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As much as the opposing party would like this state of chaos to continue til the election, the people are sick and tired of it! Besides, where are all the sick people? From what I hear on the news, they should be everywhere! I can't find them anywhere!

Here's my 2018 trip:

Needed to stock up on supplies and as always Snoopy aka moms grocery getter fit the mission. We headed out towards WLW where there is a super Walmart, our local WM has very little on their shelves. As we crossed over our eastern hills (mountains) to those of you east of the Rocky Mountains we flew under the convective building clouds encountering some pretty serious bumps likely nothing compared to the turbulence those of you with thousands of IMC flying have encountered . It takes a long time to drive anywhere from Lake county but Snoopy solves that so perfectly. Got a bit behind the airplane as we approached home but just pulled the slip on final from the tool box and took the elevator down to pick up the one white one red and made a nice landing with some pretty challenging winds on the ground. The second picture is of an old Mercury mine that has some history behind it. During the Second World War it was one of the biggest supplier of mercury for the war effort. Obviously now it is a environmental hazard maintenance site. But sure is a pretty color of turquoise.

Good plan and very wise to always critique yourself. But I think sometimes we scare folks from banking in the pattern; especially when they want to standard rate turns in the pattern. So personally I have no problem "over" banking and not staying coordinated as long as we're keeping the wing unloaded. Instead for me and what I teach is: don't pull back on the yoke and don't skid in addition to don't get too slow. I'll happily slip away as needed; especially on a short approach. And when we do need to recover from when we err and get too slow, PUSH first to recover as you are simultaneously adding power. Pitch is instantaneous, power is not.

I was talking with my wife about this crash yesterday. I was talking about how a stall/spin in the pattern is almost guaranteed to not be survivable. She asked "So what do you do?" I said "Don't get too slow, don't over bank/load up the wing in a bank, stay coordinated." I'm still looking for that perfect flight where I didn't either make some kind of a mistake or have something I wish I had done just a little better. Fortunately none of the mistakes have had serious consequences. I do have some things I put into the "Never let it happen" category as the pilot. A stall in the pattern is in the "Never let it happen" category. I can recover from a lot of things in the pattern either by making adjustments or going around, too high/too fast/overshoot final, those are recoverable. A stall in the pattern, not so much.

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There is a lesson in this remark, that I have also thought about in the past. It reminds me of two other scenarios. 1 - about 12 years ago when I still owned my Diamond DA40 and I was on the diamond forum a lot, one fellow posted that his son's wife had died in a car crash. And they were 3 hours flight away and something like 10 hours drive. He started to prep for a flight but then realized he was just way to rattled to do a safe flight so he made a wise decision to drive. ...which even though driving is a bit easier ... it can also be dangerous when in mental distress. 2 - about 17 years ago when my father past away suddenly and tragically, wow was I rattled. I went down to DC with my uncle to clean out his apartment and take care of his affairs. I did several space-cadet dumb things. Worst was I ran a red light at a four way intersection at full speed - I mean at 50mph I drove through a moderately heavy traffic four way light in the wrong direction, and for the grace of god and good luck nothing happened. I just went sailing through, with my uncle on board and only in the middle of the intersection did I realize what happened and what I was doing and there were other cars who only began to tap their brakes going at 90 degrees to us also at full speed but luck - there was no collision - only luck. actually - a 3rd - about a week later at home - I went out on a bike ride, and I simply forgot to tighten the quick release squwer on the rear wheel - I mean I have been a bike racer since I was 17 so this is second nature to me - but I simply put the wheel on and not even a little bit tightened. Well after about 20 minutes of warm up and stood up to stomp on the pedals - and boom the wheel came half off and froze and I flipped over, crashed and broke my wrist. But I didn't break my neck or crack my skull - or get hit by a car, etc...knock on wood. Anyway - theme of these stories, and what I take from the ER doctor who did this stall spin in his cirrus, is we are only fallible humans and go easy on ourselves and sometimes if your head is not in the game, maybe find a way to get the head in the game or forgive yourself and just don't go.

