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So last Monday (8 day’s ago) I got an email from the lead aftermarket TKS salesman he wanted my plane on their display at Oshkosh. He commented after looking at my plane last year he thought it was one of the nicest TKS installs he had ever seen (kudos to Brad Simmons for most of that). I graciously accepted. So, I’m on their display, just a couple spots east of the main entrance gate, on the south side. Since I was late to the Pizza Party, and only got to meet a few of you there, I would love to see any of my Mooney brethren that could stop by to say hi. I’m there about 75% of the time. @201er (who absolutely impresses me with his trips) and @Sabremech (who I found I have a ton of non-Mooney shared interests with) stopped by today. Hope to meet “in person” some more Mooney Space friends!! Tom

From Jenny today Mark scheduled for Thurs surgery[http://mobile-mail] mike elliott Hey everyone, Mark had a peaceful night. Dr. Matthews dropped by yesterday to update us that Mark will go into surgery this Thursday so that they can: 1) Cover back up his arms with xeno and allografts. They had to remove them when they excised the infected tissue from his arms last week. 2) Replace the current xeno and allografts with fresh ones on his thighs. This is an ongoing process - until he has his own skin grafts, they have to replace the artificial grafts every 7 days to prevent infection. 3) If Mark continues to make steady improvements with his kidney functioning, they will take him off dialysis. Hoping that will happen in the next few days. We asked when Mark can get back on track with his own skin grafts - as you know, he was only 2 days away from that phase when they found the fungal infection last week. The full medical team will meet today to review Mark's condition and determine where we go from here. They'll have an answer on skin grafts after this meeting. Once the doctors order the skin grafts, it takes 2 weeks for the Boston lab to grow and deliver them. I'll update everyone as soon as I know more from their meeting today. I do think it's a good sign that they want to cover his arms even though it can take up to 6 weeks to know the full status of fungal infections. Mark will continue to be on the anti-fungal medications for a while. You are receiving this message because you are a member of this community. You may unsubscribefrom receiving announcements at any time. Thanks for all you do to help others, Your friends at Lotsa Helping Hands [emoji2398] 2019 Lotsa Helping Hands | 118 N Peoria 2N Chicago, IL 60607 Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Love all the Mooney events at Oshkosh. The Mooney Owners Forum was great (next time give Don Kaye a whole hour though!)! So sad that Mooney activities seem to be winding down for the rest of the week. (pro Tip: make sure Mooney has you on their email list so you get invited to things like their Mooney Love lunch before RSVPs fill!) One thought I wanted to open for discussion though is “fear of Fisk”. I always assumed doing the Caravan was a cool thing for the comraderie and learning some formation skills and hanging with other Mooney people etc. (the only downside I can see is those traffic cone orange shirts they wore this year :)). We don’t do it because we just don’t have the time for all the pre-osh mustering required - we always just kind of get here in the nick of time. But it seems like a great thing to do and maybe one of these years we will join the gaggle... anyway, yesterday, someone at the presentation about the caravan said “how many people here arrived via Fisk?” and a few of us raised our hands. and he said “never again, right?” and we were all baffled, of course we would arrive at Fisk again. So some of us were like “sure again.” But the implication was that one of the reasons to do the caravan was fear of Fisk. So here’s my message: Don’t fear Fisk! (But be prepared for Fisk, read the NOTAM many many times!) Especially when timed right (we like coming in early morning) it’s actually a pretty manageable arrival - a plane a mile or so ahead of you, a plane a mile or so behind you, they direct you to a downwind, you descend and land. With two people in airplane it’s easy to keep your eye out for other traffic but most people keep their distance. Yeah if Fisk gets saturated and you have to hold that really sucks. But the arrival itself is no problem. Certainly no harder/easier than keeping track of 60+ Mooney’s flying in close proximity for many miles in the caravan. Anyway I just wanted to put this out there for other people like us - that just logistically can’t do the caravan. You shouldn’t feel like you have to come in a mass arrival out of fear of Fisk. It’s fine. Come to osh! You can even go mooch beer and tent space off the caravan (for a small fee :)) when you arrive!

I couldn't resist posting this. No, it's not about AirVenture. More personal. My Club annual proficiency check was Friday - in an MSE. Today, I flew to a other airport and back - in a C. Between the two flights in the C, I flew an Ovation.

