Leaderboard

I’m really struggling holding back my thoughts. I spent considerable time talking with Bonney at the Mooney gathering at Spruce Creek in January. Being really busy, I neglected to post a story and a picture, MY FRIEND that attended the gathering, took at that event (with Bonney kneeling right beside me) of the whole group. I talked with her at length and she was proud to share that she owned the RV and her husband owned the Mooney. They were an Aviation loving couple living on one of the most amazing Airparks in the world. They epitomized US! I don’t disagree many of you have the right to discuss “what could have happened”. But the community down here at Spruce, (yes, I’m here now and knew about this before the first post), is devastated. Dennis was on the Association Board. I suggest we take speculations to the cause, supposedly done to “help us learn”, to a new topic and pay our sympathies and respects to their loss on this thread. How would you like your loved ones, left behind in YOUR FATAL ACCIDENT, seeing all this speculation to the loss of their family/friends in the light of some of these posts? I simply do not agree this thread deserves these posts! Tom

"Everybody Knows" what keeps an aircraft aloft is Money.... Lots of money. -dan

Yesterday morning heading back to Alabama from Colorado at 9000 ft, I spied a portion of the Cimarron cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail in southwestern Kansas that has not been obliterated by posterity or the railroad. When I was in line with it, it really jumped out at me as a really long two-rut wagon trail. Then I grabbed my phone and took this photo a bit after the fact. The Santa Fe Trail was active from about 1812-1880, linking Jefferson City, Missouri, to Santa Fe, Mexico, then New Mexico after 1848. Photo looking NE.

Finally got a lead on a job thanks to a good friend and fellow Mooney owner. They flew me up to Massachusetts, got me hotel and rental car and did some survey lines over Lawrence, Mass and put my commercial ticket to use and made my first dollar! Ironically, I was born a few miles away so spent my free day off playing in snow and visiting family I haven't seen in 15 years. I've got a month left working local government before I turn in my notice and "deploy" to Illinois for 6 months flying a 172. I plan, of course, of redoing the landing gear in N6744U and flying her up there with me as a commute vehicle to get back and forth between, and also to take her to Oshkosh for my first time ever!

Rather than contribute to the thread drift in some other threads, i thought I'd share my thoughts on CAPS. Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place for this post. Short version: I don't like the way the SR22 flies, so I don't own one. The CAPS has nothing to do with it. I have lived in a fly-in community of approx 100 homes and 65-ish based planes for 16 years. Living this way exposes me to a lot of pilots in a closer way than just hanging out at the airport, so maybe my perspective is a little different. When 100LL went exponential in price (2007-8) and before the economy went pear-shaped late 2008, there were some 5+ Barons based on the field. IIRC, 100LL was as high as $8 / gallon, and feeding a Baron $240/hour in fuel alone just didn't work for most of these owners. One bought a turbine, and the others bought SR2x's. In discussing this poor choice (I sold Diamonds, after all :-) ) they each said simply - after flying a twin, I don't want a single w/o the parachute. It's an emotional, snake-brain thing that probably drove the decision to buy the twin in the first place. I don't believe it's either right or wrong - it's just how they chose their aircraft. LIkewise, after having datalink and de-ice, I wouldn't want to be without... stepping down in capability is difficult. I'm a glider pilot, too. Do I feel invincible in the event of an engine out in my Mooney? Of course not. But on a good VFR day, I think the likelihood of getting hurt or dead after an engine failure is pretty low. IMC raises the risk level, of course, but I train for that, too. During my last PPP, I did much simulated engine-out work with Parvez, including the ILS. It can be done - just manage the energy state of your plane carefully (which includes flying as high as practical). If you haven't read @Buster1's book on engine out survival tactics, I highly recommend it. Widespread IMC and night also raise the risk level, but I'm confident that if I execute a forced landing wings-level and under control, my PAX and I will survive. I fly in the Midwest, where most of the world is an emergency landing field. If I flew over wilderness/mountains/water frequently, I might feel differently. What injures and kills more pilots than anything else is something the pilot does wrong. the Nall report tallies something like 75% of mishaps as pilot-caused. 73/76% non-fatal / fatal. Mechanical causes are 18% / 10%. Focus on the stuff that *does* hurt and kill pilots - stay current, brief your flights carefully, and take the whole ADM thing seriously. So... regarding CAPS: Just how frequently is it a factor? I cringe at the mention of "CAPS Saves" as though the helpless aviator would be dead but for the CAPS. However, I rejoice in a life saved that was otherwise at risk. Now, consider some numbers: Approximate GA fatal mishap rate: 0.54 / 1000 hours. Cirrus' rate is broadly similar to the GA fleet. Approximate GA mishap rate: 3.45 / 1000 hours. The Cirrus fleet has approx 12 Million (my extrapolation from a 2 year old number) hours on it. The Chute has been pulled 114 times, IIRC Dividing it out, the CAPS pull rate is .01 / 1000 hours, which means the GA fatal mishap rate is more than 5x the CAPS pull rate CAPS just doesn't get pulled very often - even as compared to rare fatal mishaps and much more so as compared to all mishaps. The Cirrus community has done an excellent job of instilling a culture of safety among new and used owners. This emphasis on training has brought the fatal rate for SR2x aircraft in line with its peers. But the CAPS seems to have little to do with overall safety-of-flight outcomes. Pilots of Cirrus and other brands continue to be injured or killed by things they did, CAPS or no CAPS. I conclude that the CAPS has a very small impact on reducing fatal mishaps. By training and making sure that my decisions and actions are not a link in a chain of events leading up to a mishap, I can have a much more meaningful influence on the safety of flight. If BRS were available for the Mooney, I'd consider it, but I wouldn't put a very high value on its likelihood to keep me unhurt or un-dead. -dan

