Bob - S50

Just as an aside, since you mentioned you were also looking at a Bonanza. If you are thinking about going that route, look very closely at weight and balance. In the V tails, they have a pretty narrow CG range. I looked at one but found that I could not put 4 adults in it without exceeding the aft CG. Decide what the most extreme loads you might encounter. Assume you will sit in the front and put the heaviest passenger next to you with the lighter 2 in the back. Baggage? See if you are still within CG limits. Then see how much a single passenger can weigh while sitting next to you with no baggage. In the Mooney, you almost have to try to exceed the limits. Bob

Remember that indications are supposed to be in level flight, not on the ground. To test for accuracy you'll need to put the airplane into a level flight attitude first. For our J we had to put the plane on jacks because you really have to raise the tail a LOT to get to level flight attitude. For the J, level flight is measured at the battery access door. Check your POH for correct procedures (weight and balance section). Once you have the plane in the proper attitude and the tanks drained, add the unusable fuel. Then you can start measuring fuel into the tank. I used a gallon milk jug that I washed thoroughly and calibrated with water using my wife's kitchen measuring cup. Add fuel until the light goes out. Bob

We have 4 pair of PCA-ANR headsets and are happy with them. My wife and daughter say the clamping force gives them a headache but I have not had any problems. Current prices: PCA-ANR $249 PCA-ANR bundle $259 PCA-ANR/BT (bluetooth) $349 https://www.pacificcoastavionics.com Bob

How does the ball look on your turn and slip? Is it possible that your plane shows you need a little right rudder while flying (step on the ball)? Could it be that a slightly out of trim rudder is slowly pulling you to the left and that your autopilot does not make a correction until far enough off course that you notice the changes? If you think that might be the problem, try holding just a bit of right rudder while on autopilot and see if the problem goes away. In the DC9, if I noticed the autopilot flying in a bank to maintain a heading or course, I would apply rudder trim until it flew wings level. I would then adjust aileron trim until the yoke was level. In the Mooney, we can't adjust either of those in flight. However, if I'm not mistaken, there is a small tab on the rudder that your A&P can literally bend a little to make the adjustment. You then go out and fly it to see if it was bent the correct amount. Of course, the setting you end up with will only be correct for one airspeed so be sure to pick the cruise speed you use the most. Just a thought. Bob

I wouldn't worry about it if you get a bit outside those temperatures. We get a few days in the 90's in the summer and most days it is below 60 in the morning. Come fall, the normal high's are in the 60's and 70's with lows in the 40's and 50's. On my next trip we'll go through Bend (BDN) where it was 34F in the morning last week. We'll end up at SQL where it will most likely be in the 70's. I'm still fine with using w80. Bob

We routinely use w100 from about April to October and w80 during the winter. Exact timing depends on when the oil needs to be changed. We've already changed over to w80 with Camguard for the winter (Seattle area). Shell recommends the use of w80 and w80 plus at temperatures from -17C to 21C (1F to 70F). They recommend w100 and w100 plus from 16C to 32C (61F to 90F) And w120/w120 plus above 26C (79F). Bob

Not an A&P, but if it were me... Does the plane fly OK? If yes... Do a borescope and look for the reason for low compressions. If you don't find any, fly it and check the compressions with the engine warm. Then decide. Bob

Again, if you want to fly the Oregon/Washington in the winter, I'd concentrate on FIKI not necessarily turbo. But if you have the money, what the heck. Then again, if you have the money, get a Cessna 340. There are three types of 'typical' winter days I saw in the Seattle area when I was in the Air Force and did not care about icing: 1. Bases as low as 300', light drizzle, tops at about 6000', clear above. 2. Bases as low as WOXOF, solid to FL300 or higher. 3. Bases of varying heights, layered to about FL250. Oregon may be a bit better and the freezing levels will be a bit higher than in the Seattle area. Good luck, Bob