I use Aero Cosmetics Wash n Wax, a waterless spray that washes away dirt, grease and grime and leaves a very slick finish behind that makes bug removal easy. Regular (blue) for all painted surfaces, and Degreaser (red) for the belly. Quick, easy, slick finish.

That is called “Winning”.

Jenny knows this is a marathon. Marks recovery will be excruciatingly slow with lots of hills and valleys. People tend to wear out and move on in their support, but we will stand tall with her

What’s funny here is that 1) you’ve never bled a Mooney brake system. 2) You’ve made comparisons to the braking systems of military and transport category aircraft. 3) And then finished up with the textbook method for bleeding brakes... To be honest the post comes off as a touch pedantic. I assure you that one can bleed the brakes with a pressure pot from the bottom up into an overflowing catch can and still end up with a soft pedal even after repeated attempts It’s my opinion that the design would have benefited from more judicious use of hard lines. I think that over time and use, the soft lines develop high and low spots in between the calipers and the brake cylinders. @acpartswhse now that it’s been bled from the bottom up. I would recommend reducing the fluid level in the reservoir to about 2/3rd full and apply vacuum to the reservoir with the vent sealed. A MityVac is probably easiest for the job but other tools could be modded to work. A coolant vacuum purge kit (rentable from most auto parts stores) may work as well but look at it before renting to see if you can make a good seal. Once a vac is attached, draw system down to ~ -18 to 20inHg and have someone actuate the brakes and parking break for a minute or so. This should eliminate any stubborn air bubbles from the system.

Article says getting towed to Longview - Looks like Don Maxwell will get to sort this one. Good for Mr. Charles Mayo in pulling off a safe outcome. Is he a member here? Since he's not shy about talking to the media, maybe he could share further perspective. Also hope he caught a ride and didn't have to stay at the Motel 6

I assumed nothing about what YOU told your wife. I quoted, and was referring to, AirPirate's story...and it was pretty damn clear HIS wife knew she'd been left behind And, if I'd done the same to MY wife...I'd likely be dead

Max L/D speed is the speed for minimum descent angle, (i.e., best glide). Minimum sink occurs at CL3/2/CD max. which works out to about 3/4 of best glide speed. Best ROC occurs where there is the greatest spread between thrust power available and power required. Best angle of climb occurs at the speed where there is the greatest spread between thrust available and thrust required. So, best climb speeds are dependent on aerodynamics as well as engine power and propeller efficiency. Good references for aircraft performance: Dole, Charles E., Flight Theory for Pilots Anderson, John D., Aircraft Performance and Design Skip

And that is sad news....

For everyone who loves working with BendixKing for sales and support, and loves TruTrak products - it's a match made in heaven But seriously, this is not surprising.

https://aerospace.honeywell.com/en/press-release-listing/2019/july/honeywell-to-acquire-trutrak-flight-systems

I read they repealed the law of gravity. That seems pretty big.

Where is that written? The only thing the new owner can't do is the yearly Condition Inspection (comparable to an Annual). That has to be done by an A&P or by the builder. Everything else is fair game, or at least that's what I was taught.

Too bad it wasn't an F model since he pulled into the Executive Inn.

And Charles ( @xcrmckenna ) stopped by yesterday! He reminded me I STILL OWE HIM A RIDE! I neglected to tell him if I give him the stick, @gsxrpilot set the bar pretty high on high performance airplane skills Tom

This has already been touched on, but I wanted to make it clear. You can’t wrench on an experimental that you didn’t build any more legally than you can a certified aircraft.

Personally, I'd say sell it and get an experimental. An RV7 or 8 will cruise faster on the same gas, and be overall way cheaper to own. you can have a full g3x suite and ads-b for 20k installed and fly the hell out of the plane and it will overall be way more affordable. duel electronic ignition is also a nice touch. Also sorry about ron. He was overall a great guy, and he was the one that got me my PPL and signed off in the Mooney. may he rest in piece.

