossible for the dramatically slower craft so it’s all up the the faster one. So you could well be right that it may simple be better if we don’t see you esp considering the late view we would see by the time it comes by the adsb system.
    1 point
  17. Stuff like that happens more often than not. Airliners tend to hate flying over MOAs because their TCAS systems can be set off by fighters maneuvering 15,000’ below them as they are fighting in the vertical if they leave their mode 3/C on... even though the fighter jet is in a vertical turn, the tcas doesn’t see that, just the trend upwards in climb rate, and predicts collisions/gives alerts.
    1 point
  18. @M016576 I was departing Key West a few weeks ago and KEYW tower advised me of multiple inbound F-18s to KNQX. As I'm climbing through 1,000 I briefly see an ADS-B target above me (I forget how much higher) registering 1,550 knots. While I don't think he was actually going that fast it was distracting for a few seconds while I tried to figure out if it was real.
    1 point
  19. Thanks for making my point. No ADSB unit in my plane will show you. So it won't help me to not "get run over" as posted above. The delayed weather has already been judged a contributing factor in several accidents, because pilots think it's realtime or mistake the displayed "update time" (or whatever it's called) as a reference for when it was an accurate depiction, but that's not true either. It is probably more accurate for ttacking your flights than Flight Aware, but I need to check the thread of the guy who said his Mooney was shiwn as making 970 knots while descending to an airport that he did not go to, but I think that was ADSB reporting. Nothing quite like accuracy, huh? My point is that ADSB is not the huge safety improvement that many people think it is, and while the OP may have had a positive event with the displayed ADSB-In traffic, it can't be counted on the way he thinks it can. Neither can the weather it shows. For me, the cost is absurd and the benefit to my flying is minimal. But if we all equip out of our own pockets, the FAA will be able to reduce their expenses and spend those former radar funds on something else, because all bureaucracies are self-serving and never willingly shrink. Look for the airlines to finally equip sometime in the next 5-10 years, all while flying in "rule airspace" that my non-equipped self will be excluded from. Sure am glad there's equal access to all withiut discrimination . . . . . Where has AOPA and EAA been during all of this? Crowing loudly about the wonderful benefits of traffic and weather, available at extra expense using your own extra equipment after complying with the certified Out rule . . . . And mostky 8gnoring the pass given to the airlines and the sometimes-hugely-significant delays in depicted weather and omissions in displayed traffic. We're supposed to be happy that "some" is better than "none" I guess. Phooey in that! I'm outa here. Kum-ba-ya clubs have never been my cup of tea. I'll go away and stop making waves now. And @kpaul, I'm aware of the nearby traffic, and have had "fun" dodging them on approach into Wetumpka while squawking and talking to MGM Approach. My idea of safety isn't having C130s get that close to me while I'm on GPS approach; when they visibly alter their course (RA announcement, maybe?), it tells me they aren't looking or listening.
    1 point
  20. Does he do his instrument currency in the first one or the second one?
    1 point
  21. Well that is good to know you have superb avionics. I still assert there is value to having an ADSB out transponder for use in domestic airspace, so that we can see you, I understand that you can see us with your superb on board equipment but I do think there is great value on some occasions for you to be able to transpond your location to other domestic aircraft within the given civil infrastructure which today is the ADSB system. And of course sometimes you would not want to and you could shut it off. I hadn't considered, but I understand that even having an antenna hanging out could make you too easily findable by enemy airplanes when you don't want to be seen, but just like your ILS antenna is hidden in your wheel well, a tiny antenna could be hidden somewhere and deployed or stowed as you wish - so yes I see this will cost more than a few AMU - but it seems like it would be a desirable feature. Oh well.
    1 point
  22. I'd be concerned about wing flutter, control surface separation, and windscreen facial insertion.
    1 point
  23. I'll have to ask him if he can tell what was failing in it. On pre-flight when I check the oil I always shine a flashlight down in and look around, never saw any oil on the bottom piece of cowling below the quick drain. Maybe it was only when the engine was running and there was pressure that it was coming out, and flying it just put a nice misting around inside the cowling. There has been some oil around in various places but it was always just a little wet looking here and there, not enough to even drip out the bottom or run back the belly. I'm hopeful that I will have a dry, clean engine compartment at least for a little while now. As @Ragsf15e said, the airflow under the cowling is amazing. The leak apparently progressed enough that on the last flight it was blowing up out the front and onto the windscreen. The really amazing thing to me is the quick drain is on the right side, basically below the #3 cylinder, but it was coming out over the top of the cowling on the other side by the #2 cylinder. When I asked my A&P how long he wanted me to fly it after he put the dye in he said please, just one trip around the pattern. I'm guessing anything longer than that and it would have just all blown around so the whole engine compartment would be bright pink under the light and he would have no idea where it originated.
