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I’ve been a members on different forums since 1997. Fishing, flying, soap making (yeah... making shaving soap in your kitchen is cool), cars.... etc. Mooneyspace users have been one of the most helpful group of guys and gals I’ve come across in any forum I’ve ever visited. Many of you have reached out to me privately through PM and publicly answered my questions in my posts. Finding the right plane as a first time aircraft buyer is overwhelming. I absolutely couldn’t have made an informed decision on a Mooney purchase without you guys. Thank you all for your help and generosity. I have just signed a purchase agreement on a very nice 2002 Ovation 2.

My aircraft, a 231, was stuck in the shop this spring because of COVID. Once it came out in May, I decided to use the COVID slowdown as an opportunity to fly more for Angel Flight. It occurred to me last week, in the middle of a long day aloft, that we are privileged to fly a remarkable, versatile aircraft. I live in Minneapolis. The day that made me think about this, required my little engine-that-thought-it-could to first fly from KFCM early in the morning to Fargo to pick up blood and bone marrow samples. I brought nothing along except my flight bag and iPad, so was able to stuff 8 good sized boxes into the baggage compartment and back seat. The plane was completely full except for the front seat, so I could put my morning coffee there temporarily. 260 lbs. of freight, plus me at 200 plus full fuel (75.6 gallons) and there was still room in the W&B. The material needed to be delivered in Billings MT. For many aircraft that is two jumps, but it was a one jump flight for the Mooney. Not necessarily an easy one, the winds aloft were very adverse so, being alone and not having to worry about passenger comfort, I elected to stay down at 4,000 until near Billings, then go to six (Billings is 3,700). It can be bumpy down low and out west as the ground heats up in the summer and this was no exception, made for a tiring flight. I was still able to make 150-160 over the ground at 11.3 LOP for the trip to KBIL. When the boxes were delivered in BIllings I put on full fuel. The day was not done yet. I needed to get to KBIS lickety split to pick up a young family whose infant daughter was due to have surgery in Minneapolis over the weekend. I put on the cannula, went to 15,000, and made about 231 kts. GS to Bismarck. At KBIS I had one tank topped off, but left some out of the second tank so I could take on me plus three passengers and baggage. At 7 pm the young family showed up. With an infant in the back I did not want to use the O2 system, so we stayed at 11,000 and made about 220 kts. in smooth air. It was a fun ride, my brothers and I have hunted and fished out in western ND for quite awhile, and it turned out I knew the same people and the same hunting holes in the same small towns as the young husband. Who knows, maybe I will get to go out and hunt with him some time. With the passengers safely delivered at KFCM, I was finally able to go home for the night. It was a long day, up at 5 a.m. to get to the airport, pre-flight, etc., and get out to KFAR through some weather to make my first pickup of the day, to about 9 p.m. when I got back home, with time for a short nap in the lounge at KBIS and not much else. Although this trip involved only large airfields (KBIL is a Class C, KBIS and KFAR are D's with KFAR having a TRSA), Angel Flights very often involve fetching passengers out of small rural fields. I have handed passengers off to business jets at an interim airport, but they can't get in where we can, they need us to get the passengers out of the little holes in the wall. Out "on the road," I have handed off to a few Cirrus pilots, but mostly 172's and 182's, they just don't have the speed or the range that our Mooneys do. Thought number one is that it is truly a remarkable aircraft that we fly, able to take on just about anything except TStorms (which nobody fights with), ice, and zero zero landings. Lots of range, lots of speed when needed, miserly fuel flow. Thought number two is that those of us who fly for AF need more of you. The passengers' needs have not diminished during COVID, but there seem to be fewer pilots. I get emails almost weekly from AF asking for help with flights for the following week that have not been filled yet. What better way to make a brand like Mooney stand for something. The coolest thing about flying for AF is that, unlike most charities where you just send a check every year, during an Angel Flight the person you are helping is in the right seat. You get to talk, find out something about their lives, help in ways other than just giving money, help keep their spirits up. I can tell you that the patients going through chemo really need that part of the AF program as much as the physical transportation, just someone who cares. I know, I know, if no pics it didn't happen. Sorry, I have pics but won't share them. These are medical patients some of them fighting for their lives and all are in need. We respect their privacy. There might be a few on the wall in my den though, just to remember.