First, I'm sorry about your friend. Do recall the old wisdom that suggests not to make major decisions under times of stress (if you can avoid it). While long the subject in the arts, modern research finds that during times of persistent stress colors literally seem less bright...the things that normally gives us, for example, a 9/10 on the pleasure scale...end up only providing a 5/10 on the pleasure scale. It's not that the nature of the thing changed, rather it's the effect of stress on our perception. WHILE this is occurring, so too do you start to look at things differently, calculating what you do/don't like, finding reasons to not like what you used to love, seeking alternatives that offer the allure of newnewss that, while refreshing, ends up being old. But when the stress abates...if you're a "keeper" by nature...you might be more prone to regretting the Mooney sale. I must say that I wish you had an IA whom you could owner-assist everything with. I started in homebuilts and went certified because...it's less expensive. A nice RV costs ~50% more than my Mooney, burns the same fuel, is cramped inside, and only has 2 seats. I now own several planes in rental in addition to my Mooney. 2 seaters are not appreciably less expensive to maintain or operate (unless Rotax powered, but who needs glass cockpit in a Rotax 2 seater). FWIW the only time I see people in the back seats of planes are folks in training or the occasional (rare) family, or site-seeing tours. Back seats are for dogs, luggage, and for stretching out. As to the panel, now that G5 and Dynon is on the scene, the gap between certified and experimental is really narrow. If you had a good IA that would owner-assist you could build a panel. I do all my own wrenching such that my annual IA bill is ~$1,000. For sure the occasional certified part can be brutal, but I saved a lot vs buying an RV. Also, if you decide to keep the Mooney, review the past Primary Non Commercial (PNC) initiative that was supposed to be part of the Part 23 re-write a couple years ago. Rumor has it that the PNC initiative is not completely dead, rather, it's inevitable at some point (lest the GA fleet continue to shrink). If not familiar, PNC would allow you to convert your Mooney to "owner maintenance" similar to the Canadian system. But, again, with a good IA who isn't afraid of his own shadow and likes to operate to the full extent of his ticket...you can do practically as much on your Mooney as an experimental (many experimental folks self-limit their FWF work anyway). Best of luck in your decision.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/july/22/lycoming-announces-new-electronic-ignition-system

The only place a true Mooney pilot can go for a treat Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hate that I can relate to this. I think this was when I was 16 with about 45 hours. Took off at corona airport with the "catapult lunch bar" in the armed position for takeoff. I can clearly say by far the worst thing I've ever done. how the tow bar didn't hit the prop was beyond me. also glad it was a 172. I doubt the Mooney would've done too well with that.

That sucks. Market pressures leading a big crappy company to buy a small strong one with very competitive prices. What could go wrong.

There is a big difference between being a few miles inland and actually on the beach or just a stones throw from it. I would not worry about it. Tom

My membership in the Stupid Pilot Tricks Society involved putting a full size bicycle into a 1964 straight tail C-150. I found that it would work as long as the passenger window was left open and the handlebar would partially stick out into the 100 knot breeze. Of course when I went home after several days at the beach, I forgot about the need for the open window, and slammed the passenger door closed, destroying the plexiglass window. As an early adopter of the CB concept I decided I didn't need no stinkin' Cessna parts, and made my own window from a piece of sheet plexiglass. Sadly, the IA who did the next annual didn't share this opinion and yanked my homemade window out.

Thanks! I saved a picture of your beautiful panel to show to boss. Let’s see what she says. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My admittedly ignorant take is that there could easily be a bubble in the brake system that migrates rather than being pumped out. If one is pumping in from the bottom at a high enough rate (ie. the right pressure), it might push the bubble faster than it can migrate. I would certainly try increasing the pressure. Someone suggested a pressure of 15psi.

Good point, I believe your right. 91.327 limits the condition inspection to certificated repairman, or the other usual suspects A&P and repair station. But the owner can perform maintenance and make log book entries.

I believe everything except parking/camping for amphibians on grass is open. Everything today looked like it was drying in’s very nicely. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Can’t comment on the GA camping conditions specifically but on the Lancair Forum an owner just posted he came in this afternoon and in the Home Built Camping section it was pretty good and dying fast. He encouraged anyone holding back on coming not be concerned. I can testify the same for Camp Scholler. Areas I couldn’t walk through yesterday are dry today. It’s drying up VERY FAST. Tom

This is wonderful to hear improvement news. Its amazing to think skin grafts can be grown, and then transported like that. There is a fellow from this small town who was an AP in the Air Force, and his son is an AP in PA working for a medical transport company managing several small jets, like the Phenom 100, and they do on demand time critical flying for such critical items as transplant organs. Serious business. I visited his son with him at his business.