I agree completely, which is what I was trying to convey combining over bank with loading the wing (over bank/load up the wing). I know they are two different things, just not so good at explaining it. When I was flying the Cherokees for my PPL on more than one occasion I was banking 30° in the pattern, keeping the wing unloaded. My CFI didn't have a problem with it, he would refer to it as my "fighter pilot turn." He said it was fine if the wing stayed unloaded, but also said I probably didn't want to fly like that in my check-ride as the DPE might not like it.

This is so tragic, when I read that this was a student pilot possibly on his first cross country solo it reminded me of how elated I felt flying in my 150 on that most memorable flight watching the clouds pass as I managed all the requirements of completing my flight successfully being fully aware of the consequences of making even a minor error. The flood of emotions that I had as I stood alone on the ramp of an airport next to my airplane just taking it all in the isolation and silence of a small remote airport was defining. I imagine this poor soul must have felt the same until things started going wrong. i do subscribe to the notion that certain airframes are much safer for training purposes but that there is no reason one cannot train in a more challenging type but with that there is a much greater need for proper instructions and a much higher requirement for an instructor to be certain their students are confident with the higher demands of a high performance airplane. Rest in peace pilot with prayers for family and friends

I was going to stand down but can’t help myself ... so there are two fireman having sex in a smoke filled room, the chief walks in and says “what the hell are you guys doing?l the fireman in the back replies “ sir this man has smoke inhalation “ the chief barks back “ then you should be giving him mouth to mouth” the fireman replies “ I did! How do you think this shit got started?” I’ll be going now

It still makes me talk like an excited kid after I use more and more of the airplane’s ability. Yesterday I flew IFR from Tuscaloosa Alabama to Cincinnati planned via NW Alabama to Bloomington Indiana and a hard right to Cincinnnati. 9,000 above the clouds for most of the way with a descent short of my thunderstorm covered destination. A 90 or so minute wait and I was able to hop over and back into Cincinnati Lunken. 155 TAS at 7 gph LOP gives an easy 6 hours of duration. I still had about 2.7 hours of fuel upon landing. The Mooney is really coming into its own right now.

I was at engine shop today. The guy was nice enough to let me have few used lifters. The one with dark tint is with DLC coating. Notice the uncoated version already have rust developed. All three lifters were in an engine for unknown number of hours. I was impressed with the fact that DLC looks almost new.

Correct speed and stable approach is key for a runway of this length.....any model Mooney. I landed Ovation many, many times at L52, without hesitation, and without any excessive breaking. Many times, no braking at all required. Plenty of runway. Possibly practice all this at your favorite longer runway airport.

....oh - I found it! Darned Luxurious Conditioning. Thanks corn_flake! Thanks for nothin' Hank?!

I honestly doubt your friend heard the pilot add power. Instead it was just the noise of the prop as the plane rolled over inverted and coming nearly straight down. The doppler shift gives the appearance of increasing in pitch as it approaches the witness (https://intelligentsoundengineering.wordpress.com/2017/09/12/physically-derived-sound-synthesis-model-of-a-propeller/ ) Witness's report very similar accounts whenever they see a plane fall out of the sky. More likely IMO the power was untouched as pilot was very busy reaching for and pulling the chute while upside down.

Reading comprehension is apparently not sufficiently emphasized these days . . . . . War Eagle, Erik!!

Get too slow in the pattern and any airplane can bite. Student or no, one must be proficient with one's airmanship. The laws of physics are most unforgiving. RIP Airman.

On my trips to Northen Europe I avoid stopping at Narsarsuaq, fuel is expensive and not always available. When travelling to Madrid LEMD I go via Santa Maria LPAZ. In the old days before GPS I home in into the LPAZ NDB, LORAN C just barely worked at the time. Be ware that the LPAZ routing requires HF. People at Santa Maria (Portugal territory) are very friendly.

