Leaderboard

This topic is unnecessary since political discussion is already not permitted on Mooneyspace.

Took my wife and daughter down to Nut Tree (KVCB, Vacaville, CA) for brunch at Fenton's Creamery this morning. The little one rode up front for the first time, and had SO MANY questions about the airplane once we were home (What was that black knob for? What does the orange button do (CO alarm)? What are all the other buttons for? On and on and on until bedtime). She's been telling us she's going to be a pilot when she grows up since before I took my discovery flight. The only downside at all about our flight today was that it was 95º out. That made for a sweaty time on the ground while we got loaded in and through the run-up. It might be time to look into one of those ice-chest-based coolers I've seen mentioned.

It will happen. Yes, I know everyone is excited and anxious and tired of the “it’s coming” story. But it will. When they announced for the 172 we put our name on the list and waited. No reason to call constantly. They’ll let you know when it’s ready, hey want to sell a bunch of them. Then we decided to put one in a 182 and waited again and it happened. Now I’m wanting to do one in a Mooney. An E, but that's a longer wait. And it IS worth it. They fly the airplane beautifully, accurately and smoothly. Best $7,500.00 we’ve ever spent!

My tool kit consists of a Leatherman and 2 credit cards. This saves a lot of space.

You easterners are all the same... Nebraska is decidedly not “western”! My wife always says Ohio is out west, but she’s from New York, so can’t be trusted.

If you are operating in the teens most of the time keep what you have. A NA engine just will not climb well enough above 13K. I owned a Baron many years ago that was was NA. Coming back to Denver from Cortez IFR, ATC ordered me up to 17K to go through the Powder approach gate. I was just past Gunnison and getting some rime. The Baron was booted and in that situation with just me in the airplane the best I could do was about 16.5K and it took a long time. I had a turbo Mooney sitting in the hangar at home and I wish I had it instead of the Baron. If you do not fly IFR maybe the lethargic climb is OK but I do not think an NA airplane works very well in the teens. I have a Bravo and put an MT on it a couple of years ago. Cruise is no better but takeoff and climb performance is noticeably better. The smoothness and quieter cabin are the best reasons to buy one.

Paul and I flew the MT 4 blade on her maiden voyage - a short test flight out of KBJC in Broomfield CO. It was a hot June afternoon. With 400 lbs between us and 150 lbs behind, the M231k Rocket 305 (TSIO 520-NB) sporting the new MT 4 blade performed as expected. We climbed to traffic altitude at about 1,100 FPM with less than full power. I have yet to take the MT thru its paces at high altitude as 17L is working thru a couple of post inspection squawks. My weekly commute is Austin to Los Angeles at flight levels so I should have some good data to report back in the next few weeks. Paul and I both noticed with some surprise how much quieter the 4 blade was at run-up (compared to the previous 3 blade McCauly). With the $$$ spent and time invested waiting on Germany, I better be impressed!

Final video from this trip:

Hey friends, You didn't know we were friends yet, but here we are. We're all members of the "Owned by a Mooney" club. (Flaps hanging because I shot this picture from a J-3. It was my second-most-mismatched formation flight ever) My connection with this M20C goes back a while. I was a mechanically-inclined airport kid, well on the way to earning my A&P when I ran off and joined the circus. A flying circus, if you will. I crewed for Chris Smisson on the airshow circuit through high school and much of college, and in addition to his fast-movers, he had an M20C. Johnson Bar, hand pump flaps. All the latest and greatest gizmos that 1992 had to offer: A BF Goodrich strike finder, Apollo LORAN, even a widget that deciphered morse code to identify the VOR and the radial you were on. It was a great go-somewhere bird. He sold a small percentage of the Mooney to a friend, Kelly, so the insurance company would be a little more understanding. When Chris died in 2003, the friend bought the remaining share of the bird. Both of these men were like family. Without their patience and generosity, I'd probably be running a grader for the county road department. There weren't a lot of tickets out of my little hometown for kids without means, but they helped me chase a dream. Fast forward two decades. The friend wants to sell the Mooney and make room for other flying machines. He's spent years making ridiculous offers to me whenever he wanted to sell an airplane. He tried to sell me one airplane for $1 years ago but I was making chump change flying RJs for a day job. I couldn't afford insurance on it, much less any real maintenance. I had to say no. This time, the offer was reasonable, and I'm doing a little better flying A320s for my day job and spinning words into stories for some busywork on the side. I'm becoming the caretaker of a bird that's been in my family of flying friends since 1980. I took my bride for a flight, fully respecting her veto power. "If this just had a headrest, I'd be asleep in no time. Buy this airplane," she said. So, here we go. Hi Guys. My name is Jeremy, and I'm newly owned by a Mooney.