speculative "what if" narrative is one thing, conclusive positions based on speculation (its safe to say fuel starvation was an issue) is counterproductive at best and rather hurtful to surviving friends and relatives about the pilots (yes they were both pilots) judgmental skills. May I ask we keep kindness in our speculation?

Here is why I disagree with this, and feel free to rip into me if you disagree: by waiting for what actually caused this accident whether it is fuel starvation, medical or a prop falling off, we will only think about that one cause, and one or two solutions. On the other hand, monday morning quarterbacking these accidents, it forces us to think about the different scenarios, however unlikely, that cause various kinds of accidents. I have never considered my prop falling off the airplane on approach before. Probably due to the low likelihood of this ever happening. It is not something I will ever worry about, but it is beneficial to think about, and to theorize what I should do in this event. Just my .02

It has been a long journey that started 26 years ago. I started but didn't finish my ppl. I walked away with just my check ride. I know, what was I thinking? One of those decisions that I have regretted for so many years. We recently moved to a new state and simplified our lives. Part of that was to get back and finish my ppl and buy a plane. During my training, there were some school plane damage, done by other people and a choice was made with the help of this great forum. I came across a plane that I really loved and it checked all of the boxes. It's an M20S screaming eagle with FIKI and upgraded dash. I purchased this plane and with an instructor, flew it home and found a hangar right away for it's new home. Finishing my training in my plane was a lot of fun and found how much it flew like my Porsche drove. Tight and accurate. My instructor became used to me saying how much I love my plane sometime during each flight. It was fun to slow down the plane to Va to perform maneuvers by throwing out the speed brakes and immediately go into clearing turns. So much fun! Well, I will have been checked off to take my ppl oral and flight exam on Monday! I am so excited to get done with something that started so many years ago!

We release trucks all the time before being paid ........ to customers that we know will pay the bill ...... or work reasonably with us if there’s an issue. Michigan requires possession AND the lien applied within 60 days of completion. Not uncommon at all. I’m celebrating our 35th year in business (Heavy Duty Truck Dealership). It’s rare you will find Clarence ( @M20Doc ) AND me agree a mx shop is out of line, as we see so many customers wanting top notch service but not wanting to pay the price for that service. The fact @Jim Peace never mentioned this prior says A LOT about his integrity. It sounds like he even tried to resolve it with the owner after this foolish decision to bill him nearly 1 1/2 years after the fact. Only after that ridiculous mx shop decision does he reveal this situation. I’ll work on your stuff anytime Jim, with an open charge account as well. All I ask in my business is a chance to make it right. I would have followed up with your issue AND PAID that competitors $900 bill, without you asking me to. Been there, done that, and used those circumstances to prove to my staff if they don’t get it right, the cost for someone else to do so will come out of THEIR bonuses! Tom