Actually, no, I wouldn’t recommend that. I think this answer is going to be in line with Skips and Carusaum, even though they didn’t say it exactly... if in doubt, go for a hot start first. You give that one good shot. If that doesn’t work, follow Skips advice for flooding it to know where you’re at and do a flood start. You only get one shot at a hot start, and once you prime, you can’t go back. You can always flood it. @Marauderhad a good story of a tailpipe fire after a flooded start. Now that’s pretty rare, but enough for me to give hot start a chance. Honestly hot starts probably work 99% for me. The question of 3-5 minutes idle then shutdown would be tough, but I’d probably try hot start first. If in doubt...

One advantage of the iPad is that with your subscription you can authorize 2 devices. If my iPad dies in flight I can pull my iPhone out and get back all of the chart, approach and weather information needed to complete the flight.

Thank you, Paul... a quick look of what starting at LaGuardia Would look like... ending at EGPC... with EKVG added in before the end... Looks like legs under 500nm could be worked out... It’s tradition to fly over Yves’ house And check in via radio... @Vlakvark what is the cruise range of the DA42? Best regards, -a-

My brother was head of strategic planning for a large office furniture manufacturer who among other things was the worlds largest and best maker of "telepresence suites". You know, the kind on which you see POTUS talk to the space aliens . Their firm analysis is while telepresence has a place, there will always be need for travel and personal meetings.Feelings of trust and other social interactions are difficult to derive in telepresence. For this reason, they kept and expanded their conference furniture business. Interestingly the most critical personal meetings are the first after a "cold call" or "inquiring customer".

Don't make this too hard Engines only run with a fuel-air mixture within a fairly narrow range. Either way -- too rich or too lean -- and they won't start. But sometimes it's hard to tell if it's not starting because it's too rich or too lean and you can run the battery down (or burn up the starter) going back and forth trying to guess which it is. The best thing to do is prime until you know it's flooded. Then you want no more fuel (mixture ICO) and a lot of air (wide open throttle) and crank until it fires. Then reduce the throttle and full rich mixture to keep it running. Skip

Can't seem to keep my fingers off the keyboard...please don't take offense. 1) My number one criteria was a plane that had been flown a bunch (50-100 hours/year) for the last several years. I figured that the important bugs must have been worked out or the PO couldn't possibly have flown that much. 2) All other things being equal I'd pay a bunch more (like $20K+) for a plane that has NOT been sitting. More I think about it, I'd probably walk from a FREE plane that had been sitting for a decade; see number 3. 3) Are you buying because you want to fly when you want, where you want... RELIABLY? Or, are you a guy that enjoys turning wrenches, hangar flying, etc MORE than flying? 4) What's your FLYING budget? NOT your purchasing budget. Don't ever confuse the two: the FIRST one is what you MUST make sure you can afford. IOW, don't buy cheap because your after purchase maintenance costs may eat up ALL, and then some, of your FLYING budget.

I really can't contribute much here as the engine on my Mooney is a different type of beast. But it does have a mixture knob and I've learned since moving to Denver that when starting, or anytime I'm on the ground with less than full throttle in, I should treat an inch pulled out, to be full rich. My engine won't start or stay running with the mixture at full rich, at this altitude.

A clean belly on a single-engine reciprocating airplane is unnatural. That's pretty normal for oil and exhaust residue to be doing that. I worry about the ones that aren't spewing something out.

My 81 J model came without a step. I recently added one and it makes loading and unloading much easier. I can't tell any difference in cruise speed.