Most physicians these days are employed physicians rather than physicians in private practice. There certainly are those that concentrate on how many patients they see a day and how much they can bill an insurance company. I've tried to stay away from those both as a patient and as an employee. There are many physician employers whose concern is "how much money can we make off your license." Those are the organizations that are forcing physicians to see more and more patients and conduct shorter and shorter visits. I have tried throughout my career to make more more money by working more hours. I can honestly say that I have worked an eight hour outpatient day in a 12 hour inpatient night, mostly seven days a week for 15 of my 21 years of practice. It's ironic that I'm posting this on many space because it was the start of my aircraft rebuilt project they got me into working more hours. I found that when I saw patients during the day, I was able to give them more time and feel better about myself because I worked more than two full-time job equivalents. I needed to feel that I offered something of value to each patient at the end of each visit. Many physicians simply go through the motions. It is about making sure the patient has been heard and has been provided what they need at any individual visit. The practice of medicine has become challenging and even more challenging now with COVID. I'm trying to do more and more things I have control over so i can see patients in a reasonable manner. Patients need to be educated consumers and physicians need to support and empower patients. That all takes time that many health care entities will not tolerate. John Breda

The Capricorn cylinders are the worst.

The patients are checked at every medical appointment for COVID symptoms, and they mostly come from rural areas where there is no or very little COVID, so the chances are small, but the chances are not non-existent for any of us, anywhere. However, there are non-patient flights as well, with limited contact with others. I have hauled blood and bone marrow (boxed up), and there are flights for mothers' milk, medical supplies to rural areas, disaster relief supplies and others. It would be helpful if those who are concerned about patient contact would pick up the non-patient flights, it would lift some of the burden on those of us who are willing to fly patients. I should explain how this all works, I am getting some questions. It may vary from one regional Air Charity organization to another, so always check the region's requirements. To be a volunteer command pilot you must have 250 hours of PIC time and 500 total hours, a PPL and an instrument rating. You need to carry $1 million in insurance. Congress passed a law (imagine that!) in 2018 limiting liability to the pilot's insurance). You do not need to own and aircraft but most do. You must do an orientation, which is basically watching an AOPA webinar on charitable flying (WINGS credit) and reading the AF organization's manual. Once you have done an orientation, you do not need to do it again so long as you fly one mission every 24 months. These are the AF Central (AFC) requirements, there are other more detailed requirements on their website (angelflightcentral.org). Other regional organizations may have other requirements. You do not need to be a Command Pilot to contribute. Command pilots can request another pilot to fly with them and AF will organize that. AF also needs "Ground Angels" who pick the passengers up at an airport and drive them to their appointment, and there are also Mission Assistants who can be non-pilots. Command Pilots can request an MA. Usually, W & B is the problem with a second or an MA, but I have handed off to pilots who are operating as two-person crews (of small aircraft). Once on board, the AF organization receives the requests to fly a patient, either from a patient themself, but more often from a health care provider. They vet the patient for financial need and if the flight is accepted, they explain the rules to the patient. Max 50 lbs. in luggage for example. Flights are posted to an Internet bulletin board that gives some basic information, date of the flight, W & B information, general nature of the patient's health issue. Pilot's log on and request a flight, or if you want, a succession of linked flights. AF reviews and approves in short order. You then receive a Mission Itinerary. It provides among other things the contact information for the patient (or an organization, if, i.e., it is a tissue shipment). It is up to the pilot to contact the patient and arrange the flight. If there is a succession of linked flights it is up to the pilot of the first flight to also contact the succeeding flight pilots and arrange the times and handoffs. The pilot then does the flight. You are PIC, so on the day of, if there is a weather condition or some other safety issue it is up to you to decide whether to cancel the flight. The patients know that they must have a backup plan. I have been lucky, I have not had to cancel in some 30+ flights. There is a charitable deduction for the cost of the flight, but don't think you are going to save big on your taxes. The IRS is stingy when it comes to in-kind contributions to charity. In many cases the patient has no transportation at the end of the flight. I always ask, and if they don't I wrangle an airport courtesy car and take them to their appointment myself. Most of us do. The health issues are varied. I have flown many cancer patients, as young as 6 and as old as 72, brain, pancreatic, breast, and a couple of others. Often we wind up moving them back and forth for several flights while they go through chemo. My first patient was a young girl living on an island in Lake Superior who has cerebral palsy, I have also moved patients with disease names I never knew, Ehlers Danlos, autoimmune issues, you name it, if it is not contagious and they are ambulatory we fly them. AF gives you a Mission pin. You get one at 10 missions, 15 missions, 25, 50, 75, 100+. I wear mine on my blazer when I go out, most people have no idea what it is and most don't ask, but a few do. That, and knowing that you are helping someone, is your return. Someone mentioned that, on the pilot roster for a regional organization there will be a number of pilots who signed up but have never flown. And then there will be a small number who have flown a few hundred flights. I am not in the hundreds yet, but we have three pilots in the Minnesota Wing of AFC who are. If you want to find your region, look on aircharitynetwork.org, it has the website links for all the regional member organizations. Over time you will meet pilots from everywhere. Click on your region to find out their rules and call them with questions, they would love to have you.

