Leaderboard

Last week we were at 4500' off the California coast by Santa Cruz. We were just starting Commercial training. Before doing any of the new Commercial maneuvers, I start by doing slow flight, then Power off and Power on Stalls. The airplane, a 231, has been upgraded to 2 G5s, and the GFC 500 autopilot. As such, when operating outside of the ESP (Electronic Stability Protection) envelope the ESP needs to be disabled in the G5. Additionally, the AP circuit breaker needs to be pulled because, if the airplane is operated outside the envelope with the AP off for more than 10 seconds, the AP will automatically turn on and engage the servos in LVL mode. I hadn't pulled the circuit breaker, but we had slowed to just above the stall and, unbeknownst to me, my student had used the electric trim to trim up fully. Pulling the CB disabled the electric trim. First, we found that the stall warning switch was inoperative, but continued the exercise anyway. Power was added to maintain altitude on the backside of the power curve and the nose was lowered to increase speed and lower the AOA. To relieve yoke pressure trim needed to be adjusted down. With the electric trim off the student tried to trim down with the trim wheel. It wouldn't budge. The student said that he couldn't control the pitch with the yoke, the force was too strong. At that point I added my control input to the yoke. The force was so strong that with both of us locking our arms straight out we couldn't overcome the pitch up force. I tried to unlock the trim wheel with both hands--unsuccessfully. In all of my flying I have never had a flight where the outcome was in doubt. But for a few seconds that's exactly what I thought. Knowing that the 231 is somewhat nose heavy and on final at 75 knots with low power setting on a 3° slope the plane was controllable, I pulled the power. That did relieve some of the control pressure. I tried to unlock the trim again with the trim wheel. No dice. It was totally locked up. We were on flight following with NORCAL, and I was about to declare an emergency, when I decided to turn the AP on and see if the power of the trim servo would unlock the trim. I pushed in the CB and waited while the system went through its PFT. It took a few seconds, but ultimately finished successfully. I had the student try the electric trim---and it worked. The trim became unlocked. We had dodged a bullet. I said, "Let's head back to San Jose. We're done for the day". I got no argument. Epilogue: I told the student that until we found out the reason for our issue, we wouldn't be flying the plane. The maintenance shop was able to recreate the problem. I called Paul Kortopates and related the issue. He told me that a Service Instruction had been issued on December 14, 2016, SIM20-88A Stabilizer trim stop screw Modification. I've attached it here. It applys to the M20J, M20K, M20L, and M20M. It was to be done within 100 hours. On this airplane it apparently had not been done, so the force of the electric trim on trimming up for slow flight had pushed the trim wheel past the stop and locked it up. I'm posting this because for those owning aircraft to which it applies, you should confirm that it has been complied with. Otherwise, you might be put into an unrecoverable situation the likes of which we were lucky enough to have overcome. SIM20-88A Stabilizer trim stop screw Modification.pdf

Suggest making your enroute stops at larger airports with luxurious FBOs and expensive fuel. I know this is contrary to official Mooney CB doctrine, but bear with me for a minute... Early in my family flying endeavors, I dutifully planned XC trips with small airport/cheap fuel stops enroute as a GA loyalist. Doing so effectively ended my wife's interest in GA flying for about a decade. There were a couple of incidents of sitting around at run-down facilities waiting on weather with no Uber/Lyft/cab service that didn't sit well. The last straw for her was my cheerfully diverting for an unplanned potty break stop, but choosing a tiny little airport that turned out to have not even so much as an accessible porta-potty, requiring her to drop trou in the open air. That was 20 years ago, but it's still the first story she tells every time traveling by GA comes up in our friend group. I want to emphasize that my wife and kids aren't high maintenance types, and in theory they're all about adventurous travel. But everyone has their limits, and statistically, GA flying is at the edge of what's fun for most people who aren't actually flying the airplane. She still flies with me on occasion, but we're not really a GA travel family, and I trace it all back to my choice of stopover points when I was young and enthusiastic about GA flying. These days, if I'm traveling with anyone other than another pilot, I'll happily buy eight dollar avgas and pay ramp fees in exchange for comfortable lounges, free cookies, on-the-field maintenance, nearby nice hotels, readily available Uber service, and so forth. The monetary cost is incredibly cheap relative to the emotional expense of a bad travel experience.