Day 1 and first video of the recent trip to northern Canada. Here is a video about crossing the border to Canada by flying from Linden to Goose Bay nonstop in 7 hours:

Totally agree. A well-insulated hangar, with a massive slab, will stay cool pretty well up here in Chicagoland. Mine is 40x50, stick-built w/ 2x6, R-something fiberglass on the sidewalls, blown cellulose in the attic, rigid foam panels on the Hydro-swing door, which makes a very tight seal, and an insulated foundation. It costs pennies to heat to 50* in the winter, and in the summer, even after a three week string of very hot weather, it's still holding low 70's. I'm just careful about when I open the big door and avoid dumping hot, humid air inside if at all possible. B-Kool is sufficient to handle taxi, takeoff, approach, and landing. YMMV. -dan

Thanks! I carry moleskine notebooks with me when I fly and jot down ideas, outlines, and stubs that later turn into columns. “Dual Citizenship” is one I just started jotting on yesterday. Some elements from GA carry over to airline flying. Some airline stuff likewise crept onto my GA flying. But they are very different sides of the same coin. I can’t do an aggressive forward slip in the Airbus. The computers would rat me out to headquarters and a chief pilot would be standing at the gate awaiting my arrival. (But my taildragging feet refuse to sleep through a crosswind landing). I can’t go punching buildups in the Mooney that I wouldn’t blink an eye at in the ‘Bus. At the end of the day, though, it’s all in dogged pursuit of a passion that hasn’t faded a bit since I walked into the local FBO at age 13 and refused to go home.

To add a tiny bit of info; My understanding is that he's at Maricopa County Hospital in the Arizona Burn Center there. I'm familiar with it because my brother spent quite a few months of his life there after being severely burned, getting skin grafts, etc., etc. He volunteered there for a long time after that. I said that just to say that this center is very highly regarded, and from what I saw it is well deserved.

In my opinion, it depends on what the person actually does in the mountains and how conservative/safety conscious they are. If they only fly in the morning, use long runways, carefully plan routes, and don’t cross the highest ranges, I’d say a moderately experienced “flatlander” will be just fine. People get in trouble when they plan properly for that morning departure and then let it slip to 1pm, it gets hot/windy and they go for it anyway. Or they try to land at a 3,000’ strip at 7,000’ DA and expect sea level performance. Bob doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s going to let those gotchas get him. Anyone read Flying? Still amazes me that one of their new writers first story was about totaling his Bonanza in Telluride. Classic delayed departure, high DA. Personally, I don’t think he’s taken enough responsibility for the high DA yet. Still blaming a gusty crosswind just above the runway that nobody knew about. High DA makes other hazards much worse than they might normally be.

If you do order one be sure to get the nickel steel leading edge not stainless steel. Lead time for the order is about 4-5 months.

I think you posted on her "wall" instead of sending a PM. I have seen users get this confused even when contacting me. See the attached image. The red circled area is where you post on someones wall (viewable by all) and the blue circle is where you click to send a true PM. If you know this is not the case then please take as many screen captures of the issue as you can next time so that I can send a report to the IPBoard people. Thanks,

In a recently closed poll, nearly 90% of respondents selected that "Talking about Mooney's is my getaway, the last thing I need is to listen to politics here." So I would like to formalize a petition by the vast majority of the membership, pledging not to engage in political discussion and asking that others provide the same courtesy. Political discussion is not prohibited by the constitution nor by the Mooneyspace forum. However, out of respect for every Mooney flying participant that does not want to hear about it on Mooneyspace, it is in good taste to leave such discussions out. So, would everyone who would prefer that Mooneyspace be left to discussion about Mooneys and aviation, sign this petition by putting your name or handle as a response. And to the 10 or so members who like some degree of political discussion, please consider showing some courtesy. Petition: We the participants of Mooneyspace and the broader Mooney community kindly ask that those who wish to engage in any political discussion or discourse do so somewhere other than Mooneyspace.