As a guideline it is best to have different HW and SW on the backup: I have an L-3 ESI500 as backup to my Garmin G500.

From Little Rock to Lunken yesterday. I found the key to making single camera stories was to make 10 second shots - not longer ones to edit down later - and then slightly tweak in the GoPro Quik app. Quik_2020-07-30_12-20-56.MOV

Angel Flight is my favorite charity flying. Young Eagles are great fun, but there’s the silly and insulting EAA’s insistence that olunteer pilots must be told every year how not to molest three boisterous nine-year-olds during a 12-minute flight in busy airspace. Hardly seems worth my considerable time and expense to be treated like a suspected creep.. Pilos ‘n’ Paws seems a disorganized zoo, with no oversight or effective guidance. Ride requesters don’t have a clue of what information is needed and what is not. And what requests are reasonable and practical. So many are not. (No, Ma’am, I can’t fly your terminally ill “sweet old man” pooch halfway across the continent to a no-kill shelter...somewhere, not sure where, but it’s near Texas. No, 600 pounds of uncrated adult Great Danes and their pups aren’t going to work out for me. . Really sorry, but no.Again this week., ... That leaves me with Angel Flight. They are pros, knowledgeable, flexible, and well-organized. The patients are educated and prepared, and ever so grateful. They’re often enthusiastic passengers, loving the ride. And getting them to medical expertise, or home again, really makes a huge difference to somebody whose life so needs a little joy. so, yeah. If you have a. Mooney, and experience, and in some areas a current instrument ticket, you’ll be welcomed with open arms.

1. ONLY applies to MAX units 2. ONLY applies if software is 2.10 or 2.10.1 3 The fix is a software upgrade, free from your Aspen dealer. 4. Takes about 12 minutes to upgrade the software. 5. If you already have software version 2.10.2 this AD does not apply 6. Check your software version by pushing the menu button and turning the lower right knob to the last page.

I doubt if the Aspen software update will fix this fine swiss watch KI256 however, Peter. Thankfully, I had an Aspen to keep the shiny side up in IMC that day. Are you still flying and trusting your life to the technology of the '30's, with your KI256/Ki258 or did you finally get that KI300 you swore by 4 years ago installed?