Thanks to all who lend their wealth of knowledge and experience to beginners and novices like me. I will always love my Mooney and Mooney community. Best of all things in the new year to you all! ps. Let us commemorate with retiring the dumpster fire that the garmin pilot thread has become!

Flew my Mooney for my 3rd flight without transition CFI (takair). Brought my wife up with me. We just did a short flight, for her to get used to the plane, and weather was looming so we went back and landed. Probably my best landing ever. I could barely feel my mains touch and rode them all the way out, gently touching the nose wheel down. "Are you feeling this awesome wheelie?!?" I was laughing out loud and so excited. My wife just shook her head. A landing that would've made my instructor proud. But alas, he was not there, as he has kicked me out of the transition training nest. I guess I should start instrument training soon then

A person who buys tools to use and return is a thief. Whether someone respects the retailer or not is just a flimsy justification for theft. My older brother worked in loss prevention at Walmart for a few years, and back then on items less than $100, by the time they added in their administrative costs of paying employees to process the return, it was less expensive if someone stole the item from the store than bought it and returned it. Over 90% of returned items never hit the shelves again, they were wholesaled out or thrown away. There are valid reasons for returning something. Using the item for its intended purpose and then returning it is not one of them. The only reason Walmart tolerated it was that people came back every week to buy something else. Plus they just raised the prices for the honest people to cover all of the dishonest people. But to take pride and brag about buying something, using it and then returning it explains everything about character, or complete lack thereof. That isn't who we are on this forum.

The first video on our RTW trip is online. It’s quite short and provides an overview:

Happy Update. The Shop called me this morning with total transparency and owned up to it being an unsupervised intern. He was removing the lower plugs and the Plug wire was slightly seized and rotated the plug out. Instead of grabbing experienced help with a better solution he used a crow's foot with an extension wedged it against the pushrod tube and commenced to torqueing the other 7/8 wrench. I guess he banged it several times. The shop is sending DOM and IA who completed the annual up with all new parts, fixing it , performing an engine oil flush with new filters a few times after the fix and then fly it back down to them after 3-4 hours and once again change oil and filter. After each flush send to blackstone for analysis and determine if any further maintenance is required. I wish more shops had this stance and leadership when things go wrong and its their fault. Hopefully crisis averted but they assured me if further engine damage was done , IE bearings, lifters , etc. they would handle the repairs with no expense to me. Thanks for listening.

I flew IFR for the first time in forever since sending my prop in for a tear-down and then the Swiss Fall/Winter hitting. I know I post this same photo repeatedly, but today was different. The Alps were gorgeous, and the flight was glorious.

Yes to all, cannot agree more with posh FBOs for wives, my wife is a parsimonius no nonsense bargain shopper, kinda the opposite of me, but last fall we stopped at Texas Jet in Ft Worth, got crew car, girls waiting on her, bag of Texas steak seasoning for a good bye, looved it, 10 years ago stuck in Bozeman MT at the jet center for couple of hours with a mechanical issue, she was watching television on a sofa in a secluded upstairs crew rest area, a girl came up and offered freshly baked chocolate chip cokies, died and gone to heaven, bottom line call ahead and find out which field has and atmosphere that appeals to women and children. Guys have fond memories of landing at a windblown field right before a bad storm, ride to town with the mechanic, get the last room in the only hotel, make it across the street to the local joint just before the downpour really hits, have big steak and a couple of beers with the locals and start worrying about anything else in the morning, women don't think that is funny at all, ask me how I know...

Back seats located

You can't justify your behavior, your actions, your thoughts by speaking poorly about the company whose policy you abuse. This is about you, not them. Trying to rationalize by "not needing it anymore" to fit their policy is B.S. The policy is meant for people who buy something with the intent to keep it and realize they don't need it. It's not meant for people to "rent" their tool; that's not the business they are in and you know it. While it wouldn't meet the common legal definition of theft, I think most people do view it as theft. We all know that some people with low morals violate the social contract to their advantage... advertising it to others/defending the behavior when called out on it take it to a whole other level. Just donate the tools to the airport, EAA chapter, etc if you don't want to take them home. Be a good person. Be an example.

