Leaderboard

It’s finally time to fit the cowling to my bird. It’s been far too long to get to this point, but it’s finally happening. It’s much more carbon fiber than I first thought it would be and super light compared to the original. Time to see if it fits correctly. David

Just wanted to give Alan Fox a big thanks on this forum! I was having trouble finding an emergency gear extension cable assembly for my ‘70 F model, so I went to the internet for help. Alan had the assembly, and I just happened to be on a layover in Philadelphia, 45 minutes from Alan. He picked me up, showed me what a real Philly cheesesteak was, brought me to his shop, gave me the tools to verify the working order of the part, and drove me to the train station to go back to my hotel! Had a great experience, and made another aviation friend! Thanks Alan!

So I guess I'll update this. I flew the Mooney up to Winchester, TN this Tuesday on my way to Springfield, IL. Nice little airport for cheap gas but it wasn't long before the weather started closing in. I tied the plane down and covered it. I blew up my air mattress in the FBO and had cheese crackers for dinner since Uber wasn't running. Soon my phone was going off for tornado warnings. The winds got BAD. light poles were twisting in the wind. Power to the entire city goes out. I ran out and put more tie-downs on the plane and sat in darkness as the wind picked up to 45+ mph and got REALLY scared if she was going to get hit or not. The building was creaking and shaking. I sat by a window with my pulse skyrocketing for about 40 minute until it calmed down. The next morning, staff came in and confirmed my suspicions- a tornado touched down less than a mile from the airport. A quick check of the controls and systems turned out the Mooney fared fine. The next morning, I filed and climbed out of a thin overcast layer and finished the next 3 hours in smooth air. Made me wish Rosen made visors for the older birds. I used my laminated checklist as a visor for several hours I arrived into Springfield and quickly met my new coworkers. We're flying 172s for 6 months and it wasn't long before the Mooney was pressed into action- we needed to head east to Indianapolis to retrieve one of the Cessnas Two Cessnas and the Mooney in their new home for the time being. We still need to go to Iowa next week to get two other planes (yes I've already warned them about the nose truss)

My airplane had been stuck in Stockton for the past 3 weeks. I had taken it over there to get my prop deice fixed. It was completed a day after the "social distancing" went into effect. It didn't occur to me until a couple of days ago that there was a way to get it back without the need of another person helping me to get over there. I called Atlantic at San Jose International where my airplane is based and asked them if they could get me a car for a one way trip. After talking with Hertz they confirmed, yes. So, for $58 I could drive over and leave the car at Atlantic in Stockton. So armed with a large can of Lysol Spray, Clorox antiseptic wipes, CVS wipes I had bought before they were impossible to get, and several pair of 5 mil Nitrile gloves from a stash I had bought before all this happened, I drove down to the airport yesterday to pick up the car. I put on the gloves and pickup up the keys. I opened the car and spayed it down with the Lysol Spray and wiped the dash and steering wheel with a Clorox wipe. I still was a little uncomfortable driving the hour and a quarter (usually an hour and forty five minutes, but with no traffic...) to Stockton because I didn't have a mask (impossible to get now). My thought process in doing all of this was that I would only have to interact with 2 people, the Hertz person and the Atlantic person in Stockton when I dropped off the keys. I had already asked Mark at Top Gun to leave the plane outside with the keys and logbook entry. So far so good. I dropped off the keys and walked over to Top Gun where the plane was outside as planned. I did the preflight and opened the door. I sprayed the Lysol over the cockpit, wiped down the glare shield and yokes with the Clorox wipe, and kept the gloves on. I started up and taxied for takeoff. I planned on stopping at Byron, C83, for "cheap" fuel. I was cleared for takeoff, and as I started rolling I noticed a crackling sound over my headset but discounted it as a battery issue. However, as I gained speed, I noticed the AOA did not light up as expected. I aborted the takeoff, knowing from a previous experience that the AOA connector was probably not hooked up. So much for my planned 2 person interaction. At least this issue would be dealt with outside. As I walked down the wing walk, I was shocked to notice that the baggage door latch was in the open position. That was the takeoff noise. I profusely thanked the mechanic for forgetting to hook up the AOA. In the past I always check the baggage door before getting into the plane. I also do a quick look over my shoulder before taking off. During the heat of this battle I didn't, and it almost bit me in the a.. Extra care in these times needs be exercised when other things may be on your mind. Other than a bumpy flight over to C83 and winds on landing at 14G24, the flight was uneventful. The gloves were unnatural to me but all the avionics worked with them on. I've not worn gloves pumping fuel in the past, but will in the future. After topping off, it was off again to KSJC. I pickup up flight following on the way back. I've never heard 125.35, one of the major frequencies into the Bay Area, so quiet. I almost asked for a radio check, but as I was about to key the mic, the controller came on and handed me off to the next frequency. San Jose Tower was next. On downwind I saw only a couple of Southwest planes at the terminal. Many times on landing when I ask for a back taxi on the runway if traffic permits, it doesn't. No problem this time. For the time I was at the airport no other planes either landed or took off. Really unusual for San Jose. So the plane is back home in its hangar, and I'm back home to continue our indefinite Shelter in Place.

