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I have recently acquired a Mooney Acclaim Ultra (I have an amazing wife who insisted we get another airplane!)and need to do a few things. I flew my last Mooney in 2010 and then a T206( a friends) until 2016. No flying since. We have relocated out west and will need to fly in the Northwest (Montana and Oregon specifically)for business and pleasure. I need a few recommendations: 1) Obviously I need to get current again (in the Acclaim) and I DEFINITELY need help getting educated and experience in mountain flying. Not just VFR in the mountains but also IFR and education in adverse weather since Ice is a way of life in the Northwest. ( I've flown mainly in the Southeast for many years). Ideas? 2) Possible contacts for instructors with experience in mountain flying/Mooneys,etc.. and willing to travel to Montana (whitefish) or Oregon in Late February or March Thanks! Excited to be back in the Mooney family

That's called a "double winner"...a wife who supports such a large purchase / time commitment AND the financial means to make it happen. Welcome back!

I would be interested. I get my first vaccine shot next Tuesday on the 26th. 3 weeks later the second shot. Then another 2 weeks to build up immunity. Sounds like around the beginning of March could work.

If their renewal application doesn't ask if you've received an IPC in the last 12 months, make sure to let them know. Also, confirm with them they checked that box in USAIG's quoting system before binding your renewal.

I went with an Airpath, it really cleans up the view (compass replaced ammeter which I no longer needed because JPI 900 ).

I thought I'd add a quick post. My unit came on Monday and I flew over to my avionics shop today to do the install. My avionics tech is an attention to detail kind of person, so he wasn't able finish the installation today. I'm going back tomorrow to have him finish up. Today we located what I think is the best position on the right wing for the Bravo. He cut the hole, mounted the unit to the plate and re-installed the inspection plate, after making and connecting a long cable to go between the unit and the audio panel. He pulled the cable through the wing and up to the panel. The belly and side panel needed to be removed to do this. This took about 4 hours from 11:00 to 3:00. Tomorrow he'll do the balance which involves connecting the wires to a circuit breaker, switch, connecting them to the audio panel, performing the setup, and signing my logbook. The glareshield needs to come off, which is a big production on the Bravo. I expect another 3 hours to complete the job, but I'll let everyone know tomorrow. I'll test it and report back. So, I think it's really about a 1 day job. I watched him work and he really didn't waste any time. Except for the GFC 500, Peter did my whole massive upgrade by himself, so I have the utmost confidence in him. The long interface cable alone took over an hour to make. One thing I know, when it's done tomorrow, it will work perfectly, and I'm looking forward to testing and using it. Other pictures have been posted, but I thought I'd show a couple for the Bravo.

For much less, you can buy an inexpensive, wifi-only Samsung tablet and install (free) Avare. The approach plates arw georeferenced and the airport diagram pops up on roll out. Call it $150 after tax. Use the rest of Garmin's $500 price to buy fuel. Samsung doesn't limit GPS chips to pricey cellular models like the fruit vendor does . . . .

Just go up there and work it out. These airplanes have been around for so long, and been through many modifications, upgrades, etc, I don't ever take the POH performance charts as the truth. With a good engine monitor and maybe a GPS, you'll be able to put together your own performance data based on real world experience in your own aircraft.

What I'm hearing is that the instructor and student heard a "bang" during cruise flight and initially thought they'd lost the engine! Once they determined the engine was making power, they figured out they had no elevator control. Initial inspection looks like the stabilizer spar failed....and corrosion may be the culprit. The aircraft was maintained by a flight school, but the corrosion was not in an place that could be inspected, or at least not inspected using normal methods. Seems kind of like the Piper wing spar debacle. The GA fleet is aging and we all need to be aware of the dangers. Very fortunate no lives were lost on this one!

Boy that reminds me of another option... the MD80 magnetic compass. In back of the cockpit, seen with a rear view mirror. If its good enough for Douglas why not for us mounted in the hat rack?