After talking to several people at Lasar and others, I had a better understanding of what they were trying to do, and it actually makes sense from their perspective, albeit a touch myopic, but only because of how convoluted and difficult it is to explain from their perspective. In their view, they are trying to keep the Type Certificate alive and operating. If they cannot figure out how to make this work financially, the foreign owners will keep the TC active but take all the data and and engineering back to china and provide no support whatsoever. this will be a much different outcome than examples like the commander, because abandoning the TC actually makes production of parts by others much easier. If the TC is not abandoned then permission by the holder must be obtained. From their perspective I think the “support” was analogous to us paying an annual fee for access to this site. Aka keeping the TC alive and accessible. Even as I write this, I can see the challenge explaining this and soliciting funding for something so intangible and nebulous. If their plan was the better option than losing control of the TC I suppose remains to be seen… Selling parts that are not Mooney specific, at double the competitors price does not appear to be a well thought out strategy either, but personally, I see their efforts as more clumsy and desperate than exploitative. I could be wrong about all of this as well, it’s just my opinion, and based on limited information, and admittedly cursory understanding of the FAR as it pertains to this subject. PS.... Before I am flamed, I am not advocating for participation nor abandonment of this concept, just trying to share what I learned.

Wow, so it’s been a little over a year since this journey started! And it’s getting very close to completion. The plane is now at paint which by design was the final step. to date here is what I have done: changed landing gear pucks rebuilt 1 mag and replaced other with surefly new fine wire plugs new ignition harness mt prop and spinner New prop governor new engine driven fuel pump new fuel boost pump new alternator and hub all new engine hoses new engine mounts baffle tune up and replace as necessary one new turbo, one rebuilt new ELT flight stream 210 for flight stream for flight plan upload wass upgrade new transponder with Adsb in and out Type S conversion all new insulation with 1” SoundEX all new windows and windshield with 1/4” glass and UV protection completely new interior and glareshield new amsafe seat belts, inflators and sensors new rear seat belts new led light conversion new light lenses new tires lemo plugs in rear added complete brake overhaul with new hoses Most recent g1000 software compete detail of interior and fuselage once interior removed new style fuel cap install complete strip and reseal of tanks new comms antennas Bore scope review from savvy with prophylactic valve lapping change all intake valve seals (little less than one quart per 10-12 hours since) change all rotocoils new air filter new inflatable door seal & new baggage door seal. complete TKS system service, with many new lines, filter, prop tube and reglued all TKS strips punishingly thorough annual with Brian Kendrick. There is also and endless list of little things that I can’t even remember. The goal was to make this as close to a brand new plane as possible, and make it completely squawk free. The only item I haven’t done yet are the batteries. I’m planning to use the earthX batteries. The concords are 7 years old and test good for now, if the stc for the batteries was done I would have replaced, if it isn’t done by the time I need them I will install with a field approval. now…. I just have to convince the wife to let me keep it! PS sorry for poor interior photos, lighting was awful when I had my chance and when I went back to the paint shop it was masked off and unavailable to photograph. Really excited about the paint, Joe with Hawk is the real deal super nice guy, great communication, and lets me nitpick to my OCD’s content. Hoping to give birth in march!

xkcd nailed it.

When I bought my first plane, my wife boldly announced she would not fly with me for two years. I said that’s fine by me, I’ll meet you wherever we are going 14 months later her father became ill, and rather quickly, we got the call that we needed to come immediately, she acquiesced and agreed to fly with me, a 3.5-4 hour flight depending on winds. Her father rallied and this happened another 7 or 8 times over the next several months. The second to last time I could not go because the plane was in annual, and I had work obligations. She gloated all night about how happy she was to be on an airline, and the fact that she didn’t have to be careful with her packing and how nice it was. The next morning she was up at 5am for the car service and was gone… The following day I was about to call her to see how things were going, when I got this text verbatim: “GET THE DAMN AIRPLANE FIXED! I HAD A FOUR HOUR DELAY IN ATLANTA, THEY LOST OUR LUGGAGE, AND THE RENTAL CAR COMPANY GAVE OUR CAR AWAY!” She has never really objected to flying since, and now is expressing some pretty strong opinions on which will be our “forever” plane. She still white knuckles it a bit, but is generally a good sport. Our little airplanes sure do make our worlds that much smaller.

