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Hello all, I am the passenger of N231GZ - M20 Rocket Engineering conversion to turbo prop inner-cooled. I'm not a pilot so I only know a little bit. Pilot/ Physician is instrument rated for 22 years. Trained in a Mooney because it was built in Texas and could be converted by Rocket. We travel throughout Texas doing exams for the state for work injuries. Hangered in Addison field for 22 years. IFR coming home from our monthly trip to Abilene, 5 mile final 2000 ft. locked onto the ILS, engine failure. Pilot tried multiple things to restart with no success, then just "flew the airplane". Couldn't see the ground until about 400ft. and saw the street/ trees, not a very hard landing until we were lunged forward. Prop was feathered before we crashed. We now know we hit the light pole, but I think the left wing was still attached and barely on fire when we were pulled from the plane. Neither of us lost conscience, the handle fell off inside and I was unable to open the door. Someone came up to the window and we told him to pull outer latch and they got us out. I am now home with broken radius, repaired with surgery, broken facial bones will not require surgery. Pilot fractured L2 that severed nerve, had surgery and nerve will heel in 18 months but may have a drop foot, and stitches in forehead. He should be home in a few days. If he weren't such an amazing pilot with a ton of experience and God watching over us, we wouldn't have made it for sure!

Hey Folks: It's been a while since I've posted and for that I apologize. I've been working diligently to keep Mooney alive and kicking and to put us in a position to become self-sustaining so we can concentrate on the more important stuff: Developing the retrofit landing gear to increase useful load and building brand new Ultras. Although we have kept parts moving, I'm well aware that there is frustration at the delays and in some cases, your inability to get certain parts. Some of this is a result of supply chain issues and some of it is that we simply don't have the resources to purchase the vendor inventory we need. I promise you that we are working on ways to remedy this. Many of you have written or called me offering your support and suggestions. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Some of your ideas are great and if I haven't been able to implement them, it's simply because we don't yet have the resources. We have just formally re-opened the Factory Service Center. One way you can support us, is to book an appointment and have the factory service your plane. We're competitively priced and whether it's for an annual or some vexing issue that no one else seems able to fix, come down to Kerrville and the folks that built your plane will take care of it. We'll also show you around the factory and if I'm available, I'll stop by so we can talk Mooney in person. The service center number is: (830) 792-2064 and the email is FSC@Mooney.com We look forward to hearing from you and I thank you for your continued support. Warmly, Jonny

It was 12 February, 1973, my Dad brought 47U home from Willmar Air Service to a 1/2-mile long grass strip (2Y5) in Northern Iowa. With Mom in the right seat, they enjoyed 35 years of flying the Mooney all over the country. Getting up there in years, in 2008 he gave up his medical and I brought 47U out to California, just north of Sacramento. I learned to fly in a Tri-Pacer (on the farm strip) and owned a Cherokee 160 for 20 years. But, 47U is my forever plane, just like it was Dad’s. Photo below, my Mom and Dad on a trip to the Dallas area to visit her sister.

I let @carusoam take me to lunch just so I could get a lot of likes here on Mooneyspace. Ladies and gentlemen, the ambassador of Mooneyspace Mr Anthony Caruso: He’s ignoring me cause he’s probably busy checking Mooneyspace! PS, I heard Anthony managed to get re-current in his airplane for the first time in years!

Hi Folks. For clarity, the Mooney factory didn't perform the annual on the aircraft that was lost. In any event, our focus right now is keeping the friends and family of those who were lost in our thoughts and prayers and allowing the NTSB to do their work. Kind regards, Jonny

I had a mission to fly on Dec 26 from KGVL Gainesville, GA to KMKL (Jackson, TN). 267 miles. I have a known ice airplane. Looking at the forecast, MKL was above minimum, above personal minimums but would require an approach. The airport was in light snow that would end later in the day by the time of my arrival. Cloud cover forecast on Aviationweather.gov showed bases at 900' tops FL320. Freezing level near the surface. There was SLD icing above 13,000. Light to moderate icing below. After considering all things I canceled. Here was my thinking. I don't mind flying in forecast icing if I can bail out to warmer temps below and maintain MEA. I flew from BWI (actually KMTN) to GVL a week earlier and took a route down over RDU and CAE to do just that. Highest MEA was 3000', forecast to be above freezing. ATC wanted to route me out over western VA and NC but I told them unless I got what I wanted and filed I would divert to RIC. They granted me my wish. I was 2.5 hours solid IMC but had no worse than light icing. In this case on the 26th, I had no out. I could not descend into a non icing environment nor could I quickly exit it to the south as HSV (Huntsville, AL) had similar issues. The real range of a known ice Mooney is 1.5 hours. That is the amount of time you have running the TKS at max. Thus you must have no-ice conditions max within 45 minutes of entering, because that is the amount of time to get in, decide you are over your head and get out. You have to make your decision for turn back or turn out within 45 minutes of entering otherwise you are committed to the remaining time if you don't have "above MEA no-ice conditions below" and you have to be pretty darn sure about those conditions. I also could find no PIREPS on icing other than a Baron on the edge of the wx area over AR to the west reporting light icing at 9000. A look at flightaware.com (pirep by absence) revealed no aircraft below 10,000 feet and below 250 knots in the intended operational area. Equally so, a call to KMKL revealed no operations inbound, snow of unknown depth on the ramp and questionable runway conditions. Cancel. Finally a flight aware flight popped that met my requirement. A small commuter flight called "Southern Airways", departed ATL for MKL. Operating a known ice Cessna Caravan. It made Chattanooga where it executed a 180 and returned to ATL. A discussion with the MKL agent the next day (when I completed the mission) revealed he bailed when he TKS system was at max just to remain airborne. I made the right call. I post all this just to give you an idea of my personal decision making process, especially if you have a known ice airplane or are new to IFR flying. It is not enough to have a capable airplane, it is knowing what the real capability is and it's limits. Equally so, yes you can approach to 200' and 1/2 mile but can you stop on the runway? Can you taxi in and park? Always leave yourself an out. 6