    1 point
  24. At Luke AFB- we fly IFR to the airspace, if we are going to sells or gladbag. If we are going to one of the low level routes, we take off on a VFR departure . On RTB- the preferred recovery due to the traffic in the Phoenix area is a VFR recovery either from”Tankz” (glad bag) or the Arc.. or the “valley recovery” which is a VFR recovery from the BMGR (sells/AAHl). the regs (11-202) clearly state to fly IFR to the max extent practical. In the Phoenix area, however, we have contracts in place to reduce the load on ATC- and as such, unless it’s IMC, almost all our recoveries are VFR, and several of our departures are as well. when I was flying F-15’s in the guard in Oregon- all our recoveries were VFR (unless imc), all our departures were VFR, when I was in the Navy, my departures and recoveries were far more flexible- I could request a new clearance on the ground, like any other pilot (in the Air Force, your clearance for a local flight is set for you through stereo routes). And if I wanted, I could cancel at the hold short and launch VFR if I felt it would expedite my mission. Even at night. (Which in the Air Force is against the regs- VFR at night).
    1 point
  25. I can get you a larger size printed version if you like, or a digital copy of higher resolution. Send me a PM if you’re interested and I’ll get you one of note: all of those routes are shown on sectionals and low ifr charts, as either a “VR” route or an “IR” route. So you can see the center of the corridors on your normal charts. Just go 5 miles in either direction from the center line and that’s the entire route itself.
    1 point
  26. My wife is the same, except what intimidates her is the stack of books that came in my Gleim "You Can Be a Pilot" box . . . . She's the least-reading-est teacher I've ever known.
    1 point
  27. Please share what mods you’ve had done......
    1 point
  28. I'm saying that his point of using his ADSB to avoid getting run over by fighter jets is invalid, because it won't do that. He needs to come up with other justification. His or my level of certification is immaterial. Weather is the carrot tied to the stick used by the FAA to push us all into Surveillance (that's the S in ADSB, and the point of the program--FAA wants to eliminate radar sites with their operating and maintenance expenses and replace them by having airplanes all install equipment to report their position the whole time their engines are running. Or have you not noticed that it's against the FARs to turn your installed ADSB transmitters Off?). Because I am 100% refused admittance to the nearest surveillance-required airspace, and fly to very little other such airspace (only ATL treats me like a pariah), I choose not to comply. And I'm no more worried about being in a midair collision than i was as a student pilot in 2006 without a GPS. There are many things that worry me more than airborne traffic, and there's more ways to get weather than an ADSB box connecting wirelessly to the consumer toy of my choice, using whatever uncertified app I find to use. It's very disingenous of the FAA to have tight performance standards for Out equipment, with huge price tags and high installation costs for the required equipment, yet allow pilots to use whatever they want (even home-brewed electronics! in certified airplanes!) to receive the "huge benefits" that weren't even in the original scope of ADSB until the Feds saw the scope of pilot resistance to their mandate. If a consumer-grade tablet can shiw traffic and weather good enough to "greatly improve" aviation safety, shouldn't it also be able to report our position when that position is supplied by a certified WAAS GPS??? But that woild let us not transmit all the time, and that's agin their rules . . . . Tell me again how my $200 tablet can sometimes make me safer, but sometimes it takes a $4000 box and $2000 labor to make me safer? I've already got the much more expensive WAAS GPS, Anything should be able to pull location information from it, if it's for safety, right? Doesn't the weather and traffic information need to know my location to be helpful? Oh, I can dodge oncoming traffic using the GPS chip built into my phone because that's good enough to improve safety, but it's not as good as the location information provided by my transponder and approach radar, and the "degradation" would be unsafe??? And our bugsmashers are being held exactly to the 1/1/20 deadline but the airlines are getting multi-year delays because us rich airplane owners can afford a few thousand dolars "for safety" but it's too much money for airlines with multi-millions of daily cashflow to pay, who will gain both safety improvements and fuel bill reductions using shorter approaches at their destinations??
    1 point
  29. I am with Jesse on this one... TruTrak just reached 20 people… Still a small player here... What they have done so far is nothing short of remarkable... N
    1 point
  30. Some one should install a G3X in the F16's the F18's, the C130s and the F35s, and so on - and a stinkin' adsb transponder too...for asset protection.
    1 point
  31. I get what Hank is saying, and if I didn't live where I am I likely wouldn't be equipping ADS-B out. However, for all the reasons @Bob - S50 gave it makes no sense not to have ADS-B in. For under $150 you can build a Stratux and pick up an Android tablet for under $200. (They also don't overheat like an iPad)
    1 point
  32. I also pick up speed in descents, just not THAT much speed!!
    1 point
  33. I can't really see where the wires go other than that big bundle of wires you mentioned. I know there's a circuit breaker on my breaker panel for the unit though.
