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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/02/2019 in all areas

  1. We just finished speaking with Paul Kehner at the factory. It’s back and running normally!
    11 points
  2. Mooneyspace nautical miles may be shorter than standard.
    5 points
  3. "IDENT" is probably the most useful feature on your airplane at this point. If you can't get a word into the conversation but you're getting really close to the localizer/final approach course, hit the ident button. Your aircraft ID will flash on the radar screen and more often than not, the next transmission will be your instructions to join final and cleared for the approach. *Warning*- if you're being a Nervous Nellie when you hit Ident, you might get delay vectors as retribution.
    5 points
  4. This crash hit close to home as I used to live in N Las Vegas and flew out of Nellis and KVGT. The terrain is mountainous and not to be taken lightly. Here's some reading material and my take on how to stay safe, especially when flying night VFR. First disclaimer, if you don't have your IFR ticket, I highly recommend as it makes you a better, more precise flyer and gives you more tools when weather/environment deteriorate. When flying VFR, it's good to know the VFR sectional, found on Foreflight, Garmin Pilot, or in print. In this case, the MEF for N Las Vegas is 7,500 and is not based on Gass peak, but a 7,128' peak NE. When on vectors VFR and in VMC pilots are still responsible for see and avoid and obstacle clearance (AIM 5-5-8). This is regardless of whether under ATC control or not. Pre-study of terrain is essential if knowingly going to fly VFR at night, especially in low illumination conditions (new or waning moon). Already highlighted in this thread is cockpit situational awareness tools that pilots need to know. The Garmin 430 has terrain awareness as well as most portable GPS units. Additionally, any EFB (Foreflight or Garmin Pilot) has terrain avoidance features as well. Now, let's dive in a little deeper when switching to IFR. First, the numbers only get more conservative. The MOCA for the KVGT area is 14,100 due to Mt Charleston. East of the Vegas basin it's 10,300. If on vectors for the ILS to KVGT, the MSA (minimum sector altitude) North of the field is 11,000 and that is based off of Hayford peak 26.8NM North of KVGT. Realize that the MSA seen on the approach plate is for emergency use only and does not guarantee navigational reception. Finally, if flying at night and under IFR, I recommend an approach plate study. Looking at the ILS 12L approach, one can see there is steep and rising mountainous terrain North and West of the Las Vegas metropolitan area. As a personal technique, when flying at night and in mountainous terrain, I file IFR and plan to fly the published approach to my destination. When I lived in Las Vegas this is what I primarily flew at night because of the terrain. How do we learn from this tragedy. Hopefully discussion like this focuses us on the basics and we brush up on basic aeronautical knowledge as well as take time to ensure we know how to maximize the various tools we have inside the cockpit. Lastly, please read the AOPA Safety PDF attached as it is great at explaining obstacle avoidance and calculations. Min Alt AOPA Paper.pdf
    4 points
  5. Those Cessna's are better than our Mooneys in every possible way... until you leave the ground.
    4 points
  6. DMax posted on FB that the factory is up and running as of this morning. No details. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    3 points
  7. All I can say is all of us worked really hard getting Mooney back up and going. My thumbs are sore from all of the postings. The stress was almost unbearable. There is no I in team! Unbelievable! I just knew we worked great under immense pressure and it certainly has shown itself to be true. I yield the balance of my time to .........
    3 points
  8. ..... and all the workers receive back pay !!!
    3 points
  9. Okay.... the suits have been reading all our posts and have decided to incorporate all our suggestions......finally!!
    3 points
  10. With all these nifty devices for preheat I seem to remember that years ago some just used a 100 watt bulb in the bottom of the cowl with moving blankets on top and turned it on the night before Or am I hallucinating? Also. for all you "connected" guys maybe we need a thread (maybe sticky) showing all the ways you have figured out how to do this stuff (not just pre-heaters)(pictures, circuits and named devices and how to use them) for those of us still in the Luddite range on all of this. Not everyone is as "up to date" as some on all this stuff :-) :-) Anything is easy if you know how :-) Flying a 757 into CAT III weather was easy because I knew how (way back when). All this wifi, Alexa, connected TVs, etc not so much as time marches on and some of you young whippersnappers will find this out in the years to come :-) :-)
