PMcClure

Wish I would have known this earlier. I went up Monday to check on my Mom and Dad (KEQY). Was looking for an opportunity before I came back. Just went and signed up. Looks like a neat operation.

Just to add a few comments to this discussion. I have a 2002 O2 and had the same issues. I took the plane to TCM and had the adjust the fuel settings twice. All settings were adjusted correctly, but the problem continued. It only happened after a +1 hour flight and only after landing. Another problem developed where the engine would not shut down after pulling the mixture. It would kind of diesel and keep running at the ramp. The corrective action for this was a rebuild of the spider valve on top of the engine. This correction fixed both issues and it has been almost 2 years since either has presented itself. When I am back at the hangar, I will double check if there was any other work done at the same time.

Personally, I think Sept and October are the best flying weather months in the Southeast. Typically clear blue skies and cooler temps.

I will be at the NH MAPA training, pending weather, plane maintenance, and stars all align!

Funniest eyewitness account I have ever seen!

I saw this plane on Controller and thought "Holy Cow! What a good deal. Tried to find issue with it to justify a higher value for the current fleet and didn't find much to complain about.

Just the fact that you are asking and getting a CFI to evaluate you tells us a lot about you! I am sure you will come to the correct decision. Insurance cost may be a shocker before you have your PPL. But compared to rental costs, maybe not so bad.

I just found my static problem on Radio #1 was the iPad charger.

well duh! senior moment - would be interesting to do the math on stresses. I'll put one of my engineering students to the test.

But, only when turned against the spinning axis. The rational plane of the Mooney nose gear doesn't change much if any in retract. Not like turning a bicycle wheel 90 degrees. In fact the spinning wheel will help maintain alignment in the plane. PS - gear up once I have positive rate, then flaps.

From the WSJ today - the other sides opinion. An Air-Traffic Winner - WSJ.pdf

I hesitate to say anything because the pilot is on here with us and vastly more experienced than I. But I still come back to personal minimums. My personal minimum is 50% more runway than needed and 3.000' minimum regardless. The way I approach minimums is not absolute, but do require myself to look deeper if I consider breaking one. My alarm bells would have already been firing with a 2200' runway and family on board. A controller suggesting an intersection runway would have been answered easily with no thank you because I would have already been in the red zone below a personal minimum. The knowledge gained by sharing the experience is invaluable. And I will follow his advice and discuss my decision making process with my non pilot and nervous wife. I will also share my personal minimums with her so that she can ask me questions if I decide to drop below them. This will also help her understand why we are still waiting for ceilings to lift or why we can't fly into an airport on one day that we have done another. Thank you to to Cooperdog for sharing and allowing me the chance to evaluate my own practices. As I tell my kids all the time, experience is the best teacher, but learning from other's mistakes is a better value.

Personal Minimums?

Had some business on Hoopers Island, MD. It was too long of a flight to do an up and back in one day and there are not too many hotel options in that area either. So I decided to stop in TN/NC mountains. Flew from Pell City (KPLR) to Mountain City (6A4) on Wednesday in perfect weather. It is a challenging little field at 2200' elevation and 4500' runway and elevated terrain all around. I came in fast and high and had to go around on the first try. Dave meet me on the ramp, helped me tie down and gave me the crew car for the day. I grabbed my suit case and fly rod and headed over to the Red Tail Lodge. Lyle and Kendal are great there too. Lyle has a TTX at 6A4. They said next time to call ahead and they will meet me and carry me over to the lodge (about 10 minutes away). They have a beautiful golf course in a mountain setting and hiking, fishing on site. Went fishing on the property before dinner and caught thee little trout then had a nice dinner. Woke up early and went fishing until about 9:30 before heading back to the airport. Dave gassed me up and sent me on the way to MD (landed at KCGE). The air space around Cambridge is complicated but approach helped me navigate around restricted areas and multiple targets. I got the first order from the customer and stopped in to say hello to an existing customer. Took off about 6:00pm and had a beautiful flight home, chasing the sunset with a harvest moon shining down on my tail feathers. I highly recommend the Red Tail (https://www.redtailmountain.com) and 6A4 (https://www.airnav.com/airport/6A4) for easy access to the mountains with an aviation friendly lodge owner and airport manager.

What is amazing to me is that with everything they did wrong, it was the insect that brought them down. Except for that, they probably would have made it home.

My electric standby AI went out this weekend and I was thinking of replacing it with the G5. Taking steps toward the G5 primary and replacing the KFC 2225 with a Garmin A/P someday. Questions: 1. Anyone has experience with installation costs on the G5 in the standby position? 2. Could I/Should I consider moving the G5 to the primary location and the KI265 to the standby? 3. Or should I just replace the standby with another standby?

I "know" a guy who has done most of these things and still flies. It's the pilots that don't recognize their mistakes that you really need to worry about. Keep practicing and keep learning. Paul

The crazy thing to me is the cost of a new plane compared to an older one. The Ultra is 3-4x a nice used ovation or 6-8x a nice J. And what capability does the new one have that the older one doesn't? An extra door. I would rather have a 10 year old ovation that has been well cared for and upgraded than a new one. The only way a new one works is through bonus depreciation.

I didn't look hard. I agree, the TBM or other single Turboprop shouldn't be the that much of a learning curve (flying it anyway).

I briefly looked into a TBM. The insurance requirement.was 1 year with a co-pilot.

Things happen faster in a Mooney. Besides having to manage the more complex systems, the plane descends much faster than a 172 at the same power. That was the biggest learning and probably took about 10 hours to adjust to. Point the F model downhill and you pick up speed fast, causing the unexperienced pilot to fly final too fast, constantly adjusting to slow down while messing with the gear, flaps and prop and possibly ending in a bounced landing or prop strike. A 172 is far more forgiving and allows more time to correct, even at 90 knots. Not to mention the stall speed of a 172 is like 40 knots and the F is like 60 knots. All this stuff matters to a new pilot.

Best Deal in Aviation - buy a 152, fly it 100 hours or more, sell it for what you paid for it.

I bought a F with 100 hours, a Turbo Bo at 300 and an R at 500 hours. But I spent a lot of money on training and had a CFI in the right seat for many hours. It can be done, but get the right training. There is some merit to train in what you are going to fly. But I wouldn't want to learn how to fly in a F. That is what trainers are for.

+1 on Sheltair

Flown in many times, VFR and IFR from Alabama. Typically, they have me overfly Ocala and then join an airway, then vectors into ORL. I get this instruction on both IFR and VFR. Not really an issue. Great little airport to fly into. Wide and long runway with high rises near base/final. The departure is typically to depart RR heading and stay below XXXX feet due to ORL being at the approach end of MCO. Once on departure freq, they typically have me turn back to the north west immediately and clear me higher 10 minutes later. Never had a STAR into ORL.