Mooney on the Mooney

I have lived through some hard times in aviation sales in my 25 years in the business and while I don't necessarily want to face another one, I know that I probably will before I retire. This one may be a little different. After 9/11, the market came roaring back. I am expecting this one may be similar. The recession of 2008 was rough but we still sold planes, albeit at reduced prices. I don't see prices falling too much for at least a year on this one, and that is IF we fall into a recession as a result. The one thing we have with this blip is the whole 'social distancing' thing and how it relates to airline travel. I wonder if there might be a little bump in GA to fill the travel needs of those who have the means and the ability to purchase an aircraft.

I don’t normally post anymore and if you read some of the threads on this site lately, you know why. I would like to give you a perspective from someone who manages people in Singapore, Spain, Denmark, Italy, China, the United States and few other places in this world. The reason China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are fairing better is they have a disciplined culture. Of course some of that discipline is placed on them. But none the less, they took this situation seriously from the start and reacted accordingly. Taiwan was the role model in this pandemic but Singapore’s DEFCON approach also was solid. China is opening back up for business. I have an employee in Singapore who’s spouse is traveling to China for business. What discipline is applied? Upon arrival in China, they are sequestered, go through a medical screening and if okay, they are handed a barrier suite, mask, gloves and are bussed to a hotel where they are isolated for 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks and they are clean, they can conduct business in China. Upon their return to Singapore they reverse the process. My employee is pleased they will see their spouse in 42 days. That is a discipline. Hell, in this country we can’t even get Hank to buy into ADS-B, how well do you think this discipline will be accepted by Americans? I was on a briefing last night on China. Wuhan’s Hubei is still locked down but other provinces are relaxing restrictions. Wuhan only reported 1 new case last week and it is expected their restrictions will be relaxed shortly. This is a country that has been in lockdown mode since before the beginning a year. They have flattened the curve but are standing on top of that curve. As for Italy comments, wow! The reason Northern Italy was hit hard was not only because of an elderly population (oldest population behind Japan) but because Northern Italy is a favorite ski resort for people all around the world. And by the time they recognized what was happening, it was already entrenched and soon overwhelmed the medical capacity. My Italian employee’s father is a physician. They certainly are not attributing all deaths to the virus, in fact they need to know the cause to help determine whether untested deaths are virus related. And for you, it’s a “normal flu” people. You don’t convert ice rinks to morgues in a “normal flu” season. This is a “novel” virus. There ain’t no cure (asked the guy who died taking chloroquine phosphate thinking it could ward off the virus). The best we can hope for is containment until we have good treatments and a vaccine (and let’s pray it doesn’t mutate too many times). And for you members of Darwin’s Club. Please, by all means, go out with Lt. Governor Patrick and get yourself infected. The rest of us monkeys will be watching from the trees. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Good Evening all, Just a quick update on the MAX rebooting solution: We have submitted a resolution in regards to the isolated supply chain issues we identified to you a short while ago regarding the ProMAX to the FAA. We are now within the window of approval from the FAA which could take up to 30 days, but we are actively working to get that timeline expedited. Once approved, the change will be a simple field upgradable software change.