I received this from Jenny this morning. Mark has had a rare fungal infection that set in that may dictate he lose his arms also, time will tell. Mark is in stable condition. He's still getting support from the kidney dialysis machine. While he's still on blood pressure medication, they were able to reduce it again last night (good). His heart rate is good, no arrhymthia (which he's had off and on in past). He had a small area on his back that was bleeding last night but it's finally stopped. His back was bleeding after surgery yesterday which is expected. They soaked his back in epi wash (epipinephren) to stop the bleeding. We've gotten to know the family of a young 21 year old man named AJ who had 3rd degree burns to 90% of his body. They've been coming to the burn center everyday for 3 months now. He's doing well and well into his skin graft process. He had his share of infections. His mom told us that everyday, she looks for one positive thing. It's great advice. The difference is that AJ has youth on his side. The doctors told us that when your under 30 years old, you have the best prognosis from an 60-90% burn to your body. Last night, the positives are that Mark's stable, his blood pressure has slowly been able to function a bit more on it's own (still needs meds), and his heart rate is doing well on its own. We've learned that his condition can change quickly so let's pray that he can continue to stabilize and fight this infection, both internally and externally. We learned the the anti-fungal medication is more effective for addressing internal organs (through the bloodstream) and not so for his external tissue. It means truly, his immune systems needs to kick this infection particularly because the tissue on his body can't fight the infection via the medication. Thank you everyone for your round the clock prayers for Mark.

Thanks for the options guys but I was only looking for direct opinions on FIKI vs A/C. My schedule and locations don’t allow for other, and I have an Arctic Air cooler and I’m not impressed with that option. Anyway, I’m about to pull the trigger on a 305 Rocket with TKS and update the panel. About 200k less than an Acclaim.

At SWTA, Laura applies a fresh coat of bright red nail polish to the tow limits indicator, at every annual. I always park with the cowl flaps retracted so nothing obscures the view of the tow limits indicator. I'm always sure to point it out to the line guys.

What I'm hoping for as a package deal would be 2 G5s (to replace KI256 & KI525A) and the AP adapter needed to interface with the KFC200. I'd think that would clean up with just the Mooneys and Bonanzas.

TCM SB03-3 is the bulletin I was thinking of that defines compression check for those engines. It is not is simple as the classic Lycoming version, but also keeps more Continentals operational....

I brought this up on Beechtalk recently but back circa March or April, Jeppesen updated their website only to make it worse than before! You would think a data information company would have a better website than they offer. Now I can’t even see what Garmin GNS or GTN subscriptions run. Come on Jepp! Get it together!

That's true, and the G3X may be a good solution for some, but even if had been available at the time I did my installation I would have chosen the TXi over the G3X because the interface capability of the G3X is limited. It may be possible to add a second G5 and get that capability, but I'm fine with hand flying in that rare circumstance. I'd much rather have the capability of the WX 500 Stormscope and even the GDL 69 XM Radio that the G3X does not appear to support.

25 minute flight to Paine Field (KPAE) to pick up my grandson Xavien who will be my co-pilot in the Mooney Caravan. He flew in from Phoenix. Much more convenient than KSEA

I bought mine on the aviation isle at HomeDepot.

You’ll own one shortly after socializing with the crew there!!

Hi everyone, We’re shopping for a Mooney and would like to come to the social. Please show Tom and Anita Massey as attending. Thanks!

Don't dream, just jump in your Mooney and do it! Best airplane for going places!

Good morning Folks, The electric fuel pump in my bird has developed an auto shut off feature. I have reached to shut it off several times in the last month only to find it already off. I thought I was going crazy but it turns out it's been gas lighting me. I actually saw and heard it pop off climbing through 2500agl a few days ago. The breaker was clearly popped and needed about 3 mins before it could be reset. Is this the typical failure mode for a Klixon or should we be digging deeper?

