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So for those of you who dont know, Andrew and I are getting married on the 8th Dec at the Fitzrovia Chapel in London, fitzroviachapel.org. We cannot be happier, and although I know you are not joining us, Andrew and I see you as part of our extended family and we will,raise a glass to you all on the day. We will post photos the moment we have them. In the meantime we have been taking part in a promo campaign for the British Heart Foundation. Bhf.org.uk. Check put the photos and videos. It will amuse your thanksgiving celebrations. Thank you for being such wonderful guys. Andrew

After flying with me a bit, my wife commented that going forward she'd know how to get my attention when I'm not listening to her. "Hey! 252 Alpha Delta!" She says it works better than using my name

Many of you remember my turbo failure at FL 190 a few years ago on the way to see my dad on his death bed. Well, my new engine gave me some excitement at nearly the same altitude today, at about the same time of the year too. I decided to take the first flight out of my airport area (had over 3.5 hours right over the airport with no issues) by heading to Pittsburgh for some business. I really wanted to fly the Lancair (time wise), but needed hours on the new Mooney engine so I can sell it. I flew over at FL 240 with a decent tailwind, adjusting manifold pressure up or down 1" and/or RPM +/- 50 every 10 minutes, per Jewell Aviation's break in procedure for the first 10 hours. It was an uneventful flight, other than getting a STAR and full ILS into KAGC. Coming out, I was eventually cleared to FL 230, still flying the SID, climbing through FL19.5 and I heard a loud "pop" and then the engine started running a bit rough. I first looked at RPM and oil pressure, everything was fine. My next glance went to manifold pressure and it had dropped from 38" to 20". Knowing a bunch of my Lancair friends flying the big bore, turbocharged, Continentals have had trouble either blowing turbo boost hoses or clamps, I suspected this was my issue. I was just being transferred from one Cleveland controller (the low altitude one handling FL 230 and below,) to the high altitude controller and was given FL 240. I called him back and said I would likely not even hit FL 200 and would need to go down, explaining my engine issue and likely failure mode. I asked for an airport to the west, as it appeared VMC compared to along my flight path. A local pilot, hearing my situation, suggested New Philadelphia (KPHD) and that's where I headed. He gave me FL 180 immediately and 9K within minutes. He asked if I wanted to declare an emergency and I said not yet, as I suspected I would gain back some engine power as I descended (which I did). He soon handed me over to Akron Approach and they were more than awesome helping me spiral down to the airport, even insisting I call when I landed so they knew everything worked out. While spiraling down the last 4K to the airport, I saw someone landing and was concerned they were doing T&G's, so announced my situation. The guy, flying a Cherokee 6, not only offered help, he monitored my progress until I landed and then came over and helped me remove the engine cowls to find the issue...........a broken clamp on the very first intake hose coming off the turbo. His name was Brian, and he called Eric, the airport manager/mechanic, who arrived within 30 minutes on a Sunday evening to help. I had a serious weather system coming across the Midwest / Michigan, and if I didn't get out within a few hours, I would likely have been stuck there until Tuesday. He had some new clamps and helped me install one and both guys helped me re-cowl the engine so I could depart. Total ground time....less than 2 hours. I appropriately compensated (with cash) the mechanic, although I may send him a check as well. Brian would not take a thing from me........even getting insulted that I would try to pay him. Pretty impressive!!! I thought this might come back to an issue with the installing mechanic, but seeing the clamp failed at the base of the screw assy, it appears just fatigue. I did run into some weather with the delay.....seeing some pretty serious icing for a while (oh man, do I love that TKS!!) and turbulence. But, I made it home for a late supper and a relaxing 20 minutes in my hot tub. Now I know why the prospective buyer wants 10-20 hours on it before buying it. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1017L/history/20181125/2040Z/KAGC/KIMT https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1017L Tom

....so passed my Commercial practical today... badum dum. Ok, I may have ripped that title and punch line from POA, but oh well. Poor weather in the NE had today be the third attempt at getting this accomplished. Umm, now what? On to Multi. Where can I get a twin Mooney from? Yes, I know about the original M22 twin prototype.

Had a short flight to Andalusia, AL on Saturday for the South Alabama Air Show. It was a blast! Great performances from everyone, and a huge variety of acts. Even had a special visitor. and the best sunset when I landed at home! It was a surprisingly good show, clear blue skies, calm winds and comfortable temperatures. Huge variety of performers, from Cub to MiG-17, with a B-52H "special guest" that made 3 passes before heading out. You never know what you will find at a small, out-of-the-way air show. No admission charge, either. I made sure to buy fuel, and had great lunch from an area civic group. Flying down and back was smooth as glass and very satisfying. The whole day just made me feel good!

