gmonnig

Weird that your insurance would be so high on a Comanche. My 250 was cheaper to insure than my M20E was at the same hull value. It was around $1500 vs $1850. I sold my E to a fellow MS'er. I miss it but the Comanche 250 can be had for the same price. It'll beat a C/E in all categories.... speed, room, useful load, climb rate, range, routine maintenance, better corrosion resistance, quieter, and more room to work under the cowl. Good ones don't come up as frequently as good Mooneys, but both aircraft are getting long in the tooth.

I did a lot of flying this last week and figured out a few things. The heater does blast hot air with very little vent air mixing, like barely cracked open. I think pulling too much vent air will obviously dilute the air too much. Some of the problems I had last winter were from overhead vents leaking (which were fixed) and also realizing that the avionics cooling air duct was on all winter long. So straight cold air on your legs. I never even noticed the avionics air lever until I replaced the nasty old tubing. Closing that would've made a substantial difference in feet comfort.

About 6'1" and 245lbs, broad shoulders, you will fit absolutely fine.

Actually just had a lightbulb moment from the lower diagram. I don't get "strong" airflow with just the heat on. That's why I initially thought I had a blocked/pinched hose from the cowl to heater muff. It's not blocked but the baffling that should be touching the lower cowl doesn't really seal. The high pressure air that should be forced into the engine baffle inlet is probably blowing by the lower cowl seal. Well, I think I found the answer

Correctly installed? I don't know how anyone can mess up the install, it's a very simple system. I'm gonna look at the flap again when it's not 100degrees in the hangar. I don't have the slider valve, it's the circular butterfly valve that gets lubricant twice a year. With all the hoses off, it seemed to seal good and divert the heat from dump overflow to the cabin. I'll mess with it some. Not arguing just stating that this plane has never been "Hot".

There's nothing to examine since it's all new. My Lycoming is new, so maybe the exhaust heat exchanger is different? The Mixer is the only thing in the system original, so maybe I just replace the flapper. I do think there's a slight difference in the 65. My friends 66 does not have the dump scat off the mixer. I've wondered if plugging that up would make it hot like your temps. During the interior refit, everything was sealed up. The overhead vent duct was sealed up along with intake vent door on the roof of the plane fixed. So there was a lot of cold air leaking in but that has been fixed.

Oooo, an Aerostar would be so cool. I've never flown one but I heard they handle so well. I am thinking of making the jump to a twin. For some reason, it's terrifying and stressful. I fell like aircraft ownership should be fun.

Definitely nothing disconnected it's all been gone through and new. Everything firewall forward is 3yrs old with less than 300hrs, everything behind the panel is 20hrs old. While doing all my avionics I made sure every scat tube was replaced. Maybe it's normal but my other planes have been face melting hot. Just thought it was a Mooney thing. My Comanche could melt the windshield if you left the defrost on.

I have. This tread even reminded me to go out to the airport and remove the scat tubing from the cowl front to the muffler shroud to check for blockage. Nothing blocked, all new tubing throughout the entire plane. It's a mystery to me but I want to get it figured out before the cold comes.

I loved the T-tail NA Lance. Despite what the internet says, I really like the way it flew. I don't know if I'd mess with the Turbo Lance unless you need it, I've heard the maintenance is crazy on it (my previous partner in our Comanche 250 bought a Turbo Lance). Basically you are paying Cessna 310 maintenance but still have a slower single with less useful load. The T-tail made walking around the aft end, parking cars by the cargo door and loading easy! I saw 155kts on 14gph with about 1400lbs useful. In my option, the "all forward facing" seats were the better than the club seating since everyone has more legroom. The biggest drawback for the Lance was the ceiling. I'd have to pull out a POH but I recall the ceiling being around 14k feet. If you fly around the mountains, then better keep the plane light, and even then they can ruin your day with high density airports.

Super weird because I have the complete opposite problem. My plane is so cold in the winter time. The mixer opens up as it should but for some reason I don’t get much warm air, certainly not hot air. I am actually limited to how high I can fly due to the cabin getting too cold.

I got I to it with Dan on that video. I was the controller working that plane, technically waiting for the Baron to check on while they were crashing. Literally had another aircraft pass off their right wing descending into KSUS and reported negative ice. At no point did the arrival, descending from FL230 to Surface accumulate ice. There was also a radar return that showed a steep left turn followed by a huge descent rate on the Starcheck.

I loaded up my E with all the new fancy avionics, new carpets, interior (skipped leather to keep weight down) and weighed 1676lbs. So 899lbs useful load. The previous owner was an A&P that owned it for 40yrs. He was meticulous with log entires including W&B. I was curious to its real weight but I waited till all my mods were done before putting on the scales. His calculations over the years must have been close but we did find the CG was what was actually off. A miscalculation shifted the CG aft exactly one inch in the 80s. Not likely to cause a big issue but it’s nice to know everything is as accurate as I can make it.