I have been contacted directly by several Mooney owners looking at Aerostars and feel compelled to "complete" this thread; at least to get to the point of "should I or shouldn't I". I won't go into details, but after getting my son in law back on his feet, the family was faced with some more challenges. 2019 was a year full of challenges. With the announcement Saturday of my son and daughter in law expecting our granddaughter in August, perhaps smoother sailing is in store. I'm going to write this in points, not a narrative, in the interest of time. First, understand that I owned the 601P with intercooler added by STC. That is my only direct experience with the airplane. YOU DO NOT WANT A 601P WITHOUT INTERCOOLERS. Temp issues will make your flying unpleasant. The 601P, my choice of models, is a 290HP turbo-normalized engine. It will legitimately give you 215 knots in the mid teens at 28-30 gph and 240 at 24,000'. The 350 hp models will add 20 knots and lots of single engine performance The airplane is fast, efficient, and stable as a 6,000# airplane can be. High wing loading smooths the ride. It's single engine handling is benign and stalls come with lots of warning though when it breaks, it breaks and recovery will require some altitude. Frankly, "handling" is about as good as it gets in all regimens. You don't flare on landing, just get a positive angle of attack and let her touch down. Personally, I found it to be one of the easiest airplanes I've ever owned to land consistently. That being said, don't let it stall on landing or you may be patching holes in the runway. It is really two airplanes. One with no flaps or half flaps and one with full flaps. You will have to have full flaps to land at an acceptable speed, but you do not put them down until you KNOW you have the runway made. With any weight and full flaps, the airplane will probably not maintain altitude even with full power. The only time I ever got close to the edge was on final when another airplane cut me off. I gently raised the nose without full power or dumping flaps and in seconds entered coffin's corner. DON'T DO THAT. ILS approaches are so incredibly simple: half flaps, gear down, power set to about 16" and it will settle into a 116 knot approach like on guided rails. The fuel system is different in every respect, but tricky only to the uneducated or careless. It will unbalance itself in cruise flight and must be monitored. You can rebalance with crossed, but DO NOT TAKE OR OR LAND ON CROSS FEED. THE FUEL WILL UNPORT. There was a fatal accident at Philadelphia, MS, just before I bought mine by a pilot (military fighter experience and airline pilot) who inadvertently took off with one engine on cross feed. When I bought the airplane, a friend who is a professional, Challenger pilot and who has 700 hours of Aerostar time in his early logs, that the Aerostar is the highest work load airplane you can find in civilian aviation. Absolutely true. I made more (thankfully minor) mistakes making IFR approaches in the Aerostar than all of my 50 plus year flying career combined. There would be a very good argument for only flying the airplane IFR with a qualified co-pilot. What I really didn't like about the airplane was no manual trim and an electrical capacity that could be overcome. A/C can't be used at night for instance. In a pressurized airplane, A/C is not an option. Then, the big negative. After lift off at 85 knots, you are in no man's land until you accelerate to about 115 knots when she acts like she really wants to fly. Blue line of 108 may be the best single engine climb speed, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. Lose and engine right after lift off and you had better have three thousand feet in front of you. The flaps and gear are hydraulic. The good side of hydraulic systems is that they are reliable and cheap. Most parts for repair are nothing but O-rings from your auto parts store. The down side is they leak just about all the time: hell of a mess. Forget avionics, paint, interior, and prop & engine reserve, Annual inspections and maintenance cost me $20,000 a year. YOU PROBABLY CAN'T DO THAT. I have an ideal maintenance situation with a reasonable shop that has been doing all my airplane maintenance for many years. If you use one of the "experienced/known" Aerostar shops, double that. Though I had no major failures during my ownership, the airplane "nickeled and dimed" me to death with my always having to go to the shop for some minor and difficult to diagnose item. We spent $2,000 trying to find the fault with the air dump valve light. You need the air dump valve light. Forty hours after I sold the airplane, it blew and engine at 24,000' over the high desert of Utah, landed on a remote field without damage but with enough damage to the engine and components that the airplane was sold for salvage. If you think you are going to overhaul those engines and components, (remember four turbos) for less than 90k per side, you are daffy. I understand how tempting the entry price can be. They are relatively cheap to buy, but remember, THEY ARE VERY COMPLEX FORTY YEAR OLD AIRCRAFT THAT WOULD COST UPWARDS OF TWO MILLION DOLLARS TO BUILD TODAY. The airplane has the ability to eat your lunch, your pocketbook and your children's education savings in a heartbeat. I will "finally" say something that I have never said publicly. The Aerostar community, I mean the professional community that supports them, has some good and some bad people. Problem is, the group protects the group and scratches each other's back. You will not know who to trust until it is too late. I will have to say that selling my beautiful Bravo and buying the Aerostar ranks among the dumbest moves in my aviation life. Yes, there are people with long ownerships who would not own anything else, but they are in the minority, IMO. Now, at seventy years of age and, soon to be, 60 years of flying under my belt, my wife says that "I should be happy" with my Cessna 180, 195, and Piper Cub. Throw in first class airline tickets and I suppose she is right. Still, I damn near cry myself to sleep sometimes thinking about N21448, my Bravo. So, I'm happy to talk to any of you at any time about Aerostars, but my answer is, well, I think you know. Ditto for any turbocharged, pressurized, piston twin. Jg