OK, once again, (sigh) dear Michael (steingar) has to be reeled in. in my experience, the medical care in small towns can be superior. Small hospitals are very likely, these days, to be affiliated with or owned by big medical teaching facilities, with specialist staff showing up for weekly local office appointments. Those double-distilled hotshots are as close as a phone call or a webcam. There’s a helipad right out back, lighted and paved for emergency transfers, 20 smooth minutes to University Hospital Center. The local staff are very accessible, well-trained, board-certified, know their patients well, in an established relationship, and speak English as a first language. Aviation content: the nearest Angel Flight-able airport is unlikely to be more than a half hour away. Two of our ER docs commute here by Mooney and Bonanza, barely ten rural minutes from the hospital they serve.. Compare and contrast with Saint Megahospital in a six-block cluster of mid-city high-rises.It may be a 25 minute hike from the parking garage! Small town superiority case in point: I had a sudden bad bellyache one long ago night in a very little town. My sleepy family doc listened to my complaint, called the local general surgeon at 12:30am, asked him to meet us at the tiny hospital ER. The anesthetist and on call surgery crew were notified. Knife drop was at 1:10 am. And within an hour I was thus cured of a rare and life-threatening ailment, before the big city ER would have even taken my temperature. Love my benighted and unfashionable backwater, both for easy, affordable, convenient flying and for excellent healthcare. Best of all worlds. View’s not bad, either.

If I remember correctly, this reads like the issue that Alex @alextstone reported here multiple times some time ago before there was a fix. But it looks like this AD now amounts to only telling new Aspen owners that they need to install Aspen SB2020-01 that came out April 1 and then your installation is back to restriction free. This appears to be the 3rd SB to address the issue though. But I expect @Cruiser can tell us if the fix is complete making the AD a non issue with compliance. I am with Jerry though above, it was the original Aspens that taught me to never put much faith in backups based on the duplicate HW/SW and I never understood how the FAA allowed that when losing air data red-X the entire old Aspen displays. Glad the new Aspens fixed that one.

Unlike Garmin, at least the entire company doesn't get taken down by a ransomware attack...... including Garmin Pilot btw. I know which one I trust better...

Humm, I found that hard miles on my bike and skates hastened the recovery. My endurance was shot after the COVID, but after exercising till I was coughing up tons of phlegm, made me feel much better the next day. before the disease I could easily do 30 hard miles on skates. I actually went out while I still had the disease (early afternoon, nobody on the path) I had to sit down after 8 miles and catch my breath. It took about 6 weeks to get back to 30 miles.

Yes, the FAA sent out a similar message to all AME's. I do not have it just now for reference, but there will be more guidance coming about COVID. John Breda

Larry, your graciousness is appreciated so much in this time when even the slightest adjective misuse can set someone off, me included. Let me know if I can help in any of the process, from what limited exchanges we have had, it would be a pleasure to aid a class act such as yourself.

This past Monday was the big day! Pick up Amelia from KPOF Poplar Bluff, MO and fly her home to KFYE, Fayette County Airport, Somerville, TN. Beautiful weather with winds 4 knots or less. Perfect for the pilot with only 7 hours TW time. Pictured is the previous owner and the new owner. I'm the short guy! I have done one landing in the 195 now. Yesterday I flew an L2 Grasshooper and manged 6 landings on my own. What a fun new challenge!

I will miss the Mooney speed and efficiency. I look forward to seeing my Mooney friends at OSH and other venues. My mission is the same, family trips and Pilots n Paws. The plan is to go slower and burn more dinosaurs doing just that. Sean