I’m well overdue explaining my off-field landing incident on May 9 of this year, as a result of the D- 3000 dual mag failure. Caution – long write-up but hopefully there are some takeaway points of value here. My wife and I departed from our home base in California for the Chicago area in our M20J as we’ve done many times before. Day 2 we took off from Page, AZ - direct Albuquerque - direct Salina, KS. Enroute at 11.5K nearing Albuquerque we began to hear what sounded like a very faint rattle emanating from the belly area. Listened for a bit and it started to get more frequent. Began troubleshooting to see if it might be engine related. Changed prop, mixture, throttle, pump, tanks with no affect. Best I recall all items on the engine monitor appeared normal. No change until switching to Left mag – nearly dead. Right mag was better but rough. Immediately turned to nearest airport. Declared an emergency with ABQ approach and informed the controller of my situation. Unfortunately, Double Eagle was a couple miles beyond the FF glide ring. Within the next couple minutes the left mag completely failed and had only partial power on the right, but that also failed in the next few minutes. Now it was truly an “oh darn” moment, or words to that effect. How both mags checked good during preflight and both were now failing was not a good feeling. All I knew was I needed to make the best of a bad situation. I tried to reassure my wife that the plane flies perfectly fine as a glider now, we have about ten minutes to reach the airport or find a good place to land and we’ll be alright. We gained some ground on the glide ring as we continued but were battling some 40kt headwinds. Kept the aircraft clean and the glide speed faster than normal in an attempt to minimize time in those strong winds. Glider pilots minimize their time spent in sinking air by flying faster for the same reason. I kept Approach informed of our progress, that I had no power, that I thought it was a dual mag failure and that I might not be able to make the airport. Then came the standard issue question - say number of souls on board and fuel remaining. My wife remained remarkably calm throughout and even helped by scanning around for possible landing locations and obstructions. The fact that I am a fairly experienced glider pilot did help immensely in my opinion. During the entire power-off descent and landing it all seemed rather normal to me because every landing in a glider is an engine out landing. Airports are nice but fields work too. Approach handed me off and Tower had already cleared out traffic for the inbound emergency and cleared us for any runway but winds were strongly favoring 22. It is so gratifying and special to know the ATC professionals will do everything in their power to assist an aircraft in distress. Despite making up some glide distance, it was looking very iffy that we would be able to make the runway. Several miles out we identified what looked like a good open space short of the airport boundary clear of power lines and obstructions. It was our go to place if needed. At about 1000AGL those hangers, roads and fences on final approach looked like something we might not clear. Without hesitation I told the tower unable to make the runway and we're going for the field. The last thing I wanted to do was to try for the airport at all cost only to stretch the glide with disastrous results. As much as I love my Mooney the thought went through my mind to use the plane to save us. I rolled out parallel to the active into the strong headwind, lowered the gear and flaps and did a nice smooth full stall landing on the sandy desert floor. We looked at each other, did a quick embrace and said somewhat jokingly, well that wasn’t a bad landing. We ended up about 100 yards from the airport fence. Tower controller was watching the entire event and offered a big compliment. I let them know that the airplane appeared undamaged and no injuries. Emergency personnel soon began to arrive, followed by airport and FBO staff as well as the FAA. The largest fire in NM history was in progress and the last thing anyone wanted was an airplane crash to spark another blaze in the windy desert scrub. Everyone, and especially me, was relieved that the Mooney was sitting there unscathed. No damage to the prop or even the gear doors, not a scratch that I could see. Full stall landing into a strong wind on the semi-soft surface made for a very short landing. FAA measured the roll out at 322 feet. The two gentlemen from the FAA were extremely nice but also professional. In fact one of them owns an F model so we bonded a bit. They did check the airplane for fuel and oil just to make sure I didn't do something really stupid. They took pictures of the plane as well as my documents and the airplane documents to verify everyone and everything was legal and current. Basically a ramp check in the desert. They also requested I send them scans of the latest annual logbook entries when I returned home. After everyone was satisfied we were fine and all the paperwork was done, one of the maintenance guys offered to help with his small Jeep and a tow bar. It was an easy pull to perimeter road and onto the ramp. Given the situation I’m extremely grateful for the outcome. Day VFR at cruise over a desert having just flown over rugged terrain. Luck played a big part but I’ll take it. Those sounds at the beginning of the event were likely afterfires in the muffler due to incomplete combustion in the cylinders. One would think EGT would be spiking but the JPI 830 didn’t show that and the engine data doesn’t reflect anything out of the ordinary either from what I tell. So what happened? The next morning I met an IA at the plane. We pulled the infamous D-3000 dual mag and right away observed that neither set of points was opening. That's on a recently overhauled mag with 209 hours on it replaced two years prior. Something caused both rubbing blocks to wear down prematurely – and remarkably simultaneously. I’m going with lack of lube because it appeared the oil pads on the points were dry with some fibers scattered about inside the distributor cap. But both sets, and simultaneously? Other commonalities to the failure could be bad surface finish on the common cam, contaminated lube, defective rubbing block material. So, bad parts or a bad rebuild? The FAA says they are looking into it but who knows how long that will take or if anything will come of it. Maybe if more failures occur it will become a higher priority. In the meantime the mag was field repaired (points adjusted and oil wicks lubed, engine timing set) and I flew it back to my home base. It just came out of annual with an emphasis on looking for any possible damage due to the off-field landing. As mentioned, not a scratch or any problems found. I subsequently made that Chicago trip, without my wife this time, and the plane performed perfectly. I plan to have the point gaps checked every 50 hours to see if there is any trend or cause for concern. Lessons learned. When something doesn’t feel or sound right it might be worse than thought. Wasted a few precious minutes troubleshooting before turning to the airport. Pulling back the prop might have improved the glide. Never trained for it, only read about it and being task saturated at the time didn’t think of it. Forty plus years and thousands of hours, mostly in Mooneys, without an engine failure doesn’t mean it can’t happen. I fly a Mooney for safety and its good looks, but also for its efficiency which means I frequently fly direct. Been rather cavalier about flying over inhospitable terrain. My glider buddies call that Tiger country. Glider experience helped. Kept things somewhat routine. Stay current and legal. You never know when a ramp check can occur. Practice various emergencies. Commit important procedures to memory. Single pilot ops too task saturated or no time to look it up. Squawk 7700 in an emergency. Didn’t think of it and wasn’t my highest priority. Hopefully missed my one and only opportunity. ATC already had me as an emergency. Add more items to the survival kit. Could have been far from help or injured. Love Mooneys but hate dual mags. I don’t want this incident to significantly change my flying. Unfortunately, it’s changed my wife’s flying. It was a rare event and the odds of it happening again are highly unlikely. However, the reason for this failure is largely unknown. I’m still flying with the same mag but checking Left and Right in flight now and especially before entering IFR conditions, nighttime or Tiger country. Fly safe.