For the final installment, I have to get gas from the next to last barrel remaining at Iqaluit, change of plans, and flying over Yves! Iqaluit was notammed no fuel but I called in prior to flying from Goose Bay and learned that they had 2 left. I carried enough fuel to be able to divert back the mainland in the event of a missed approach or no fuel, but we would not be able to continue the planned trip route. So getting gas was a pretty big deal. Luckily they had a pump installed for the avgas and I did get the next to last barrel all loaded into my plane. Now we were originally set to fly to Puvirnituq as a lunch stop and then on to Sanikiluaq on the Belcher Islands in the Hudson Bay for the night. However, due to very low marginal IFR and fog at Sanikiluaq, we decided to buy more time for things to clear up by making a diversion to Cape Dorset instead of Puvirnituq. After an IFR departure in Iqaluit, beautiful warm VFR in Dorset Bay not a full 1.5 hours away. However, the beautiful weather did not change the fact the 3500ft Gravel landing strip at Cape Dorset is lodged between rocky hills, ocean, and far from level! FSS turned out to be closed for the weekend which would not have been such a big deal except that I wasn't able to get phone reception or wifi at Cape Dorset at all so I could not close my flight plan or check the weather and file our next leg! We walked all around town looking for internet and a place to eat but except for the coop supermarket, everything was closed. For some reason I was not able to call outbound but did receive an inbound call from Canada Flight Planning about my unclosed flight plan and managed to get it closed. However, to get a weather briefing, we had to beg to use a landline to get the outbound call. Weather at just about every possible destination between Cape Dorset and Val D'or was not good. If it wasn't fogged in, it was really windy. Front moving through. So I decided to file for Val D'or and if there was any major change in the weather on the 5 hour route. Just some miles short of Puvirnituq, there was a large VFR opening and it looked like our only chance of landing anywhere except Val D'or that day so we dropped down and made a visual approach. There was a lot of traffic. A Dash 8 landing and PC12 inbound. Had to talk a bit on the radio to sequence out. Very windy but an easy gravel landing. However, when the 737 was taking off, it made a heck of a dust storm. Walked to town and tried to see if we could get a hotel room. Again, no working phone or internet. Receptionist was gone and nobody to talk to. Just hung at the hotel hoping someone would show up. A few hours later, the receptionist stumbled in back from the bar and we managed to get a room. The only restaurant in town was the Coop on the other side so we had to walk there. A meatloaf dinner served cafeteria style and a view. However, most of the locals were not there for the meatloaf but for the booze. The restaurant also doubles as the premier bar in town. They had signs posted about how it is prohibited to bring alcohol in or out! Next morning we were set to depart early to make up for time flying back because we were further north than originally planned. The airport was totally closed with no coded gate or way to get in or out. So we walked the perimeter of the fence and found an easier spot to get through and made our own way into the ultra secure zone. Some morning IFR and we were promptly enroute. Unfortunately headwinds and icing potential in the clouds not far above. Had to stay low and deal with the less favorable winds to avoid the icing. We flew past the Belcher Islands that were not fated to visit this time. When we rejoined land, the sky went full blew, the wind shifted to the back, the temps went up, and things started to move. Approaching Val D'or, heard another Mooney landing. After arriving and not being able to find anyone at the FBO for fuel or internet, Mark who just landed helped us out. Not only that, but he even gave us a lift into town for lunch and back to the field. Out of Val D'or, it was a quick flight past Ottawa to get back to the US. Yves got on the radio and tried to flash me. He asked me to fly wing for him at Oshkosh and wanted to make me an honorary Canadian. Ogdensberg was right across the river from Canada, we you can practically be flying the pattern in another country. Cleared customs in Ogdensberg and flew back to Linden pretty quickly and concluded about 25 hours of flying in 4 days.

My experience and I am sure others will disagree is all covers are going to scratch and cause uneven paint wear (part of plane is in sun and part isn’t). I really don’t get the value of these covers personally. The Kenon windshades are all I ever use aside from cowl cover in winter when I have the Reif Heater running.

That’s exactly how my landing light breaker switch failed.

Kern Valley is great, and really fun to fly into. I went there last summer just for the fun of flying there, didn't stop at the cafe but I heard it is fairly good. It's a fun approach along the hills on the downwind leg. Not the best video, but this was the end of the flight. Nice little campground and the river is a short walk away.

