Leaderboard

So, the photos are of my 1963 C model. We have owned the airplane for over 12 years. Instead of paying for a wedding, my wife and I bought the airplane, flew it out to Santa Fe from Texas and eloped in Taos, New Mexico. Photos are of the original paint, new paint, original panel and new panel. Well, the photos got out of order but you get the gist.

Morning, I have a minute for an update and to maybe get this figured out. I remounted the panel so I have a more vertical stance in level flight. I actually like it better for visibility. I did the math and recalibrated the G5s and taxing and ground maneuvers everything seemed good. So after a very long prayer and triple checking everything I taxied to the active and went for it. The plane actually took to the sky and everything worked, sort of! I have a crossed wire on my gear indicator lights and the locked light stay on even when unlocked. I know where that issue is. BUT the G5s are showing a nose down attitude in level flight. I keep getting a pitch up indicator. My question is if I level the plane and skip the not level calibration the manual goes by and physically level the plane perfectly will the G5s after calibration show level flight? I am going bat crazy over this and it is driving me nuts. THE GREAT NEWS IS THE GYPSY IS AIRBORNE ONCE AGAIN!!

That's awesome and please do call if you're ever visiting Buffalo, NY or Niagara Falls, NY which is where I am based. Always happy to help out with whatever. Today was a long day of flying. Day 4 5/19: KCPS (St Louis) > KHOT (Hot Springs, Arkansas) (2.55hrs) - Pretty turbulent flight with lots of headwinds. Although, given the weather coming, esp with the 55knot winds over the Rockies, I guess we probably shouldn't even call the bumpiness we experienced turbulence. We started at 4,000 and 40 minutes in couldn't take much more of it and went up to 6,000 to trade comfort for headwinds. Fairly smooth at 6 and a nice flight over. KHOT was a nice little airport with a crew car and it's only 10 minutes to the National Park from the field. We took the crew car into town and walked around the bathhouse museum part of the National Park. After the museum, we walked over to touch the hot springs on display and had a quick lunch at the brewery inside the National Park (apparently the only brewery inside a National Park). They brew their beers + root beer with the water from the hot springs, which was pretty cool. I don't drink, so I didn't try the beer, but the root beer was tasty and the sandwich and salad were both good. We were able to accomplish this all in 2 hours and then run back to the airport to fly our next leg: KHOT > KEDC (Austin, TX) (2.75hrs): Landed right as the sun set. Didn't have reservations for anything. Oops. Decided to try Turo for the first time (it's like Airbnb for cars) and found a Porsche Boxster for about $80 for a day. Decided to give it a try. Never driven a Porsche before. The logistics were a little messy. Took the crewcar to the guys house (about a 15 minute drive from the airport) to pick up the car and wife then drove the crew car back. Get to drive a cool car though so it's worth it. It's fast and sits low just like the Mooney. Wife even commented that it feels similar to a Mooney. We got to our hotel (we booked all of our lodging on credit card points for this trip. when that runs out, we will start airbnbing/couchsurfing/hosteling/staying with friends) pretty late and neither of us really felt too up for experiencing Austin music nightlife after a full day of traveling. Just taking it easy to catch up on a few things in A/C comfort (it's hot!). We will adventure around Austin a bit tomorrow. Not sure yet what the plan will be moving forward. Looks like weather might be challenging with some of the lows and fronts. Not sure if continuing on to cross the rockies will make the most sense given some of the time constraints and need to be back by Memorial Day, but will dig deeper into some of the systems and think about what may work. (lot of hot sun beating down on the flight to Texas at 4,500ft)

I flew my E and C all over the west for two decades. Over the mountains they were fine in day VMC. Occasionally I flew them up to 14,000, but normally at or below 10,000.

I fly around in the SW, which most days you can do VFR at 6500/7500. I just took my first trip out to Denver in my F last week. Went around South of the rockies East of Santa Fe at 11500, came back through Mosca pass at 12500. Sometimes I think a turbo would be nice, but after a few flights with an O2 hose in my nose I realized I'd rather just ride SWA if I need to go higher.