I have flown quite a few Angel Flights in the last couple of years. I do it for the same reasons I fly - I really enjoy it - and Angel Flight is a way to help others. But someone told mom and today I feel like the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, vaguely embarrassed. A few weeks ago I was informed that I need to make my way to Angel Flight Central’s gala on Nov. 18 in Kansas City, there to receive AFC’s 2022 Pilot of the Year Award. Then today I was surprised to receive a call from the CEO of the National Aeronautics Association. At a ceremony that will likely be held at Oshkosh next year, I am to receive the NAAs Distinguished Volunteer Pilot Award. It’s a good thing I was not flying when I got either piece of news, I probably would have put it in the ground. My aircraft, as many of you know, is nothing special. A 231 with an engine now well over TBO, oil leakage from the rocker covers has reached the incurable stage, we are waiting for a new Conti to show up. It is Mooney’s most manual version of a turbocharged piston. And yet I have safely carried well over a hundred patients and their companions, all shapes, types, and sizes, even found a way to cram a collapsible wheelchair, the patient, and patient’s mom into the plane (definitely within W&B), and on occasion, cargo to the weight limit of the aircraft. We need more folks. If I can do it in my lowly 231, you can do it!

Hello all, Today I upgraded the server from a shared hosting program to a new "virtual private server" - our storage went from 100GB to 250GB and we will now have continuous backups (we have not had backups since we exceeded 50GB on the old plan). You should also notice that things are running considerably faster around here. We have a lot more processing power and quicker disk access, etc. The migration happened really quickly but there is a chance that within an hour or so today something you posted might have been lost in the transition, I apologize for that but it is the nature of the beast. I am increasing storage limits to 1GB for Supporter members and 200MB for Basic members. However, please still be mindful about your uploads - obviously if 200 supporters decide to max out their upload limits we are going to be in trouble again. We currently sit at about 75GB storage usage so we have about 175GB of headroom. The new server plan costs about 3x what we were paying before. Donations would be appreciated as always and remember that Supporters have the ads turned off and get 5x the storage space of basic members. You can donate at this link if you so desire - $10 minimum per year will grant you Supporter level access. Please let me know if anything else seems off or not working correctly...I have not seen anything but things like this usually end up breaking something or other. Fly safe! Craig

Do what we all do. Take the close expensive one. Put the hangar rent on autopay, and pretend you don't remember the cost. You will be happy every time you go to the hangar.

Pictures make a lovely gift. That’s me on the left, 33 years ago. The little guy in my lap is in the next two, his kids on his lap, last month. Shameless bragging.

Today, as the proud and excited new owner (AGAIN) of N1017L, an awesome Mooney Rocket I owned for 1700 hours and 17 years, I conducted my first flights since Xmas morning 3 1/2 months ago. I did them alone, in Lago Vista TX, conducting 3 separate takeoff’s and landing’s, at an airport with incredibly unforgiving options should your engine fail at 500’ after takeoff (not that that would be on my mind ). I did fine and will be returning to the U.P. of Michigan tomorrow. An additional plus is I picked up some Lancair parts (vertical tail section) for my ongoing “new project” to be flown back with me. I will share WHY with my favorite aviation forum soon ( I know, I’ll do it soon! It’s been painful.). Sorry for not sharing more but extenuating circumstances preclude me posting more on a public forum. I definitely think I want to hook up with @mike_elliott now as committed “high quality training” CLEARLY has an effect on outcomes when handed terrible flying challenges. And Erik @aviatoreb you hold no advantage any more on 4 blade MT props on Rockets Tom

Hi Goalstop - my name is Kyle, a fellow M20E owner and Garmin employee. Can you possibly pass along the details directly to me please? Kyle.Ludwick@Garmin.com. We would like to help with this issue! Apologies in advance for the trouble you've gone through. Kyle

The long range fuel tanks have been brought up a few times lately and I wanted to let everyone know the STC is going to continue to be available. Don Maxwell Aviation along with a partner has purchased the STC from Jose and is currently putting kits together to be available by the end of the year. Our current run of kits will be a total of 30 and if you’re interested in purchasing a kit you can contact myself at Don Maxwell Aviation or Kellen Kester at (812) 240-6223. We hope to have these available as soon as possible.

All, Here is an update: 1. My Mooney partner Mark who was flying the airplane is out of ICU and doing well. I spoke to him just a couple days ago. Unfortunately, neither he nor his wife remember anything about the crash. I say unfortunately from the standpoint of being able to discern from him what happened. It's probably a good think though that neither of them have any recollection of the crash or what led up to it. 2. His wife is still in ICU but also recovering 3. They are both expected to make full recoveries but both will be in the hospital for at least another few weeks.

Just wanted to throw up some pictures of my 65’ E interior job. I’ve been working on this on the side while I was doing my panel upgrade in 22’. I ordered SCS carpet in brown and Airtex upholstery in biscuit (ordered at Oshkosh, delivered in Dec). Seatbelts were down by Aviation Safety Products in GA who did an awesome job and about one week turnaround. My wife did the vinyl work using our Sailrite sewing machine including the boot around the controls (post 65’s got that plastic cover), wind lacing around all openings, and the armrests. My aircraft did not have the headrest built into the seat structure, so I fabricated them out of a square tube, 1/2” diameter aluminum tubing , then riveted it all together. All of this was way more work than anticipated, but that’s airplane sh#t for ya…..

Hi, Friends! After a year of panel, interior, powertrain, and other updates, I have finally picked my 67 (68) M20F up from the final major planned maintenance - paint. Mural artist Matt Kress, in conjunction with Ace Aircraft Refinishing in Bartow KBOW, extended his artwork to an airplane for the first time. After a brief planning discussion, all artistic control was given to Matt... and one rule - I was NOT allowed to receive any visual updates (my idea). The 'unveiling' was this weekend and I could not be happier! Allow me to introduce "Anomaly."