    3 points
  11. I thought there'd be one about not coveting thy neighbor's airplane.
    3 points
  12. This is something I came across as a student pilot almost 30 years ago. It still brings a smile. I made a change to the title to make it appropriate for this list. I particularly think the one about checklists is appropriate here, and I also like the one about weather prophets. Mooney Pilots’ Ten Commandments I. Thou shalt abstain from the intersection takeoff for, verily, the runway behind thee, as the altitude above thee, cometh not to thine aid when thou needest them. II. Thou shalt not linger on active runways lest thou become like unto minced meat. III. Ignorest not they checklists, for many are the switches, handles, Gauges, and other demons awaiting to take cruel vengeance upon thee. IV. Thou shalt cast thine eyes to thy right and also to thy left as thou passeth through the firmament lest thy fellow pilots bring flowers to thy widow, and comfort her in other ways. V. Thou shalt not buzz, for this shall surely incur the wrath of thy neighbors and the fury of the authorities shall be called down upon thy head. VI. Thou shalt be ever mindful of thy fuel lest there be nothing in thy tank to sustain thee upon the air and thy days be made short. VII. Trust not thine eyes to lead thee through the cloud lest the Arc-angle Gabriel await thee therein. VIII. Thou shalt not trespass into the thunderstorm lest the tempest rend the wings from thy chariot and cast thee naked into the firmament. IX. Put not thy trust in weather prophets, for when the truth is not in them they shall not accompany thee among thy ancestors. X. Thou shalt often confirm thine airspeed on final lest the earth rise up and smite thee.
    2 points
  13. I've had four Mooneys and have over 1,000 hours in them. I like them. But they aren't a Bonanza in any fashion.
    2 points
  14. 780. So an acclaim with 950 lbs can still take a person
    2 points
  15. I took mine out for a short flight yesterday. I hadn't flown in almost a month and so thought it would be good to get it warmed up a bit. I topped off both tanks just because I was solo and hadn't filled them in quite a while. As I was just buzzing around on the north side of Denver, I thought to myself, I've got enough gas to get to Cabo... I wonder how long it would take before anyone noticed I was gone.
    2 points
  16. Long Range on an Acclaim is 130 gallons and legend has it you can squeeze even a few more in there.
    2 points
  17. Great! Now let’s all go tell Mooney how they should run the company!
    2 points
  18. Workers were told to report to work today. That’s good news for everybody. Apparently there was capital infused to keep the factory rolling. Many of the workers have to make the decision to stay with the company or move on to other opportunities that present of themselves during the furlough.
    2 points
  19. You can say that again, and again, and again.
    2 points
  20. Corporations spend millions on consulting firms to evaluate their business models and production methods. Mooney just found a way to save all that money
    2 points
  21. 2 points
  22. It's closer than the thread comparing M20-J to an A-36!
    2 points
  23. I have signifcant time in Mooney's and Cirrus's now. For most missions I prefer Mooney's. Just my person preference. Just like the M20J mid body Mooney matches so well with the IO360 (and My Missile has a hot rod IO550 on it), the best engine for the Cirrus is not the 200HP, it's the IO550 as well. The SR20 does not climb as well. The SR22 with the bigger engine climbs so much better, and it's the right engine for the Cirrus airframe. The SR20 works, but the SR22 is a much better plane simply because of the better engine to help with climb. Wing wise, the SR20/22 wing is designed with two separate airfolis with the cuffs on the outer edge stalling slightly slower than the inboard section of the wing (Similar to F-18's). For my part 135 training in the SR22 I had to push the plane to it's edge and really figure out when it would stall, how bad the stall got, etc. You have to really mess up to spin stall a Cirrus. It happens, but the warning signs are blaring at you (similar to a Mooney if you get to slow, it gets mushy, and you know it). I was in a deep stall when training in a Cirrus holding it as best I could until I couldn't. Then you drop the nose, power up, recover. It's not meant to be a low/slow airplane. But you really have to not be listening or lack the pilotage skill to stall spin one (don't get too slow). Cirrus aircraft lack elevator pitch control once you get below about 78 knots. Important to know when landing/flaring. When in a Mooney and you lose your engine in the pattern, trim, fly a smaller pattern, glide it in. Engine out practice in a Cirrus in the pattern (if high enough, you are supposed to pull the parachute, no joke), you have to dive for the numbers just like a Piper Arrow - they don't glide well - and sacrifice altitude to keep the airspeed up so you can flare at the end. The Cirrus has a much more comfortable cabin for passengers - I personally like the seat in my Mooney more (I get uncomfortable in the Cirrus after a few hours). The side sticks I don't love. The spring feedback is not the same as real feedback in our Mooney pushrods or even cable controls. Cirrus's have pushrods, but it's the springs that make the feel seem odd. It can get tiring when hand flying. Trim - Most singles have a trim wheel, Cirrus aircraft do not. All trim is electric. There's no fine movement with it, so it's hard to get perfect straight and level. A trick is to engage the autopilot, then disengage so it's trimmed perfect vs just a bit off. I'd rather have a trim wheel to manually get it just right. If going Cirrus, get the SR22 - it's the right engine for the airframe. If you missing doesn't need the climb performance nor speed of the SR22, and you are looking for a slightly roomier cabin for passengers, side-stick, parachute, and fixed gear for no chance of a gear up, go Cirrus. Both are airplanes and you can't go wrong. I love my Mooney. I see why people like their Cirrus's. More important, have your spouse sit in both. If your spouse is into it, it makes your love of flying that much better. Your spouse assisting in aircraft selection is a big factor. -Seth
    2 points
  24. All fixed with no leaks now I'm happy to report. They drilled out the rivets and installed new ones. That did the trick.
