skibum3d

Thanks. Glad to hear that everyone is ok.

Looks like a gear up with a prop strike; the right main was extended ever so slightly at about 10 degrees. (It's hard to see the prop strike from the photos, but it was clearly present.) Anyone know what happened? Hopefully everyone is ok.

Thank you for looking AmigOne. Thanks to everyone else too. After the holidays, I'm going to give Hector a call and have a few made. I know I could make one myself, but at $20 for quality workmanship, I'll leave it to the pro.

AmigOne, thanks! I'd very much appreciate that. The current broken strap and the aircraft interior are beige, therefore yours would probably match -- you'll just need to let me know where I can send a case of microbrew for when the weather is bad.

Perfect, thanks to both of you. One of these days I'm going to have to have Hector redo the full interior.

Hi, The leather door strap on the interior aft side of the door of my M20C broke during one of my last flights when I tugged it a bit too hard. I'm looking for a replacement but not having much luck on eBay or Google. Do any of you have any leads for such a silly part? Thanks!

I've been down this path recently, in a round-about way. Right now, I'm the sole owner of my M20C, but that wasn't the plan in the beginning. First, a little background. In the middle of this year I had about 230 hours total time, 15 hours of complex time, well over 50 hours of cross country and night time, and I'd had my PPL for over a decade. I'd sold off my half share of a Cherokee 160 a few years before and was ready to jump back in to ownership. One of my co-workers had been talking for a few years about getting his license, but never took any action for financial reasons. Suddenly though, he had a project go well and he found himself in a place to make getting a license feasible. After running the numbers he decided that it was cheaper to buy and learn than to rent and learn, especially if the plan was to buy after getting a license anyway. Fast forward a few months -- we test flew the bird I now own, and both fell in love with it. We put in an offer and had a handshake contract in place the same day. The next week we looked for insurance, along with a few other odds and ends. The first broker we called literally laughed when we mentioned that my partner would be training in the M20C. He then said "there's absolutely no way I can insure a student pilot in a Mooney." We called another broker, and another, and heard the same story. We went through approximately 15 brokers and underwriters, and ultimately found two that were "willing" to insure a student pilot in an M20C. The better of the two offers literally required 220 hours of dual time for the new student before solo, and the price was more than double what it'd cost to insure just me. (I didn't come away unscathed either. Despite my time and complex hours, I still had to have 10 hours dual and 5 hours solo in an M20 before I was insured to carry passengers.) Long story short, my would-be Mooney partner now owns a 1967 Cessna 150, and was able to insure it for about 66% of the cost of my solo Mooney insurance. His plan is to become a future half owner of my bird when he's got his license and a complex endorsement. I wish you good luck, (and for what it's worth our best insurance ultimately came from AOPA insurance,) but don't be discouraged from getting your PPL if you can't get it in a Mooney.

WOW! I thought I was paying a lot for a T-Hangar at KSLC at $218 / month.

Thank you for all of your replies, they help put things in perspective. I'll have to be honest, and I'm sure some of you will find this amusing, I'd never heard of fogging before -- I had to look it up. I'd also never heard of Corrosion X. Consider me (slightly) informed. It looks like I'm a go for the move in the near term, so the next task will be finding a good hanger in the MIA / FLL area. Thanks again!

Hi, I'm seriously considering relocating from the Mountain West to South Eastern Florida. I have a 1965 M20C and I've done essentially all of my 300+ hours in the region. I'm wondering how the climate will treat my bird -- I'm used to having a home base at a dry, high elevation (4,217') airport, and the aircraft has spent most of it's life in this sort of environment. I don't need to worry about the weather much, except icing, and even that's only a concern for a few days in Dec-Feb. I have a few specific questions: How will the weather affect the paint, metal, and other parts of the aircraft structure? Will corrosion be much more rapid / pronounced? Will I need to touch up the paint in any blemishes to avoid rust? If I have an engine that likes to run a bit hot when leaned just barely rich of peak for the local density altitude (which can be as high as 8,000), will I have fewer or more problems at sea level? Does the moisture in the air cause the pitot-static system any specific pain? Also, any other general feedback you've got about the move and how it might affect my flying and my aircraft will be appreciated. I must say, I am excited about being able to fly below 10,500 (my usual altitude for flying through mountainous terrain in the area) when traveling more than 50 miles. I'm also excited to see my low level climb performance. At about 5,000', I usually see about 900-1,200 FPM depending on load and outside temperature. I assume it'll be better down low! Thanks, Matt

Thanks! My M20C has the Mooney Positive Control, but nothing else in the way of A/P. I still haven't decided if I like the PC; I do love just about everything else about the C though, my previous 250 hours were essentially all 172s and Cherokees of some sort.

This is great feedback, thanks! I have a JPI EDM-700 too. My hot cylinders are #1 and #3, while #2 and #4 stay plenty cool. I have a gut feeling that my baffling may be at fault, but I'll definitely look into the cowl flap change too.

Thanks! I think I'll sell the 155 then. I have an iPad mini with mount running GlobalNavSource EFB as my "backup" now. The reason I'd considered the 155 is that the M20C has one NAV with Glideslope and one without; no ADF, no DME, no GPS -- that gives me few choices for IFR in todays RNAV approach world.

Hi, I've been lurking on the forums for about 3 months, and I figured it was time to introduce myself and my new bird: She's a 1965 M20C with plenty of mods: 201 windshield 201 instrument panel Smooth belly mod Flap gap seals Aileron gap seals McCauley no AD propeller The previous owner thought it also had the cowl enclosure fairing mod, but from looking at pictures, I don't think it does. (Maybe one of you could kindly confirm or deny from the pictures? She runs hot during climb-out and I believe the enclosure would help?) As far as the work I've had done: Installed Nu-Lights everywhere but on the Mooney six-pack (picture attached) Installed a dash mount clock (working on my IFR ticket) Installed an STC Altimeter and VSI (part of the pitot-static check) Installed a Zeftronics solid state voltage regulator Prop resealed (red oil on the cowl after a long cross country, this wasn't cheap) Right fuel tank resealed (some blue stain on the underside of the wing) I also bought a Garmin GPS 155 TSO IFR capable GPS. I haven't decided if I should sell it or pay approximately $1,700 the avionics shop quoted me for install and FAA Form 337. Thoughts on this? The alternative would be save for a year or two and buy a GNS 650 to replace that old KX170b. Thanks everyone! *edited for a proper orientation on the lit-instrument picture*