Jamie

So I could have the existing strobes / power supplies removed, right? This looks too good to be true. I was warned that when my hoskins goes, I'd be looking at $1000+. But at this price, I'd do this on the next annual...

avweb article on oil analysis:http://www.avweb.com/news/maint/185087-1.html?redirected=1 good one on filter + oil analysis: http://www.avweb.com/news/savvyaviator/190242-1.html?redirected=1

I like the list of equipment. Even I can't remember the model numbers of what I have. I'm assuming this list is to serve as a reminder of what she's already practiced. As such, it's probably pretty good. Still, maybe consider putting some circles and arrows around the controls to help her quickly locate which ones the text is discussing? Not specific to yours.... I'm not a fan of conditional check lists. What's the current thinking? I'd rather provide a check list that, regardless of the current configuration, puts the system in a known state. I don't care what it is NOW, just push this. If it's set it won't hurt, and if it's not it'll set it. (Obviously, for things that toggle, this won't work quite this nice.) Also, I stared at your xponder for 30 sec and still couldn't figure out how to set the squawk. wtf. If you have a second radio, I wonder if it would be easier to just have her "if no answer..." change the audio panel to comm 2. 99% of the time I'm monitoring guard. otoh, if you die while getting atis, I guess that doesn't help... (I'm not picking on your checklist, just thoughts that occured to me while reading it.) I keep coming back to the feeling that there's simply no substitute for the wife unit at least soloing in the family airplane. Anything else is just not good enough.

vintage? Of the girlfriend? You could probably get one or two more 80 year olds in there than 20 year olds, but... um....

All the focus so far is on the non-flying spouse. There's more to it, imho. If the scenario is "pilot goes inop", WHERE and WHEN make an enormous difference to survivability. Daylight VFR? Extremely short check list. Key the mic, ask for help (vectors to nearest airport), land. Nighttime VFR? Getting dicey... finding the airport is harder, landing is more difficult. IMC? lol. You can talk about autopilots all you want... she's probably just going to die scared, frustrated and confused. My point is: You can increase her chances of survival a LOT by not putting her in situations where she can't reasonably be expected to survive. This may mean limiting the types of trips you take together, or it increases the training she'll need to have, or both.

This sort of thing is what keeps me from developing some of my own apps... they'd be cool (as all of my stuff usually is *smirk*), but I'm not sure anyone would actually pay for them. OTOH... apparently the kids that created snapchat just turned down 3 BILLION dollars from facebook. For an app I could do in a couple of weeks. So... whaddouIknow.

Guys, this discussion is why this place is awesome. I like listening to smart people talk about what they do.

Yeah, but if it's only using forecast wind / temps, and the occasional pirep, it's not any better than the forecast, which we all know isn't perfect. The guy's trying to monetize his stuff. I wish him luck. OTOH, a gps logger (free) that generates a KML (free) and google earth (free) will do most of what this looks like it does, and since I was actually in the plane I'm pretty sure I know when I tried to do a chandelle. (Not a user, just a programmer looking at the problem and wondering how long it'd take to hack up something that would get me the 80% for the 20%, and the answer appears to be "not very long".)

I wasn't irritated with you... but firefox let me down. There ought to be a way to "view image" with a rotation. Problem is client-side.

You guys act like a long thread is a bad thread. This kind of conversation is us figuring out the problem. Note that there are exactly zero threads on whether or not flight is possible. That's a settled issue. But flaps (among other things) are one aspect of a very complicated machine who's owner's manual is woefully short on "why". There are lots of things about flying that ARE understandable, but are very subtle and prone to misinterpretation (like the relationship between throttle, pitch, speed and altitude). Flaps are (is?) one of them. We're told "DO: THIS" but not told why, and one day we forget and don't do it, and we don't die and then we're left wondering "Well, wait a minute... I didn't, and it worked, so either I'm being lied to, or there's more to this than the 40+ year old book is telling me." As long as we keep science and fact foremost in the discussion, there's nothing wrong with a 100+ page thread. If it degrades into a holy war with entrenched sides and no progressive understanding, I'm outta here. Until then: party on.

Why isn't there a home brew ADS-B receiver yet? How hard can it be? $900 seems to be the current price point, plus or minus a little. Is it really that hard to receive and decode the data?