Friday, July 31, 1970 13th leg. Amarillo, TX (TDW) to Winslow, AZ (INW). We got up early, again, this time with an actual wake-up call and headed back to Tradewinds Airport. The plan was to parallel I-40 heading West towards Winslow, our very first stop on this trip. We covered the 503 mile distance in 3 hours and 15 minutes. I asked Dad if we could spend the night? This was partially because I was tired but mostly because I didn’t want this grand adventure to end. Dad said “no”, that we needed to get home. 14th leg. Winslow, AZ (INW) to Torrance, CA. (TOA). It was hot in Winslow and Dad was concerned about takeoff performance. He did something on this takeoff that I never saw him do before. After getting some speed on the roll, he reached for the flap lever and gave her a couple of pumps of flap. Instead of launching the plane into ground effect, it caused the Mooney to start skipping down the runway. Three heart pounding skips later, we were airborne and climbing slowly away. The 442 miles back home to Torrance went by in 3 hours and 10 minutes. We had covered some 945 miles on this last day in 6 hours and 25 minutes of flying. This brought our total return trip to 2,543 miles in 19 hours and 10 minutes. Our first family flying vacation was over. Dad had finally realized his boyhood dream of flying his own airplane across the country. Epilogue Not long after returning home, Dad received a letter from his old flying buddy, “Reds” Honaker. “Reds” had enclosed a newspaper clipping of an airplane accident. Richard “Rip” Davis, the nice man who shared his plate of fries with me at the Bridgeport Airport Cafe, had been killed. It was the first time in my life that I would know someone who had been killed in an airplane accident. It would not be the last. Charlie Hillard would go on to become the first American to win the World Aerobatic Championship in 1972. He would also join up with Gene Soucy and Tom Poberezny to form first “The Red Devils” and later “The Eagles” aerobatic teams. Sadly, he would lose his life in a freak accident following a performance at the Sun-n-fun Fly-in in 1996. Following this trip, Dad would fly his Mooney just eighteen more times, including day trips to both Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. Then, with Mom facing surgery and uncertainty about when or if she would be able to return to work, coupled with a slowdown in orders at the factory where Dad worked and facing the possibility of layoffs, Dad decided to sell his Mooney. Then, in a mean twist of fate, shortly after the Mooney was sold, orders picked back up at the factory and Mom was able to return to work. Dad didn’t need to sell the Mooney after all, but it was too late, zero six Uniform was gone. I would not see the Mooney again for another twelve years. I was a Student Pilot, 26 years old, and I took a drive up to Hawthorne Airport on a whim. There, sitting across the runway, was Dad’s old Mooney. It had the same paint scheme but the colors had all faded and some of the striping had worn away. I was shocked by it’s appearance. Then I remembered the first weekend that we had owned it back at Torrance. We washed the Mooney from top to bottom and then Dad climbed underneath it to clean every bit of grease and grime off the belly. I thought of Dad, lying on his back on the ramp at Torrance Airport, cleaning his shiny airplane with great pride and the tears began to flow. It was one of the saddest moments of my life. In 1984 I moved East with my family and not long after that, the Mooney did too. Somehow I managed to locate the new owner and sent him a letter. He actually replied and sent me this picture: The Mooney had been re-painted and was all spruced up again! It was a happy day for me and Dad liked it too, but the Mooney wasn’t done with us yet. On July 8, 2010, Dad and I decided to fly down to Sebring for Lunch. Dad was at the controls of our Skyhawk. He landed on Sebring’s long North-South runway and as he made the first turnoff I noticed a Mooney parked on the ramp with a familiar registration number. I pointed and said “Dad, you’re going to want to park right next to that Mooney” and he did. We had a nice visit with the current owner who caught us up on all that had happened to it since Dad sold the plane in 1971. The interior Dad had put in was gone, as was the Mark 12 with the Mooney faceplate and the Bendix ADF. Forty years to the month of that special summer vacation, Dad, his old Mooney and me were together again. To this day it remains one of my favorite memories. My Dad with our Skyhawk.

I like the repair shop analogy Rich. Just modify it slightly. You have little steam of oil leaking. You don’t even notice it. In fact It seals itself off such that you don’t have any issues with your car. Some people notice and go to the shop, some people don’t. However the car behind you and maybe a few others following your path lose traction and go careening off the road and crash. The old guy with bad maintenance and old tires - man forget about it. Maybe you knew about the slippery fluid leak and didn’t think much of it, or maybe you had no idea and go merrily about your way. I don’t think of myself as working in a Covid hospital - just a regular old regional medical center. It’s the same across the US - most hospitals big and small, urban and rural, are affected. It’s amazing we have to debate the seriousness of taking on a minimal personal inconvenience to protect other American’s health and well being in this day and age. I consider mask wearing out and about the most patriotic thing I can do save showing up for work. Back to the OP topic - I’d ignore it unless it came up somehow on my next medical.