Used to run the tanks dry in a Navajo by watching the fuel flow pressure as it would always start to fluctuate just before it ran dry (sucking some air) Wait for the needle to wiggle and switch tanks Worked every time.

Lots of Aspens around here... Many went through the upgrade process for faster processor and HD screens... The older, slower, LD screens are noticeable.... There was one hiccup with screens shutting down... a year or so ago... Plenty of complaints about turn around time for the upgrades that were all trying to get done at once... Haven’t heard anything lately... small screens that fit in standard panels a great for some... When doing a complete modern panel redo... wide screens are in... A single HD Aspen with all the data options is pretty magical for situational awareness... A second one is great for back-up and charts/SV If you don’t like Big G... Aspen and Dynon make great options... Best regards, -a-

Nice to have the video detail.... The challenge to consider while flying a broken plane... don’t change anything including airspeed... until you have to. They handled it really well... PP thoughts only, not a test pilot... Best regards, -a-

Great pirep for Paul and Savvy! Thanks for sharing it, Smut! (With all due respect! ) Best regards, -a-

What’s your secret? Plenty of MSers would like to fish in the same lake you were at..! +1 on Don K. Right man for the right plane... If something doesn’t work in Don’s schedule... Paul Kortopates will be great too... Best regards, -a-

My wife and I are now the proud owners of N9606V. I can backfill as to why I believe Mr. Paulie sold the airplane. N9606V, 21-0012 was bought from the factory by a Mooney/Aerostar dealer called Kaigai Bussan Kaisha, Ltd in Tokyo. The aircraft was flown to Japan from Kerrville some time in the Q1 of 1971. In 1993, it was flown back and imported by a new owner in California who may or may not have skipped out on paying the ferry pilot. At the time it was brought back from Japan it was painted and a few mods where made to the airplane. Then it passed through a number of owners to the owner I bought it from. The previous owner bought it in annual and flew it until it was out of annual, he intended to do a 201 cowl and wind screen conversion on it but elected to just restore his v-tail. Upon conducting a prebuy, it was found to have major corrosion running the length of the stub spar, forward along the gear supporting rib, the airplane was ferried to Don Maxwell's shop where the whole wing was replaced with a serviceable wing. In Don Maxwell's words, it was the worst corrosion he has ever seen on a Mooney wing. You would think based on how bad the corrosion was in the wing that their would be some in the fuselage but after days of searching, we could find no evidence of such. 06V still needs a lot of work to be perfect, but she was in need of a good annual and a "forever home". While the stinger gives the appearance of speed, it will not true out at 200 but on the way back from East Texas we did see 165 knots true with a ground speed of 192 knots. Currently, back down for a G5 install but hoping to be flying again soon.

I have taken a 1965 C Model to more than 17,500 and was able to trueOut at 140 knots TAS on about 6 gallons per hour hour.

Overall good comparison, But as you know from your Rocket, 80% of a 252 is stretch because the Merlyn isn't an automatic wastegate. It merely changes the fixed wastegate into a manual variable wastegate which drastically improves the critical altitude and thus high altitude performance. But also the GB didn't even have Pressurized magnetos, nit till the LB, and surprisingly the Rocket didn't get them either, but at least RAM has an STC to add pressurized Mags to the Rocket TSIO-520. But there is just no comparison between an automatic hydraulic controller and wastegate compared to a manual Rayjay system. The 252 and Rocket are almost as easy to manage power as a J or R engine, but just need more respect towards temperatures.

Service ceiling is Density Altitude where climb rate drops to 100FPM - not to be confused with absolute ceiling where climb rate drops to 0 FPM and your hanging off the prop or stalling. Service ceiling is based on takeoff at max gross weight, so course you can do a lot better if you get take off significantly below max gross.