All the airports on the list will have density altitude challenges well discussed. But the only truly challenging airport on the list IMO is MMH. I probably have a few hundred landing and takeoff's from Mammoth Airport - all from being a avid skier there and a season pass holder. We even kept an airport car there for over a decade till parking expenses pushed us to move the car down to Bishop. Flying into MMH is easy till you have to go around. The winds, which is the typical reason for going around, will give anyone far greater difficulty on the go around approaching on 27 with rising terrain in every direction on the go. Landing on 27 is definitely preferred, you just don't want your initial Mammoth experience to involve a go around trying to land on 27. Consequently I would advise not trying it for the first time in a NA aircraft without only very mild non-gusty winds. You don't want to get forced into going around. You can pick up the ASOS well before you come in for landing, and if the winds are gusty or with a significant cross wind (typically from the south), my advice is go to nearby BIH ( as Skip mentioned above) which is much lower with 6 long runways and you won't have near as much turbulence MMH is famous more. If you are landing on 27 and it is bumpy with a crosswind, suggest heeding the advice you'll hear on the ASOS to skip the first thousand feet or two landing on 27. There is hill right past the threshold of 27 that when the winds are right can make for a very interesting ride when you are about to flare or thought you just did and surprise! Its easier to land a bit uphill to west on 27 and take off to the east on 9 which is a bit downhill. I'll always take off to the east even with a tail wind since you'll be taking off in the direction of lower terrain over Lake Crowley, winds have to be over 10 kts before I start considering taking off to the west. Most mishaps if not all that I am aware have been with NA aircraft taking off to the east. Even with my turbo, a westerly departure is always exciting since with winds in the mountains there is almost always turbulence and with turbulence your airspeed is diminished which significantly diminishes your climb rate till you are able to get higher into smoother air. With a NA aircraft I would want to wait till a easterly takeoff was safely doable. My personal rule is to arrive before noon or an hour or two before sunset. The worst time to arrive is in the early afternoon but on windy days that window expands to include before noon. Following that rule, only twice in my years of flying in did I have to divert to BIH, and one of those times I was able to get into MMH after just the time we spent to divert for fuel at BIH without any further delay waiting out the winds. The other time, we took the last Inyo shuttle (4pm?) from BIH airport to MMH airport. These were all winter time trips as summer is typically milder with many beautiful wind free days. But should you find the need to divert to BIH, take advantage of the fantastic Thai food restaurant right on the field, and cheaper gas (but consider Hot Creek will charge a county landing/parking fee waived with a small gas purchase ). The only other thing worth mentioning is the Owens Valley turbulence. Its by far the worst turbulence I've ever encountered anywhere but for the most part very predictable and well forecasted in the G-Mets (aviationweather.gov). To fly it safely in turbulent conditions one really needs to learn about predicting where the rotors are and how to avoid them when they're not visible. Easier said than done, but wind direction wrt terrain is just as important, if not more so, than wind magnitude. With nice weather, my most scenic flying ever, till flying in Alaska, has been flying the Sierra ridgeline from south to north at 16.5K heading up to Mammoth; especially after a recent snow dump. The Sierra peaks are spectacular and the Yosemite park area with the glacier polished rock faces just north of MMH is breathtaking as well. Have a great time, we all know you will!

Part 2 involves flying from Goose Bay to Iqaluit with a stop in Kuujjuaq.

Hmmm.... I wonder how much the prop guy likes his MT prop on his Rocket..? -a-

I'm afraid I can't help... I'm usually doing owner-assist in my Wichita hangar and am unfamiliar with any shops in that part of the country. There will be KC pilot in my Caravan element next weekend and I'll try to remember to ask him. Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

Cover absolutely DOES protect in a heavy rain. I have snaps on the front and paint damage is a non-issue. To each their own, but the cover does provide a level of security protection to as prying eyes have to work to see in. I will always use my Bruce’s cover when on the ramp overnight traveling.

I'm still just puzzled why we pay so much for Jeppesen to take the free gov map/approach data and convert it to a proprietary format.

Have you thought of spending the money to air-condition the hangar instead of the airplane? I hate the though of spending good money to equip an airplane for more comfortable ground operations. It's not meant to be on the ground.

Early model Mooneys with the squared off wing tips have a large piece of the aileron outboard, that contains the counter weight. LASAR has made wingtips that can fit this type of wing without modification to the aileron. Later model Mooneys moved the counter weight inside the wing. These Mooneys can accommodate the later factory faired wingtips. As @kpaul said, even with the later model Mooneys, the counter weights inside the wing are different sizes. I had to modify the inside of my wingtips (designed for a 201) to accommodate the larger counterweights on my 252.