I sold my PA30 Twin Comanche last year while the market was/is good. Wasn't using it for work or pleasure and even though the PA30 is one of the most economical twins it was still expensive to fly. Two engines, twice the gas, especially after owning a Mooney prior. Even though I missed my flying fix, I just couldn't justify the prices of anything that caught my eye. I've been without a plane for about 9 months now. We all know the Mooney is the speed efficient bird so I started thinking about another Mooney, but prices are pretty tough, and I still couldn't find the right fit for my mission and budget.. An occasional scan of the usual places didn't really pan out for me.... Until This!!.... I was doing a search while drinking my morning coffee last week and what do I see pop up.. My sweet old girl.. 7741M. Couldn't believe it!! While I liked the Twin Commanche and a super solid bird I always missed 41M. Lots of great memories, nostalgic trips from TN to New England, lots of learning and upgrades over my 5 yrs of ownership. Cutting to the chase.. I couldn't resist and made an offer to buy her back. The seller and I went back and forth a few times and finally came to terms. The contracts are in transit. Looks like she is coming back home in as good of condition as I sent it her. A few more hours on her, but she's got new bladders and that's a plus. Maybe some things are just meant to be.. I'll keep you updated as it moves along!! -Tom

I don't know what to tell you Walt. Sorry you are having those bad experiences. Not all shops are out to rip you off. I have worked in aircraft maintenance for over 35 years mostly on the airline side as a Chief Inspector/Director of Quality Assurance. Now I run a part 145 repair station maintaining a fleet of flight school aircraft as well as doing outside customer work. I try to run our shop the same way we ran the airline maintenance department. We have a great budget and no reason ever to cut corners for any reason. The outside work is really just filler and to keep things interesting for my maintenance personnel but we approach maintenance on those aircraft the same way. We don't need the outside customer work to keep the lights on or make payroll so I try to be very reasonable (actually more reasonable than I should) on everything. We don't up charge parts or charge extra fees for anything. What has really been an eye opener for me are the aircraft owners. Someone has an expensive nice aircraft, pays thousands of dollars in hangar rent and insurance every year (I know this because I have my own aircraft), wants their aircraft fixed NOW, and then gripes about every little thing on their invoice. Meanwhile they are buying things like a $3200 EIS system on a carbureted O-360 so they can save gas because they went to Oshkosh and the salesman told them they would save 10%. And don't tell a customer a flight control bracket that you found cracked and broken during an annual inspection costs $400 (Used. Again my cost, no up charge). You would think the whole world was going to explode... Even after you show it to them I get asked, "Well isn't there a cheaper alternative"? One would think they would be pleased it was found before it let go in flight. You bought a 50 year old aircraft for goodness sakes for over $100k and you pay over $7 for gas for it! You want to it ready to fly every minute of every day. Did you really think it was going to be inexpensive to maintain it? Do you really want the maintenance on your single engine aircraft to be "cheap".

While Frank's intentions may be good I would be way more upset with the person selling him these items who had already found out from Avidyne that they were on the list. I would spend my time working to get my money back rather than wasting time trying to destroy Avidyne. The title of this post is completely inappropriate. There is no secret. Their response to his inquiry let him know that they needed his serial number. As soon as he gave it to them they told him it was on the list. Checking with them before the purchase would have eliminated all of this. He may not like the policy but it's not their fault he bought the units. Aviation Consumer back in 2016 quoted Avidyne’s Tom Harper on this policy - there is no secret. They aren’t trying to hide anything. Avidyne has also clearly spelled out what type of accident they are talking about (49 CFR 830.2 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/830.2) Frank said earlier on Beechtalk that if you had a flat tire and then cut yourself getting out of the airplane your avionics are now worthless. Total exaggeration - absolutely not true. First google response when I did a search : http://www.aeapilotsguide.net/pdf/09-10 ... ionics.pdf Frank buys and sells salvage airplanes and has done so for decades. Whose fault would it be if after selling a rebuilt airplane where the buyer insists on not doing a pre-buy and then afterwards the buyer finds some un-airworthy items? It would be the buyer's fault unless there was deception involved, then Frank may bear some of the blame, but It certainly wouldn't be Cessna's or Piper's or Mooney's fault. In this case Avidyne didn't sell him anything bad, in fact they didn’t sell him anything - the Seller did. Making it Avidyne's fault removes all responsibility from Frank and the deceptive Seller. Avidyne didn't get a dime on this sale nor did they get the equipment. But they get hassled for a policy that they've had for years and feel is in their best interests. It's also in writing in their original warranty which is between them and the original purchaser. If he thinks it's worth his while go after the seller or never do business with him again, focus his energies on that. Had this been avionics just removed for an upgrade it would not have been an issue. Had he checked with them ahead of time to see what their policy was it wouldn't have been an issue. Playing the blame game doesn't get you anything except a whiny reputation. We’ll see who takes the high road here. Does Avidyne go on all of the online forums and tell everyone not to buy Franks previously wrecked airplanes or does Frank go on all of the forums bad-mouthing Avidyne for a policy they’ve had in place for years?

We've completed the interior refurbishment project on our 252 just before Christmas and here is how it went. We had found a local upholsterer that works mainly on classic cars but had experience with aircraft as well, even N registered ones (we're in Germany). He told us, he would only use materials conforming with 14 CFR Part 25.853 and could provide a certification package for it. Moreover he was capable of fixing damages to the plastic panels and respray them. I asked my A&P if it was OK for him that I do the work under Appendix A to part 43 (c) privileges and he said no problem. We decided to do it together with this year's annual inspection and replace all windows at the same time. So I removed all the interior panels, carpets and the seats before the annual, and then, together with my A&P removed the old windows and he later reinstalled the new ones. In the meantime the upholsterer worked on the interior. After three weeks everything was finished and we could collect the parts at the upholsterer's shop. He had fixed damages to the plastic panels with small glass fibre patches and the paint looked really nice. We had the windlaces redone as well and when we collected the parts, he gave me a box with all the old material. In there I found the old windlaces cut open, so I asked if he reused the foam. He said he had to, as he couldn't find certified foam of that round shape. I thought to myself, let's hope that the factory was that anal 30 or forty years ago The dark brown parts are leather while the lighter is Alcantara. The carpet is actually surplus material usually used on airliners - the upholsterer had contacts where to obtain it including certificate. Reinstalling the panels was quite a chore, especially the headliners but in the end all went well and here is the result: Frontal view New windlace Pilot's seat The new carpet Rear seats RH rear seat Baggage compartment Rear seats removed

In September I dropped the plane off at Art Craft in Santa Maria for painting. Arrival time was about 9:30am and the forecast was for clear skies by 10am, so there was a chance it would be broken up enough to arrive VFR. I departed KFUL VFR to do a little formation flying enroute with my friend. The marine layer had not broken up at all, solid from about 2,200' MSL down to 1,000' MSL. Picked up IFR enroute from Santa Barbara Approach and flew the RNAV 12 Approach into KSMX. Full video from the request to touch down. Countdown timer shows flight time remaining. All coms between myself and ATC included, the video is sped up between coms.

