Hector

The biscuits are about $100 each.

Yes it does. I would say they are LONG due for replacement.

On 12/17 (post #43) I mentioned I pay $265 a month for a hangar in Northeast Florida. Yesterday 12/24 I received a letter from the FBO (Sky Harbour) letting me know the rent is going up to $300 starting in January. Their timing is impeccable! It is just what I wanted for Christmas! If it was a nice hangar I probably would just accept it and move on, but these are small 50 year old hangars that they have done nothing to maintain. We have another GA airport in town (Herlong) that is actually closer to where I live, but it is uncontrolled and has no onsite maintenance shops. They have hangars for $300 that are much nicer than those at Craig (KCRG) where I'm based. I'm strongly considering relocating, but not having a maintenance shop to fix the occasional problems is a big minus. I went by yesterday to talk to them and to look at a hangar. Quite a few planes on the field and cheap gas $3.30, but strange that there is no maintenance shops.

Merry Christmas to all from Florida where it's 84 degrees and we are buried under two feet of sand at the beach. Right now I would actually prefer snow.

For non-precision approaches gear down at FAF. For precision approaches, gear down at glideslope intercept. It's what I do. Find out what combination of throttle/RPM gives you 120 level flight. I typically cruise at 2400 RPM and I don't change that during descent. I know that 16-17 inches, depending on weight, yields 120 level flight. I dial that in to slow down during the approach. At glideslope intercept the gear comes down and if properly trimmed she will settle on a 500 fpm descent at 120. I'll make minor adjustments as needed to maintain that and keep the needles centered.

Here too. Supposed to be in the sixties by Xmas. It will be 84 Christmas Day here in Northeast Florida. That just ain't right!! May just have to climb in my Mooney and head north until it feels right.

Have not seen that. My oil starts honey color after an oil change and slowly turns darker. By around 20 hours it is a dark honey color (no longer translucent) and by close to 30 it is just dark. I change the oil around 25 hours when it starts to go dark. I'm in Florida so maybe it does not get cold enough to experience what you are describing.

If my hangar looked like this my wife would divorce me because I would never come home[emoji3]

My annuals typically go like this.....Day 1, take airplane up early in the morning and check everything in the cockpit and all instruments. Land an taxi to my mechanics hangar, de-cowl, perform compression checks and mag timing while engine still warm. Tow airplane to my hangar, oil change,collect oil sample, replace oil filter and check oil screen. Remove all access panels. Day 2.....Remove seats and carpet and side panels. Remove access panels under rear seat. Visual inspection of entire airframe with flash light and mirror (I go over it all first, then my IA comes over and repeats and we compare notes). Day 3......lube everything including prop but not the landing gear). Check off all the lube tasks in the Mooney annual check list, replace all the gyro filters, check all the flight control bearings and rod ends for condition and play. Work off any gripes. Day 4...... Jack airplane and do all the landing gear swings and lube tasks and check preload. Repack wheel bearings. Flush the hydraulic system by pushing new hyd fluid from the mains. Complete all remaining tasks in the Mooney annual checklist (IA comes over to give everything a once over and witness the preload test). Day 5.....Corrosion-X every other year, put everything back together. Day 6......Wash and Wax. Day 7...... Engine ground run with IA in copilot seat. My IA would have completed all the paperwork by this time. If everything is in order, complete post maintenance check flight. I don't see any possible way to do all of this in one day. Granted, maybe not all of this is required during an annual, but is what I do and think necessary to make sure my old bird is in good shape. The little tube on the back of my rudder is not there to hold my pencil whipped annual [emoji3]

I pay $265 a month for a very old hangar in northeast Florida. In the summer here it is VERY hot and it rains almost every day. I do all my maintenance in the hangar including annuals. Last year I put my plane in my mechanics hanger for a couple of days for the alternator conversion and got some hangar rash near the left wingtip. Never again. Because I have a hangar I can do owner assisted annuals (I do nearly all of it) and save money. Minor issues get fixed in the hangar too by elves. I have a fridge, cold beer, lots of tools, and good hangar neighbors (including two other Mooney owners) and I consider the $265 more than reasonable for what I get in return.

$3.08 yesterday (X60) - Northeast Florida.