I never use it, but if I'm not mistaken you have two choices for changing altitude with the KFC200 if you want to do it with the autopilot on. 1. Do it the way Erik described. Supposedly with the altitude hold off, each one second you hold the up/down switch, the plane will pitch 1 degree. At about 150k, each degree of pitch change will be about 250 fpm. As Erik mentioned, you'll want to watch your power settings and airspeed and adjust pitch again as necessary. 2. Leave the altitude hold on and ...hold... the up/down switch. With altitude hold engaged, the plane is supposed to climb/descend at 500 fpm as long as you hold the switch. Either way, I'd want to try it VFR first to see if it behaves and if it works as advertised. Bob

Unless you fill the tanks for every flight (I don't), chances are that by the time you try to put the gear down and find it doesn't work, you probably only have 10 to 20 gallons left in the tanks anyway. Depending on how much you trust your fuel gauges, I probably would not feel comfortable burning down to less than about 5 remaining. Better to make a controlled gear up landing with 15 gallons on board than a gear up engine out landing because you ran out of fuel. I'd use the extra fuel looking for the idea place to make that gear up landing. Nice airport with maintenance available, maybe even a Mooney Service Center, nice level grass next to the runway with no buildings, ditches, roads, or taxiways running through it, etc. Bob

Going from 300 days of sunshine to 300 days of drizzle huh? (Pssst, don't tell anybody, but it really isn't that bad... but since you are from here you already knew that). I'm based at Auburn, WA. The Cascades are not that high. Your problem with flying over the Cascades in winter is not the mountains, its ICING. The freezing level around here in the winter will usually be about 5000 in the Seattle area and somewhat higher as you head South. I've seen days in the Air Force when it was solid from 300' AGL all the way to FL350 (we gave up looking for clear at that point). What cities will you be going between? SEA to SFF? SEA to PSC? PDX to BDN? EUG to BDN? The MEA on V2 heading from Seattle toward Spokane is only 8400 feet. I feel comfortable VFR at 7500 but you'll have to go at 9000 eastbound and 10,000 westbound if IFR. That will definitely make icing a factor. The MEA on V4 toward Yakima, Pasco, and Wallla Walla is 10,000. V112 from the Portland area to east side has an MEA of 7000. T302 and T304 have 8000' MEA's heading SE out of the Portland area. V269 from EUG to DSD is only 10,000' Not that high. A J would work fine, but regardless of what you get you'll be hard pressed to count on making it without encountering icing in the winter. Bob

Personally, I would turn off the autopilot and altitude hold, hand fly it to the new altitude, then re-engage the altitude hold and autopilot. It all depends on your personal preference. Bob

Look at the shape of the EGT curves in your latest test. Notice that cylinders 2-4 all drop pretty steeply once they go LOP. Number 1 cylinder goes almost flat. That is, the EGT does not drop off as sharply as it should once you go LOP. This mirrors the CHT shapes. Also notice that number 1 is the coolest EGT until you reach the peak EGT area. To me, that says, for some reason, #1 may be getting more fuel flow that the others and it continues to do so even after you go LOP. It's almost as if you cannot shut off the fuel flow to #1 by leaning. I don't know what would cause that. Maybe a bad fuel distributor (spider)? Maybe an A&P here would have an idea. Bob

I saw that on Aircraft Spruce. The only problem is that the info says they only work with EI instruments. Bob

After checking all elevator and trim connections for excessive play, I'd try flying it again. I've run into some 'mountain wave' in eastern Canada where there were no mountains. I was level at about FL330 in a DC9 on autopilot and noticed some variation in altitude. I then noticed the elevator trim cycling back and forth. I though I had a trim problem so I disconnected the autopilot. The trim movement stopped but I had a hard time maintaining altitude while hand flying. I put the autopilot back on and in about 10 minutes the problem went away after we flew through the area. Bob