I’ve been hanging out in online groups almost as long as I’ve been involved in aviation, back to the rec.aviation usenet groups in the 1990s. I have learned an incredible amount from them but have also seen a a lot of BS. Bottom line, I think in any online group, one has to be discerning. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Opinion from verifiable fact. Requirement from preference. Trust but verify. Most every discussion with different viewpoints will ultimately devolve into nonsense. Insults, challenges to competence and its reverse, unsolicited statements of credentials intended to claim nonexistent authority, tit for tat, and the like. There are clues. You can join in the fun and games or move along to another discussion As far as I can tell, MooneySpace has not gone downhill. Specific threads will. Even in the best of places.

Some nice Lenticularis clouds over the Swiss Alps at today's flight from LIMG to EDKA at F160.

I think we all really appreciate the time, effort, and money everyone at EarthX has put in to bring new technology to our aging fleet. And the time you've take to help improve our understanding through this forum. Not many companies take the time to help the consumer in that way. Thanks!

There is a model for this. Cal Pacific Airmotive owns the type and production certificates for the P-51 and TF-51 and is also an FAA repair station. They do a good business servicing the warbird community. Need a part for your P-51? They can supply it or make it if they need to. Need your P-51 rebuilt or converted to a TF-51? They can do it. They have been doing this successfully for two generations. But, having once had the experience of trying to resurrect a failing business, I know that the financial overhang from previous operations can present an insurmountable cash drain.

If Mooney, in whatever parts distribution arrangement they have with LASAR, is not generating enough revenue to cover 1) variable cash costs, 2) the cost of real depreciation (real wear and tear of plant/machinery/tools) and 3) some meager return on the current cash investment (working capital) then they need to: Ruthlessly Cut Costs Aggressively Raise Prices Some combination of Both If they (Mooney/LASAR?) need to double or triple the price of Mooney built parts in order to survive, then they need to raise prices. The market will adapt. Mooneys will be scrapped and salvaged more frequently for what had been a repairable FUBAR in the past. Owners will seek out and rely more on salvaged parts. Owners will rely more upon OPP. Yes there will be more downtime for repairs while people scramble for parts, Yes the cost of owning a Mooney will go up, BUT the market will find equilibrium and Mooney will survive as a parts only business. Everyone acts like raising Mooney parts prices is the end of the world. But look at how Mooney owners react to other rising (some would say crazy) costs: In another topic right now there are Mooney owners that have no qualms about doing some combination or all of full avionics upgrades, MT props, EarthX batteries etc. (i.e about $100K) to gain a few pounds of UL. In another current topic, an owner of a 1961 M20B is looking at spending about $17K+ (and 2 year wait) to reseal 52 gal. fuel tanks. No-one is complaining. Everyone raves about "value". In a 2023 topic, an owner of a Bravo suggested it was realistic to budget about $120k for everything that needed to be done during a Lycoming Factory Rebuild. Of course the cost will be higher in 2026.... In a topic last year to a new pilot about a "new Mooney purchase" it was advised to plan on $75-$100K for avionics, $20K for strip and paint (probably low..), $10-15K for "interior refresh"., etc. No-one was complaining. Owners love to brag about the "value" of spending $80K++ on avionics/autopilot. The point is that you rarely see a post saying "These costs and prices are ridiculous. I am selling my Mooney and getting out of GA because I cannot stomach these eyewatering escalating costs". An exception is the unfortunate fatal crash of N79338 whose 2-owners ago in 2024 said here on MS, "I have neither the time nor the money to take care of 79338 at the moment." @Schllc, in a current Modern Mooney Discussion topic on "LASAR Prices" made the case that LASAR is sincerely trying to keep Mooney parts sales afloat, albeit the "Assurance" plan was "clumsy" and "convoluted". That is why I say that Mooney and LASAR should just keep it straightforward and charge the prices that they need to remain solvent and that "the market will bear". The market will seek equilibrium. It won't be the end of Mooney ownership. Higher parts prices may lure more suppliers like Univair to reverse engineer some parts. It is "capitalism" at work.