Just thought I'd use this thread to share updates on a cross country flight I'm taking in the Mooney for the next ten days with my wife. Hope to share any useful information and just share the adventure. Follow along if you'd like or don't :). The ultimate destination is up in the air, initially it was going to be Mt + Rushmore + Yellowstone from Niagara Falls, NY, but with the weather patterns being what they are, I kinda tossed the plan due to Yellowstone being a mix of snow and rain for the next week. Day 1: 5/16 evening KIAG > I48 (fuel stop for cheaper CB fuel) > KOSU (Columbus, Ohio) [approx 2hr 30min, some headwind] The flight started off with a bit of an issue with an electrical smell that came and went. My strobes weren't working properly on landing (only have about 5% intensity). I talked to maintenance at KOSU when I landed and they think it might be the strobe box. Luckily, I had scheduled an oil change at KOSU (since I plan to fly for about 30-40 hours on this adventure) so they were at least expecting me for something. The bonus is they put me in a hangar and some nasty thunderstorms came through a few hours after landing. They switched out my Whelen power box (they somehow had one in stock) and my strobes were back up working for the next day and leg of flight and no strange electrical smells, so I think I smelled my strobe power box hitting the fan. Day 2: 5/17 In Columbus, OH - I had a fun day and ate lunch at Brassica (very delicious spot for fast casual food) and spent the evening at the Sonic Temple Music Festival celebrating my birthday and seeing System of a Down live for the first time. Saw Avatar perform too and they were very good live. The festival was lots of fun and my wife experienced mosh pits breaking out around her for the first time. I'm glad she put up with it :D. Day 3: 5/18 KOSU > KVLA (CB fuel stop) > KCPS (St Louis) [approx 3hr 15m due to 30+kt headwinds) Cruised over VFR at 10,500 to KVLA since I didn't want to deal with rerouting and let my wife learn to fly a bit in cruise (she did great with holding heading and learning turns on the way). Lots of buildups and a large wall of t-storms in front, but they should pass quite nicely through the night and leave some nice stable air in their path. KVLA was a nice small airport with avgas at $4.10 and a stocked fridge with a little pilot-accessible door. It was very quaint with rocking chairs up front and had a courtesy car parked, probably with keys somewhere--but since it was a quick fuel stop, we didn't bother looking for them. I had my wife pretend she was helping fuel the plane as a photo op (hint: she actually wasn't). KCPS seemed nice when we landed. They waive the ramp fee with 15 gallons of expensive avgas (but they were kind to make an exception and waive ours with a top off and we took about 10). Overnight parking is $15 and they charge a $7.50 security fee on top of it. They had a rental car on the field which we rented for the day. We did a little flyby of the city before we landed (our first time in St Louis): We got to St. Louis fairly late, but had an awesome day, which we started by eating a well deserved lunch+dinner at Pappy's Smokehouse (full slab of ribs with added brisket + two sides pictured): After our dinner, we spent about 3 hours playing at the City Museum, which we thought to be one of the most unique places we've ever ventured in. If you've never been, imagine a maze that you can climb through, slide through and even crawl into old airplane cockpits that are housed on the 8th floor. It brought us back to feeling like we were children (in a good playful sort of way) and we both enjoyed our time there. We capped off the night with an ice cream cone at Jeni's in St. Louis. Tomorrow, we think we will fly from KCPS>KHOT to check out the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas for a few hours before continuing on to Austin, TX (maybe the same day). We've been to a few cities in TX before, but never Austin so we are excited to check it out. Recommendations are welcome! The rest of the days we don't really have a solid plan and truly are winging this adventure, I do know it would be neat to fly the Mooney to Catalina Island on the west coast so ultimately hoping to make it that far west. Any suggestions, comments, etc. are welcome! If any Mooniacs want to meet up along the way, we are totally open to it!

Thanks everybody, it looks like I'm hooked up! Go Mooneyspace!