Here is their website: http://www.ciescorp.com/ They say: "A CiES Fuel Level Sender utilizes at minimum 3 to 4 times more information to characterize your tank and deliver improved information over a traditional resistive gauge and offers demonstrable improvements over capacitive fuel level systems." and "This CiES Fuel Level Sender technology has the following characteristics that make it ideal for aviation applications: Accurate and reliable Mechanically robust – no wiping or sliding contacts Intrinsically safe – no electrical contact to the fuel system – passive measurement Wear-free operation Reading independent of voltage input Accuracy independent of mechanical tolerances, Extended temperature range" and "3,800 distinct points for 80 degrees of travel possible" It is apparently based on the fact that the resistance of a material changes when it is exposed to a magnetic field. Bob

CiES makes magnetically based fuel floats that are supposed to be more accurate and consistent than the resistance based floats we currently use. Their floats are currently used in Cirrus aircraft. Just for grins I wrote and asked if they plan to make their floats available for older certified aircraft, specifically Mooney. They wrote back and said they have a design and verbal agreement with Mooney so stand by. Combined with a compatible indicator such as that made by Aerospace Logic, it could finally give us a reliable and accurate fuel gauge. Just saying. Bob

All the more reason to be IFR proficient even if we don't have the ticket. Good to practice flying under the hood now and then for basic aircraft control even if we don't fly instrument approaches. Bob

I'm in a partnership so I would have to get a majority vote for any changes. We currently have steam gauges with an HSI. I don't think I can fly without an HSI anymore. If our ADI/HSI quit, I would have to look at the cost of repair vs an Aspen install and how long I could expect to fly before I could expect a failure. From what I've read about the Aspen, I like some of the extra features you get. I am definitely a steam gauge kind of guy (14,000 hours in a steam gauge DC9), so even with the Aspen, my scan would be the same... ADI out to some steam gauge or HSI and back. I would not be using the digital display of speed or altitude. Digital displays are nice if you are looking for precise information. I'm going 154 knots, not 155 knots. Analog, at least for me, makes it easier to detect trends. A moving airspeed or altitude needle will get my attention quicker than changing digits. I know there is also the sliding scale, but it just doesn't get my attention. Analog also allows me to use what I first heard referred to as "the big stare". Stare at the ADI and all the other instruments will be visible but not in focus. However, even when not in focus, a moving needle will get your attention. I still do a scan, but a much slower one that does not wear me out as quickly. For me, I cannot do that with a digital display. I guess what they say about teaching old dogs new tricks is true. Then again, I heard about one of our DC9 captains who had a young commuter pilot on his jumpseat. After spending some time looking at the instrument panel the jumpseater looked at the captain and asked, "how do you know where you are?" Works both ways. Bob

I've been using it for several years and I have to get a medical every 6 months. The form is in fact the same as the paper form. Some information is saved and some isn't. Basically it saves your name and address. It does not save any of the medical information. When you have filled it out you submit it. Once it has been submitted, ...you... cannot change anything, but don't worry, nothing is permanent. You then get a confirmation number that you will need. I print both the page with the confirmation number and the form itself. I then take both to my AME. Using the confirmation number your AME can call up the form and ...they... can correct any errors you may have made before it gets submitted to the FAA. Works well. Don't worry. Bob

Useful load. It can vary from under 900 to just over 1000. Bob

Every person is different, but for me long range tanks would be a negative. Like teejayevans said, the J has more endurance than most pilots/wives as is. Our limit for planning purposes is 3 hours +/- between stops. Adding long range tanks will reduce the useful load which would be a negative to me. Your choice though, Bob

Take it to a Mooney Service Center. See what they say.

Part of pilot training is to learn to do a fix to fix. You have to be receiving the vor that the fix is based on and you have to have dme. It is usually done with an rmi using a visual representation. Legal for military but not sure about civilians. But if you hit the fix I doubt ATC would say anything. I always just preferred "unable" in the DC9.

Tercio, We ended up having the pump rebuilt by Aeromotors LLC in Wisconsin. Good price, quick service. The problem was that the impeller had broken into 4 pieces. Bob