Andy95W

Best and cheapest speed mod: remove your ADF antenna. Incredible amount of drag from the long sense antenna running to the tail.

Thank you for trying to include me with clueless 15 1/2 years olds and soccer moms driving oversized SUV's. Please don't. I am very torn about how I feel about the 3rd class medical, so I am sure my thoughts will attract some haters. Go ahead. I am quite sure the 3rd class medical has never prevented an accident, and if someone truly wanted to fly, then a piece of paper (or lack thereof) would not stop them. A friend of mine grounded himself, appropriately enough, after having a minor stroke-like event. After a month, he was fine. It took him the mandatory 2 years to get approval for his medical. Should he have been grounded for 6 months? Probably. 2 years? NO. I believe in a case like his, the AME should have been permitted to sign the Special Issuance himself without approval or even consultation with the FAA. But the thing that separates me from the local idiot with a driver's license is that I act and fly professionally, whether or not I'm getting paid. And visiting a doctor every two years is something that separates us from those who drive cars and do not need to exhibit any level of professionalism. Cost? Anyone on this site who says they can't afford $100 every 2 years is lying. And as for the 3rd class medical "killing GA", I personally think it's good for a 16 or 17 year old to see that flying an airplane is not just a rubber stamp like getting a driver's license. It is something special. And ensuring some minimum level of medical safety is a way of showing that. I like that the 3rd class medical is yet another hoop to jump through. It helps to weed out the riff-raff and those who don't have the professionalism, or maturity, to share the sky with those of us who do. But I think the 3rd class medical should be a simple, streamlined process, and therefore cheaper. And the requirement for a Special Issuance should be common sense and easy for a local AME to approve.

And you don't have to replace your car tires until the tread reaches 1/16". When was the last time you let your tires go that far? There are Mooneys whose old-style discs still pass the maintenance manual inspection. I doubt there are many people left who don't think those should be replaced. As I said above, mine passed all required inspections but I replaced them when I took my gear apart this past spring. I'm glad I did. My airplane rides much smoother now.

No, they didn't even have their own booth, they "advertised" kind of as part of Seattle Avionics booth. No specials. Too bad, too, because I'm leaning strongly in that direction myself. The guy at the Seattle both said to just call Navworx with any questions.

Ross- sounds like you don't need to change your shock discs. Mine were similar at 20 years old and passed all the tests. I just finished a major tune up of my landing gear including replacement of all bushings and shock discs. Made a BIG and noticeable difference. More than I had expected. New bushings tightened up all of my linkages and the discs made it more "squishy" while taxiing.

Wandered through the University and Career area today because my wife's company has a booth there. This is for you, Hank. War Beagle!

So when it happens again in 250-350 hours from now, you can swap them for two brand new overhauled Bendix mags that are solid and reliable. Shame, because it wasn't that many years ago that the Slicks were actually good quality.

No special checklist for 1000 hour that I know of. Magneto 500 hour inspection will be due, and depending on your landing gear motor, perhaps an inspection or lubrication there. After that, whatever your AD list says. Good luck.

No deals really this year that I've found, not like the good old days. Coolest new thing I've seen so far was from Sandia for those of us who don't have all our eggs in the Garmin basket. http://sandia.aero/product/stx-360-sentinel/

David and Ned- very nice to have met both of you by the Mooney Caravan tent. The cowling mod is very impressive. I'm really looking forward to seeing the results in terms of CHTs and airspeed gains over your previous ARI cowl mod. Very well thought out. Simple, but elegant, solutions to problem areas and challenges. Any of our members who are mechanical or fluid engineers will agree, I'm sure, especially after hearing your rationale behind them. Nicely done, and thanks for bringing it to Oshkosh.

No doubt the M20J/201 is a great airplane, possibly the best all-around airplane that Mooney ever designed and built. But that isn't necessarily enough. The P51 Mustang was a great airplane, but I'm not anticipating North American restarting the production line.

I would be far more concerned about a pencil-whipped Annual inspection (that the owner paid cheap) than a PPI that a potential owner paid dearly for. So, as Clarence said, why an Annual before a PPI?

I'm not familiar with that unit of measure. Is it Metric?

Agreed. There but for the grace of God go I. It has made me rethink flying in low IFR conditions like I did 20 years ago. (200' ceilings? Let's go shoot approaches!) 800' AGL is now my minimums for planning a flight in my Mooney that I know, maintain, and trust. I can do an ILS if the weather changes from the forecast, but otherwise I'll wait or take the airlines. Cliffy noted in one of his posts that he rubbed the cat backwards for a long time. I'm starting to feel the same way after reading this thread, and for that I am grateful. And seriously, how often does the weather really stay below 800' for much longer than a half a day?

I do the exact same thing, even verbalizing, "500, green light" right after the Garmin babe says five hundred.

Makes me think of the automotive equivalent of one of Marauder's girls.

Oh, yeah, THAT will narrow it down... I'll be one of the other ones dressed like a dweeb.

Distractions. When I was actively teaching, I would ask the transitioning pilot as they joined downwind, "so, what is your family doing for Christmas this year?" It never failed to sufficiently distract them enough to forget the gear. Funny thing was, they usually didn't notice the gear warning horn either. Established on final, I would ask them what that horn was. Invariably they would say, "unh,... stall warning?" After which we would execute a go around to leave the pattern and talk. Our spouses somehow sense that we become more alert as we get closer to landing, and without meaning to distract us, they will. The same thing will happen if something throws us off our normal routine, such as someone cutting us off in the pattern, low oil pressure, lack of airspeed indication, etc.

Wait, what?

Sorry to disagree, but it's not the technology, it's the CRM and the slavish dedication to procedures and consistency. I have never heard "Too low- Gear" in an actual airplane. Ever. I have never spoken with anyone who has heard it either. The closest that 99.99% of airline crews ever get to that point is when the pilot monitoring says, "do you want the gear?" And that happens shortly after the approach starts deviating from the normal approach called for in our procedures.

I was really hoping someone could share with me how they got an Aircraft Spruce switch in their airplane. I've seen them in an experimental and was impressed by the quality, but wondered about the legality. Please PM me if you're not comfortable posting publicly. I do my own work and sign my own logbooks. I am just curious how others (such as an MSC) have justified the installation.

Like when I use flaps on takeoff?

What was the basis for the MSC to install the switch? I would love to install one in my airplane but the way I read the rules it would be a Major Alteration and I don't feel like messing with the Field Approval. Was it just a logbook entry, or was there a 337 associated with the installation? And how well does it work, and are you happy with it?

You beat me to it, Byron!

Per Bendix Service Bulletin SB 583, Ignition Switch part number 10-357210-1 is the replacement for the old 10-126680-2. I believe this is the basis for the "Mooney Retrofit Kit" noted. I'm not saying I know this 100%, so hopefully someone else can shed some light on it. Also found it interesting the split in the two different ignition switch Retrofit Kits- I believe that was the split between shower of sparks and impulse couplings. Again, maybe someone else can shed some light here.