No matter how this turns out you SO did the right thing. I'd ratherobe driving to pick up the airplane than flying in wx beyond my comfort or skill set.

Yes. I am VERY SERIOUSLY considering it. You just need a WAAS GPS source and an audio panel. I have an Avidyne 440 and PSE 450B. The estimate is $45k *installed* for the system with two 10" screens as pictured below.

Be prepared for an exciting ride if you open the alternate static source while the autopilot altitude hold is engaged. Try it in VFR to see what happens.

There's no reason not to fully modernize the avionics on a C model, assuming one wants to keep it a while and use it as a serious traveling machine. I redid my panel completely upon buying my C almost 5 years ago, and I will make a couple more upgrades this year. After substantial upgrades, the fixed costs remain essentially the same, and it is the still the cheapest Mooney to operate and far cheaper than other certified aircraft of equal capability. Like the rest of the Mooneys, the Cs are very capable IFR platforms at their core and thus realize the full benefit of modern avionics. And some of the upgrades make the routine operational costs cheaper (e.g. taking out the vac).

Great flying with you all today, here is a short bit of video https://youtu.be/-8fBWeaqyKg

Almost never. But the main exception is to verify that the alternate air door knobs is working correctly on the ground during the run-up by pulling it and seeing the Alt Air annunciator come on and then see it go out when you push the knob. (be sure to do this on a clean ramp, and never on a dirt runway). Otherwise the alternate air door is reserved for emergency procedures dealing with power loss; either full or partial power loss suspected due to manifold pressure loss. But the alternate air door will/should open automatically before you need to manually open it if there really is induction blockage (ice or snow in the inlet and any blockage in the air filter). Its not a good idea to open it prophylactically because the warmer induction air will cause a small drop of 1-2" of manifold pressure just by nature of losing the ram air effect and the warmer air. Also of course its unfiltered air bypassing the air filter. Heavy rain in itself doesn't cause an induction issue. But if you really believe it is, the long induction hose (if its the original Mooney spec'd part #) has a water drain at it lowest point to allow water to drain out before going into the planes induction system past the filter. (but beware many though have replaced their worn Mooney alternate induction tube with cheaper Scat tubing that doesn't have this drain installed in it) Alternate Static is a similar in that it should only be used when required per the POH. But its use may not be limited to icing conditions but also if moisture has gotten into the static port and make its way into static lines. This isn't limited to rain but includes washing the aircraft and not being careful to not allow water into the static port. Opening the static port in the cabin will help unstick a sticky altimeter/airspeed etc. till you can get it drained. Back on the ground, pushing the static drain alone may not release the water till someone else "gently" blows into the static port to move the water to the drain. If you do use the alternate static port in the cabin, remember there is a correction table in the POH to consult.

The instructor that I did most of my post-thirty-year-break currency training with said that he thought SVFR was mostly to get out of an obscured airport when conditions cleared either above or past it. i.e., it's a way to get out of someplace if the weather is good nearby. That's not a completely accurate assessment, but it's a very pragmatic one.

Thanks OR75 for being our customer! I very much appreciate your trust in us. I just wanted to clarify one point, while the original PMA450 did use an LCD display, we replaced the LCD display to an OLED display in early 2016. A HUGE improvement. It also upgraded the standard USB charger to the USB-c charger (15 watts). Now the PMA450B has dual Bluetooth modules. You can see the difference by going to PMA450B Thanks again OR75! Mark

And my 5 star may be your 1 star and vice versa. Even the better shops can make a mess of things some time, but they work with the owner to get it right. We have all heard those stories here on MS about mechanics and avionics shops. For me the rating gets adjusted based on the ownership the shop takes in the problem and resolving it.

I think they're out there and I've seen a few. The problem is that the 1 star reports generate paragraphs of detail, the 5-star reports are simple statements like "We used ABC Avionics and they were great."