Most of my AF pax seem to live far from an airport with scheduled carriers. Often they’re cancer patients, severely immunocompromised, for whom a big aluminum tube ride would be ill-advised. Some are carrying a load of medical devices, pumps, O2, etc, that can’t be transported in the airline cheap seats. And some simply can not afford to pay for airline trips to the monthly follow-up appointments hundreds of miles from home. It is, I’m told, a blessing to these dear ones, to be whisked from home to little airport, directly to the ramp and waiting Mooney, to suburban airport to big hospital, bypassing all the delays, TSA intrusiveness, and crowds. It is hard enough to be fighting for your life. It shouldn’t be harder than it has to be. I’m lucky and thankful to fly, and Angel Flight has been a rewarding excuse to do that. So many of my passengers have shared my pleasure in skimming over puffy clouds, my astonishment at a smooth landing. And they are gracious and understanding when weather beyond my chicken level forces a cancellation.

I hope this is not the end for them because they have followers. Albeit with misplaced or excessive admiration for Aspen but nevertheless followers! For any serious flying I wouldn’t depend on Aspen either. The irony is that one of GA’s deadliest killers is spatial disorientation and we teach instruments students to “trust” their instruments! We’ve all been taught this and we continue to teach it. Personally, I cringe when people's lives depend on these boxes in IMC.

All, Below is the customer MEMO that you all should have received. We solved this problem months ago with the 2.10.2 software. We did issue a "mandatory" SW bulletin at that time, but as some of you know... "mandatory" is relative to SW on Part 91 aircraft. This AD will require you to so now. We woke up to this AD the same as you all did. Please excuse the delay on getting any data up on our website. "Today, the FAA issued Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2020-16-08 effective August 17, 2020, regarding a potential reset event of Aspen Avionics' MAX series displays.""Be advised, the FAA approved software v2.10.2 in March 2020 addressing the infrequent but potential reset issue of Evolution MAX series displays and we have successfully implemented this software change for affected customers. These design changes are defined in the 900-00003-001, Revision CC, EFD1000, and EFD500 Software Version 2.X installation manual, dated March 2020. Aspen Service Bulletin 2020-01 describes the v2.10.2 software update procedures.""This AD only applies to Evolution 2000 MAX and Evolution 2500 MAX systems with software v2.10 or v2.10.1 AND if any of the required backup instruments (ASI, ATT, ALT) have been removed. This AD is not applicable to MAX displays that have been updated to software v2.10.2 or any legacy Aspen Avionics displays."Any other questions, please contact your dealer or email me directly at andy.smith@aspenavionics.com

Hah - me too - I met my wife skating too! (only one - 26 years and counting!) Like I said - she was a good skater and I was a lousy skater - but something very good came of it!

I just spoke to my avionics shop and got the correct scoop. This AD IS new and is specific for aircraft that have an Aspen 2000 or Aspen 2500 Max setup. Single Max units or non-Max units are not called out in the instructions from Aspen. If you have an Aspen 2000 or 2500 Max set up and have an independent unit(s) to provide AI, airspeed and altitude you do not need to comply with the AD by the compliance date. The service bulletin mentioned to the ADSB In issues pertains to non-Max units. The units impacted will have 2.10 or 2.10.1 installed. New firmware is 2.10.2 and is available to install now. Less than 30 minutes to install. Hope this helps.

You just have to read the freaking AD. Looks like Aspen found a solution in April . . . . I found it quite easily, and my panel is still steam . . . .

Definitely talk to @GEE-BEE

You won’t find any of that in GA

Welcome to team Mooney!!

They are “sealed” as there is no removable cap to add electrolyte. Battery capacity is lower in the FL because the temperature is lowered. The temperature of the two batteries in the un-heated tail is about equal to the OAT. At -20 C the capacity is about 1/2 what it is at +20 C. Reference: Sandia Labs SLA Article That makes me think if your cold-soaked battery at FL250 suddenly Is the only source of electricity there may not be sufficient charge to descend to the nearest airport.

Do keep us appraised, if you're comfortable interpreting the message or giving us your opinion. It'd be good to have information instead of speculation.

Well folks, it works! @EricJ's lit up the strobe light and my neighbor A&P was happy. And me too Thank you for all the help and support as always. I will keep a few spares just in case as I am looking to start IFR training sometime in the near future and want to avoid extended downtime.