I found a neglected 1971 Aerostar Mooney 200. Very few built in this configuration. I was hoping I could save it, but I can’t. It has surface corrosion from sitting so many years in a hangar in Florida. I cleaned a few spots and didn’t see pitting in the skin. So if you’re good at prepping the surface and painting, the airframe should be fine. I’m not, so that’s why I passed. It still wears the original paint and interior and King radios. Surprisingly, the plastics are near perfect. A gear up in the early 2000’s led to a new prop & hub and engine overhaul including new mags. The prop logbook shows 35 hours flown after the repairs. The owners passed years ago and it has sat since. I also found nose gear damaged when I inspected it that wasn’t fixed. I’m selling the plane for the estate. I’ll post photos as it sits currently, dirt and all. It is not currently flyable. If there isn’t any interest I’ll reach out to the scrap vendors and let them part it out.

I removed my battery years ago and just hand prop it, best of all worlds.

As the name implies TOGA Take Off and Go Around - it’s good practice to use on every IFR takeoff and helps to put the aircraft in a safe pitch angle to engage the AP in an IFR climb, till you later use IAS to climb. Available on all the Garmin AP’s. We’ve seen a number of pilots not transition to instruments in nighttime and IFR departures and succumb to somatogravic illusion killing all aboard within just seconds of departure. Using the TOGA and pitching to the flight director is a simple defense till on AP properly configured safely above the ground. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some of the guys that used to work at AWI in Minnesota (now owned by Hartzell) started up another aerospace welding company nearby in Rogers, Minnesota. https://aircraftexhaustsystemsllc.com/contact/

I think cock fighting is illegal in all 50 states . . lol

I used to work with a mechanic who used to work for a small airline that flew twin otters. He was working on the engines one night and wanted to test them out, so he was doing high speed runs down the runway. On one run the plane got airborne and he closed the throttles, but didn’t think he could get it stopped, so he shoved the throttles to the max, flew it around the pattern and landed it again. He was a private pilot with about 100 hours. He swore he didn’t mean to do it. He said he never told anybody at the airline about it. It was an uncontrolled airport and he was the only one there.

I had a conversation with Bill Wheat (RIP) THE GURU of Mooney flight testing while in Kerrville many years ago. We touched on spins in Mooneys in that conversation. He stated that he once (while doing spin testing for Mooney) had one stay locked in the spin for 5 (FIVE) full rotations He said he almost didn't get out of it and NEVER wanted to do it again. So, DON'T INTENTIONALLY SPIN MOONEYS !! Enough said!

Glad the propeller is sorted and you are back in the air. Yes the Alps were gorgeous these days, we spent few days around and it was a blast ! Morzine heliport Annemasse with Mt Blanc Avoriaz above clouds

Are you suggesting that you normally climb with a full rich mixture? Don’t. You should be leaning as you climb for best power plus a bit if you need the additional cooling. The J doesn’t. If you left it full rich, your engine would quit long before it got to 18,000’. I would know. I’ve been to 180 in my J and it required some extremely aggressive leaning just to make it there. It wont do it with full tanks either. Half tanks and no more than one person is what it takes on an ISA minus day. There is no published service ceiling on the J.

I have my IPad pro with Velcro on top of my steam gauges. Now with GP pilot I have synthetic vision and can fly down to minimum (and a little more) without anything else. My SOP is after being cleared for the approach I stick my iPad on the panel and fly it all the way to land using the syn vision. I don't even need a radar altimeter because I get AGL altitude using the GPS.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/5-types-of-people-who-can-ruin-your-life/201711/five-types-of-high-conflict-personalities

New Year’s Day with the grandsons, short flight to orbit the house and wave hello to Mama and Grammy. We’re off to a great start!