A while back I helped a member here with an issue on his Mooney. Today a very nice gift arrived on UPS. People here are great! Clarence

Hey Folks: I'm reading this thread with respect. I'm thick skinned, so you won't drive me off and healthy criticism is just that. What I can say is that some ideas being tossed around are being made in a vacuum. There are heftier headwinds than meet the eye and the factory is dealing with an inheritance that weighs things down as well. So, on top of building a self-sustaining business we're dealing with our past luggage. I promise, we do know what we're doing. We understand the parts business and we are looking at the most efficient ways to increase margin while not upsetting the Mooney fleet. It's a fine balance as your comments illustrate. So, please keep the dialogue going. I'm pretty good at pulling the hidden gems from the hyperbole and I'm alert enough to know what I don't know. In the meantime, bringing your airplane to the Factory Service Center really does help the bottom line. We've been getting a lot of calls from folks looking for customer support rather than to set up appointments. We still do customer support and Frank Crawford should get a metal for the number of emails and calls he returns. But I respectfully ask that you consider letting us do a pre-buy, or repair, or an annual. That is what would help the most at the moment. Plus I'd get to meet you in person and you can criticize or praise me in person Jonny

Cfi jumped out of the r-22 and let me go around the pattern a few times. Pictures forthcoming. That puts me at 4 aircraft categories. If it flies I’ll fly it. I’ve flown everything from taildraggers to jets but nothing challenges me as much as that little Robbie. It really has no natural inclination to want to fly. -Robert

Well I’m a couple weeks late in sharing, but completed my first ever solo and excited that it was in my M20J! Sure beats the 152s I started my training in. And man does she just jump off the runway without my meatball CFI tagging along Been a long time coming with relearning everything after switching to the Mooney, mag rebuild and SureFly install, winter weather, etc etc. Have done a few solos and dual XCs since, with XC solo slated for next week.

I get your point and don’t disagree in general. But when it comes to Clarence (M20Doc) it’s really not justified. The obvious proof is the amount of time he spends on MooneySpace answering questions, giving advice, and posting parts and service manual pages. All as a public service, for free. And there are probably fewer than 10 MooneySpace members who use his shop in Kitchener, Ontario, so he really doesn’t profit from his time here at all.

For my family growing up, Christmas was always a time to be grateful, religion was a big part of that as well, but I’m not proselytizing, just saying it’s part of it for me I’m grateful to Craig for creating and maintaining this site. I’m grateful to all of you guys who are always quick to help sort out an issue, share experience, and provide guidance. The wealth of knowledge, and willingness to share it really creates a nice little community and I wanted to thank all of you for being so welcoming. I hope I can learn enough to one day be a help the way you have all helped me. Merry Christmas to All!!!

I'd suggest not lifting a finger to help these plaintiffs lawyers at least until there is an NTSB report firmly implicating a spark plug failure. Those vultures latch on to anything that might have happened that could be traced to a manufacturer of in order to leverage a windfall settlement, and they succeed far too often based on the most tenuous evidence. They do little to serve justice but are a major contributor to our operating costs.

Almost, not quite. Here’s the reference in CAR 3 which is the basis of certification for the M20 series.

I wanted to introduce myself. Hi, I am Terry. I have been somewhat active here, but not a Mooney owner. But just closed yesterday on a new to me Mooney 252. It has been upgraded to Encore specs and has long range tanks. Aspen, 650, GTX345, G5. Only problem is, I have a bunch of work travel, so can't pick it up from the pre-buy until late August.

First thing: This is NOT a paid endorsement. I am compelled to write this post based on my personal experience as a first time Mooney Buyer/Owner and want to share that with other potential buyers. Second: The Back Story. I started flying late in life, in my early 50's, and have fallen in love with it. My first purchase was a Cessna 172G that was rotting on our field in the same tie-down spot it had occupied for over a decade. We finally convinced the old codger to let it go, so it could see blue skies again. After a lot of money and time, it was in great shape again and I flew it 300 hours in just over 2 years. I loved that plane, but when it was time to upgrade I was faced with the BIG Question...what next? I watched a lot of videos and took all kinds of advice from dozens of people. Ultimately, it came down to a Cessna 182RG or a Mooney. For me, I preferred the Mooney, but was cautioned by a number of hardline Cessna boys about the slippery Mooney and small interior space. I had never flown in a Mooney and desperately wanted to try one on. Looking at Controller weekly I noticed a lot of Mooney's for sale listed at one location in Texas. I thought, why travel around the country to see one plane here and one plane there, when I can go to San Antonio and see several models at once. No intention to purchase yet, just wanted to see a few up close and maybe get a ride in one. Late last year, I contacted the broker/seller, Jimmy Garrison and made arrangements to stop by while visiting San Antonio with my Girlfriend. He said to stop by anytime and take a look. Very casual and not pushy at all. When I arrived, I looked around the hangar and told him I was interested in a J model. He had several and offered to take me for a ride. Exactly what I was hoping for! Located at a tiny little airport north of San Antonio, Kestrel had a short strip with a steep elevation differential from end to end. I thought, If you can land a Mooney here, you can land it most other places. He let me take to yoke and I was amazed by the tight controls. The difference between rods and cables was obvious and I was further convinced. The next phase was impressive. Without feeling pushed at all, he asked me about my mission. Not in those words, but that was the question. I told him I was based in Florida and wanted something to get me up and down the east coast relatively fast, to visit my girlfriend in Washington D.C. That's when he introduced me to the 231. The J model was a great plane but he said I might want to consider the K model. The turbo has a reputation for being expensive, but he said if you treat it right, keep it cool and let it cool down properly, it will give me years of service. He had a 231 that was a trade in. It was beautiful! Relatively new paint job, brand new leather interior, onboard oxygen, good avionics and lots of extras... the previous owner obviously loved this plane too. Only problem was it had recently been converted to a glass panel and that scared the S#!* out of me. We are talking a big jump from my 172 on at least 3 different levels. Going from Steam Gauges to Dual Aspen's with an Avidyne GPS was overwhelming. I even asked if we could put some steam gauges back in it for backup and he looked at me strange and said Why? Jimmy said I would learn to love it and he even agreed to install a G5 for me as a backup. I left that day, still thinking I wanted a J model, because it was in my price range and the 231 about 30K more than I wanted to spend. After a long road trip to Guadalupe Peak and back, my girlfriend and I discussed the pros/cons. The 231 was a lot more money, but also a lot more plane. I called Jimmy and said we had decided on the 231 and we discussed a few final details before signing a contract. I didn't ask him to discount his asking price, rather I asked him to take care of a few things I intended to do anyway, like replace the nav lights with strobes. He was very accommodating and easy to talk to. He helped us arrange financing, since we were going above our budget. We agreed to split the annual/per-buy and he took care of the resulting squawk list. No more money out of pocket. I appreciated not getting in the weeds. A true benefit of paying asking price, especially when it's fair market. He arranged a CFI to do my type ratings and 10 hours for the insurance company. I flew to SAT and after 3 days at 1T7, I was ready to take her home, solo. Unfortunately, on the way to DC I lost the #5 cylinder they had replaced at the annual and landed safely at CHA (a Huge benefit of the EDM-900 but that's another post). I called Jimmy when I landed and told him what happened, he said not to worry and he would take care of it. I grabbed a commercial flight home, disappointed, but glad I didn't nuke the whole engine. J&J made good on the cylinder and I eventually I made it home to Florida. Since that time I have flown over 200 hours in my Mooney. Several trips to KVKX in Maryland (inside the Freeze!) and even my first trip to Oshkosh last summer. I love the plane and just finished the first Annual since my purchase. During the first few months of ownership, I had a few issues that popped up and suffice to say, Jimmy Garrison made it right. He treated me fairly and was always willing to communicate. I never felt like he was "done" with me and had moved on to the next sale. So many brokers I hear about only care about you until you sign on the line, then they don't remember your name. I always trusted Jimmy to do the right thing, even though he could've said it's your plane now, not my problem, good luck! The point is, he didn't. He stayed in contact and followed through on his promise and that's hard to find these days, so if you are ever in the market for a Mooney, I encourage you to give Jimmy Garrison a call. I know I will the next time I'm ready to upgrade. Chris N231JY