    2 points
  25. Eastern time, I had a rebate expire and was able to get another one 3 weeks later
    2 points
  26. Find the threads... monitoring the RH inside the engine.... yes some MSer went the distance... leaving the heat on unmonitored can be counterproductive... heating the engine and oil to 40°F has some benefits to lubrication and fuel evaporation getting the engine started... Venting the moisture out of the engine is important... leaving it in and keeping it warm... is bad... WiFi is spreading everywhere... but only covers the half where my hangar isn’t... Pay attention to how much load you plug into the switch... The early cell switches were hand made and didn’t get designed to any particular standard... plugging in an engine heater and cabin heater... shouldn’t light the plane on fire... PP thoughts only, not an electrical engineer... Best regards, -a-
    2 points
  27. Yes, warm air can hold more moisture. And metal Won’t corrode below 32°. So it doesn’t have to be raining inside your engine to cause corrosion. However if you just leave it cold it won’t corrode. Cold air is drier than warm air. And when you get ready to fly turn on your Kasa remote plug with a hotspot like one of the previous posters. Brilliant idea and cheap.
    2 points
  28. Check out the Cafe Foundation Mooney for a stretch goal. Yes, it was an E model, not a C. But the airframe and cooling mods were applicable to any short-body M20. The developers were fond of touting efficiency and not speed: The claim was it would do 160 KTAS on 6.7 GPH I opine the upper limit of an “unlimited mod cost” M20C cruise speed is around 170 KTAS / 9 GPH / 6,000’. For $250K I’ll prove it....
    2 points
  29. I just built one myself using this... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JQRC93V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I little soldering, and I've got two ports one controlling my engine heater and one controlling a space heater in the cockpit. I put an ATT SIM card in it that costs about $100 per year for unlimited messages. I can turn either on or off with my phone and also check the status of either as well.
    2 points
  30. Here's pics of the system including: -breather sleeve that reaches past the whistle hole - the dipstick tube stopper - and the overall set-up Again, it was a reasonably quick project. Cheers, brian
    2 points
  31. Flew for a weekend beachy getaway to Destin, FL, (DSL). Early this morning a cold front went through, and on the flight back to TCL this evening we had a 40 kt headwind component. Notice the asymmetrical glide ring! Hate to see it, but that is a pretty nice feature in Foreflight. The trip down was about 1.4h, and 1.9 back.
    2 points
  32. Here's a photo from when I was first playing around. The basic gist is a WiFi smart plug (about $10) and a FreedomPop hotspot ($19.99). The data service was zero dollars per month, so the all-in cost was thirty bucks. (Well, I actually deployed this in a small DriBOX that cost another $15 or so.) Anyway, total cost around $40 or $45, with a $0 monthly.
    2 points
  33. Burning gas and taking the wife for a tour of the Hudson (skyline transition) - Atlantic City in the background on the way back. 30-40 knot headwind both ways (not even sure how that's possible :-)) Great controllers all the way - smooth ride up high but pretty bumpy below 4000ft - sick bag made its way out of the flight bag for the first time in quite a while.
    2 points
  34. This is a vast exaggeration , though admittedly Bonanzas do seem to have an edge on control feel in my very brief experience. But with essentially all my time in a Mooney, the V36 Bo seating position felt a little odd - more like sitting at a kitchen table than in a cockpit. But Bonanza and Mooney owners should no longer be divided by such issues and instead stay focused on denigrating Cirrus .