Nowhere. You're perfect and we are glad to have you here helping all of us. Our own DanG here in Mooneyspace.

**Don't feed the troll, don't feed the troll** Oh well... It's the approach at my home airport that I have flown enough that it is committed to memory. Isn't that how everyone's mind works? Did you miss the part where I said I still use my EFB on every approach? Good grief.

I'm thinking you guys should start a thread and take on healthcare or affordability.

Merry Xmas in 2025 Merry Christmas to all and to all a good flight

Ray, those are great questions but not all easy to answer. I do know we have the data that should demonstrate my educated guess that how hard you run your engine in cruise should be the #1 factor in determining longevity. But I personally don't think how well you micromanage your engine in flight is all that important - but I ,may be misinterpreting your question. But what I am responding too is that the vast majority of pilots stick to single cruise profile for the majority of their flying. But those that don't operate higher than 65% power in cruise have the best chance for longevity; providing they fly frequently enough to keep corrosion at bay. I will add, without naming names, I have a few really smart Mooney client owners that know how to get the most power out of their fire breathing Turbo's safely - or as gently as possible running them at a much higher % cruise power LOP. Because they know exactly what they're doing they're not suffering from greatly shortened lifespan. But they still aren't getting the longevity of someone operating much more conservatively as Mike B recommends. But I believe this to an intentional choice of the pilot/owner making the age old choice tradeoff between speed/performance and longevity and willingness to accept that tradeoff. Afterall, most of us buy Mooney's to go fast and are willing to pay more per hour to be able to do so. At least IMO, there is no right or wrong answer here just lots of tradeoffs to consider and choices that we all make in our flying. But I do believe from my observations working with Savvy nearly 10 years working the Mooney fleet worldwide exclusively, that its much more important for a pilot to be quite knowledgeable on combustion science to be able to operate above 65% power as gently as possible on the engine (i.e. stay out of the red box of high ICPs). Since above 65% its not hard to mistreat the engine, but below you can't do any harm wrt to mixture. But it takes a lot of such events to probably result measurably in a shorter like span. But I no data to prove this; just my observations. Of course I have seen engines destroyed in minutes by some very crazy mistakes. About half of my time with Savvy is simply to help educate pilots in how to run LOP; which as an educator and CFI I am more than happy to do. When it comes to burning valves I have to say it rarely has anything to do with the pilot and generally totally out of the pilots control. Its much more the fault of the cylinder, lack of perfect concentricity of valve to valve guide etc. Its really not in our control except to monitor them and lap valves at an early stages of seeing a hot spot while it can still be reversed. I have some clients that borescope at every 25-35 hr oil change and lap any valve that shows distress of significantly reduced compression and a couple have cylinders going on 3500 hrs from doing so! I don't think I answered your questions directly but I hope that helped.

One of the basic tenets of the Dunning-Kruger club is that you don't know that you're in the Dunning-Kruger club.

This is the only relevant advice in the thread. I'm sure everyone here touting their great experiences with the various brands is sincere. But honestly, it doesn't tell you anything about the experience you'll have in your own airplane. All the major vendors have excellent return policies, and most pilots have friends willing to loan. Plan from the start to try a bunch of different options, then pick what works best for you.

I'm in my late late 70s and just got renewed but with a $200 kicker over last year Full coverage but bear in mind I fly 60+ hrs a year and have 19,000+ hrs retract. I've been with the same company for years. I kind of feel (no empirical data ) that advanced licenses (ATP, ME, Type ratings ) and lots of hrs helps along with currency beyond 10 hrs a year. Quite frankly, if you're not flying more than 50 hrs a year when over 70 you need to rethink doing it. Not only is flying ability a fragile commodity that dies away from low use but the thought process doesn't recover as fast after a layoff. Cognitive processes start to slide after 60 or so. You can't avoid it. Set your own reasonable limits (for me its now day VFR only) and stick to them. One might look around at some of us "older" pilots and our "personal limits" and see a trend in limiting our liability after decades of experience. There is a reason. Ya' all be safe out there.

