gsxrpilot

Step one here... would be to really learn your autopilot, GPS, etc. very well. When I put the new panel in my 252, I took a safety pilot, @"Chocks" and we went out to a fairly remote country airport with an Instrument approach and learned to fly the autopilot, GPS, Aspen, etc. I went around and around, working out the button pushing, sequences, etc while @"Chocks" kept his eyes out for traffic, announced what we were doing on the radio, and made sure I was right side up. Get comfortable with the automation, how it works, and what to expect. Then get start practicing the same procedures buy hand, knowing you can always go back to the autopilot.

@Bob_Belville flies an E... so you're still in the running for the prettiest C

N6XM (may she rest in peace) was a 150+ knot TAS M20C. She had all the 201 mods including cowl, windshield, wingtips, etc, etc, etc. Very few antennas and nothing poking out through the glass, wings, etc. She was light for a C, with 1015 lbs useful load. She'd also spent some time in Don Maxwell's shop getting the brakes turned around and the rigging redone right. It was pretty common for me to get 152 knots TAS. If you ever are talking with Don, ask him about 6XM. He'll testify that was the fastest M20C he'd ever seen or flown. There are also quite a few in the Mooney Caravan org who will also testify to her speed from having her on the wing keeping up with J's doing 150+. Who knows what exactly made her so fast, but she was fast.

Send them to Hector at Aero Comfort in San Antonio. He's now done yokes for me in two airplanes.

I really don't think I can even qualify with so many great Mooney pictures in this thread. But she's beautiful to me... Sitting on the ramp in Churchill Manitoba after getting us safely across hundreds of miles of tundra out of range of radar and radio. My beautiful co-pilot and our fur-kid hiding in the shade.

Or Google Earth... It's very flat in all directions from that point. The airport is sitting in a bit of a valley, but it's a very large valley with very flat fields in all directions.

I'm not doubting Scott at all, obviously he's flying with the yokes and shafts. But just to give my experience with my M20C. I bought a set of used yokes and the shafts with them that were marked for an M20J. I had two shops, and one avionics shop tell me they wouldn't work. One of the shops I asked was Don Maxwell. He went to his parts room and pulled out a set of shafts for an M20C and we compared them to the 201 shafts I had. The fittings at the forward end of the shaft where it connects to all the linkages, were completely different. He told me I'd have to order shafts from Mooney that were the thicker material and would fit the 201 yokes but had the M20C linkage connections. At between $600 and $700 per shaft, I held off for a year or so before going ahead and ordering the new shafts from Mooney. Once I had the new shafts, the installation was quick and easy, under an hour. I will say that 201 yokes covered in leather by Aero Comfort in San Antonio are really nice and worth every penny if you got them.

I for one am very happy they didn't shoot down the Q400 in Seattle. There is way too much preemptive killing of people already. And as it turned out, it was just fine that they didn't. Kudos to the controller who very calmly talked to the guy and kept him out of harms way and never gave up trying to talk him down.

So $10K for a type rating? Hmmmmm.... It would be worth it in the right one.

They don't work in Texas. All they do is heat up the cabin quicker by efficiently filling the cabin with 100+ degree air.

The shafts won't fit a C or an E, not sure about the F.

I'll bet a majority of members on this board only dream of using their personal airplane for work and even more so to generate profit. For most of us it's purely personal pleasure, and we've already run up the white flag on financial responsibility by getting out of the car or off the airlines and into a personal airplane. I'm starting with a new employer this week and this one is happy for me to expense the use of my airplane when I use it to fly to customer meetings. This alone makes me think I've won the lottery... but it's still not paying for its self and therefore for me, MPG still holds the edge over the extra speed. As has been said, the J is the true MPG winner, but the 252 is a very close second (sometimes in first place) but with much better dispatch rate because of the altitude capability. Someone once said, "after two hours, every airplane is to slow.*" *exception... @Yooper Rocketman's Evolution... after two hours in that airplane I'd still be trying to catch up to it ;-)

I did the upgrade in my C a few years ago. I bought the yokes from someone here... but then discovered how expensive the shafts were. I didn't install the yokes for another year and a half. As I recall, they were about $700 each from Mooney.

No, you have to change the shafts.

I've landed without flaps lots of time, but never because I forgot.

True... I was only meaning to show my way of recording performance parameters. BTW... I use to fly my C exactly the same way you do... In fact I think I learned it from you. :-)

Mine pretty much always takes off at gross weight and with the fat kid in the front left seat in other words, forward CG ;-)

I like this and it's similar to what I do. Pre-taxi is only Switches and Altimeter. (The other stuff is automatic). Pre-runup is Flaps/Trim and we're ready to go.

Completely agree!

One of the side benefits of my panel refit and choice of layout allows me to take this picture anytime I want to record current conditions. Everything I'd want to know is right in the picture. Here's an example. I've got nearly a hundred of these from lots of different flights.

Put it in for Annual. But seriously... we try to spend July somewhere north of Texas. This year we went all the way to Churchill Manitoba to get cool weather in July. That might be overkill. But it was cold. August she's down for the Annual... and I'm not in a hurry to get her back. So get all the stuff done that has been put off all year when I'd rather be flying. It'll still be too hot in September, so we'll put the turbo to use and only spend time below 12,500 climbing or descending. Finally, do all the other shit that has to be done, at the office, around the house, clear out the "Honey Do" list, etc. So when the nice weather is back starting in October... I can just go fly.

I'm envious... not of having a toddler... but back when my first kid was one year old, the prospects of holding a pilots certificate, much less owning an airplane were as likely as winning the lottery. Good on ya for getting started so early.

I know what you're saying Jim, and you are correct in that we as a group, and I in particular, are pretty tough critics of some of the airplanes that get listed here. But then we as a group probably know more about the market for used Mooneys than most groups. I'm pretty sure we don't make the market, we just observe it closely. This is a recent example of one that was only listed here on MooneySpace, but was priced right and sold quickly. And Ron, the seller talks about how nice it was to sell the airplane using MooneySpace. I'm curious as to what AllAmerican would think they could get for this particular E. It was originally listed at $169K. And I'm sure the seller has well over $200K in it. It's truly unfortunate that it is for sale rather than being flown and enjoyed by whoever spent Ovation money on it.

A picture of fuel efficient travel, right there.

I didn't bring up the efficiency argument ;-) I was just stating that the Rocket doesn't get the best MPG, IF that's the measure. Personally, I can't ever be satisfied with any Mooney... thanks to a certain Lancair I once rode in!