Can we not just mourn the loss of our fellow pilots and leave the speculation out until the NTSB does its job. Clarence

Isn't "speculation" how we come up with all possible "what if" scenarios? I'm with @ChrisV in that we should not wait for the NTSB to give us the one, actual cause, but should be speculating all the possible causes and learning from all of them. I for one, do a lot of formation flying. And have always thought that one of the benefits is having "assistance" in the air in the event of a problem. it's also interesting that there wasn't any communication. It's normal that only Lead would be talking to ATC. But that doesn't preclude any of the others in the flight from speaking up if there is a problem. So I'm speculating that if this airplane was 4th in the formation and they were on an overhead break to land, then it would have been the one airplane, not in sight of any of the others during the landing maneuver. Even if they were not on tower frequency but were on the inter flight freq, Lead and the other members of the flight, would have known if they had said something. This makes me think it was a very sudden event or one very close to the ground. Regardless, it is a tragedy and our thoughts go out to those family and friends of the pilots.

Hi guys, its with reluctance I am now listing my 1998 M20K 252 Encore on the market. This was my "forever" bird but situations change. I have full access to very nice A36 (biz partner) and another hanger buddy has decided to sell is Super Decathlon. I have talked to a couple of people, but decided to start here since everyone here has helped me out so much. Details: 1998 Mooney M20K (252 Encore) S/N: 25-2026 Reg: N755FM AFTT: 1359.6 NDH Engine: TSIO-360-SB2 TSMOH: 837.9 (averages 200h+/year) Oil change every 25hr, Oil Analysis history for two years GAMi Injectors, 0.3 spread JPI Engine Data for the past 200-250h + SAVVY Analysis MSC Maintained (Maxwell & SWTA) No Deferred maintenance, all ADs complied with All LED (exterior) WHELEN lights, strobes Electric (factory) speedbrakes Panel controlled inflatable door seal 2017 Paint, Encore interior (both 8+) 1110.4# useful load Hangered in Conway, AR Avionics (complete overall in June 2019) Garmin G500 TXi (GDU1060) w/Synthetic Vision Garmin GTN 750 Garmin G5 (all glass backup, no vacuum) King KFC 150 w/Flight Director, Alt Pre-select, and Yaw Damp Garmin GAD 46e Autopilot interface Garmin GCU 485, Dedicated PDF Controller JPI EDM 930 CiES Fuel Senders WX500 Stormscope, interfaced with G500 & GTN750 Garmin GTX345, ADS-B (in/out) Garmin 35c, remote Audio Panel (with Telligence voice command, and Bluetooth) King KX155 Nav/Com2 SIRS compass Logs & Weight and Balance: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aj6bITv-9cUTkYUdd8Vy_lxA8-1L3w?e=Lis2v2 $228,000 obo -Bryan bryan.brannon@gmail.com 501-472-0082