You think that's bad, just try installing Aries and Cancer cylinders on the same side, and watch the sparks fly!

I was looking at a PA18-150 sitting on the Pacific Northwest coast, 36 hours in 5 years on a 600 hour engine.. Do you think I was concerned about engine corrosion? You bet! With a Lycoming you really can't get a good look at the cam and lifters without a lot of disassembly. My solution was I purchased the airplane with a holdout in escrow. the deal with the seller was, I would purchase the airplane, I would fly it to the East Coast, if there was no metal, he would claim the 10K held in escrow. If it was making metal, I get the 10K. It made about a teaspoon of metal, changed the oil and it made some more. So I took the 10K. So a deal is doable, just cover yourself. If you horoscope the cylinders and see corrosion, you can stick fork in it. It needs an engine. If not, still a question mark but not a deal killer. Look at it this way. If it is a great airframe, but needs an engine, you price it accordingly, buy it, put in a new engine and you have a damn fine airplane with a known quantity on the engine. IOW, you got something that you may be able to make work for you .Don't walk away, see if it can work out.

I'd guess the outer part is unwrapping some, making it longer. The loose clamp will move it, affecting movement of the throttle. Suggestion: replace the throttle cable. Check the prop.and mixture cables, too. Oh, also check your carb heat cable.

Not sure about in Canada, on MS he is

Thursday, July 30, 1970 10th leg. BluefIeld, WV (BLF) to Nashville, TN (BNA) Our wind up “wake-up call” worked well and we got an early start today. Charlie Hillard elected to sleep in and Dad wanted to make tracks so we headed off to the airport. As usual, there were no airport signs and we promptly got lost. An older man was sweeping up outside of a Post Office building. Dad stopped and told me to ask him for directions to the field. The grouch replied “there’s another town down the road about six miles, go ask them”. No kidding, that is what he said. Without any assistance Dad still managed to find the airport and the place was deserted when we arrived. The big hangar’s door was left unlocked, so we pushed it open. There sat the Mooney blocked in by a big twin. I think it was a Queen Air. Dad eyeballed the situation for a minute or two, got out the tow bar and started maneuvering the Mooney back and forth. We managed to just sneak it out without hitting a thing. We closed up the hangar and took off, heading West. This leg would need to be shorter as we hadn’t refueled after the 45 minute hop from Charleston. We covered the 313 miles to Nashville in just 2 hours 35 minutes. No memories of Nashville Municipal Airport remain. 11th leg. Nashville, TN (BNA) to Tulsa, OK (TUL) This was a 513 mile, 3 hour and 45 minute hop. The longest of our journey so far and I have absolutely no recollection of it. Maybe I was sound asleep or maybe those images have just been lost in the strange eddies of my memory. The weather was good and we were making time. 12th leg. Tulsa, OK (TUL) to Amarillo, TX (TDW). Flying Southwest to the Texas panhandle we landed at Tradewinds Airport on the South side of Amarillo. This last hop covered 340 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes, bringing our total for the day to 1,166 miles in 8 hours and 50 minutes of flying time. It was our second longest day of flying on this flying vacation. California was now within reach with just two more hops needed to get home. I remember that the airport seemed to be on the outskirts of the city. We drove North from the field and then hopped on I-40 heading East. We stayed at the Howard Johnson’s as it had a restaurant as part of their facility. Made it real convenient for us. After forgetting most of what happened today, I do remember exactly what we ate for dinner that night. Hojo’s Dinner Special was meat loaf, mashed potatoes and corn. Dad and I both ordered the Special and we both cleaned our plates.

I received a reply from AOPA. Here is what they said, "This is the first that we've heard of this. I did confirm with OKC that this order was issued out by FAA in Washington D.C. We will definitely be following up on this. If possible, could you please email or fax me a copy of the letter from your AME?" It seems to be a big mystery of who, what, when and how this was formulated. Which makes me suspicious.

There's a software update to correct it. FAA estimates only 900 planes are affected.