Absolutely not. Also won't have new paint, new interior, new engine etc etc. I have 9yrs before early retirement where I could own whatever I really want (piston). I can still see myself riding out this E to retirement!

Yep I get that. But if you ARE loading it up more, then the performance will take a hit. The POH says 100lbs will change true airspeed 1.1mph and obviously we already talked about weight vs climb rate. I wish I had an Encore, that useful load is crazy and the extended range tanks are nice!

It is when we have the same wing and same engine. My plane weighs nearly what yours does, 1675lbs after new interior and avionics. I only have a 900lb useful load, which makes the F better for family traveling. I’m sure our planes loaded with the same weight and same fuel, it would be basically the same climb rate. But at a higher Max Gross it wouldn’t be the same. My POH shows a 300fpm increase in climb rate at 2200lbs vs 2575lbs gross. Assuming those numbers 375lbs less weight equals 300fpm. Your plane is 165lbs more at gross, which equals 132fpm less climb rate than an E. Sea level, gross, std temp is a 1120fpm climb rate. What’s the F show out of curiosity?

That looks like a nice plane. Definitely plan on the engine overhaul though. My hangar neighbor has a 201 that he purchased at TBO. He planned for it financially but what wasn't planned was the more than one year of downtime! I think he's in for $45-50k (basically same engine as our E models) and it's still not done!!! Imagine renting Cessna 150/172 for a year to keep current and still having all your other airplane bills.

C and E models make great first planes! My friend bought his C with less than 100hrs TT. A good plane in this market will demand a pretty high price. There are deals out there but as others have said, purchase price is kind of the beginning. You will want to do upgrades, so best find a plane with a lot of the stuff already done. I have a problem where I buy planes and upgrade them. It's my hobby but it's not financially smart. I have put about $40k+ in the last 1.5yrs in my E and I still want to install the GFC500 autopilot ($15k). I have held off since it will put me well into M20J/K territory if I sell this plane. I still can't believe the prices of planes right now. Seeing 172s and Cherokees selling in the $120k+ when you can get a 150kt E for the same price or less. Crazy.

My 65' E does 150kts+ on 9-10gph. The E is a cool spot to be if you don't need the rear legroom. It's the lightest (2575lbs) 200hp Mooney out there which means it's the best climbing 4 cylinder Mooney. The F would be nice but the extra weight is a climb/cruise penalty. I will say, the extra fuel of the F would be the biggest benefit to me. That will very specifically per person. If I'm flying with my wife, she hates sitting more than 3hrs so we always stop somewhere around there. If I'm by myself, I'd love to go 5.5hrs. But yeah, I love the E and the electric gear. Haven't had any issues with it. It's also nice to know that in an incapacitated pilot situation, my 110lb wife won't have to try and manually get the gear down with her left hand while trying to fly.

here's the brake reversal mod with new stainless steel brake lines I installed.

Weep no more, in Wilmer MN. Paul is an awesome guy and seems to truly likes what he does.

When the dot is pink on ForeFlight.... and then I'm questioning how current I "really" am hand flying when the shit hits the fan. Anymore I've become much more of a VFR guy. I used to be bold and a lot more comfortable flying IFR.

Hey, that "GRANT" fix is mine. Actually the best fix I use is "SHART". Somewhere up Iowa but it gets a chuckle every time I use it. I love the Just aircraft but being a midwesterner, it would take days to get anywhere at 80-90kts with a 40kt headwind. Probably great in the Rockies but not good for flatlanders. Got my tail wheel in a supercub but I'll probably only sell my Mooney for a terrifyingly fast plane.

I think about this daily on my breaks at work, always shopping on Barnstormers. This last Oshkosh was depressing for a lot reasons (accidents, heat, loss of life, loss of the F model Mooney my wife and I walked passed everyday). For me the lack of kit manufacturers and the lack of advancements in the GA made OSH even worse. It feels like general aviation is slowly dying out and kitplanes used to be the fire that kept it alive. Now we really only have three choices in touring kitplanes. Vans, Sling, and Velocity are basically the only ones. Unless you want to build a backcountry plane, then there are so few options. The Velocity is the only plane that would have a substantial performance gain over our Mooneys. My wife loves the Sling TSI and HW but she asked a very direct question, "what does this plane do better than the Mooney?" The only thing I could come up with was two doors and more legroom for backseaters. For me, I could do away with two seats and would want a big performance jump. The Glasair III would be my dream plane or maybe the DarkAero. But building any new kitplane with be $200k and up. I could buy a Cessna 310 and annuals for 10yrs before I'd hit $200k....

I had the same senders in my tanks. I removed them to install the newest magnetic ones. The sender needs to be rotated clockwise about a quarter turn. I do not have bladders but my pilot side had a similar issue. I think the float gets stuck on a rib. Reinstalling them is the same, put the float vertical so the arm doesn't fall to the bottom of the tank. Once the sender is fully in the tank, rotate it to the proper orientation so the sender arm falls to the bottom of the tank. Torque screws to 25in/lb, wait 30min and torque again.