Dear Phil I don’t know if my contributions might be of interest to the rest of the Mooney community. But I could write about mistakes I committed upgrading or how it is to fly internationally. So count me in. Oscar Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

All this Cirrus talk reminds me of my grandfather who used to drive Packards which were pretty pricey back in the day. When someone would tell him all the reasons they would not own a Packard, his reply was always, "Then if I were you, I wouldn't buy one."

Thank goodness for an instrument rating and a dependable plane. Great weekend in sunny Orlando with friends and family only to return to crappy, cold wet Georgia.

Like a charm.

Seems to be a lot of “chute envy” going on here. CFIT is almost always fatal. Pulling the chute within the parameters is almost always survivable. They made a split-second decision and walked away. If they’d made a split-second decisión the other way and it had gone badly it would have gone VERY badly. Sometimes when we make choices with very asymmetric consequences (wrecked plane vs, death) it pays to make the conservative choice. I’m glad two fellow aviators are alive and well and able to fly again.

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.

@Fry just remember you said "Any advice, link or hint is welcome. " Legality has nothing to do with this. It's perfectly legal in the U. S. to pick up a hammer and hit your thumb as hard as you possibly can. It's not smart, but it's legal. I am not a mechanic, but I have done owner-assist annuals and maintenance and have come to realize how much I do not know. If you just completed your first oil change and it went "okay", for your safety and that of your passengers I would find a mechanic familiar with Mooneys that's willing to let you learn under his/her supervision. Just over- or under- torquing something could be very expensive if not extremely dangerous, especially when it comes to fuel systems. One example: Many, many highly experienced mechanics have a very difficult time removing the suction screen on the back of a tightly packed Lycoming engine (and on most modern Mooneys, the engines are shoe-horned in). If you get it your first time working on your engine you will be considered for a Nobel Peace Prize (most experienced mechanics are heard saying words or combinations of words that haven't even been invented yet). And now for the bad news, taking it off is supposedly a piece of cake compared to safety-wiring it back on. You have a late model J that's worth in the neighborhood of $200,000 USD. Spend the money on an experienced Mooney professional and if you are intent on learning how to work on your airplane, see if you can quietly watch and gradually learn. Whatever you do for a living that allows you to buy an airplane makes you good at what you do, but not necessarily good at all things. Pay someone who is good at what they do to, at the very least, walk you through this. After seeing how much work this really is you may be thrilled to let them handle it.

Have flown behind it twice, wow! The 500 is fantastic, and the info available at the “touch” of a finger is amazing. Almost have no use for the IPad.

Got a cool moonrise the other night after a weekend of flying ILM JNX FYJ ILM JNX.

Tell him you're going to show the picture of carb heat box repair his shop did to the local FSDO office if he doesn't stop hounding you for money.

Lots of open water today. Opa Locka (KOPF) to Turks and Caicos (MBPV). 27,000ft just over 2 hours with a turn in the hold on arrival to the island. bradb meridian N951TB former acclaim

A couple of friendly suggestions, You passed your lead on take off, this puts your lead in the wingman roll which isn't what you briefed. If you are the wingman your job is to maintain position on the lead. The lead navigates and informs the wingman of any maneuvers or altitude changes. While enroute in loose formation you should be trying to keep the lead dead nuts on the horizon, I think you were just trying to maintain an altitude. In close formation you should be using the lead as your horizon and maintaining your stepdown. At one point you drifted behind the lead. This is a bad place to be because of wake turbulence. Have you practiced "boxing the wake"? I was taught to maintain a sight line on the lead. The sight line should be approximately a 45 deg line off the nose of the lead. On a Mooney I have found the tip of the spinner and the inboard aileron edge works well. You should strive to stay on this sight line. It makes it easier to hold position. If you are too slow or behind you will drift out the sight line, If your are too close or fast you will get too close to the lead and need to side step away and reacquire the sight line. You should brief before the flight the minimum distance before you sidestep away. I would start with 100 feet until you get more comfortable with holding the sight line. Have you briefed and practiced right and left echelon turns? They are different? Have you practiced changing from right to left echelon? Turns are different depending on which side you are on. It all has to do with visibility, you can never lose sight of the lead. If you do you must side step away. It is different for low wing and high wing aircraft. Enjoy this video. Back in the early 90s, a friend of mine's father had a VHS tape of this and we watched it about a hundred times and went out and practiced a lot.