This has been my experience in the busy airspace of Southern California as well as flying into Phoenix, over Vegas, and into Salt Lake. I have heard people stumbling over them selves and had ATC tell them to hold on or hold outside Bravo airspace while they have cleared myself or others in/through. On occasion I have not received a response to an initial call up but usually within about 5-10 minutes I am in another sector here and can pick it up from the next controller. I'm a VFR pilot who likes to use FF. There are a couple of other advantages that I can think of that I think have been alluded to. One is that those who fly with me are very used to me putting up my hand which they know means stop talking or telling them hold on because I am trying to listen to or answer a call. In a way it conditions them that there are times to be quiet. The other is that it keeps my radio skills up. I love this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.” The more I use the radios the easier it becomes, which frees up my mind for other things. In the event of an emergency I want talking on the radio to be a normal "don't even have to think about it" type of thing, one less item contributing to cognitive overload.

Back on topic, The Mooney Summits Bill Gilliland foundation is in contact with Larry Nelson's daughter, Cathrine Nelson and will be providing assistance. RIP Larry.

I pulled a jug off a 2000 hour O-360 due to low compression, only to find that the upper compression ring was never installed 1300 hours ago when the engine was repaired following camshaft failure. It always had good compression until now when it was 20/80 Clarence

Happy to discuss with anyone offline. There are some inaccuracies in that report, and some points I disagree with. My personal approach changes, though, I'm happy to share. A purchasing criteria for my next (current) plane was a fuel totalizer; 3RM came with a FS-450 and it's now equipped with an EDM-830 with fuel flow. That, in turn, is connected (RS-232) to the GNS430W, configured to calculate (and constantly display) fuel required to the destination. I cross-check the totalizer against the factory fuel gauges (which, in 3RM, are rock steady - though I do have to thump them before the engine is running, to get a reading) at every tank switch I check the accuracy of the fuel remaining calculation at every fill-up. (I have Main = 50 (tabs), Aux = 14 (full fuel). I also visually check the tanks with a dipstick (it's pre-fab and calibrated for a C172, but adding 5 to what it shows is reliably conservative). The dipstick and "add 5" instructions came courtesy the previous owner, but I've verified its accuracy. My personal minimums have also increased. I had about 300 hours PIC on 9/22/2017 (and my PPL was less than 2 years old). 4BE was my first plane. I'm at >445 PIC now (including 93 in the Mooney that replaced 4BE). I wish I could say they were all uneventful, but I did have an energency landing at Pt. Mugu NAS (a piece of the ram air door gasket broke off and ended up lodged in thr fuel servo throttle body), but the plane survived unscathed and after a 4 month, five figure annual, we're back in the air. (After a cautious few trips around the pattern during her RTS flight, I flew her home to TOA on 11/3, then up to PRB for a "confidence rebuilding" lunch run, then out to Marana to finish avionics work - the autopilot pitch servo had been sent out to S-Tec for servive, and the EDM-700 and FS-450 were swapped for the EDM-830. Marana to Paso Robles to pick up a friend Friday night, back to Torrance. Today, flew to Boulder City, picked up a fellow MooneySpacer, stole his Aerox 2C, and shot a few practice approaches with him as my safety pilot. Then back to TOA.) 23 hours since the emergency landing at NTD (17.5 in 3RM herself), I'm back to what I comsider a healthy level of skeptical confidence in her. She's been on oil analysis for a decade (which I'm continuing). A big reason for getting the -830 was being introduced to SavvyAnalysis, which I'm now using to watch engine trends. Multiple A&Ps and IAs have had eyes on her, and she's running smooth and strong. I'm taking the Advanced Pilot Seminars engine course, etc. I had my first ever BFR on the anniversary of the crash - unintentionally, and I didn't even realize it until after the fact. (I wanted a particular CFI, who I knew held pilots to very high standards; as he's also an airline captain, his availability is tight. 9/2018 was also the anniversary of my IR checkride.) An instructor I "know" through the global aviation community (who sadly passed yesterday) once had this to say; it resonates with me: "Whenever we talk about a pilot who has been killed in a flying accident, we should all keep one thing in mind. He called upon the sum of all his knowledge and made a judgment. He believed it so strongly that he knowingly bet his life on it. That his judgment was faulty was a tragedy, not stupidity. Every inspector, supervisor, and contemporary who ever spoke to him had an opportunity to influence his judgment, so a little of all of us goes with every pilot we lose." I've taked to a lot of people since the 4BE crash, and I'm going to keep talking to people. People I can learn from, and people who might learn a thing or two from what I've been through. I feel damned lucky to be alive, let alone still flying. All I can do is what I've been doing: continue to improve and learn all I can; impart what I can; and fly the safest plane I can afford in the safest way I know how. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Last week a Piper Dakota went down in Iowa with 4 on board. It was believed that the pilot had a heart attack and a student pilot passenger was attempting to divert to a near by airport. The recent toxicology reports showed the victims all had elevated levels of CO. This is the first CO accident that I know of since mine nearly 2 years ago. It's hitting me hard. Through Mooneyspace, Beechtalk, and other online forums we have reached a lot of people. In my estimation its around 700 detectors that have been sold thought the discounts or a direct result of my accident. It's a great number, but clearly we have a long way to go. I think most everyone on Mooneyspace has a detector. But if you don't, get one. If you do, try to convince your hanger neighbors and fellow airport bums to get one. I wish I would have got my story in front of this pilot and convinced him to buy one. https://www.kcci.com/article/state-medical-examiner-gives-causes-of-death-in-fatal-small-plane-crash/25182073?fbclid=IwAR3e1gn_onOp7_V2K4xHeEYFe41zyfpWw9A4v0fRhp8VABjtVO313aT2OEU The discounts are still being offered from Sensorcon and Guardian. Both generously offering us pilots 20% off. http://www.sensorcon.com Code: aircraft2017 http://www.guardianavionics.com Code: coaware Dan