    2 points
  35. Thanksgiving morning flight over eastern Arkansas. Must be duckhunting season.
    2 points
  36. 3 months ago they (ATC) couldn’t tell if you had the equipment or not down here, im not sure the FAA is 100% ready either
    1 point
  37. The answer to the question is: more efficiently than any B, C or P brand aircraft! Seriously--good work and nice write up. I've been looking for pics of these mods, would appreciate any that you have,
    1 point
  38. You would really have to try to get the PC-12 out of W&B/CG. The crash a few years back of a PC-12 in Butte MT had a similar load out of passengers and it was determined by the NTSB that it was well within CG and W&B. I have nearly 2000 hours flying PC-12s well above the published weights, all with Pilatus engineers blessing. Because of this you can purchase a STC from Pilatus to increase the max gross weight. Doubtful that it would require a full fuel load to fly from South Dakota to Idaho, although my guess is there would have been significant headwinds heading west into a winter storm. From what I can tell the departure airport only had self service fuel and no other services. Hopefully the PIC did not save money by skipping the anti-ice inhibitor in the fuel (cause of Butte crash). Reports are of an inch of show per hour. How do you de-ice a T-tail aircraft without a de-icing truck? Always sad especially when children are involved.
    1 point
  39. If you think stall/spin characteristics are questionable now, … wait 'til you get tip tanks A turboprop is just a totally different animal (yes, clean sheet would be the least expensive).
    1 point
  40. The delta for speed mods between cost and speed increase is really defined by how much labor one has to buy. The ‘65 C I used to own cruised at 23” / 2400 rpm (65% power - 8 gph) at 140 ktas. After adding the following mods: 201 windshield, cowl closure, smooth belly, flap gap and aileron gap seals, all three tail mods, and moving one com antenna, and the transponder, DME, and ELT antennas inside, I had 152 ktas cruise at the same power setting. The useful load took about a 90 lb. hit. I did the work myself under appropriate supervision. The total cost (1996) was around 6 AMU. That was more than paid back in reduced fuel cost over the next 500 hours. An unlooked for benefit was a 50% increase in rate of climb - initial rate of climb at sea level went from 700 rpm to 1100 fpm. The airspeed indicator in that plane read fast; at 1000 feet at 2700 rpm and wide open throttle, I cruise at 189 mph indicated. A four-way gps showed it was only 182 mph. The stall speed was also slower; at 2300 lbs. the plane stalled power off in the landing configuration at 49 mph CAS. The glide ratio was also better at more than 13:1. I more than got the value of my money and my time.
    1 point
  41. @kpaul makes a good point that my best mileage of 21+ is wind aided. So it's much like getting great mileage in the pickup truck while going down a hill. So I'll take the average which would be 18+ mpg. But as @Hank says, I also used to make long road trips and told myself I enjoyed them. I was proud of the fact that I'd driven every mile of interstates 10, 20, 40, 70, 80, and 90. But doing the same in a Mooney is soooooooo much better... for so many reasons... and the mileage isn't nearly as bad as most people think about airplanes.
    1 point
  42. clearly it’s whichever one has a pilot relief tube.
    1 point
  43. Erik, I NEVER second guess a “no go” decision. It appears you don’t either. Looks like a smart call. Hopefully you and I will sit on a porch one day in rocking chairs reminiscing about our days flying before we become really old men. Tom
    1 point
  44. The versatility of our flight envelope is amazing, long range cruise vs high speed cruise and everywhere in between
    1 point
  45. Tie down ring leaks usually occurs on Mooneys with long range tanks. If this is the case do not unscrew the ring until the long range tank is empty. To temporarily fix it unscrew the ring, clean the screw and the hole with MEK. Apply PRC 1422 sealant to the ring and screw it in. Allow one day to cure before putting any fuel. For a permanent fix to allow installing the jack pads without emptying the tanks do the following: 1. Empty the tanks 2. Remove access panel behind tie down ring 3. Clean the tie down ring inside bracket with MEK 4. Apply PRC 1422-B2 on top of the bracket to build up a block of sealant. 5. Let it cure for a day before installing the cover. With fuel in the tanks there should be no leak even with the tie down removed. José
    1 point
  46. I spent a little time searching the forum for this and couldn't find it. MODS, if this already exists, or there is a better thread on the same topic, feel free to delete my thread. But for noobies like me trying to learn some stuff, I came across this helpful link that describes the different Lycoming engines codes and what they mean. So if you don't know what the difference is between a O-320-A2A and a O-360-A1D, this is for you. http://www.meyette.us/LycomingEngineNumbers.htm thanks.
    1 point
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