Again, I stand by my hesitance against speculating without evidence. In the safety world, no conclusions are made or drawn without all fact-finding complete. In the military, there is usually a lot of data to go through; flight data recorder, engine files, logged faults, controller interview, ground crew interviews, etc. For general aviation, without recorders, and many flights under VFR rules, VMC, there is far less information to gleam. For this crash, the onsite investigator will examine the position of the fuel selector, will note if there is any residue within the wreckage or in the immediate vicinity. They'll note whether the prop is still on the plane, the impact markings on the prop (whether it was turning when the plane impacted), as well as an engine inspection looking for signs of catastrophic failure. Because this plane is mostly intact and not consumed with post-crash fire, I expect this report to be complete enough for us to have a focused discussion. I still stand by my request to wait for more details & facts to come to light on this particular crash. However, I've seen two great topics that warrant in-depth discussion on this forum. 1) fuel starvation, fuel planning (IFR & VFR) and real-world techniques we have to not run out of fuel. 2) How does a Mooney respond to an in-flight departure of the propeller? Does it stay within W&B, does the lack of P-factor cause yaw as the propeller departs, actions post-departure for pilots to do, etc. I think these would be great topics to start as threads if anyone is wanting to honcho that. ------------------------ Back to the tragedy at hand, I'm focused on the loss of a Mooney couple who loved to fly. For me, the loss hits home because we have many on MS who personally know them. My heartfelt condolences go out to their family and friends.

Mooney owners just love stone crabs.

After I ruined my battery leaving the cabin light on, I designed a circuit to keep the lights on for 10 or 12 minutes after the master switch is turned off. It is an electronic circuit with a darlington pair transistor set up. I have a couple of them made up. Naturally, they are not STCed, so would need to be installed as a minor modification by and A&P, or a reasonably talented hangar elf. Let me know if you want one, or I will be glad to give you the diagram so you could build your own.

Anyone have the number for Gilbert Gottfried’s agent?

I bought my first Mooney with 1900 hours on the engine, for a deal. My mentor/flight instructor told me my best deal would be buy one with high engine time, don't pay for engine time YOU THINK you're going to get, and then not get it. We did a pre-purchase inspection. It looked pretty good and the compression's were decent. I immediately started my IFR training in it, lost no time to maintenance issues, and flew if for a few years before finding metal in the filter at exactly 2400 hours. I got 500 hours of engine time for free. I sold that plane with 850 hours on a Lycoming factory OH, and had I changed out the engine at time of purchase, the new engine would have been at 1350 hours (past the half way point to TBO). Don't be afraid of a high time engine. Just make sure you are not paying for useful engine time in the price either. And if you do buy with low to medium engine time...... cross your fingers you're not paying for engine life you may not get. Tom

Monday Shareena, Emmalyn, and I flew back from Roseburg. Sadly we were there seeing family in the hospital. There was an over cast layer of about 1000’. It was the first actual I’ve had in months. Maybe spring is coming. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The oil suction screen is located on the back of the engine, low on the right side by the copilots foot well, new copper gasket required. The fuel servo finger screen is located on the left side of the servo, remove the inlet hose and inlet fitting, new O rings required. Brake fluid reservoir is located on the left side of the fuselage, inside the battery access door. Main gear shock disc clearance is 0-.60 inches, measure the stop collar to the top plate of each main gear, there is a picture in the manual under the reference you listed. Brake pad minimum thickness is .100 inches, disc warpage would be felt during brake application. Maintenance manual has a lubrication chart with call outs for specific lubricants. Do you have a manual? Clarence