Labor isn’t the problem in GA, parts are the problem in GA. Compare the cost of an experimental panel (hardware + install) versus a certified panel.

I'm getting pretty close to that but don't want to go there quite yet. He is insisting the droopy flap did not cause my flaps to completely stop working which is why I'm working hard to get to the bottom of this and I figured there must be some expertise here on this board that would help pinpoint what is going on. I'm thinking the droopy flap messed with the contact on the TO position micro-switches but seemingly something other than the relays were affected since changing them did not help. If someone could confirm the micro-switches should read 24v and not variable voltage, could the simple micro-switch have somehow shorted inside? Note that the variable voltage seems to go in a loop with a very quick increase (or decrease but don't recall) in voltage, a very brief O.L. indication and then a new loop of increasing voltage again and the loop is very consistent.

I have found this to be true also. I’m not sure the maneuvering does anything, I have always thought it was the altitude. The lower pressure causes the bubbles to grow and migrate easier. Whatever is going on, flying and pumping seems to finish the job.

If I'd pulled that stunt, my widow would have used the Mooney to troll another pilot to fly her around . . . . .

Turtle, we really are but caretakers to these machines for a season. Your Mooney chapter may be ending but there is someone out there who will take over and care for your bird as you did when the baton was passed to you. I have thought about doing the experimental thing myself as I love to turn wrenches and have an inclination for anything mechanical. When the time is right, you will know. My condolences regarding the loss of your friend. In time you will be able to smile when you remember some of the adventures you shared flying in your Mooney. My CFI died of cancer too. He was very health conscious and in shape and it shouldn't have happened to him. I still talk to him when I fly and I can hear jim in my head, giving me instruction....and it makes me smile. Best wishes, Steve

A quick weekend trip to Phoenix for my niece's wedding, my nephew's talk in church before leaving on his mission to Sweden, and back to California for the baptism of one of the girls that my wife was the youth leader for, it was a great trip with nice weather. https://intothesky.us/2019/07/22/made-possible-by-a-mooney/ For good fun, add in a Cessna pilot that was annoyed he was placed behind the faster Mooney coming into Fullerton. The "rest of the story" is in the blog post, but if you don't feel like reading it here's the Reader's Digest version. I hadn't been kicked to tower yet but was monitoring when I heard: Cessna: “Fullerton tower, Cessna xxxxx is over the Brea Pass and inbound with Quebec.” Tower: “Cessna xxxxx, I have a faster plane, a Mooney, inbound, two miles east of the water treatment plant. Fly to the water treatment plant and let me know when you have the Mooney in sight.” I was just beginning to level off from my descent and my ground speed (into the wind) had just dipped below 150 mph while the Cessna (flying with the wind) was showing 117 mph on my tablet. Right after that I was handed off, called up tower, and was told to make straight in for two-four. Eventually the Cessna said he had us in sight and tower told him to follow us in. I continued to slow to 120 to drop my gear by the 5 mile final mark and then bleed off more speed to get to 100 and put in some flaps. At that point the tower starts getting onto the Cessna pilot because he was overtaking me and he had been told to follow me. The Cessna guy is saying that he's trying to slow down (yeah right) and at one point said he had the power "all the way out." Sure, he's about 4+ miles out and pulled power all the way, guy would have dropped like a rock, not continued to overtake me. Funniest line I've heard from ATC in awhile. Tower: "Sir, do you have an instructor on board?" Tower gave him an s-turn, asked me to keep my speed above 90 until short final, we landed nice and easy and watch the Cessna float down the runway and bounce once before settling down. Good times!

MOST of the time I am flying alone, years ago my wife decided she wanted to go up to the cabin for a long weekend for the fall colors. We arrived at the airplane, I pre flighted and she loaded some small packs in the rear seats. She went into the FBO to the latrine and I was going through pre start check list. I started the engine, called control for a Northwest departure and was cleared to 15 with a left turn to the Northwest. taxied out, performed a run up, took the active and took off. Climbing left turn on course about 5 mins out I hear the tower call me and say Arrow 84E, we just got a call from the FBO, your wife is waiting at the ramp", I replied "Thank God, I thought I'd gone deaf". Arrow 84E cleared for expedited approach straight in 15, cleared to land". I figured the tower knew I was in for it.