As an owner of multiple FBO's, I decided I would weigh in on this and explain some of the factual reasons why 100LL hasn't dropped as precipitously as oil. First & foremost, the decline in oil has been very fast, over a 2 week timeframe. Oil is a feedstock for fuel. The fuel we are using now was refined weeks ago, before oil declined precipitously. Compounding matters, 100LL is a boutique fuel. Very little of it is refined, very little consumed in the big scheme of things. There is also a transportation issue with 100LL - it is transported exclusively by truck to the airport. In some cases, it is moved from refineries to distribution points via rail car, but it is moved from those rail cars to the airport via truck. This is in contrast to JetA, Diesel & gasoline, all of which are transported via pipeline to distribution points around the nation. The cost to move a load of 100LL is about 20 cents per gallon. There are also very steep state and federal excise taxes on 100LL AND flow fees that you pay based on the airport where you purchase it. In California, the excise taxes alone are around 40 cents per gallon for state & federal combined. That doesn't include any airport imposed flow fee. Finally, the fuel in the tanks of most FBO's was purchased well before prices started to drop. So there you have it, no joy for those of us who use 100LL. For what it's worth, we price our 100LL to be the lowest in the state by design, to encourage people to fly in. MooneySpace discourages promotion, so I cannot tell you which location we do this at, but you can look on AirNav and might figure it out. Next week when we take our next delivery will be in the $3.xx range, and it will be lower than any airport within our state.

My Director of Maintenance has a detailing company to look after the needs of our customers. Here is the results on a MS member’s 201. The side under the towel is completed, to the right is not. Clarence

You were just a couple of days behind me... KFCH to KICT on 2/26... first real X/C in my M20E

It is giving us an excuse to get all those little household jobs done that we had put off. The aeroplane accounts are all nicely setup and upto date, every little expense in the correct accounting “bucket”. One small run complete tonight, multi short 100 m bursts. Did the job now doing the post exercise cough! Feeling a lot better.

The invoice is in, waiting payment. I have taken care of Eric for his time and expenses of course in the interim. Mooney has approved it as far as I know. you tend to miss a lot as a troll, dear friend. The Mooney specific trainer employed by Mooney Pros, Inc., Eric R, happens to also own one of the most respected Mooney Service centers and is very tuned into proper maintenance of not only the aircraft but as a vetted Mooney CFI, knows how to train.

Observed a little "Social Distancing" Saturday afternoon. Carb replaced, a trip around the pattern to ensure all was well, then went for a little flight just to relax and enjoy the beautiful green hills before they turn brown for the rest of the year.

While it’s only a copy of a “real” Mooney, my dog Igor doesn’t seem to mind. Clarence

@alextstone posted a thread showing his exhaust valve failure. I also attached an article from Mike Busch. In the article he says you should be able to identify a failure 100 to 200 hours before it happens. I didn't want to add all this to his but felt like others would like to see it. https://www.savvyaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/articles_eaa/EAA_2010-08_exhaust-valve-failures.pdf I scope at every oil change and while I'm there I do a compression check and rotate my spark plugs. I wanted to show how great bore scope photos come out doing it on your own. I went down and took these just this afternoon after reading his thread. These valves have 578 hours on them. I will look up the name of the camera but it has been mention here before. .