I've used flight following on every VFR cross country flight of any distance over 50 nm since 1986. Nine years later when I was working on my instrument rating my instructor commended me on my radio procedures and etiquette and commented that one of the biggest challenges for many of his IFR students is transitioning into the "IFR system". All of the radio transmissions I had heard while on flight following certainly helped. There is absolutely traffic which ATC has called out which has not shown up on Foreflight. If I cancel IFR I still stay on VFR flight following. I pay for ATC with my fuel tax, I'm going to take advantage of it. Even if I was charged a user fee for using it, I would still use it. I can chat with my passengers on the ground or in between radio transmissions, but since they have trusted me with their lives my number one responsibility to them is to get them back to the ground safely. I will use every means available to add to that safety. Thinking that an uncertified app on an uncertified device receiving traffic from another uncertified device is as good as the world's best air traffic system borders on crazy. Tablets and apps have their place and they have added to situational awareness and traffic awareness but there are things they can't replace. (One of many examples: https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=160901)

Made first use of my PIN today to fly into the inner ring of the SFRA. College Park is one of the three Maryland airports that require the background check. Nice friendly urban airport and once I figured out which phone numbers to call to file and which for clearance delivery, no different than any IFR flight. A pretty afternoon near Annapolis.

I replaced all 3 tires and tubes, because they were worn out. Other than that, the only part we replaced was gascolator gaskets. My last annual was $7,000. I did all the labor on this one, the IA just followed up and inspected my work. I spent under $1500 total for the whole shebang. And, stuff actually got done. The folks who did my $7,000 annual did not do about half of the things they were supposed to.

Per the Minister of Finance, (my wife) this aircraft is not for sale. She insists that we keep it.

Probably running LOP.....

Wicked Mooney M20C wing-tip vortex! Evening/night flight to try out the upgraded NAV lights. Seen flying from TCL-EET off the right wing. Taken by my copilot.

Thanks, Dan. This week, I had the TKS filter changed in my Bravo. I recently had the exhaust system overhauled as well. The next flight out upon takeoff, the CO meter went off and the CO concentration in the cabin quickly climbed to over 300 ppm. Previously, I had never seen it go above 15 ppm. After the cowling was removed to inspect the exhaust system and firewall, the mechanic and I checked the belly panels that he removed to install the TKS filter. One of them was not seated correctly, leaving a small gap in the panel right where the exhaust flows along the fuselage belly. Seated the panel and sealed correctly, problem solved. The CO meter may have saved my life. Alex

Early in training for my IR I had a controller that was also in training, I'm sure it sounded like we both were partially incapacitated

Dan, I teach for AOPAs air safety institute - i travel around the country doing flight instructor refresher courses for those who want to renew their CFI. Your story made a huge impact on me. I now have a sensor in my airplane. I also present your story at every one of my clinics (25-35ppl) and highlight what your market research has lead you to believe is one of the best sensors out there. I also ask at the end of the class who is going to go out and buy a sensor. At my last class, 10 instructor hands went in the air. Wanted to share. I hope these cfis pass this to their students as well. Keep being a voice for safety - your saving more lives than you know.