Anyone with an A&P and IA can have his choice of jobs and where he wants to work right now. Anyone coming out of school with an avionics major is also in very high demand. And you thought it was just a pilot shortage? I hope they find who they need, they're a good company, in fact, I just bought more parts from them last week.

Hey! That's my tail number. Think of your own irrational number. There are uncountably infinitely main of them. Check the FAA registry and See that the sqrt of e is still available. Sqrt(e)=1.6487.... That one was free - or I could "develop" another irrational number for you, for a mathematical consulting fee since a highly trained eager mathematician such as myself doesn't come cheap. Plus the paint job scheme, was my own design - no design service - so royalties there. Forgive me... just raising funds for more fuel. It is true that the rocket is nose heavy - as are all large bore Mooneys, but it can be operated within balance but that takes decision making skills between loading and fuel. I drove it that way for about 6 years, but then the 4 blade mt prop changed that story dramatically as it takes 35lbs off the nose so it is truly no longer a nose heavy airplane and its light in pitch comparable to a 4 cylinder mooney.

I almost mentioned Aircraft Ownership Solutions (but, they are most likely the guys you are purchasing from) They move a lot of Mooney's through there. Northwestflyers.com in Schaumburg IL is a Mooney Service Center. (I have no exp with them) I had Paul Enlow, now service Manager based out of my home field. Indy Metro KUMP do my original pre-buy.. then he just happened to move to Metro. The guys there have worked on a number of Mooney's on the field for the last 6 years. It's about a 10 min flight from Kokomo.

Jeremy, If this is OK for you... https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/saying-goodbye-to-your-aviation-inspiration/#.XSvthcopChA Happy to read various mags, paid for by clicks and eyeballs... Plane and Pilot is a nice readable magazine... I used to look forward to buying at the newsstand at Newark airport... Best regards, -a-

“Honey, the Boss said to take a day or two off between changing job roles next week. Can we fly to the beach?” “Only if you want to transform the five-hour torture session into a 1:45 flight.” So, first trip together. Only answered three radio calls with my airline callsign. Fulton County tower now replies to my initial call with “are you that airline guy again or a real pilot this time?” She loved the trip down. Once clear of Atlanta’s arrivals, we got up to 7,500 on top of a scattered layer for a smooth 145-knot nonstop run to the beach. (Just the slightest hint of a tailwind). Did a quick run up and down Cumberland and Jekyll Islands and landed there at Jekyll’s 09J. Nice folks, friendly golden retriever, and no tie down fee for a night’s stay. Caught a ride to the hotel with some of the airport folks who swore they were headed to lunch anyway after the hotel said it’d be a whopping 15 minutes before they could get to us. (Spoken with some sarcasm about the van wait - I’ve written magazine columns in bits and pieces while waiting on hotel vans for work layovers). Gave Robert a few bucks to help with lunch and thanked him profusely. Had a great but quick stay on the island. Ate a mess of fresh seafood, walked a gazillion miles in the salt air, got up for the sunrise and as we neared the end of our walk, stumbled across a lone hatchling loggerhead turtle working his way to the water. Amy and I provided air cover against the seagulls as he worked his way to the waves- no short trek for a tiny creature on the giant beach at low tide. Watched him hit the waves (pics and videos on my Instagram, same username) and started on to the hotel, then stumbled across two of his siblings. Wound up spending a magical hour guarding the last three turtles to leave that nest. Ate breakfast at the hotel. Lounged by the pool. After lunch with a high school friend who lives down there now, he dropped us back at the airport for the flight home. Landed at Baxley, Georgia for a fuel stop. Gas cheaper than $4 a gallon (by a penny) and a great little FBO with accommodations for aviators who get weathered in. Two bedrooms and a van available. I’m filing that stop away into my bag of tricks for navigating the convective minefield that is aviating in the south. Airborne again and with a full load of dinosaur juice, we got on top of most of the clouds so I could pick my way between the buildups. Before long, though, Atlanta gave me the “thou shall not” regarding their class B. Big storms had everyone deviating off the arrivals and departures, and a couple of jets were going missed off Hartsfield. Flew a big arc around their airspace, landed at Carrollton and topped off before hopping to my buddy’s airstrip to put her to bed. Takeaways: The PC system works, but not authoritatively. I distinctly remember the yoke sawing back and forth when I was a kid flying this bird, now full lock left or right on the trim will eventually generate a gentle turn. Time to go leak-chasing. The attitude indicator is getting verrry sleepy. Time to start making a decision. Don’t want to overhaul the AI if I’m just gonna go with glass in a couple months. When it’s too bumpy to fly with the trim wheel and the PC left/right knob, using my wife’s knee as a prop to fly with my right hand on the right yoke is actually more comfortable than left hand on the left yoke. Makes her more comfortable too, she says I need to find a permanent place to keep the CO detector. It’s time to install o-rings on the fuel caps. Spent my time on the beach hoping it didn’t rain for different reasons than most beach goers. It was all more than worth it when we landed at Jekyll Island and she said how much she enjoyed the flight and was much less stressed than when we do road trips! Continuing to enjoy my short-bodied traveling machine....