If you join, don’t expect it to necessarily be easy on you. I don’t mean its not fun, it certainly is. I don’t mean that AF makes it difficult because the staff at AF does just the opposite, if you need help they take care of you, always. I don’t mean you won’t have to wake up very early some mornings. But we are helping people many of whom are in a fight for their lives and they don’t always win... . The job is to give them hope and help. Please? The passengers must be ambulatory, able to get in and out of an aircraft on their own. Yes, getting in and out of a Mooney can be a little bit of a chore for some. The pilot is responsible for calling the patient and setting up the flight, and I always talk to them about it before hand. But they do not complain. They are just grateful. Give them the smoothest, fastest, best ride you can, Mooneys are great at that. Hank, if you want some mentoring I would suggest you get in touch with Mercy Flight Southeast, mercyflightse.org . The organization I belong to is Angel Flight Central, they are headquartered in Kansas City and cover the midwest. There are several regional organizations and they belong to the Air Charity Network, aircharitynetwork.org . If anyone wants to locate their regional organization, go on Air Charity’s website and they are all listed. Long flights are coordinated between the organizations. So it is not uncommon to take someone from Minneapolis, to somewhere in Illinois or Indiana, where another pilot from another regional organization picks them up and takes them home to West Virginia (for example), or Florida, or wherever they call home. If you contact the organization for your region and ask them about mentoring and help getting into the program, I am sure they will bend over backwards to make it so, and if they don’t you just email me. It is not complicated, there is an orientation to go through and some forms to fill out, but they make it as easy as they can. If you would like to talk on the phone, just pm me and I will send you my phone number, I will tell you what I can. The Air Charity Network organizations are the first one’s at the door when there is a disaster and a need to fly supplies. This summer they have flown large quantities of supplies to Dakota and southwest Indian reservations in desperate need of COVID supplies. We fly blood and bone marrow and tissue sample (all boxed up). Other than this year, we fly quite a few camp flights, missions to take kids to camps for children with HIV or other special needs camps. “Pilot, when are we going to get there?” But mostly we fly patients. Mooneys are uniquely suited to long cruise flights, but AF breaks up missions into segments of around 250 nm so pilots don’t have to overstretch themselves or their resources. Doesn’t mean you can take two or three linked missions and fly someone from KFCM to KABQ in your Mooney, it will do that job where many of the other GA aircraft can’t without refueling. About the most complicated part is remembering to call ground control for your clearance using your designated Angel Flight number. If you are like me, you are used to using your own tail number so much that comes about half way out of your mouth before you catch yourself and correct.

Nice concept! I really like what you did.

I've done a couple of Angel Flights as well, usually really rewarding flights. The last one was 40 gallons of water to the Navajo Res in Arizona. I've flown passengers also, but some aren't as pleased about the boarding procedure. Apparently they were more used to Bonanza's and club seating. Oh well, can't please everyone...

Is the Aveo Wingtip not for the short bodies? I can see if Damien at Aveo may want to use a customer for certification for a short body. If it already is good to go then you can buy them. -Seth

Fix was accomplished week before last with 2 wire stops to capture the cable end and 2 adel clamps to secure the cable in place. 3 wire stops were tried but restricted door opening too much. The whole arrangement could have been better designed, but is at least now functional.

If you’re in AZ less than 90 days there is no tax: The estimated length of stay of my aircraft in Arizona during the calendar year will be (check one): 0 to 90 days (does not have to be consecutive) - no license tax charged And, being registered in Arizona full time, the state charges me the exorbitant fee of $25/year for registration and license tax combined.

I have several that I would be willing to sell. You can e-mail me here. I'll get pictures. John Breda

Correct, the Whelen STC doesn't give us the authority to install them on the K. That leaves us 2 other options. A field approval (337) as a major mod or A&P signoff as a minor mod. You should call your local FSDO or talk to your IA, but these days most FSDO's are accepting the practice of installing them as a minor mod; but it really comes down to the opinion of your supervising A&P or IA who will be signing off on it, and its best to go by the person that does your annuals - your IA. So its really only their opinion that counts.

Sometimes you have to leave a message because I’m getting yelled at by my wife or my toddler son is creating chaos! I appreciate the PIREPs guys!

Just to make it easier 1,2,3 or 4