The factory has been very supportive of this issue. We found the issue and reported it to them. They issued a notice about the issue followed up with Service bulletin which has now turned into an AD. They have hired a vendor to manufacture replacement weights that should be available in February. You and your mechanic can come up with an Alternate means of compliance and submit it to the FAA. Mooney would have no say. They issued an immediate notice of the problem for the owners safety. They issued a Service bulletin, The FAA issued an AD and the factory has contracted for the parts to comply with the AD noy sure what else can be done Don

I originally thought this was a link to an Onion article but was disappointed to learn (that like some Onion articles) people are taking this crap seriously. I loved the “Why we (sic) sure it was the vaccine that did it” and his very scientific approach to this problem. For my mental health, I try not to argue with manipulative nut jobs on the internet (too much) but if you find his arguments persuasive then go ahead and skip the vaccine. I read 20-30 EKGs a day at work and order at least 10 high-sensitivity Troponin tests every day and have been doing so since before the first vaccine came out. I think if there was some real widespread cardiac damage from the vaccines I would have seen it (and so would have thousands of other people who do the same thing I do). But don’t believe me. I’m clearly just part of the conspiracy. “Why we sure it was the vaccine that did it There are several clues that are consistent with “it was the vaccine and not COVID”: They were quiet about it. If it was COVID, you can be public. But the vaccine is supposed to be safe. The timing. October 2022 is late for COVID. If it was due to COVID, it would have happened well before now. They can make changes every month. The vaccine creates far more injury to the heart than COVID (which creates NO added risk per this large-scale Israeli study of 196,992 unvaccinated adults after Covid infection). Anecdotally, cardiologists only started to notice the damage post-vaccine. All the sudden deaths started post-vaccine”

I have an update to share that I think will be of interest. First, have a look at the photo below. It is a photo of the filter PRIOR TO the event. As you can see, the filter is seated fully. If the mechanic did pinch the quad seal causing it to become displaced upon tightening, it is my assertion that this is due to a poor design and the manufacturer should mitigate the problem. Unfortunately when I contacted Challenger and spoke with their CEO, she elected to have their attorney contact me and demand that I send the filter and seal to their chosen lab along with my aircraft to their chosen shop in their home state. No offer was made to offset any costs. I elected to ignore this demand for a period of time during which I could determine what my damage, if any, might be. I did the following: 1. Ground run the engine for 1 hr. Cut open and inspect filter and remove oil screen. The deposits found in the screen were all carbon. There were a few particles of non-ferrous metal in the filter. 2. Fly the aircraft in VFR conditions for 5 hrs. Cut open another oil filter and remove the oil screen again. This time, no particles were found in either. 3. Fly the aircraft for an additional 13 hrs for a total of 19 hrs since the oil addition after the event. Drain the oil, cut open a third oil filter and send an oil sample to Blackstone for analysis. Here is the result: As you can see, it is a near perfect report and the trends are all in a positive direction. Next, I borescoped each cylinder. No issues to report. Compression checks were attained. all cylinders were 76-78 / 80. At this point, I consider this issue behind me although I will additional oil samples for analysis. BTW: As for Challenger, I will contact them to update them although I am very disappointed in their stance so far, I will also file an SDR with the FAA now that I have more data to report. Lycoming will not analyze any samples that are from engines that are not currently in warranty so that was a non-starter. For those of you who recommended immediate removal and teardown of the engine, I hope my decision to go another route does not seem reckless. I feel that I made the correct decision given my own personal risk tolerance and the data that was generated along the way. Thank you all for your input.

The plane is based at my home airport. It’s a pretty active partnership. The plane is (was) pretty regularly flown by many or all of the partners. I think there may be 1-2 new partners so sucks for them if this is their first experience in airplane ownership. I find it hard to believe anyone who flies IFR regularly into GAI, let alone is based at GAI would be unfamiliar or unable to spell the BEGKA waypoint. I am curious how this will all play out with liability. i was not impressed with the pilot’s post accident interviews. In one he said to the reporter “well I’m trained to fly in that weather as long as it isn’t icy or a thunderstorm” (along those lines) which conveys he likely didn’t have any sense of personal minimums. One things you might not be hearing in the compressed versions of the LiveATC floating here is there was a Cheyenne on the approach to GAI in front of him who went missed, never saw the runway, and diverted to FDK. The accident pilot was aware (heard, discussed with ATC) of that and continued pressing. I was at GAI about an hour before the accident and the fog was so thick the ducks were walking, if anything the weather may have been slightly worse than the ASOS history reported in the thread.

Got it running today.