Did anyone mention here that 1,000ft AGL is typically Class G and the instructions are simply 1 mile vis and clear of clouds? Seems like that's the operating principle on this original concept. As to SVFR, I also have used it to depart VFR when the airport was technically IFR but the patchy clouds clearly opened up in my direction of travel and the tower granted the request.

We crossed paths! I overnighted in Buffalo Friday night.

Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.. I'm staying at the Westgate. 616 seven five five 2996 cell- text MOONEY to me

Sounds good! Wednesday evening is good and Thursday afternoon, too. Tournament starts at 10a Thursday.

In my carb'd plane (C model), the alternate air is the carb heat. I generally use partial carb heat to keep my carb temp in cruise above 40F in IMC, rain, or a humid atmosphere, and I use full carb heat on descent. Though I doubt excess water ingestion into the engine is a common cause of failure, this story seems to creep into my mind whenever I'm flying in rain: https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/it-was-a-dark-and-stormy-night-1-66741228/ Does anyone know if the C is supposed to have this H2O drain as part of the carb heat system? Mine just has the scat hose as far as I can tell.

I thought the skyBeacon was a logbook entry, not a 337?

While you’re at Cahokia (KCPS), why not make the short hop to Creve Coeur (1HO) and check out the vintage aircraft in their museum displays? You can get up close and personal with a number of special, old airplanes there. Was there attending the Swift fly-in with my Dad some years ago and it was a great place to visit.

I will be there.

Also, for your consideration... Look into the MAPA training... if you haven’t done any transition training lately... or want some follow up, or get to the next level of comfort.... MAPA has highly qualified CFIIs with Mooney specific training... including specific down to Rocket, Missile, and everything else... Ownership skills, maintenance skills, and IR flight skills, all get honed in a weekend... and dining and social skills too! Best regards, -a-

Alex, are you a member on the Socata forum? If not, I suggest you contact Andrew Knott. https://socata.org/ His contact info is under “About Us” —> “Contact Us” I used to own a TB-9, and went to Andrew with many of my issues. He runs the forum, has many years of piloting, ownership, and maintenance experience with all models of Socatas, and will be happy to help you. Not that you won’t get excellent guidance here, but Andrew is the Socata expert...bar none. Steve

That's actually good news to hear... My bird is a Rocket (continental 520) with 800 SMOH. And what I'm hearing from you and Carusoam, it sounds more normal (1qt per 20 hours) than abnormal, but I'll definitely watch it closely. Thank you!

Looks like you could have a tough slog, expect some turbulence. Tom

I got your postcard in the mail last week and just pulled it out of the trash. It said April 6-9 on the address panel side. If I'm out of annual ill try and make it work. Thought I missed it. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

To give closure to the topic...for now... Got to the plane this morning, and before doing anything, I did a test start. Worked perfectly. Taxied to a good working space, removed cowlings, and check each connector from starter to the solenoid and verified the battery contactor looked good. I verified the little wires at the starter are connected securely as well. Not sure how to troubleshoot a working system, so I eventually flew it and got it hot, to recreate the situation. Still started. Decided to take it home, and just have to see what happens in the future. I will carry a voltmeter with long leads and alligator clips in the plane for when this happens again, so I can see where the volts aren't going. -dan

Just got my rebate. Less than 10 days after I claimed it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If I were on this trip, my next stop after Austin would be Carlsbad, NM and tour the caverns there. If my wife weren't so adventurous, I'd probably stop at Truth or Consequences, NM for a stay at one of their hot springs spas. Then on to all the big desert sights and Catalina!

I can’t believe you were in Columbus and didn’t reach out. What’s the point of the map. I would have picked you up at kosu. I might have even bought dinner. Next time don’t hesitate because when I get to Austin or Burning man you better believe I’m calling.

The correct answer here is Lockhart, TX. It's a 10 min flight from Austin and the Capital of Texas BBQ. We'll talk later when you get to Austin.

