flyboy

I took off from an airport about 20 miles from where I hanger my Mooney. It was a nice day, just playing around by myself. Winds were dead calm, 5000 feet of pavement. Rotation and liftoff were normal. At about 20 feet of altitude I spot a twin on about a 2 mile final, coming straight at me! I made a left turn to get the heck out of there. Climbed to 3000 feet, pulled the power WAY back and leveled off. Flew 10 miles or so to a friends house to wave hello. I then flew back towards home base, some 30 miles. Entered left downwind. Abeam the numbers I reached for the Johnson bar and changed its position. Said to myself, "self, ....that did not seem right" Realized that I had just raised the gear that had been down for the last forty miles. Put the gear down and landed. That is as close as I have come. Lots of things combined here that stacked up and could have caused disaster. I once saw a you tube video where just before the edge of the runway there were 4 large white letters G E A R to remind us. If it were up to me this would be required at every airport, every runway. Something I started many years ago when I was based at a field with a full time ATC tower was to combine my checks with the radio work. It would go like this. Tower: "Puddle jumper 123, runway 5 cleared to land, winds 360 at 18. Me: "3 in the green, pressure and brakes, clear to land, puddle jumper 123" By saying "3 in the green" I reminded myself to check the gear. By saying "pressure" I reminded myself to check hyd. pressure By saying "brakes" I reminded myself to pick up my feet and tap the brakes to make sure they felt normal. after that hand stays on the throttle until turning off the runway. ATC never questioned it, and it only takes about one second of radio time. No reason that one could not use this saying at non controlled fields as well.

How much do I burn? Very little, based on how white the inside of my exhaust pipe stays. How much do I leak? A LOT

Plenty of O360's out there running with over 3000 hours

I bought my M20B with a fresh annual. After flying around a couple of months I pulled the side cowlings. I found the mixture control cable poorly attached to the carb. Now as most of us know, the mixture control is sort of important. There is no spring to force the mixture to full rich should something fail in the control linkage. Of course I grounded the airplane until the mixture was rigged to my satisfaction. I don't know how long the mixture was so poorly attached ( likely years ) I mean I have been flying around with my family, with my friends, in the clouds, at night, in bad weather,.... OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Too bad I have to work this weekend, perhaps next time.

I landed my old Skyhawk at O'Hare one night about 4 AM. The toughest part of the 800 mile trip was the last 2 miles when the tires were on the pavement.

I landed at Meig's field one time in my old 172. It was on the way to OSH in 1989. Great trip, great memories.

Hi, I am based in Anderson SC, but I am only an hour away "as the Mooney flies" from you. Might make it sometimes if you can get a group together.

Job well done. I took my CFI checkride in a Beech Sierra about 25 years ago. I had never flown one until the day before the checkride. I stayed up all night to study the airplane and its systems, speeds, avionics, etc. It was the hardest checkride I have ever had ( private, IFR, commercial, multi, multi IFR, CFI, CFII, Multi CFI) I was about an hour late due to weather and had to request a special VFR clearance to get into the airport. after a long flight. I later found out that the FAA examiner knew the airplane tail number and had been listening to my radio technique. He was actually observing me ( sort of ) before I even arrived. I was scared to death at being in the FAA office, sort of like being in a lion's den. The examiner sensed that I was nervous at the beginning and went to get me a cup of coffee. He took a very long time ( on purpose I think ) which gave me time to relax a bit, clear my head and transition from difficult flight to teacher/checkride mode. Once we were finally in the air, he pretended to be a student, sometimes with 0 hours, sometimes with thousands of hours, and anywhere in between. After what seemed like the checkride that would never end, I was awarded a CFI certificate. There was another guy there the same day taking a CFI checkride in a Piper Arrow, he did not pass. Things I would do different. Make the flight the night before, get a room, get rest. Be on time, its just part of professionalism. If possible, use an airplane that you have a LOT of time in, know every screw, every switch, every number, every scratch of that airplane. Remember, the examiner is not a monster. He/she is a human, there to do a job. No more, no less.

Count me in as well. I owned a 172 for many years before taking a step up to a M 20 B. I am forever searching for an excuse to go fly. I am hangered in upstate SC at Anderson airport.

I was there on Sat. which is the main day. Pat Hartness is top notch along with the rest of the family. This trip is well worth the ride for me as it is only about a 30 minute flight. I spoke to a couple that had flown in from Florida that were very glad they came. There were many unique airplanes there. I only saw a handful of Mooneys but one was a Mite. There were many other unique vehicles there as well, even a DC-3 showed up. Getting in and out is a little crazy, reminded me of Oshkosh. Safety is high priority. The tower and ground crews do a great job of getting so many airplanes with a wide range of airspeeds, in and out very quickly

Thank you Oscar for posting great videos. I was in Guatemala during the summer of 2010, spent most of my time in the Rio Dulce area, but did spend one day in Guatemala City. Great memories from there that I will carry for the rest of my life. Such a beautiful country with beautiful people.

This was simply showing good judgment on the part of the pilot. He did not feel good about this approach and obviously elected to exercise the good judgment by doing a go around. He later discovered that the gear was not down and extended it for a safe landing. As far as the 150 knots,...well,... Mooneys are slick airplanes . That's my story and I am sticking to it.

A 3 blade composite might be a good choice due to less weight.

I have a '61 model B with a 3 blade McCauley. As far as I can tell this airplane has never been on its belly. I can't say if the two blade is faster or not, as the 3 blade was there when I bought it. I do know that this is a super smooth running 4 banger. I would love to fly/ride in the same model with a two blade prop in order to compare how smoothly it runs. One thing that really hurts with the 3 blade is balance. That extra blade adds quite a bit of weight to the nose of an airplane that is already nose heavy. The fuel bladders also move the CG forward. With 2 real people (not 170 lb. FAA people) on board the airplane is well out of CG limits. I can load the baggage compartment with cases of oil to bring the CG in. This however, makes the airplane a little unstable to me. After rotation the nose wants to keep climbing skyward, I have to really be on top of it during the first few seconds of flight. Retracting the gear does move the CG back slightly as the nose wheel retracts aft in Mooneys. By that point I have plenty of airspeed to make me feel more comfortable.

My '61 B model has it as well. I have been using it as a place to store an allen wrench in case I get stuck away from home and have to reinstall the tie down points. I thought it was a very practical tool storage ideal from the mind of Al Mooney.