I have a 1979 231 that I bought in February of this year. The airplane had sat in a New Mexico hangar for 6 years, so I was a little nervous about this my first annual, even though the airplane has to date performed admirably with a 100% dispatch rate. I took the airplane to Mr. Maxwell on August 24 and received it back on September 13. After about 10 days I received a written quote listing about 36 discrepancies. On the phone Mr. Maxwell went over each one. He was very patient and professional. I asked him to fix it all. Two items were not repaired as we are waiting on parts, but fortunately neither affects airworthiness. The final bill was a little over 5000.00 and a couple of hundred below his estimate. My wife and I left his shop in Longview Texas and immediately commenced our vacation, flying directly to our eldest son’s home in Dexter MO. The next day we flew to our youngest son’s home in Sellersburg, IN. The airplane has performed flawlessly and I am very grateful. I enthusiastically recommend Mr. Maxwell and his team. I am pleased with the quality, pricing and timeliness of the work. I also very much enjoyed visiting with Mr. Maxwell, a very gentle-spoken and knowledgeable man. Torrey

Gahh. Men and their rulers.

Update: all’s well that ends well. firstly, thanks everyone for the suggestions on where to find help. Turns out available mechanics are hard to find on/after the Memorial Day weekend. There was real urgency as my aircraft was parked on a grassy strip between the runway and taxiway. Rain, in the forecast for last night and the next few days, would make the area soggy and getting my Mooney out might become a real challenge after a good rainfall. Steve @StevenL757to the rescue. He located an available tire/tube for me at his home drome (KISP) and in the afternoon braved the crazy Long Island traffic to drive to Montauk. He then changed the nose wheel tire for me while patiently teaching me the in and outs of the procedure. I got back to KDXR before the first thunderstorm hit about 2 hrs after I landed The whole experience was a great example of the camaraderie and helpfulness of the aviation community. Long may it last! Thanks everyone. Robert

Today in almost perfect no wind condition flying the Bravo I bounced my airplane after flying a very stable rnav approach. Not a huge bounce but enough for me to immediately . "go around".. I probably set myself up for failure as the wind was all over the map ,and winds were shifting from tailwind to headwind. I was also very light ( so I was probably too fast ) and , although I didn't think so over the numbers ( 80kts ) . Well something went wrong and I flared early and high , and then a bounce. I did not hang around . I just hit the power and called centre for a go around. Plane and pilot are good, no damage or carnage. My passenger however gulped hard!!. She did not expect that!! it was an ifr flight requiring a go around. My point here is that other than a bruised ego ,( ive flown this plane about 600 hours and have another 900 hrs in other Mooneys), it is important to stick to the game and fly the numbers so that these birds sit down nicely. I was slow but probably not slow enough at my weight ).. When this sort of thing happens it shocks the system and you learn allot. So never get cocky and if instincts say go around ( even if ifr on a vfr day ) do it.. I went full gas rather than try to save what felt like a very failed situation The plane is good , the ego is a bit bruised , (im the kids of person who will replay this in my mind for a while ) but I thought I would share this because I suppose I am not the only one who has experienced something like this and honestly I sort of shocked me how quickly these sorts of things can get us into trouble Maybe this might help others, if not , then it just feels good sharing my experience. Pete

Well here are some photos of the paint process and a peek as we finish putting everything back together.

Welp, I had my checkride on Friday, and passed with just a couple squawks. Overall I apparently did pretty well, though I felt like the sky was coming down around me haha. I am 32 hours in on my mooney, and did my checkride in it.

Is it just me? The more I've been flying the less sense of confidence I carry. Reflecting back on over 17 years of aviating, I've been realizing that I had less concern and felt more adept at carrying out a flight the further I go back. Now I don't know if it is more attributable to age or flying experience. Inevitably both progress forward together. Past a certain point in my flying history, I have been seeing a gradual but downward trend in confidence. In the beginning, it is all up up up. You learn something new, you solo, you earn a certificate... you get all these milestones and accomplishments that say "you know what you're doing." However, past a certain point, it seems like it's only the opposite. Something breaks, I have a bad flight, screw something up, lose a friend, read about an accident... Here's a rough sketch of how I feel my overall flying confidence level has progressed over time. Most of the peaks are represented by milestone accomplishments, dips are scares, and a steady overall downward trend ever since. With time it seems that more and more I discover how much I don't know and how much I am capable of screwing up. Now in the beginning, this is something you are entirely unaware of. But, with experience, I discover naive thinking or unknowing mistakes of times past. Carrying this greater amount of awareness is burdensome. It also makes me comprehend slightly better how much I don't know or have the potential to screw up than back then. Or perhaps the skills are fading with time? Back at just a few hundred hours flying time, I was ready to launch in any weather, land on the shortest runways. And I was sharp. Or at least it seemed that way. It always seemed like I could do it, no problem. With time, I'm more and more reluctant testing the edge of my envelope. And it's not for lack of instruction or ratings. I still get regular flight reviews, IPC's, added a rating. Doesn't seem to make a difference. My 10th flight lesson, I probably learned more than in my last 10 flight reviews (or IPC)! Does this happen to everyone? Does anyone actually get more confident as they get older or gain a lot of flight time? I'm not really sure if I have a specific question or a point I'm trying to make. Just an observation. Not sure if it's better to be blissfully unaware or to be burdened with progressively greater awareness that erodes at confidence. Is there an antidote and would I even want one?

Today was a fairly windy and gusty day in Tracy, California. Not unusual after passage of a cold front yesterday. I had two brothers who bought a C model last week and were looking forward to their first day of transition training. Based out of San Jose, I flew my plane over there. It was a little bumpy, but not bad in my plane. I saw their plane in person for the first time. It had not been well taken care of. I checked for an Annual and it was confirmed. It wasn't done by a Mooney Service Center. While doing the preflight the sump valve couldn't be completely stopped from leaking on the left tank. There were no brakes on the right side. Given the conditions I told them it was not a good day to start the training. Instead, I took each of them up in my plane for a couple of times around the pattern and demonstrated handling such conditions. Even with my experience I didn't feel comfortable taking an unfamiliar airplane with people who had never flown a Mooney before up today. I think I was reasonably uncomfortable flying any airplane for my first 1,000 hours. I was uncomfortable flying my airplane for the first 100 hours. But I really wanted to get over that. My skillset really improved with the CFI and CFII ratings, and was honed when I got my ATP in my airplane. I kept learning about the weather by ferrying airplanes between Mooney Sales people. Each flight and enroute weather was different. I flew to most Homecomings in Kerrville and to Oshkosh 22 times so far. And then there has been all the learning that has taken place in my to date 6,603 hours of teaching over the past 28 years. Clarity, I think, comes from experience. You begin to know more about what you didn't know you didn't know. I've been flying 55 years and it never gets boring. In addition to the CFI, CFII, MEI, ATP, Basic and Advanced ground instructor, and CE525S Type rating, I got the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award a few years ago. To further increase my knowledge, I've done the requirements for the Master CFI for the past 20 years (going on 22 this year). Participating in these challenges has brought me better understanding and improved comfort level. The new technology has accelerated that process because it's so much easier to decide when it is safe to go and when it's best to stay on the ground in addition to being just plain fun to use. From my perspective, even if near middle age, you are just at the beginning of your flying adventures. You have more perspective to properly guide your decisions. With that added perspective you are in a position to make better decisions that lead to a higher level of comfort in your flying. Carry on my friend.