Find a skull with glowing eyes

Move those headsets and portable electronic devices a foot or two away fro the mag compass and see if that issue resolves.

Patto -- I would look at the upgrades based on your intent on hanging onto the plane for a while. If you see yourself moving to another plane in the 3 to 5 year time frame, I would consider repairing what you have to make it functional. If you think you will keeping the plane for a while, I would start with an engine analyzer that can act as a primary replacement? Why? Because all those 50 year old gauges will nickel and dime you to death when they begin failing. JPI 900, GEM from Insight, the EI offering are all viable analyzers that will replace your primary gauges. If you plan on keeping her for a while, I would not spend a penny to fix any of the Narco stuff in the panel. The company is out of business and replacement parts are becoming more harder to find (ask me how I know). The #2 CDI you have is a combo CDI/Nav. If it is dead, better off pulling it than spending good money after bad. You might be able to find someone with an extra unit for cheap, but I wouldn't pay to fix it. Same goes for the Narco audio panel, transponder and DME. I would look for a pre-owned 430W and a CDI that will work with it. The decision of what to replace will depend a lot on what kind of flying you expect to be doing. I flew for years (22 to be exact) flying behind this all steam panel: In 2012, I made the big investment to upgrade the panel after building up a reserve. I ended up replacing my Narco Nav/Com when it became unreliable for IFR flying. If you are into the long haul on this plane, just take your time on the upgrades and select what makes sense based on your budget and type of flying. And don't forget to keep asking us knuckleheads for suggestions. We are great at spending other people's money. [emoji38] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have an EI MVP-50 and I like it, but I flew 30yrs without one. If I had to get one thing it would be GPS/WAAS. Engine monitors are highly over rated Internet driven phenomenas, nice to have but certainly nowhere is useful as GPS/WAAS. Garmin 430W will meet your budget, toss in an iPad+Stratus 2 and victory is yours.

