whiskytango

When I am ready to get my '82 K painted I will hand the paint shop your photos. Nice!!! Hope the pre-buy works out.

You are quite right that the CNX80 is an obsolete, unsupported (by Garmin) box. The trouble is that I really like this box, and it has worked flawlessly for the full time I have owned the plane. As a member in good standing of the CB club it is hard to get rid of something that works fine, and spend a lot of money for a replacement that will do essentially the same thing. Having said that, if VNAV is not supported with a CNX80 I will look into a replacement.

I am in the process of getting quotes for a GFC500 for my 231. (For all of you waiting for the TT/AeroCruz 100 STC, this virtually guarantees that the FAA will issue it the minute I send off my deposit for a GFC500. You can thank me later). I have a CNX80 GPS with the Version 2.4 software and GPS / WAAS Software Version 5.1 (which I am told is the most current). One shop that I contacted for a quote mentioned that the GFC500 cannot do coupled VNAV GPS approaches if your GPS navigator is a CNX80 or GNS480. I had not seen that limitation anywhere in Garmin literature, and was wondering if anyone on MS has experience with this.

Others have posted the concept of flying as a means to get somewhere your wife really wants to go to in a much shorter time than driving. Buying a vacation / retirement house that was 600 miles from home made flying in the Mooney a lot more attractive to my wife than anything else I could have suggested. Even though she does not get motion sickness easily (we both spent a lot of time sailing), we always fly early in the morning before the convective action begins, fly high, and avoid all buildups.

In my experience with a 231 with Merlyn UDC and Intercooler, the engine will exceed the maximum desired 36 inch Hg MAP if you are not careful when pushing the throttle forward. The pressure relief valve will open at 40 inches MAP, but you do not want to operate your Intercooler engine at that (40 inches Hg) MAP.

There was an excellent documentary that told how, in the late 1960s, Boeing essentially "bet the company" on the success of the 747.

If all else fails you could go to your local welding shop and buy a portable oxyacetylene welding kit from them. Set up an account with them. You are now in the system and can do an O2 cylinder swap with no issues. You also have a gas welding and cutting torch tool that really comes in handy at times.

Wait a minute....I've been flying for 42 years without inert gas in the head space of my fuel tanks (that are partially filled with 100LL GASOLINE and not Jet-A). Am I doomed to die in a lightning related explosion?

I flew through it today from SAV to VDF. I filed IFR at 10,000. Even though all of the airports along the route were reporting VFR, I would not want to fly through it as a VFR-only pilot. ATC was saturated, and was declining requests for VFR flight following.

Well done sir!

One advantage of the iPad is that with your subscription you can authorize 2 devices. If my iPad dies in flight I can pull my iPhone out and get back all of the chart, approach and weather information needed to complete the flight.

The 787 is ok, but what it really needs is a Johnson Bar landing gear!

+1 on using Dremel to trim. Knots2U also sells drill bits with "zero rake" that will allow you to drill the holes without cracking the acrylic.

I don't know if they are still doing it, but when I was living up north and flew into KMRB, a joint civilian and ANG facility, the tower controller would always call "Mooney 6091Q check wheels down, cleared to land". Although it is not ATC's job to keep us from screwing up, it was always appreciated.

You guys are killing me. My doc told me no caffeine of any kind until my Sudden Hearing Loss in one ear gets resolved (no, I don't see the connection, but he has M.D. after his name, not me).

Nice stabilized approach with almost constant 500 FPM descent rate

OTOH Leesburg VA (KJYO) has had a remote tower in the spring and summer months. Because it is so close to KIAD, getting an IFR clearance out of KJYO on a VFR day is a guaranteed wait of 20 minutes while Clearance Delivery assures you they are still waiting for a release from Potomac Approach. KJYO Tower.tiff

My first Mooney was an E-model. Great airplane, fun and easy to fly. When I got the IR it made sense to look at a different plane, based on the minimalist avionics in the E-model (and of course we all want to go faster). I transitioned to a GB engine 231. I really wish there had been a forum for turbo Mooneys back then, because some of the detailed information you need to cost-effectively operate these aircraft is not in the POH.

I went flying yesterday, mainly to keep the engine from going too long without operating. KSAV was down to one guy working everything; Clearance Delivery, Ground and Tower. I am guessing they couldn't comply with social distancing, and told the rest of the crew to stay home. It took 15 minutes to get a VFR clearance out of the Class C. There is a fair amount of airline and military traffic at this airport, in addition to GA. I don't think the controllers are going to be too happy with this.

It may have been Mike Busch or someone from GAMI that said essentially the same thing about the cost of fuel, and if you are going to fly ROP, by all means fly at 150 degrees ROP and keep your cylinders cool.

This makes sense. In theory you could use a motorized tug on the nose gear, and apply the bending loads associated with moving the plane up a sloped surface without expecting any damage. Who knows what the rear tie down hook can withstand.

Back in the Old Days when we had a TR182, Casey-The-Wonder-Dog had aspired to be a First Officer, but could never stay awake.

Agree 100%. Not to be an alarmist, but I also take my Sensorcon into hotel rooms when I am on the road. I am aware of multiple incidents where the venting systems on commercial gas-fired domestic water heaters and heating boilers in hotels have failed, and guests have died or sustained permanent brain damage as a result of CO exposure.

One thing I always tell passengers new to Mooneys is that there is no way to gracefully enter or exit a Mooney (especially if you are an Old Geezer like me), so don't worry about it. But once in the plane there will be plenty of room.

I recently got hearing aids and have been using them in flight with my Bose A-20 headset. I probably would not wear them in flight except that I use a timer attached to the control wheel as a reminder to switch fuel tanks every 30 minutes. The timer gives a high pitched tone when it goes off, and frequently I couldn't hear it. I can hear it very well with the hearing aids, so for that reason alone I will wear them with the A-20 headset.