Come fly in Texas. Lots of radar coverage, very sparse ADSB coverage. And the controllers very much appreciate us using FF all the time.

A nice IFR trip from Chesapeake, VA (KCPK) to the Dayton, OH area (I73) last week. Above an ice containing overcast at 8000 ft. The sunset approaching Dayton was truly a sight - the photo, although nice, does not due mother nature justice. Admission was a near 40 kt head wind. It's Unfortunate that there so many terrestrial based individuals have no idea what we are so fortunate to experience.

I haven't heard anything from Garmin since I dropped off the plane regarding the status update on the STC. They did contact me on the panel layout, I approved it. Then later they contacted me saying my original clock did match up with the new panel Mooney sent them. They told me it would take a lot of millwork to put my old clock back in and asked if they couldn't just put in another model and they would pay for it. My contract says I get the plane back on or around December 20th. They are allowed to fly it up to 35 hours for testing. From what I have seen on Flightaware they have started flying it and must be at least 1/3rd of the way through testing. December 20th and 35 hours were supposed to be a conservative estimate to get their STC so it must be getting close. I am responsible for any maintenance items that come up and they need to have my permission for more than 35 hours. So I think everything is going as they plan. From what I understand they are not just retrofitting 2 G5s, they are making a whole new panel for me and moving things around. They have asked me where I what everything positioned and are paying for new panels to be made. I am ready to get my plane back. I got a great deal from Garmin, but seriously missing my Mooney.

Hello all, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed some relaxing time with their families. I was high bidder at this year’s Summit for the original art work donated by @bonal and am absolutely delighted with the painting. I would like to thank John for donating his talent to the Mooney Summit as well as those of you who support the event. If you have not been, I would highly recommend attending next year and will guarantee you will come away a better, safer pilot. John was a pleasure to work with. He truly enjoys painting and loves Mooneys, who better to commission for a painting of your Mooney?After sending some photos to John, we discussed my flying experiences and settled on a background of the Great Smoky Mountains (Clingman’s Dome) since that is the most visually dramatic portion of my frequent trips from Ocala to Dayton. John kept me posted via email on the progress and even had the painting framed before sending it. He is a class act! I have my original of 88V hanging over my desk in my home office and have received many compliments. Thank you John.

Salty, Some people share their Mooney experience, and copy it around often... because it is helpful when you don’t have the experience or knowledge yourself... Some people actually have some skills that measure this weird stuff for a living... Some of these people might be called polymer scientists or polymer engineers... They may have only studied rubber manufacturing and design for a few days... Some actual rubber test equipment can be found here... https://www.testresources.net/standards/astm/astm-d1229-rubber-compression-set-test-equipment/ It is true, rubber creeps (spreads out) over time... under pressure, in warm environments... (glass does too, even slower...) The hotter the environment, the faster the creep... The heavier the load compressing the rubber, the faster the creep... These physical characteristics can be modified by chemical design... It is also true that some people write in a way that it sounds like they are stating facts... If we have to prove everything we say, and leave a reference each time... It won’t be enjoyable enough for anyone to hang around... Consider it all a casual conversation amongst friends... you can learn enough to find the info you are looking for... if you ask for a reference, often people will supply that too... If you want to point out some wild ideas... find José when he discusses some of his ice prevention coatings... that may work for an unknown brief period of time... Everyone has some knowledge to offer, it isn’t going to be perfect... José is really good at fuel tank facts. Probably nobody around knows as much. So don’t block him out because he states something factually weird about his pee tube... You get a lot of good, with all the quirkiness... sometimes somebody will use humor without letting you know it is intended to be humor... we have a sign for that as well... And sometimes you get a phrase like this one... PP thoughts only, from a polymer engineer, not a mechanic... Best regards, -a-

The last couple of days I've been doing transition training for a pilot that just purchased an Ovation. He had 175 hours in a 172 before we started yesterday and the Ovation is the first airplane he's owned. As we taxied out for the first time he kept saying "I can't believe I'm taxiing my own airplane", then right after the first takeoff he kept saying "I can't believe I'm flying my own airplane". We'll have 20 hours together to get him up to speed but his first two landings yesterday were perfect greasers. The first two today were too but the last one each day wasn't as good, I think he was getting overloaded and fatigued. Coming back to Tucson today the tower told us we were overtaking a Lear jet by 30 knots. Then a few seconds later they told us we were now overtaking the Lear by 40-50 knots. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger smile on a Mooney pilot's face. LiveATC recording attached for your listening pleasure. N59FM111619.mov