Also a Missile is “KISS” - Keep It Simple Stupid. It is simple, strong and forgiving. Engine management is elementary. You can power your way out of many conditions that a smaller engine can’t. You dial the engine back if you want efficiency or push it to the firewall you want speed, climb like a bat out of hell or to lift a full useful load. It also has the Monroy long range tanks (100 gal). Fuel management is simple too because the outboard tanks flow into the inboard ones. There are only 2 fuel selector positions even with the extra extended tanks. Its either “Right” or “Left”. None of the complex nonsense like on Bonanzas or Cessna 310s with tip tanks. I had my J converted to a Missile nearly 20 years ago. When the family was younger our trips were with all four seats filled. As commented above, family flights are best appreciated below 12,500 without O2. I think it’s important to look at real world performance rather than just flat out level speed. Our frequent trips between Sugar Land and Albuquerque (633 nm direct although few more around military and Restricted areas) are generally about 4 hours (curiously generally either way). Other frequent trips clear across Texas, from Texas Tech in Lubbock to Sugar Land, (400 nm direct) were about 2.5 hours. I recall one trip where another local father in a Cirrus SR22 was also flying his daughter back to.Sugar Land at the same altitude ( I think 9,500). I took off after him and passed him midway. I avoid grass or dirt fields There is too much weight on the front gear and not a lot of prop clearance. A bumpy surface or rut can make the plane pitch and bounce enough to nick the tips. Also if the ground is moist or soft, you will need help or a tug to move it. Check the prop carefully - it is full feathering used only on 3 planes. Check the engine mounts for droop and the landing gear Lord disks for compression. Both will reduce prop clearance. I recently had excessive wear on the lower two-thirds portion of the 2 piece spinner right under the big center nut that holds it to the low pitch stop on the piston chamber. Think of it as a large curved aluminum salad bowl with a big hole in the center of the flat base. Hartzell charges a cool $2,000 for that one piece of aluminum and it took them 6 weeks to make it. The full spinner (2 nose pieces plus backing plate) is $4,000. None existed in the US. For some reason corrosion in the tail pipe (a Rocket Engineering specific design) is a problem in Missiles. (No corrosion in the heater however - zero problem there). I know of one Missile owner in Houston who lost the tail piece while flying. The IO550A is tightly cowled and tends to run a bit hot. You have to watch cylinder temperature when climbing out on hot summer days in Texas (especially if idling or taxiing an extended time at a busy Class C or B airport waiting for clearance). I just shallow out or level my climb at slightly reduced rpm to stabilize temps before resuming. The Continental fuel injection nozzles are quite well balanced and temps are even. i do not have speed brakes and don’t really see the need. I have flown considerable times into Class B (Houston, Dallas) and some Class C where they ask for speed to stay ahead of the jets and then drop you in to land. I just reduce power, pitch up rather aggressively, drop the gear and add half flaps to kill speed and then lose altitude. The same is true when crossing the Monzano or Sandia Mountains anywhere from 10,500 - 12, 500 ft. and then quickly dropping into the Albuquerque Sunport at 5,300 ft. I will admit that I have dropped gear and flaps at speeds above those recommended or posted in the POH at times in the past; however over 20 years it does not seemed to have caused any problems. I have not needed to source anything from Rocket Engineering which is a good thing since they no longer support the Missile or Rocket. My A&P is able to find alternate suppliers or repair shops for the few Rocket Engineering unique parts. Make sure that it has the plywood battery board that Rocket Engineering originally cut for the plane. It is an odd shape and you need it to slide the battery box from the tail. (2 batteries in box). Good luck

I thought I'd take a few moments and update you on the outcome of this thread. My initial intentions were to do about a 20 AMU project consisting of a PAR 200B, a Garmin VHF radio (GTR 225), MD-93 and a GNX-375. You'll note that I failed to include a CDI as part of my planning. That led me to look at CDI prices which weren't too far from a G5 price that would serve as a CDI too. Well you wee one G5 isn't too far from 2 G5s and I could get rid of the DG too. Then I saw that 2 G5s were not too far from the price of a G3X touch. Anyway, you see how this goes. Let me tell you how it ended... I installed a G3X touch with G5 back-up, remote audio panel (GMA-245), two remote radios (GTR-20), Garmin USB, a GNX-375, an AOA sensor and a couple of new VHF antennas. This will set the stage for the GFC500 install and a GAD something or another interface for a gear warning as well. You'll also note a nicely done powder coated panel. No regrets yet on not having a ground based back-up IFR capability. We'll chat more as I approach adding the AP. I'm contemplating adding 201 yokes to permit PTT, trim and AP disconnect on the yoke. That's another discussion for another day. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the work was done by the team at Palmetto Avionics (KGRD) in Greenwood, SC. I worked with Amanda, Russ and Evan who was the mastermind/primary architect/installation expert and coached down the path of the remote audio panel and radios. Needless to say I'll be back... Meanwhile enjoy the a few pics of the before and after below.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