Unfortunetly in most of the small planes we have lots of single points of failure. The G3X installation together with the G5 and GFC eliminates quite a few of them which is more than most of the avionics currently have. From my point of view the concept is pretty impressive and well engineered: - Dual AHRS - redundant interface for AHRS and EIS via CAN and Rs232 - Batterie Backup for the G5 - Redundant AP function and controller (the G3X can control the AP if the GMC fails) - Attitude x-checks between AHRS, G5 and GMC 507 - Backup VFR GPS navigation in the G3X if your main Navigator fails - if the GAD fails and you have a GNC255 you can still shoot an ILS with NAV 2 - autopilot coupled - triple GPS redundancy for attitude - main navigator, G5 and G3X A weak point may be the CAN, but that bus runs in millions of cars with a magnitude of hours for safety critical functions. The price you have to pay for this is a lack of connectivity to legacy avionics. But as said somewhere else - connectivity costs a lot of development and testing money which at the end increases the price of the unit and doesn‘t necessarily improve the whole system (it usually is a compromise of the attached units). To eliminate the SPOF of the display it really makes sense to add the second display. Using the second display instead of a G5 you will loose the battery backup and might not be able to remove the vaccum system or turn coordinator/AI...

And it is a pain in the a$$ to change as you have to pull the unit out of the panel and change some dip switches to adjust, then change the dip switches back and reinstall it in the panel (several times before it is fine tuned) (Mini-Flo)

From the AIM Pilot/Controller Responsibilities 5-5-11. Visual Approach a. Pilot. 1.If a visual approach is not desired, advises ATC. 2.Complies with controller’s instructions for vectors toward the airport of intended landing or to a visual position behind a preceding aircraft. 3.The pilot must, at all times, have either the airport or the preceding aircraft in sight. After being cleared for a visual approach, proceed to the airport in a normal manner or follow the preceding aircraft. Remain clear of clouds while conducting a visual approach. 4.If the pilot accepts a visual approach clearance to visually follow a preceding aircraft, you are required to establish a safe landing interval behind the aircraft you were instructed to follow. You are responsible for wake turbulence separation. 5.Advise ATC immediately if the pilot is unable to continue following the preceding aircraft, cannot remain clear of clouds, needs to climb, or loses sight of the airport. 6.Be aware that radar service is automatically terminated, without being advised by ATC, when the pilot is instructed to change to advisory frequency. 7.Be aware that there may be other traffic in the traffic pattern and the landing sequence may differ from the traffic sequence assigned by approach control or ARTCC. b. Controller. 1.Do not clear an aircraft for a visual approach unless reported weather at the airport is ceiling at or above 1,000 feet and visibility is 3 miles or greater. When weather is not available for the destination airport, inform the pilot and do not initiate a visual approach to that airport unless there is reasonable assurance that descent and flight to the airport can be made visually. 2.Issue visual approach clearance when the pilot reports sighting either the airport or a preceding aircraft which is to be followed. 3.Provide separation except when visual separation is being applied by the pilot. 4.Continue flight following and traffic in- formation until the aircraft has landed or has been instructed to change to advisory frequency. 5.Inform the pilot when the preceding aircraft is a heavy. 6.When weather is available for the destination airport, do not initiate a vector for a visual approach unless the reported ceiling at the airport is 500 feet or more above the MVA and visibility is 3 miles or more. If vectoring weather minima are not available but weather at the airport is ceiling at or above 1,000 feet and visibility of 3 miles or greater, visual approaches may still be conducted. 7.Informs the pilot conducting the visual approach of the aircraft class when pertinent traffic is known to be a heavy aircraft.

A Pic for my favorite flying mathematician... @aviatoreb Awesome Australian meat pies... not quite the flying pi guy... -a-

Really interesting places in July... they must get even more interesting when it gets cold. Great sights & Yves’ voice! MS via vhf radio... Thanks for sharing. Best regards, -a-

True, and I'm not aware of any leaks, but I also don't trust my ability to find a leak before it's too late. Belt and suspenders, because the stakes are high.

Received “overhauled” motor (all new parts) Just in time for Mooney Caravan flight