SAS on the S-76 is one component of a complex Automatic Flight Control System that easily rivals advanced systems on high flying jets. The AFCS is a combination of SAS, autopilot/yaw damper and flight director functions that completely couple to all 4-axis (pitch, roll, yaw and collective). Hand-flying in IMC is a non event. The SAS smooths the ride by automatically providing up to 10% control authority with out any input from the pilot. It basically dampens out any external inputs. Hand flying I set the collective and forget it. Feet on the floor because yaw is controlled by turn coordination and once the cyclic is trimmed out all that is required is pressure/counter-pressure to maintain any desired attitude. With the flight director coupled, 100% control authority is given to the AFCS via the autopilot, flight control computers and trim motors attached to the various flight controls. The pilot tells the flight director what vertical and lateral path to take and with the fourth axis (collective/power) also directs the speed to fly. As an example, pressing one button on the collective will automatically roll wings level with pitch and climb set to a pre-computed attitude and power setting which guarantees recovery and climb out....”go around mode.” Long way around to say that the S76 is one of the safest and pilot friendly IFR machines around. Nothing unsafe about helicopter IFR/IMC with the right training. Having a nice helicopter to do it in is even better. Just like everything in aviation, helicopter IFR is just a tool to use when it’s the safer or faster way to do the trip. Holding outside controlled airspace waiting to pick up a SVFR is a waste of everyone’s time and money considering I’m in a machine that is capable of almost every single approach available at any particular airport. And I have lower IFR landing minimums because I’m in a helicopter!!! (CAT 1 lower mins only) Here’s a cockpit shot of a fully coupled ILS into JFK’s 4L. Appch told me to keep the speed up because I was ahead of an a380. Then had to tell me to slow down because I had 25 kts on an a320 in front of me. I broke out at minimums and used a decel function on the flight director that slows me to 70kts and an automatic level off at 50ft right down the centerline. On this flight I ended up air taxiing over to parking and was inside eating a sheltair cookie before the a320 was even to the gate.

I'm not sure, but I think this might be one of Mooney's problems. We don't care, but the people who can afford a $900,000 airplane do care- or they have have so much money they don't give a shit about a few more dollars, but they do want the latest and greatest stuff out there. Mooney is trying to sell a 50 year old product with a fancy new turbocharged engine and a second door. Cirrus is trying to sell a 15 year old product with all the latest bells and whistles and it always had a second door. And their wives like the idea of a parachute because it makes them feel safer. Five pages into this latest Mooney factory thread and we're all still in denial about the future of Mooney. Beechcraft and Cessna basically merged and they're still only selling around 5 new A36 Bonanzas a year.

Our company puts on a free pancake feed during the local town festival every year. One year it basically got rained out and we were left with 10 gallons pancake batter to figure out what to do with. Hmm? I took it home, mashed it with 6-row malted barley to convert the starches to sugar, fermented it into a mash and turned it into my very own "pancake" whiskey. It obviously lacked the complexities of anything mentioned in this thread, but the volunteers at the festival the next year thought it made a good mixer for Coke.

Trying to collect 20 months after the work is done(whether right or wrong) is a joke. His shop clearly screwed up and his error is a financial cost of being in business. From the IPC he is wrong. Clarence

Hi everyone, I received some great news yesterday. J.P. Instruments has agreed to join our efforts to raise money for the Bill Gilliland Foundation by providing a JPI 450S fuel monitor for our silent auction at our Summer Conference & Retreat June 11-14 at the Sunriver Resort, Oregon. The Aviation Consumer’s, Product of the Year. “JPI’s FS-450 is our top choice because it has all the options you need for fuel management.” -Aviation Consumer The FS-450 is the best fuel management instrument on the market today. This instrument retails for $750.00 so this is quite generous of them. https://www.jpinstruments.com/ REGISTER FOR THE SUMMER CONFERENCE & RETREAT HERE! Sunriver Resort, Sunriver, Oregon June 11-14, 2020 MOONEY CLUB SHOP GRAND OPENING! On another note: I have been getting quite a few requests for West Coast Mooney Club gear, ie: Clothing, Phone Cases, Backpacks...etc. That being the case I have created a shop where you can get some great SWAG and get a 15% discount for the next two weeks. We have something for everyone. Take a look at the examples below and go visit the shop and look around. This is a not for profit shop. I have put it in place so you can enjoy some great products and show some love for Mooney's and the West Coast Mooney Club! Enjoy! See Examples Below: Go To The Shop HERE

It is not hard to do a capacity check on the battery (OK, you do have to have the equipment). If it checks out good, no worries. If not, replace it.