So I'll tell a story… this is from memory so if anyone has a copy of an email post I made contemporaneously to mooney, mooney-tech or longbody-mooney@aviating.com that differs in some details please forgive my aging neurons. Couple of years ago I was heading back to Cincinnati from Bridgeport CT. Leaving KBDR and heading west through PA, pretty much the only route you will get is KBDR-BHVN5-CMK-SAX-V249-SBJ-V30-ETX-V162-HAR-DIRECT. It's climb to 6000 out of BDR, up to 7000 once past KHPN and up to 8000 once over the Hudson River. The route is essentially a big left hook around the NYC Class B and ATC is very constrained in the altitudes and lateral routes they can give you due to the arrival corridors for KHPN, KLGA, KTEB and KEWR. Once you've crossed the river and until you get past KMMU you are in a virtual tunnel that extends from 6000 to 8000 and a couple miles on either side of the route. During a push (rush hour) ATC has to move heaven and earth to respond to any unusual requests. Once you are past KMMU and turned right towards KABE things ease up and when handed off to Allentown Approach they are very accommodating re altitude and course. It was January I think, 3 or 4 years ago and in the early morning during the push. PIREPS were being posted for light to moderate icing between 3000 and 7000 along my route of flight but the reports seemed spotty with holes in them (areas of non icing) and I figured I would be above it. The tops were being called around 7000. Seemed doable - a 30 minute slog and then freedom as the wx cleared west of NY metro. Out of KBDR with TKS primed on the ground, I was in the clouds by 2000' or so and I began accreting ice abeam KHPN. In an out of the clouds in layers, I would get ice, no ice, cloud, no cloud but once I was climbed to 8000 I was still in the clouds (so much for the tops report) TKS on high, and the ice became constant and began accreting very rapidly. Within 2 or 3 minutes I had at least an inch of shiny clear ice on my leading edge and the TKS was clearly being overwhelmed. I had no way of knowing how widespread this icing region was but I could hear multiple reports of ice - some of them using the word "severe", on the frequency. I motored on, my heart beating faster and palms getting sweaty as I waited what seemed like an hour to get a word in edgewise on the frequency. Finally I grabbed a moment and managed to squeak out : "Mooney 3ZM, in moderate to severe icing, I need a climb immediately". The response was (pardon the pun) chilling: "unable, stand by". Another few minutes passed and I had lost about 15KIAS and had a LOT of ice all over the plane. I was afraid to look back at the tail feathers and held the yoke lightly trying to feel for any "snatch" from a tail stall and trying to talk my brain into staying calm. I was talking to myself out loud, talking myself thru what to do if I stalled, what I could do, where I could go. Finally, after what seemed like forever ATC came back to me and asked if I was still in icing conditions. I replied I was and that I needed higher immediately. I think the controller could hear the rising panic in my voice and she came back right away with a climb to 9000. I was climbing before she finished talking, but 9000 wasn't too much better. The ice seemed less severe, but I was getting thrown around something fierce and the airplane had a sloppy feel to it. I could see I was in or near the tops, the clouds were lighter above me. "NY, 3ZM, this isn't much better, I'm going to need higher and I need it right now". Again: "Unable higher, let me see what I can do". She cam back shortly and offered me a climb to 10,000 if I would accept a vector to LHY (a right turn). You betcha! At 9400 or 9500 I broke out into the sunshine and began breathing again. It took 15 or 20 minutes before the TKS could get rid of all that ice. Now for questions about approaches - I have been fairly lucky in that I've never had to shoot an approach in heavy icing conditions. Most of the time I would get ice in the descent or on a segment of the flight plan leading to the approach and the TKS pretty much had take care of things before the FAF. There have been one or two exceptions but on both I broke out relatively high and landed with 1/2 flaps and 10 KIAS extra speed. Anytime I encountered ice in the last 30 minutes of flight I would land with 1/2 flaps and extra speed, just in case. I have not had to make a no flaps landing due to ice on approach - yet - but I am prepared and have practiced no flap landings to make sure I was comfortable with the different sight picture, the extra speed and driving it onto the runway. I want to say that in the 5 years and hundreds of flights I made back and forth from Cincinnati to Bridgeport, my tolerance for dangerous wx initially went up and then gradually went way down. By the time I stopped commuting I had no more stomach for ice flights as I have described above. The most dangerous aspect of FIKI systems on Mooneys is not pump failure or electrical failure etc. It's the fact that you are likely to make flights in a FIKI airplane that you would not otherwise make. Be careful, be cautious, be chicken. While there is no official determination yet the TBM 850 that crashed in NJ on 12/20/11 sounds very much like an icing accident that killed 5 people including 2 children. Need I mention that the TBM 850 has 700-850 SHP? And is a FIKI airplane (boots). So much for climbing to safety… So some SOPs of mine - YMMV and I don't recommend these practices to anyone - this is simply how I fly my FIKI Ovation2. Prime on the ground if icing conditions are expected enroute. TKS on low before entering clouds. Titrate fluid flow as needed - low, high, off. I always play a mental game of conserving TKS fluid as much as possible in the first half of a flight and as I get closer to destination I use it more freely (if available). Anything more than light rime, I hand fly. I'm always watching the wings, tail and ASI. Loss of 5KIAS gets my attention. Loss of 10KIAS and I'm changing something - altitude, course etc. ALWAYS leave an out. Needless to say, ice flying is somewhat stressful. You never know when conditions may change for the worse (see story above). And yes, I'm aware that inadvertent ice systems come with some of the goodies - I wasn't sure if that included the spray bar or the light. I stand corrected. Be safe. Be humble. Nature is bigger than a Mooney.