From comments here and elsewhere, what seems to happen is that some always use the electric trim or autopilot and never manually operate the trim wheel. The trim system gets tight from lack of lubrication over time if not maintained properly. The trim servo has a lot of torque but eventually things get to the point where the clutch slips at which point attempt is made to adjust the trim with the wheel and it becomes obvious that the trim is very difficult to move. During annual inspection, the trim wheel should be moved from stop to stop to note it's action. I also make it a practice to manually reset the trim to the takeoff position after landing so I can feel that everything is operating smoothly. Skip

Similarly, it’s like when you’re IFR- you don’t need to hear “cleared to enter the Class B” because your IFR clearance is the clearance to enter the B airspace.

Very useful Anthony if your having trouble being accurate for whatever reason they keep you straight and narrow. On my recent IPC even though I was current I felt rusty so I relied heavily on the c bars, especially on hand flown approachs

Solved! There are also needle bearings B47, same as for elevator and rudder bellcrank.

Sorry about that... here is the pic. The Vent is on the "2"

Other airlines served LaPaz with 727s in the past. They were JATO equipped which was wired to the AutoPack Trip system. So if you lost an engine the JATO would light automatically. Mexicana had all their 727s equipped mostly to up their payload out of Mexico City. The real challenge in LaPaz is not so much aircraft performance, that can be penciled out to work. The challenge is the crew. Crew has to be on O2 going in and going out because they are above 10K. (You also have to modify the pax ox system so it will not auto deploy) Crew has to wear walk around bottles on the ground. If they layover, they have to re-saturate, before starting their duty period.

Have you ever seen actuarial tables? I looked at some many years ago, and the contents are quite interesting. None of the following numbers are completely accurate, but the approximation is enough to give you the gist. First, it gave the average American life span as: 76 yrs 154 days 5 hr 12 min 36 sec Then, if you engaged in certain activities, you would deduct the following: skydiving 3 hr 8 min 54 sec scuba diving 3 hr 16 min 14 sec flying 2 hr 57 min 9 sec motorcycling 5 hr 16 min 27 sec smoking 5 yrs 209 days 1 hr 43 min 20 sec Rather stunning. I do not remember if it had data for drug abuse or having a disease, such as diabetes or others, but your choices DO make a difference.

+1 for gxrpilot’s recommendation to get on Savvy and start with the flight test to baseline your performance. I’m also a member of their analysis pro. It’s great to have someone like kortopates to review your data with. i also run 65% power 99% of time. Sometimes ROP and sometimes LOP depend on mission (best power for speed or best fuel for range). Knowing whether you can run LOP gives you additional capability when planning cross countries. ive tried 75% power a couple times but in my opinion I didn’t think the added fuel flow and speed increase was a big enough impact to coming close to the tail fin impact zone. P.S. notice I also stayed away from cylinder life subject....hah!