Speculation is one thing but when people make declarations as if they definitively know what happen is another, especially when they are indicative of pilot error.

I strongly agree with others that think it's useful to discuss all possible causes because it broadens the scope of things we add to our own level of experience. Let's suppose it was a prop failure but thinking about fuel starvation creates another reminder to be 100% sure about fuel requirements and supply. Another possibility not discussed as to why no evidence of fuel in photos and no fire is the possibility this plane was equipped with bladders that survived the impact. I would like to know if it was because looking at the damage to the area of the wing that contains fuel and if bladders were present and held the fuel it would be clear evidence that they do add a level of protection against fire. I'm sure this will become know from the investigation. We can speculate and still be respectful to all involved in this sad situation

The TT is a GREAT Autopilot and is NOT subject to "Closed Loop": systems. Thank goodness! We have installed a bunch of them and the customers are just LOVING them!!!!!! Also, we try to post here as much as we can barring workload. If you want to, send your email to info@bakeravionics.com and we will add you to the mailing list, no spam, about the newest tech on the market and about the latest developments as we get the info. Just a thought! Also follow us on Facebook if you want. Not trying to plug the company, per se, just trying to help. I am on here enough, I hope everyone knows this is not my motive!!!!

I am from the 201 and Vito could be a cousin of mine. Not worried.

I'll have a quote from my shop in the next few days. Asked for a quote of 10 each of the up and down lock blocks. David

Big myth. The Everglades is actually a river which in some parts has a strong current. The word Everglades comes from the Seminole Indian's for "River of Grass".

The fact that this guy would admit to “paying another guy to steal your stuff” is grounds enough for no one ever to do business with him.

Ridiculous. Adsb and full panel installs got avionics shops quoting FUPM pricing.

Let’s get clear what option we are talking about. GPS’s may query whether you want to fly the procedure turn (“course reversal”) or not. But that does not mean it is an option for you if you are on a clearance, allowing you to just pick one or the other to fly. In this instance, one TAA does not state “NoPT” and one does. If you approach in the TAA that says nothing, then ATC expects you to fly the procedure turn unless instructed otherwise. If you approach in the TAA that says NoPT, then you are expected not to fly the procedure turn. Complicating this, is local practice by the controllers and the fact that not all controllers know that this is the rule. It is best, when flying an RNAV, to tell the controller what you intend to do, and this generally requires a little judgment. If you are in the NoPT TAA, then I would not hesitate to fly the approach with NoPT without telling that to the controller. But if you are in the TAA that says nothing, it is always a good idea to announce. Where they get irritated with you, is if they have another aircraft coming in on an IFR plan, they (the controller) for whatever reason were spaced out on the fact that you are required to fly the turn, and then you do, which means they have to do something with the other aircraft. I have not seen an approach that says “PT NA,” the reference is usually that the Procedure is NA for arrivals at a particular IAF from a specified course or direction. Whether the GPS gives you the procedure turn as an option or not, has no bearing on your obligation to follow what is on the plate. Controllers make mistakes, but so do we, they pick us up and we pick them up. Cover both of your tails and let them know what you intend.

38 grand will get you a vfr mooney. Spend the extra cash right away and get something ifr. Id personally recommend the M20E. Fuel injected is a lot nicer and allows lop operations. Edit: however we live an era where you can install a full ifr panel for under 25k. Gnc355, a par200b, and dual g5s is a really nice setup.

Progress! Re-Assembly complete. New nose truss, clamp-on pin, and new nose pucks. (They were over-due!) Now waiting for all the TN rains to pass to try some taxi runs and then take to the skies. I huge thank you to my new local A&P, Ted Tippon (son of the country music star). They are Mooney owners as well!