I've been wanting to land on the Ice Runway at B18 Alton Bay for a decade! But, every year there would be some kind of hold up. Plane in annual, busy, ice runway didn't form that year, ice runway formed but my plane badly snowed in, etc. Some years I expected to go but would yield the first weekend to others figuring it will be less crowded next weekend (Mooney doesn't mingle too well with a bunch of cubs and 150s) and by then the thing would be melted! I've been meticulously following the runway conditions and weather for the last few years and still couldn't make it. This year, I planned to make it happen. But, there were still the same scheduling troubles. When the temps got cold enough to open the runway, I got snowed in again. I dug it out by hand just in case the Ice Runway would open! They opened the runway but winds were from the south. It's a one way runway 01, and there's no way I'm putting a Mooney on slippery ice with 2700ft and a tailwind. Had to cancel several days that looked promising otherwise. Then my Texas trip came up, so I missed some more opportunities to go. Got back from Texas on Sunday (1380nm nonstop). Monday I had to catch up with work and didn't really want to fly again. But, when I saw that the runway was open and weather was favorable I just jumped on the opportunity. Skipped work and went straight to the airport. Quick flight about 1.5 hours to NH and I made it. Alton Bay is in a pretty deep valley between hills. It's much tighter than I expected. There's barely any room between the tall hills to fly a pattern. I entered on an upwind to spend more time going around and getting ready. I kept the plane super light just in case. I was actually still flying on the fuel I'd topped off in Texas. By the time I was landing at Alton Bay, I was down below 25 gallons and solo. I flew the pattern as slow as I could. Put the gear and flaps in early. I tried to give myself more room on final, but couldn't get too far because it's hard to see the runway. Since most of the snow on the ice had melted, the ice on the runway wasn't too distinct from the ice of the rest of the bay. I flew as slow as I could on final and aimed way short of the runway. Still ended up floating to touch about 1/3 of the way down because of a very light tailwind. From the moment I touched down, I started working on the brakes. It took gentle braking the whole length of the runway to slow down. It was SLIPPERY! It really didn't want to slow down. I was actually a bit nervous about overrunning just from lack of traction. On pavement, it would have been no trouble. Normally I wait till the end to use the brakes on pavement. Luckily I started braking early and massaged the brakes the whole way till the end. I carefully turned onto the taixway to go back to parking. Turns were slippery as well. I taxied at a snail pace out of fear of not being able to slow down before a turn and drifting off. A marshal had me stop exactly next to the parking spot he wanted me to go into. I was trying to explain how there just wasn't enough room to turn the Mooney, maybe I should pull forward first. He just goes to the wing and spins the plane in place! I was blown away cause I never saw a Mooney turn on a dime like that. I had the towbar going but it hardly mattered. The plane would slide in any direction. I treaded carefully feeling like I'd slip on my ass at any moment. The marshal had crampon boots so he had no trouble pushing the plane to parking. I laughed whether there was a point of using chocks or not. He handed me a commemorative poker chip that says "I landed on the ice runway B18" and pointed me to the restaurant. I was still getting the hang of walking on ice. At the "FBO" tent, they signed a certificate "in recognition of outstanding skill landing on Alton Bay's ice runway." Some cute tokens that I did not expect. All the other planes around me were tail draggers, Cessnas, and on rare occasion a Cherokee. They had over 100 planes the day prior. Still busy, but not as bad on Monday, Presidential, when I went. After a nice lunch, I decided to do one pattern to make the experience last a little more. I flew even slower and landed shorter. Knowing what to expect, I worked the brakes more confidently and even made it off the runway by the halfway turn off. Takeoff was pretty much a nonevent. Just had to be extra careful working the rudder because the nosewheel didn't provide much directional control. The runway was closed the next few days since because of rain and yesterday the Alton Bay crew announced the runway thinned substantially and is done for the season. I just made it the very last chance!

First Airplane First Mooney ( 1982 M20J ) First big trip across the USA Special shoutouts: @jgarrison you are the man.. thank you for helping me thru everything. @Lrn2Fly for teaching me the all the "mooney things" on the long ride home, you sir are a fantastic instructor. Especially reading back 30.07 altimeter setting with a "British Spy" accent, I will do that for the rest of my life Met some great people along the way, notably Nik at Nik's aircraft on the field at KRHV ( aka Flying S Aviation ) and ran into @larryb on the taxiway, nice to have met you ! Stopped at Mojave KMHV for fuel, and was in the traffic pattern with Proteus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_Proteus That was pretty cool. All the amazing views out west Parked next to a T6 Texan at KAEG Met some fine folks in Clinton Oklahoma KCLK Great BBQ near KOLV Met some of the salty aviators that hang out at KRHP ( my summer airport ) and all the friends I have not yet made at KSPG ( my winter airport ) Happy to be part of this community !

The announcement came before official publication but this morning (November 22, 2022), the FAA published a Direct Final Rule which changes the current 3-year aircraft registration expiration to seven years. Absent a substantial objection, it goes into effect January 23, 2023. It will apply to all registrations valid in January, whether issued before or after the effective date. For example, if your registration was issued in March 2020 and expires March 2023, the expiration date is automatically extended to March 2027. You do not have to obtain a replacement registration, but those who travel out of the country may want to avoid validity questions about why the registration says it already expired by obtaining a duplicate. Also going away are the 90-day extensions of temporary registrations which have become ubiquitous due to delays at the FAA Registry. Instead, your temporary registration (the copy of your application) is valid for 12 months. The text of the Direct Final Rule can be read here.