If the engine is otherwise fine with good compressions, not making metal, good oil analysis, I would not overhaul. I purchased my C four years ago with a mid time engine and a 1996 factory overhaul. The lowest compression is still 77 with very good oil analysis. She still has a strong engine (climbed to 16000 a couple of weeks ago and could have gone a little higher). The wing tip damage does not look bad to me. I don't see any creases that might require NDI

Not sure the all moving tail design of a Mooney lends itself well for a tail wheel. Might have to sharpen the pencil to see how landing loads would affect the tail attach structure. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just to point out, the Stratus app for the iPhone is essentially an AI which is great, but not the same functionality as SV. I have a backup electric AI in my plane so hopefully would never need to use the Stratus app for backup although it is very nice to have just in case. I was mainly looking to see if I could display SV on the iPhone so I can keep the iPad in full screen mode for approach plates. Seeing the runway in front of you in SV when you can't see anything outside is kind of cool and somewhat reassuring - Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Where are you? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes!! Don't know of any technical reasons it could not be done. The processor in my iPhone 6 is at least as good as the one in my mini 2. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you're not carrying two ipads then I assume you're still carrying paper charts and approach plates as a backup? Backup iPads are cheap. I just sold a pristine iPad mini 1st generation on Ebay last night for $180. It also made a great independent SV display device. My iPhone 6 is my backup. I have a RAM mount for it too. Unfortunately Foreflight on the iPhone will not do SV. I have another iPad mini but mounting two iPads in the cockpit would be a hassle.

I wish I could use SV for Foreflight on my iphone. I don't want to sacrifice screen real state in my mini when looking at an approach plate. But would like to be able to have SV as well. Anyone found a solution for this short of two iPads?

This thread is just getting too weird for me.

Might be interested in an Accu-Flite if someone has an extra one.

If the plane came from Mooney with the PC system installed the plane was FAA type certificated with this system as a "CONSTANT copilot, and deactivating it or installing a switch to turn it off and on when you want is considered deviating from the original type certificate. Only can an STC be completed to remove the system, or install a switch. Maybe you have an STC for the switch? I doubt your records and aircraft would ever be audited, but as aircraft owners we are responsible by abiding by the FAR's. My 65C has the PC system plus the B6 Auto Pilot with altitude hold which was installed by the factory and it is awesome, I will be connecting it to my Garmin 430 install (happening now) which will only provide it heading information but at least it will then hold a heading as well as altitude. The switch on the panel serves the same function as the switch on the yoke, it deactivates the system. My plane had it when I purchased it and I'm glad is there. I believe this is/was a very common mod.

iPad mini mounted on the yoke works best for me. Geo-referenced approach plates need to be upfront and close so they can be part of my scan. The full size iPad was just to big for the yoke, but others here have managed to make it work.

I was just teasing. While we loved living in Marin (San Rafael) and the city of San Francisco, it was hardly affordable to us back then in the 90's and would be entirely out of reach now. We have a 3200 sqft house just outside of Ft Lauderdale, which by today's standards we bought for peanuts, and enjoy no state income taxes. The summers are brutal, but the winters make it worth it. The natural beauty of the bay area along with an endless supply of activities is what we miss the most. Flying there was also a lot different than here because of the diversity of destinations. A couple of hours north found us along the Mendocino coast while pointing the nose south was Big Sur, and to the east the Sierras. In Florida it takes two hours in the Mooney just to get out of the state and there's not much to see. Other than the Keys and the entire Bahamas chain. Alright, just teasing but agree Florida is not endowed with beautiful geography but there are still lots of places to fly and in a year or two we can probably add Cuba to the list and then it will really open up lots of options! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Interesting data. Have never done a time to climb test in my C. What I have done is climb at WOT and 2500 rpm and trimmed for 120 mph (my typical cruise climb with temps staying below 400) until she could climb no more. I was 400 under gross and she stopped climbing at 16000 (still showing 120 mph indicated). Temperature at departure airport (KCRG) was around 70 degrees F. Pretty sure if I had increased to full RPM and continued climbing at Vy (around 85 indicated at 16000 feet) she would have gone another couple of thousand. Pretty cool considering at 16000 feet and 2500 rpm an O-360 is making just a little over 60 BHP.

If you are going to write them then might as well ask about effects on paint. Unless you get a detailed answer which includes test data or at a minimum references to test data I'm not sure I would risk it.