    1 point
  34. WashWax All actually sells a scrub pad that I use on the leading edges to get the bugs off. I spray everything down and let it soak for a couple of minutes then get the scrubber out. After scrubbing the bugs off, then spray it all down again and use a microfiber towel to finish it off. Almost forgot... never use anything but microfiber towels on the windows.
    1 point
  35. THAT's what it does??? All this time I've been upset because I thought my ISO button was broken--I thought it would turn my wife's voice off during arguments...
    1 point
  36. Your Mooney is faster than mine.
    1 point
  37. You will see that the source of the data went from Houston CTR to MLAT... at the same time the wild speeds changed. so something is off with the MLAT receiving stations in that area.. perhaps timing issues, or a maximum speed vector smoothing. You also see that your ground track moves distinctly to the south at the same time, inconsistent with the direct track to the airport that you were probably flying. If you have ADSBout then the ground stations won't rely on MLAT, and 4 MLAT stations is a low number. 3 is the minimum for triangulation, 4 isn't much refinement.
    1 point
  38. I found a older factory reman (1992). It is high time (over 1900) with good compression and it is a BA3B engine with the 7th stud and a VAR crankshaft. It was still on the plane so I got to fly it and do a compression test and the owner had continuous oil samples as well. It was being removed for a IO-550 Conversion. I plan to have it overhauled before I use it but I would still be interested in a low to mid time IO-520.
    1 point
  39. Ah yes, the great risk assessor we have here. More worried about a cloud than a chunk of aluminum less than a mile closing at 400 knots. We all bow down to your superior intellect.
    1 point
  40. It's been re-grounded. I've been working with JPI on troubleshooting. The factory CHT was the culprit. We swapped in a new one and I did 0.7 and it works perfectly now (before it would start to freak out almost immediately after rotation). The factory CHT gauge also reads a lot closer to what the JPI is showing, too, bonus. Now to fix the seat recline!
    1 point
  41. The restrictor is in the fill port, and the part number denotes what cylinder it is calibrated for. That said, 30 mins does sound a bit slow, but then I very rarely let mine get that low so can't be sure. As for 77 vs 115 - just look up the cylinder size - there is a substantial difference. Few Mooney related Oxygen data sheets attached in case you don't have them Oxygen.zip
    1 point
  42. Sure, Anthony. The plane flies faster in lower density air (less drag) and density is a function of both altitude and temperature. You are always better off higher if the engine will put out the power you need. The two common ways of achieving this are super/turbocharging and having a more powerful engine derrated at sea level which is how the turboprops operate. The poor J with its little 200 hp engine doesn't get very high before it starts to run out of power, but it makes up for it by being so efficient. That's why I like to cruise at 8000 -9000 feet ROP. I like to go fast and I figure I already pre-saved on gas by not buying a Cirrus Skip
    1 point
  43. My question would be "does she have sister?"...... Just kid'n, my wife loves flying and has never questioned anything spent on aviation, in fact she's just the opposite
    1 point
  44. I made this-. Printed on card stock and laminated it fits right on my kneeboard.
    1 point
  45. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UCLgkUfwXRaLDRmIjI9tR2vcQL86b1bdlGzct3TApRY/edit#gid=0 This is what I use - created from my POH and personal flows.
    1 point
  46. 1 point
  47. We finally got to the age where we could afford a Airpark house in Houston. But we had to sell the airplane to affford the house. I’ve never seen a 200 mph house, except in Kansas and it was a single use. so we passed on the deal
    1 point
  48. I’ve been working on the flying portion of my IR for the past few months. Really need to buckle down and get the written out of the way in the next couple of weeks. For my flying lately I use lower power cruise (125-130 kts) for my enroute portion. As soon as I reach the IAF I reduce power to 2350/18. When I’m about two miles from the FAF I reduce to 2350/15. I make slight power changes to hold altitude and aim for 110mph to drop the gear when I’m about a half a dot high on the glide slope. I reduce the MP to 12 and pitch for 95mph and put in 1.5 pumps of flaps. At 200 feet above DA/MDA I put the prop full forward during my gump check and start the fuel pump. When missed full mixture and smoothly go to full power positive rate of climb while pitching for 100 mph. I open the cowl flaps and after 5-10 seconds I slowly pitch for 90-95 and bob the nose to bring up the gear and then quickly the flaps. Climb out at 120 mph. Important things for me to remember? Get the power out before you know ATC is going to drop you down. Don’t try to use the gear or flaps to slow you down. If something does not feel right do a gump check (landing or climb out stage). Get the radios dialed in before you need them. Above all have a good time!
    1 point
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