I recently swapped out my Hartzell prop for the MT composite 4 blade and have had a chance to fly it a bit and thought I would post a report on what I have observed. Special thanks to Erik B. and Scott S. who provided me counseling on their experiences. By the way, my Hartzell is listed for sale with a complete overhaul. Buying Process - I ordered mine from Flight Resources. The delivery took 4 weeks, 1/2 down up front and 1/2 when it ships from Germany. You must have the prop shipped to a MT authorized prop shop for final assembly. I had mine shipped to Jordan Propeller in San Antonio. From there, the prop shop can deliver the prop to your A&P for installation and balance. It is recommended that you have the prop balanced. The spinner is a composite material and I had mine painted Matterhorn White to match the plane. Years ago most piston props were delivered with stainless leading edges. The restrictions to paint choices in Germany had many MT props shedding paint. The turbine application is for a nickel leading edge which wraps around longer and covers more of the prop. Also the paint formula has been modified and is much better in regards to wear and tear than the earlier props. Today, most pistons (like mine) have nickel edges and the new paint formula. Sound and Ergonomics - as mentioned elsewhere the prop is very quiet and smooth. It is German so I will say it is similar to driving a German engineered car. There is a certain smoothness and solid feel that I seem to get in the Mooney. Not to take anything away from other manufacturers but the prop does seem to maintain tight tolerances that are felt in the plane. Taxi, cruise and all aspects of flight seem to be much more quiet. Performance- I have one trip of 4 hours each way to pirep the prop. Takeoff performance is better although I do not have the hard data. The transfer of power from your power adjustments is instantaneous it feels. Moving to full throttle has no spool up time, its just gets there. Same for power reductions. No over speed conditions. I am still trying to get before and after take off distances and climb. Today I was climbing at 1100 fpm at 120 knots and 2500 rpm. I saw 700 fpm at 145 kts, 2500 rpm in a cruise climb. In cruise it is hard to tell but I think it may be the same speeds. I have logged many speeds and at some settings I was a knot faster but at others I was equal to the Hartzell. I do not feel I lost any speed with the 4 blades. 9000 ft, LOP -30, 12C, 21.6MP 2450rpm 12.9 gph at 171kts 9000 ft, ROP +100 12C 21.7MP 2450rpm 17.2gph at 177kts 8000 ft LOP -40 11C 22.5MP 2450rpm 13.6gph at 172kts 8000 ft ROP +100 11C 22.6MP 2450rpm 17.8gph at 176kts I am still getting used to landings. I have to carry a bit more power now to maintain 80kts on final. It used to be 12-13" and now it is over 13". The prop does seem to have a kind of braking effect when you twist it to the stops. I slow down very quickly but if you twist it to the stops while flaring it will stop flying so a lot of the float has been eliminated. Weight and Balance - Empty weight dropped around 30lbs and CG moved about 1.25" aft. (I left my POH in the hangar so don't quote me on those numbers) I put together a video to show the sound inside and out and also the look. Be gentle with me, I am not a producer. Russ Russ

Just sold my 1998 Ovation today. The main reason was to upgrade it to a newer model of Ovation with Fiki. I will consider Acclaim as well depending on price and G1000 WAAS upgrade status among other factors. Thanks.

I agree, our bird (67 Exec) is damn close to POH numbers in cruise and climb as long as you don't use POH technique. The climb numbers given in the POH were achieved WOT, Ram air open and 2700rpm. However, the POH recommends climbing at 26"X2600 as soon as the gear is retracted. This does little more than ensure book numbers will not be attained and that time to altitude will be increased. It may make for higher CHTs as well...

This is a debate that will outlast flight directors! Personally, I've gone back and forth and, frankly, it has a lot to do with the manufacturer because not all displays are equal. Way back when this choice first came to the fore, a major airline did a careful study of simulator sessions using the displays and after a lot of number crunching decided to go with the dual cue as the "fleet standard" because, dual cue crews did more precise flying. That was then, but today many (most?) EFI setups, one can choose whichever he likes best. I'm not sure there is a measurable difference these days. One aspect of the dual cue often overlooked is that pitch and roll information is presented separately. One can use one, or the other without, necessarily following both...not so with the single cue. Mark me down as "no preference".

Yeah that sure does clean up the view. I haven't replaced my primary gauges yet so need to hang on to the relics. I was thinking about the Precision PAI-700.

Hi Seth, I have a few hours in a few Aerostar's and was looking at buying one a few years ago too. If you're still interested talk to people that have owned one for awhile and maybe join one of the two online forums. I believe John G. found that the Aerostar didn't fit his needs properly but ask him directly on Beechtalk. I think the best person to talk to would be Forrest Ward (who's on both forums and Beechtalk). He's owned and flown Areostars a lot. Secondly Jim Christy is the big guru on Aerostars and I don't think they have any issues with parts supplies. Pus they have lots of STC's improving them. You can phone him directly and get real advice

The challenge is the location of the turnbuckle. It's about midway between the depicted inspection panel and the large avionics/battery access panel. Seems I'd have to crawl into the fuselage to adjust it.