Absolutely. Use-and-return is a scam and it only causes prices to go up for everyone. If someone does not like a particular retailer, for whatever reason, they should just shop elsewhere, but not cause deliberate harm that will affect all consumers, not just the retailer. Sad to see that members of Mooney community would engage in such dishonest conduct.

Lean as you climb, some think just keeping the EGTs about the same as takeoff is good practice. Just watch CHT and oil temp as well. You won't be burning anywhere near 15-16 gph as you go up whether you lean or not. You'll only use that at lower altitude where the air is denser. If you're careful with the wind over the ridges you can often use that to assist climb.

wow sim here, i figure i'm just my wifes plane uber, first Thanksgiving after getting the IR, it was her that suggested we fly to our destination rather than drive. she said quote, "I thought you took the test, get in the damn plane"

My wife probably has over 1,000 hours in the Mooney now and her tolerance for bumpy air has increased tremendously. But, the first few years flights fell into two categories. If we were going up to just fly around or get lunch somewhere it needed to be silky smooth. If we were on a 2-4 hour flight to see parents in AZ or grandkids in UT then light chop for the entire flight was tolerable.

Is it just me or are we looking at pictures AFTER the rescue squad has cut the cockpit open to extract the occupants?

My wife and I have been traveling with our twins since they were a few months old. We’ve done a 5 hour leg, lots of 4 hour legs, and many 2 hour trips. I personally don’t think going over 4 hours on a leg is good for anyone. 2 x 2 hour legs is probably ok, but id skip the stop and push through instead. My son can stand in the front seat and use a piddle pak. Daughter has done the same in back (with wife’s help), although planning to not use a piddle pack is best but you should have them available! And extra ziplocks! Its sometimes hard to do a second leg in the summer as it gets bumpy and there goes passenger comfort. Always fly in the morning!! Maybe you don’t get the thermal bumps as much in Canada, but trust me, morning is always better. Even if it takes waking up early. Kindles and oxygen were gamechangers for us. We’re a relatively screen free house (at least for the kids), but they get to watch movies on their own kindles in the airplane! Boy does that make life easier, however, if you want them to appreciate the view and the actual flying, forget about it. Wife is usually reading a book. Make sure yours has something to do. Also, my wife rides in back where it’s easier for her to reach/help everyone. Ooh, bring good plane snacks and water that you can eat/drink without making a mess in the airplane! Kids need food to be happy. Oh yeah, back to oxygen… we use it all the time. Even in my F, flying at 10k, after a 4 hour leg, the difference in how you feel is night and day. Kids have been fine with cannulas since they were about 4 or 5. Finally, know how to use the isolate function on your intercom and just do it! You’ll be shocked how quickly a pax (especially a young one) can distract you and you lose your situational awareness. Shocking. My kids are getting slightly better and they are 10. It can really sneak up on you. Also, make sure they have reasonable noise canceling headsets and you have a way for them to watch the kindle with sound but without you having to listen to Barney or Bluey or whatever for 4 hours!

1. You have ample physical evidence that the high temps are real. Use the well probe -- it will be the most accurate. 2. Intake leaks are most noticeable at low power, but if that cylinder is running leaner than the others it should drop out well before the others when leaning aggressively. 3. The rate of the temperature rise on takeoff together with the damage caused to the first cylinder could indicate preignition. Since this happened on two cylinders in the same position, it would have to caused by something you did not change such as the plugs or the magnetos. It's possible one of the plugs has a cracked insulator. When one of the insulators cracked on my engine it would do something similar at high power. I would replace the plugs in that cylinder with new ones. 4. I would borescope the new cylinder to determine if there has been any damage.

Do you find that the phonograph skips unless the air is really smooth?

Maybe we can get @Aaviationist here to argue with Jack.

Its not only unsupervised interns- a local shop hired a newly minted A&P who promptly twisted the nose gear of a Comanche so hard it actually split the entire oleo strut housing open. Your shop sounds like a worthy shop with the way they have stepped up to fix the issue. I would even use them after seeing their professionalism on this issue. The mark of a good shop is how they recover from a problem because every shop will have a problem at some time or another.