SpaceX's First Manned Mission to Space Gets Its Launch Date: May 27 SpaceX will send astronauts to space first, and worry about its own satellites later. Rich Smith (TMFDitty) May 18, 2020 at 6:43PM A planned SpaceX launch of 60 more Starlink broadband internet satellites, which was supposed to go up tomorrow, has been scrubbed "due to tropical storm Arthur" making the Atlantic Ocean a bit too choppy to attempt recovery of the launch rocket, announced SpaceX in a tweet today. The mission -- "Starlink-7" -- has therefore been postponed "until after launch of Crew Demo-2," said the company. As a result, we now know when SpaceX plans to launch its first-ever crewed mission -- a spaceship carrying actual astronauts, launched from U.S. soil for the first time since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011. Barring further delays, that launch will take place on May 27 at 4:33 p.m. EDT.

@kortopates I realized why this issue seems new to me even though I've been flying various forms of G1000's for a decade. This is the first Garmin set up I've flown without a flight director. Normally the flight director walks you though the hold. -Robert

Typically the buyer pays for the ferry pilot and fuel to move the plane to your preferred shop for the pre-buy. As the buyer, try to make is super easy for the seller to agree to your choice of shop for the pre-buy. That usually includes... Look the plane over as closely as you can yourself. Get another experienced Mooney owner to look it over with you. Go over the logs and even get the pre-buy shop to go over the logs before taking the plane to them. (You'll pay something for this service) Pay for a title search. Come to an agreement on the purchase price of the plane assuming it is as advertised, and airworthy. Sign a purchase contract that stipulates these terms. Give the seller a deposit of between 10% and $5K for a sub $100K airplane. (Or use escrow.) Let the seller chose the ferry pilot and you will pay all expenses of the ferry pilot, fuel, etc. to get the airplane to the shop for the pre-buy. This all shows the seller you are serious about buying the airplane and are going in with your eyes open. It should also ensure you've done all the due diligence possible before laying out cash for the deposit, ferry, and pre-buy.

You’ll catch at least 90% of the big problems with a quality prebuy turned into annual if you use a quality shop as has been recommended above (AGL, Cole, etc). It might cost you to find out though because you’re on the hook for $1-2K price of the prebuy.

Sorry, I didn't get involved in installing it. My mechanic did say that whatever the step attaches to was there already. Maybe 2-3 hours labor if I recall correctly.

It may be silly, but in my subconscious always during takeoff/ landing phase, my airplane is simply 1500 lbs of dead weight ready to drop like a rock........ that thought always keeps me mindful ( that and the memory of my basic flight instructor yelling in my ear on the dangers) .......so far so good !

Mine is busted. Manual crank one. My plan is, once it's fixed, retract it and never use it again. What a pain. Stepstools are easier.

Way cool! Thanks for sharing the awesome Mooney video, Mark! Texel is pretty far north.... how was the temperature? Mooneys are all... Speed Efficiency Safety They go wonderful places! They connect wonderful people! That video says it all! Thanks for sharing it. Best regards, -a-

That takes concentration to follow all that on a cell phone

This is the worst case for the parachute plane, which is the low altitude incident where there is not a lot of time decide and then get a hand on the emergency chute lever. It is impressive that clearly the pilot did get his hand on the lever although not able to save the day. In this particular incident, the autopilot envelope protection function may have been better suited to save the day by helping to prevent the incident in the first place. Do the new Cirrus have that feature?

Tahir, Typically, I get one try at it... if it works... I Look like I know what I’m doing... If I need a second try it is on its way to the flooded start anyway... With my IO550... it very often isn’t getting enough fuel... I haven’t figured out a way to really know one way or the other... So err to the too much fuel side... expecting it to start... Then flood it, knowing it will start with the flooded procedure... The fancy thing about the Continental fuel system... with the mixture pulled, and the fuel pump running... cool fuel can be circulated back to the tanks... cool fuel doesn’t evaporate too quickly, like the heated fuel can... The only reason I would prefer not to flood it intentionally... fuel dripping on the ground below a really hot engine could Lead a different challenge... the uncontrolled burn of the external combustion engine... PP thoughts only... Best regards, -a-

Can't say, they just announced these so I'd suggest checking with them. I already installed one as an owner produced part a few years back.