So as I tell this war story, bear in mind that I have been in an accident in a turboprop that resulted in a totaled aircraft. This story tops that experience in how close I came to death in an aircraft. So I was in a Citation going from the DFW area to FLL many years ago. As I got closer to FLL the controller descended me to 3000 feet and has me intercept the Loc for 10L/R (dont remember which one). What I remember that stood out was how far out they did this... I was probably 20 miles from the field at this point. This was unusual to me. Flying along doing what I was supposed to, I was given a frequency change. I looked down to tune the radio. And for reasons unknown, rather than call immediately I looked back up to take a breath and look around outside... That is when I saw the tailfeathers of a C172 directly in front of me less than 1/4 mile. I'm doing 250 kias and he is probably at 100kias. A 150 knot overtake with very little time before impact. The Ap was disconnected and a maneuver to the right was made. I passed about 100 feet to the right of him. The next thing I hear is a radio transmission. " Approach this is cessna Nxxxxx, we just had a jet go past us really fast and really close, were are on the loc at 3000 as instructed" Obviously 2 different controllers had put up both of us on the loc at the same altitude. Had I looked up only a few seconds later a collision might not have been avoidable. Had I not seen him, I absolutely would be dead as I was heading straight up his butt. The severity of this situation didn't really hit me in the air. I just did what I had to do and it was definitely a "wtf" moment. However as I was reflecting on the entirety of the flight later that night, the severity really set in and I got the shakes thinking about the serendipitous nature of seeing him. It was probably one of the first things that happened to me that made me realize that it CAN happen to me. Unfortunately it wasn't the last reminder of this. Even when flying on an IFR plan, when VMC, keep that head on a swivel at all times.

IMG_7031.MOV

Yeah with everyone working from home.... with all the kids underfoot full time... I think there might be a run on vasectomies in the next few months, rather than more kids.

My best buddy had a turkey land on her head

Sure makes my seats look old! Very happy with the low budget outcome. Out with the mold, in with the new!

No they show up, they are just not airborne as no one is on the streets. We are all being good people. Gently getting better. Still coughing but les short of breath. I might even live god damn it. (Life Insurance company will be happy).

Let me offer up my list, sorted loosely into categories that may overlap . Training- The Finer Points: https://www.youtube.com/user/OnTheFlightLine/featured a Bay Area flight instructor. Dick Rochfort: https://www.youtube.com/user/rwrpilottraining/featured primarily training in Malibu and Meridian lines. Aviation 101: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAviation101/featured evolution of a student pilot turned flight instructor, turned aviation advocate and enthusiast Joy of Flying - Baron Pilot : https://www.youtube.com/user/77EG/featured Baron flying around Florida. Fly8MA: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9QcDyVGdOyuXHgN_WcyRaA/featured I especially enjoy their Alaska series. Martin Pauly: https://www.youtube.com/user/martinpauly/featured Bonanza pilot with periodic educational clips. Matt Guthmiller: https://www.youtube.com/user/LimitlessHz/featured Bonanza pilot flying everywhere around the world. Life in the FL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9CTZjYXYBMCrKLCXdOaMqQ/featured Meridian pilot using his plane to travel as part of a rock cover band. Malibu Flyer: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD_3G6SW9QzLo-xfSnXKIYg/featured A man and his family enjoy trips around the southern US. Man and a Mooney: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPg5TgQZeL0elB0uXqGs8zw/featured Vintage Mooney pilot in Colorado. Only a few clips but some good high-altitude stuff. Niko’s Wings: https://www.youtube.com/user/nikolaki70/featured Cirrus Pilot Steveo1Kinevo: https://www.youtube.com/user/steveo1kinevo/featured Popular TBM pilot. The Ren Baron: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgs1-nEzcc7fSP5OUCJn5yA/featured A new Cirrus pilot learning to fly. Jets - Premier 1 Driver: https://www.youtube.com/user/gregmink/featured Very popular Beechcraft Premier pilot using his plan in support of his business, family, and aviation advocacy Captain Moonbeam: https://www.youtube.com/user/captmoonbeam/featured Life of a corporate pilot. CitationMax: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnwxBsijr0eaDd18MJIAt4Q/videos A young man moving from Cirrus SR, to Cirrus Jet, to Cessna M2, to Cessna CJ3 Corporate Pilot Life: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtAq7j6lUtIpVU06_Sq1FHw/featured Life of a Gulfstream pilot Guido Warnecke: https://www.youtube.com/user/okguido/featured Very well disciplined corporate jet pilot. Can learn a lot from observation here. JesseFlies: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZtQWTcsZDvlO_fyEFkBAag/featured Former Phenom corporate pilot Off Airport, Experimental, Construction - Trent Palmer: https://www.youtube.com/user/boredentertainment88/featured Back country flying produced extremely well by a video professional. Mike Patey: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSvdee86uThqIrloZjWwNVg/featured Airplane builder extraordinaire. Cubonaut875: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cubonaut875/featured Morning hops from farm to farm in a Cub.