I agree the costs are beyond crazy. Seems Boeing (who owns Jeppesen) and Garmin et al have discovered the "Gillette Model". Which morphed into the Kodak model, then the HP printer model. Unfortunately given our regulatory structure there is little that can be done especially in for hire operations. I can also tell you Lufthansa's DB are no cheaper than others. Been there done that. No one is a fool in the DB business.

Hi Steve, I can try. The PMA450B actually has two Bluetooth (completely independent) which allows connection to two devices simultaneously. This then allows the pilot, copilot, or passengers the ability to listen to two devices at the same time. For example, the pilot can connect their phone (music source or telephone) to BT1 while connecting an iPad to BT. Now the pilot can her ForeFlight audi alerts and hear his. USBc from their phone at the same time. or maybe the kids in the back wanted hear the audio from a movie they are watching on their iPad but mom and dad want to hear their own entertainment, they can! All in all there are a total of 27 music distributions that can be selected, and it is VERY EASY to do. Hope this helps! Mark

I remember reading in my log book and seeing it noted in the 70s or 80s that the engine on my E model was converted from A1B6 to A3B6 through the re-indexing of the propeller. Interesting

The 20F has a service ceiling of 16,900, but people here have gotten them up to fl230.

I am curious why most recommendations mention 2 GI 275s as opposed to one 7" G3X, for example in Don Kaye's Lincoln and Honda packages. I'd think the G3X would be bigger, easier to see, and if I am not mistaken can provide terrain. I don't think one of these is much more expensive than 2 GI 275s, if at all. Are the 275s a lot better for some reason? And why no mention of a simple GPS 175 (or a GNX 375 or GNC 355 depending on other instruments that are available) with the current 430 as a back-up, instead of a GTN 650Xi? Might that be an economical solution, and suitable for the OP's intended use? A GTN 750Xi and a GTN 650Xi is one heapin' big lotta' dough. Would those two admittedly better units really be worth the money? And as a radical notion, how about an Aera 760 mounted somewhere using ship's power, for a bigger map, charts, and plates, for less than 2 AMUs? I am considering a similar type of upgrade (with a GFC 500), and am leaning toward the single G3X, so this is a question of particular interest.

My understanding is that it isn't possible and as a result I dropped the chart subscription a few years ago.

That’s how I see it. You are already IN. Different scenario—You hear cleared to Kennedy VOR 4500 but no mention of “cleared into the Bravo” can you enter? Since you cannot get to JFK VOR without entering Bravo, you have been cleared without ever hearing that magic word. I have entered NY B with just “cleared to Kennedy 4500”

Yes, Command Bars are useful...and reduces the frequency of the scan while IMC

No, we haven’t. But taking a note of this. And I will definitely have to make friends with mechanic on the field. I think I can some basic work myself, but will need somebody to look over my shoulder. Fortunately their shop is a quick golf cart ride from my hangar.

I think you can say that about a lot of things. So they say the same thing about dating apps.

I grew up with, "Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with a crayon, cut it with an ax."

Great video @201er, I was able to get in a low pass at MIA but that was about it for me! In my experience, when departing an airport VFR under a bravo shelf, they usually explicitly say something like "This is not a Bravo clearance, fly runway heading at or below X thousand feet." I don't recall them saying anything to me when departing an actual Bravo airport. I suppose since you're inside the inner ring the fact that they are letting you takeoff is an implied clearance (e.g. they couldn't fault you for busting the inner ring as a result of you lifting off the runway).

Clarence if you ever get bored you should write a book, "maintaining your mooney". I would buy the first copy. I have been working on mooneys for a long time and you still bring up new stuff I have not seen before. Mark

I haven't gotten rid of the old sandel SN3308 yet, but I love the ILS presentation, check this. A G5 HSI or a 275 just doesn't seem to have the same mouth feel as this thing.

OMG you have no idea how much of a relief that is to hear. I was sick to my stomach thinking about the alternative.