I got the yaw damper in 52Q. IMO its definitely worth it. It makes quite a noticeable different in turbulence. I don't have rudder trim, but as don stated, those are 2 different things, that accomplish 2 very different tasks. If you look at the pireps for the GFC500, every person that has gotten the yaw damper has said its worth it, regardless of the aircraft. the yaw damper can be on without the gfc500 being active, and even hand flying it, you notice a pretty large difference. I would strongly advise getting it. The moment you try it is the moment you'll realize you want it. The people that are advising against it are the ones that haven't tried it.

Used to happen a ,ot using two different (work) iphones and a mini ipad. Hasn't happened at all since going Samsung. I'm not looking back . . . .

I wouldn't let Sarasota Avionics install batteries in a remote control.

I have 6 apples, my friend has 3 apples. Together we have 8 apples?

Things I miss about the office when I work from home: noisy coworkers, noisy HVAC systems, poor temperature control, a view of other concrete buildings, cubicles, way too bright fluorescent lights, hellish commutes. Admittedly I've been working from home for years now. And except for when a customer needs me on-site for a few days I have no intention to ever go back to an office on a regular basis.

Reminds me of this:

Yet another technique for the list. I use a small plastic funnel with a few feet of clear vinyl tubing attached. Place the funnel under the bottom rear of the filter holding it in place with a piece of safety wire. Then using a scratch awl, punch a small hole at the back of the filter (closest to the pilot side direction as possible), unscrew the filter about 1/3 turn, punch an air hole at the top and let it drain. If the oil is warm it only takes a few minutes to completely empty the filter. ---Ken

Minister of Finance has blessed the sale. I have had two potential care takers come by and give her a walk around. Took one up for a flight. Now they are checking with their Treasury Department to allocate funds. Still for sale until cash in hand.

Great time today. Met @Paulyslug and his wife to show them a short body after they got to see @MikeOH's F. Took them up for a short flight and let her fly to see how a Mooney handles. The air was pretty smooth, I did not have the best of landings, bounced it once on the mains before settling down. I've had better, but then definitely had worse.

I see nothing wrong with this man's post and I don't blame him for posting here.

Quote: BigTex I recently was reviewing the service manual for my '65 M20C and they have a whole laundry list of lubricates and grease that they recommend. This got be to thinking about what today's products translate to these 40+ year old recommendations? I'm assuming with the quality of today's products, do we need to have this many of unique products or can they be combined? Here's the list of the MM: Low Temperature Oil (General Purpose) MIL-L-7870 Aeroshell Fluid 3 mineral oil MIL-G-7711 or MIL-G-81322 Grease Aeroshell grease 6 or grease 22 (GP airframe grease, 22 is thickened) Grease (High Temperature) MIL-L-3545 Aeroshell grease 5 (wheel bearings) MIL-G-23827 or Hartzell DG Grease Aeroshell grease 33 (General purpose airframe grease, contains lithium) Hydraulic Fluid (Red) MIL-H-5606 5606 but the newest is 73282, which is fire resistant ans miscible with 5606 and all compatible hardware Graphite & Kerosene Graphite & MIL-G-3278 Grease or MIL-G-23827 Powdered Graphite Teflon Spray (Tri-Flow) use on all rod ends in the control and LG system, and in door locks. Stick Lubricant (Door Ease or Equivalent) Standard Oil Aviation Grease No. 5 w/10% BV Molybdenum Disulfide or MIL-G-23827 AM1 Buy this from LASAR for 15$ per 4oz jar. It is grease with moly disulfide powder mixed in 10% minimum. You cannot get this at an auto parts store. It is not available anywhere else. Do not skimp on this, it goes in your landing gear actuator gears which, if 40:1, are not available for any price. Lubriplate 630AA (10% BV Molybdenum Disulfide Mixture Permissible) Seal Dressing If I were to open up your lubrication cabinet what would I find that would translate to the above products listed in Mooney's lubrication guide?