Thank you for all the input , right, wrong , mischievous or indifferent. There must be more engineers among us who want to resolve issues of this great product, than the ones, who seek fame on the social media. There seem to be two different issues, one cross-wiring, which was from factor, second the hot mag, which could have happened any time during its life. Both were discovered by Eric at the transition trading for my coworker at our company. The mag, will be replaced by MSC at Lapeer, once the stay-home order is released, due to the virus. Stay healthy, stay vigilant and value your lives. Perry

But the medical manufacturing that I am in is apparently not on the critical infrastructure list. While our products from this plant have no connection to fighting the current [or any] infection, the product that we make is keeping patients alive and out of the ER, saving space for virus sufferers. So we have decided ourselves that we are "critical."

Okay.... I’ll bite. Just what the hell do you do for a living? You have a vast Cliff Cleven knowledge on a ton of material. Now I’m just curious..... Mooneyspacer curiosity, not trying to start a fight.

Veteran of a 16-year Mooney partnership here: 6 different people over those years, 3 or 4 active at any one time. Here's my $0.02 on things that are helpful to have in a written partnership agreement, even among a group of genial partners with lots of genuine goodwill: Operations: Define how decisions about changes to scheduling, fueling, insurance, maintenance, and upgrade polices are made. Negotiate the initial policies however you like, but sooner or later someone is going to propose a change after the partnership is established. Decide in advance whether such changes require unanimous consent or majority vote. For the most part we use the former, but there are certain minor changes that may be made by majority vote. Define how squawks are communicated, so everyone knows what shape the airplane is in. The point of this must not be to assess blame, but only to ensure all pilots are maximally informed about the state of the airplane. The reason the policy has to be written down is so everyone knows where to look for squawk info. It avoids honest mistakes where a good partner tried to communicate something about the airplane, but another partner didn't read the e-mail/look for the squawk sheet/whatever. For what it's worth, I used to think the best way to do this was a written squawk sheet in the aircraft; but it turns out text messages and/or phone calls are better for our small partnership. It allows questions, and helpful back-and-forth about what to do next. Document what level of insurance will be maintained, and - most importantly - if it is always funded equally, or if a less-experienced pilot must carry whatever extra burden they cause on the premiums. My advice? Fund it equally. Actuarial tables don't lie, but that's only aggregated across large numbers. When dealing with individuals, choose a partner you trust, and share the premiums. If you can't muster the goodwill to share the load on the high-experience side and be extra careful on the low-experience side, you don't have the temperament for a a partnership. Decide if anyone ever gets to fly for free in exchange for services rendered. Common reasons for this might include ferrying the airplane to a shop for maintenance, or getting flight time in exchange for performing maintenance or administrative tasks on behalf of the partnership. My advice? Don't even stick your toe in the water on this, always require the rack rate be paid to fly the airplane regardless of services rendered. It's not that I'm unsympathetic to the concept of earned credit, but I think the difficulty of agreeing on specific values for specific services results in flight-time-for-services-rendered causing more problems than it solves. Clearly spell out what happens if a partner is financially in arrears to the partnership. How long do they have to make things right, and what restrictions are placed on their privileges while in arrears? The policy itself doesn't have to be draconian, you can choose to tolerate, e.g., up to $100/month in arrears for up to 12 months before action it taken. But you need to decide in advance when a partner in arrears may no longer fly the airplane, when they are required to sell their share, etc. Equity: Require an annual meeting of the partnership at which you agree and document the value of the airplane, and partners' equity. Having an agreed-on value of the airplane once per year drives a lot of other decisions, e.g. how much insurance to buy, starting point for adding/removing partners, what the widow(er) is owed if one of the partners dies, etc. Spell out a policy regarding changes in equity, particularly with respect to unequal funding of upgrades. Sooner or later, one partner is going to really, really want some upgrade gizmo, enough to offer to pay for all of it, or at least more than their equal share of the cost. Establish a clear rule about whether or not doing so is allowed, and if so whether it changes the equity shares in the partnership. Work up and write up financial arrangements that roughly counteract depreciation over time. The exact details aren't critical, but the value of the airplane plus the cash the partnership has in a partnership-specific bank account shouldn't vary by more than aircraft market fluctuation. This is easiest to explain by a specific, big-ticket example: our partnership bills