+1 on Continental Using much less oil compared to Lycoming... 1) Less used... like a quart every 15-20hrs? 2) Less spread on the belly... 3) Near impossible to get valuable compression readings on... 4) Where oil hides... and how long it takes to come down to the oil pan... after a flight... Fun with Continentals... Best regards, -a-

Are you sure it's not the power supply in the tail? This is a good time to dump the strobe and the power supply and get this: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/orion500series.php?clickkey=420954 https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pdf/orion-crossover-chart.pdf

That’s a circular threading connector, aka ms connector. Try this... http://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=45 You may also want to consider the Whelen Orion led. https://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=162

1) Free is good 2) Oktoberfest beer is not free 3) Mooney Summit beer = free 4) Mooney Summit is good

I keep my plane out in Boulder City. I was looking for a partner for a while, interestingly enough one of the guys I bought it from flies for SWA. I’ll be working 22/23 but I’m down to meet up another time.

Call Whelen. They will know what you need. When I gave them the model number of my belly strobe, which was flashing on an unknown variable frequency, they said " Wow, that's old. Let me show you what you need." Which was easy, being at Sun n Fun.

This might be a good place to look: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/whelenstrobesystema500.php You could also contact Whelen directly.

There is beer and Mooneys in Panama City Beech, @bill98 would have to bring his own lederhosen, as they are not common attire on the beech.

I don't know if this is a help to the original poster's question, but I find it very interesting. My understanding is that in the late '60s, the manufacturing of the 'C models was at its peak. I can't remember the exact years, but if I remember correctly, in 1966 or 67, they built new tooling for manufacture and built the straightest, fastest 'C models made. It took a bit to get the use of the tooling down, and I believe it was in '67 that they peaked. Unfortunately, it wasn't too long and in '68, they had financial trouble. (again, my dates may be a bit off) After they were sold to Republic, there were a number of changes that made for worse airplanes, like fewer flush rivets in the wings. I have a fairly modified 1962 C model. My father has a 67 C model. Stock, His was 10mph faster than mine. His has damage history, mine does not. Other things to note is that in the early '60s, the heat was only in the front seat foot wells. (my '62 is this way.) I'm not certain of the years, but later on, there was heat piped to the back seats as well... Oh, do I wish I had that, my poor kids in the back freeze. I've thought of retrofitting it with later parts, but it seems a lot of work. I'm certain there were other refinements as the years moved along, but things did not always get better (as with the flush riveting or with making the electric gear standard). Just my $0.02.

This is exactly what I was thinking, until in a weak moment, I traded my Garmin audio box in on the PMA450A. It's not just bluetooth, and piping music over the intercom. It's more like the difference between listening to tunes in your car with the full premium Bose audio package, or through the one speaker in the top of the dash connected to your AM and Eight track.

PMA450b fan here. For all the usual reasons. I was under the impression that the audio panel was the last thing I'd upgrade in my Mooney. After all, it couldn't have as much impact as a good ANR headset, and even that pales in comparison to a good GPS or Engine monitor. But after @Avionics Source made it just too easy with a Black Friday sale and a trade-in on my GMA 340, I bought the PMA450. And WOW. I never realized how much nicer my cockpit could be with a really nice audio panel.

I did use the Gatoraide bottle on that flight

The newly formed Pacific & Mountain Northwest squadron of the Mooney Caravan invites you to our first NW Advanced Formation Clinic in Yakima, WA (KYKM) September 28 – 30, 2018. The clinic will be open to Mooneys, Bonanzas, RVs and other airplanes of similar performance. http://www.mooneycaravan.com/training

You Canadians and your Molson Extra Stock! Schlitz, Pabst Blue Ribbon or Genesee Cream Ale not good enough for ya? -- don't blame you! I do know one thing, I never got so drunk so fast other than my trip to Toronto a few years ago -- can't remember which high test version I drank, hell, I can't even remember the night -- let alone how I got back to my hotel room...

Yves, Bring the bug spray. The mosiquitoes also fly-in and while they aren't big enough to require 2-way comm w/ ATC they have been known to drain off a little blood. A little beer or scotch at camp in the evening helps replace the lost fluid. See ya there!