He might. First flight is tomorrow. But I know he doesn't have a lot of time in Mooneys (satisfies insurance, but that's about it), and I'm picky about how the engine is run, so I didn't want him figuring it out in my airplane.

Yeah.. I totally do not care if I'm climbing or descending at a particular rate VFR. I have a couple of settings for downwind, and base/final, but that's it. I take off at full power, cruise climb at Carson speed (which is an IAS, not a mp/rpm), and descend as fast as I feel like with speed brakes. I suppose, like doing touch and goes, I'm not a "real pilot" because of that, but the amount I care about being a "real pilot" is hard to measure with current equipment.

I've kind of been ignoring this, because I can get away with it. I lean in cruise climb and in cruise of course. But when it comes time to land, I've been leaving the mixture alone until I'm in the pattern and then going full rich. I can "get away with it" because my home field elevation is ~630 ft. Do you have a link or two to articles where they discuss this technique?

Obama gonna pay my annual!

You post a few tasteful pictures of some large boned, heavy framed individuals with a genetic predisposition for aggressive food energy conversion and storage (totally not their fault) and everyone has a cow...

Awesome. Thanks everyone. That mooney manual thing looks great... just started reading though. I did read the "example" of how a gear up bonanza caused the airport to be shut down. heh.

I have a 1981 'J'. Can anyone recommend "IFR" rpm/mp settings? I barely know what to ask for... as I understand it, having a list of settings for climbs / descents / turns /etc is necessary and something usually developed in the first few lessons. My instructor doesn't have a lot of mooney time (satisfies my insurance and that's about it), so rough starting numbers would be helpful. The only "numbers" I use now is "gear down, 2700rpm, 20" gives me a little over 100 KIAS.

Switch prices changed my behavior. I was using the hell out of the electric trim switch when landing. Then I saw the receipt for the previous replacement (~$800). I'm really good with the trim wheel now. (I actually like it better, but I'd use the switch if it wasn't so expensive to replace. Dumb? Maybe, but I'm NOT paying $800 for a stupid switch, not when I can simply "preserve" it by using the trim wheel.)

The usual advice of "you'd have to fly a lot for owning to make more sense than renting" isn't wrong, given the assumptions that are usually made. But I disagree with the assumptions. The price used in the calculation for the rental is usually the rental rate. This is totally wrong. The price you should be using is the one you get after asking the FBO the question: "How much would it cost to be able to get a particular airplane on a moment's notice, fly it anywhere I'd like, and stay as long as I'd like?" This (much) higher number makes the rent/own calculation more favorable to owning. I simply COULD NOT do the trips I'm currently doing if I had to rent. Period. And I can (and have) put a price on that ability, and then paid it. I'm happy.

The reality is the letter means nothing and you should do nothing. They're too big and you're too small to have any effect. They'll circular file your letter and not think twice. You'd have traction if you had Money, and a Presence in Naples. They neither know nor care they sent a notice to the wrong aircraft. Since the gist of the letter is basically "go away or I shall taunt you a second time", you can also be just as indifferent. If they'd tried to fine you, then you'd have reason to start planning your response. You probably did the best thing you could by giving this some visiblity on the internet. Maybe also post to a few other boards?

time to "faa source level" block registration information. Aside: I did that a few days ago (sent the email) but have yet to receive a confirmation... anyone had success blocking registration info / n number from services like flightwatch through the asdi email address?

That's nowhere near naples. I guess their "aggresive education and outreach" consists of sending letters to people who appear to go into naples based on... flightaware.com? Yet another case of "airport was here first". I can understand they'd rather not piss off the q-tips, but the tone of the letter seems designed to antagonize. Something more along the lines of "Hey, we're happy you visited Naples, hope you enjoyed your stay come back again soon! and, oh by the way, we're surrounded on all sides by airplane hating gomers, so if you wouldn't mind terribly much, could you possibly work some of the following suggested noise abatement procedures into your routine on upon your return? Thanks, old boy." would likely be better received.

WAS HE ON ON A FLIGHT PLAN????? Dammit, man. That makes all the difference.

wow. Just.. wow. There's all kinds of stuff I'd add to my plane at the $3k price point that isn't happening at $13k. Assuming most of that price difference goes to help the manufacturer recoupe the cost of certification, they should be happier to sell more widgets at $3k than at $13k. I hope... Because the other thing that could happen is for the manufactuer's cost to go down, prices stay the same, and their profit goes up.