pilots $12.50/hour toward an engine overhaul. But the reason we do this is *not* to have enough cash in the bank to pay for an overhaul with no out-of-pocket cost. That is an impossible goal, because one never knows when an overhaul will be needed. However, after 16 years of operation and approaching 2100 hours SMOH, we have about $17K in the bank that offsets the fact our airplane is now valued as a run-out, vs. being valued with a relatively low-time engine back at the time of purchase. Financial arrangements of this type minimize arguments over one partner "using up the airplane" by flying it more. They also establish a standard that the financial goal of the partnership is to maintain value. This is really helpful in driving maintenance decisions, e.g. a malfunctioning vacuum AI can be replaced with a G5, but the starting point is to install the same vacuum AI so as to maintain the value of the partnership. Decide what happens if a partner dies. Not fun to think about, of course, but these things can happen, and it's an awful time to try to figure something out. It's best if the partnership agreement spells out something simple, and easy for the grieving spouse to understand and follow. Now, for a change of pace, here are some things everyone talks about which you're probably going to write down, but which I contrarily argue are not really what make or break a partnership: Scheduling policies: Sure, you're going to have some: reserved weeks or priority for scheduling, or maximum trip times, or whatever. But no scheduling rules can prevent conflicting desires, and all that really matters is whether the partners have goodwill about it. Bad partners think, "I've gotta guarantee I get my fair share!" Good partners think, "I'm glad Bob is flying the airplane, the partnership is healthy when everyone wants to fly"; or "Joe has priority on the airplane this week, but I'd really like to fly, I wonder if he might enjoy some company trading legs on his trip." So define any scheduling policy you want, but understand that it's essentially guaranteed partners will ask for variances or changes to the rules (see above). Fueling policies: Sure, you're going to decide on wet vs. dry rates, preferred fuel supplier, preferred storage level, etc. But what you care about is flexibility. When you get home late at night and it's bitterly cold, and you're tired, and the pump/FBO is on the other end of the field, can you put the airplane away with only half tanks and e-mail your partners that you'll make it right tomorrow? Will they write back and say, "No problem, I don't need much gas and I'll fill it up after my flight on Sunday"? If you find cheap fuel on a $100 burger run, can you make an executive decision to fill the tanks for the benefit of the partnership? If the self-serve pump is busted, are you really obligated to pay the FBO rate on the spot to fill to the required level or can you make it right later? These things come up all the time, and you want partners with some graciousness about it. A good test of this is to think about how you feel about paying to replace fuel someone else burned. If you bill a wet rate, this doesn't matter. If you bill a dry rate, are you irritated about getting reimbursed, or do you see it as an opportunity to get together with your partner for breakfast, let him pick up the tab, and call it close enough? Risk management policies: no landings on dirt, no international flights, who is an "authorized" instructor or co-pilot, VFR/IFR/wind limits, etc. You're looking for partners who approximately share your risk tolerance, and who you trust to operate within that general risk tolerance. No written document is going to cover all the corner cases, and even if it did, the nature of risk is such that words written on a page aren't particularly interesting. "Small stuff" of varying kinds: you can write down that everyone should wipe off bugs after flying, require or prohibit the tow bar from being left on the nose gear, require the strobe switch be left on all the time, etc. But real humans genuinely forget or perform to different standards on these things in real life. If finding bugs on the airplane when you come out to fly is genuinely going to drive you nuts, you don't have the temperament for a partnership. Summary advice: fewer rules are better; and it's more important for them to be simple and clearly defined, than it is for the rules to be perfectly equitable in all the various corner cases that might occur. If rule negotiations with a potential partner bring up all kinds of nickel-and-dime corner cases where the person is overly concerned about being treated fairly, that's not the type of person you want as a partner. The guiding principal is that owning in a partnership saves huge amounts of money over sole ownership, and that should make it easy to have lots of goodwill about schedule conflicts and shared costs in the 1 AMU or less range. Hope that's helpful to the OP. I don't claim my way of thinking is better than anyone else's, just wanted to contribute some real-life experience with partnerships.

My understanding from FBO folks is that their prices lag way behind the auto pumps because they buy in bulk, and don't do enough 100LL volume to take quick advantage of price breaks. They're always paranoid about buying too much when the market is moving rapidly, but also paranoid about losing out on a deal. I suspect that av pump prices will come down in a month or so if oil prices stay crazy low.

They found a cure for COVID-19. Or is that “fake news”? I get confused easily these days... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

In California, not withstanding a handful of counties around the Bay area that apparently have more stringent shelter in place guidelines, our state guidelines totally exempt the Aviation Sector as essential even including flight instruction and recreational aircraft use. I had a Commercial student just complete his Checkride since our state wide shelter in place order became effective and the DPE had no issue doing it. On expiration of flight reviews, I can imagine the FAA allowing pilots with expired flight reviews to fly solo VFR to get to their CFI for a flight review. Check your insurance policy to make sure you are still covered without a current flight review. (I believe I am on mine, but with all the changes recently such as dropping open pilot clauses I'd want to check again). I personally only do Wings Flight Reviews these days. It really is in the best interest of the client. First you do the ground on your own online with lots of free courses to pick from. Anyone that attends Wings seminars will have this requirement already partially completed as well. Then we fly the Wings flight activities together which gets you bonus points should the FAA ever want to talk to you regarding a possible Pilot Deviation. If you get called in, the first thing they do is check your Pilot history. When they see your Wings activities they immediately recognize you as one of the good guys that take their currency training seriously. Also, Wings participants are less likely to get called into the FSDO than those that don't participate in the Wings Pilot Proficiency Program.

If you are really 6.5" tall, you will have a hard time reaching the step, let alone the rudder pedals or seeing over the panel... even when standing in the seat! Of course we all knew you meant 6' 5", but I nearly snorted my drink out my nose when I pictured a little man about the size of a G.I. Joe action figure trying to fit in a Mooney. There has to be one in every crowd who takes things too literal... and now you found him!

Enjoy your new job, Alex. Nothing beats getting paid to fly someone else's airplanes!

Piper Pup rides in a Mooney, but is probably not going to win on Mooneyspace. ;-)

Some more before and afters. I took the before picture on a nice day back in January. It was another nice day here and I had just finished the tops of the wings, so I pulled it out the hangar for some pictures. Notice in the after picture, the rudder vs the vertical stabilizer, I haven’t done that surface yet. The results continue to be surprising.

Am I allowed to enter our Bunny, named Mr Bunny, into the MS Dog competition - our dog Strava not withstanding.

I had an FO on a lear that was lactose intolerant.......he ate milk and cereal in the catering.....that was long flight from VNY to TEB....

I'm not sure if we will have anything anytime soon, in fact Pankey and I are still trying to figure out if we are going to do the annual Memorial Day weekend get together. Brian

This is easy to say when it isn’t one’s OWN life, or the life of a loved one, at stake. And we are VERY far from doing “everything we can,” many places are business as usual, from the videos we’ve seen of partying spring breakers and the like. Hospitals turning people away because of a lack of ICU beds won’t just impact COVID victims, it will affect ALL people who need that bed. We have fewer beds per person than Italy, much poorer health insurance, and much of the population is underserved by hospitals at all. People dying in large numbers because they can’t get care while millions more remain (justifiably) sheltered because they don’t want to risk a dean sentence from casual contact with a fact denier...that might have a GDP impact too. Fortunately each state will be able to make up its own mind, and we shall see whether science prevails...or whether the “suck it up cupcake” group powers through and saves the economy, as they seem intent on doing. We shall all see soon enough.

As long as they are avoiding crowds and staying 6' from people they meet, all is good. Right?

I have few hundred hours in this Mooney already so insurance wise I’m good. As far as CO2 monitor I still have and use the Foreflight’s Sentry with crazy loud audible alarm and works very well, plan on continuing to use just for that. More pics to come soon, Did about 6-7 touch n go’s and 3 high speed taxi’s done, on last taxi I got a bit too excited and ended up taking off. Just stayed in pattern in case something went wrong. Very pleased!

Since you are new here... you get a pass... You will realize pretty quickly, you are amongst friends... Bashing somebody’s ad for sale helps nobody... Sure, you don’t see the value... and wouldn't buy it... The next person may... but gets turned off by the un-needed negativity... Times are getting tougher... let’s not randomly pile on. Best regards, -a-

Cruze Missile and Rocket Launcher, aka Mooney Missile and Mooney Rocket

Bella the boxer doesn't fly because she gets gas.

Post any plane at any price, and we'll pick your deal apart. That's a mooneyspace guarantee.