gsxrpilot

Its important not to get off on the wrong foot with your A&P. There aren't a surplus of good ones and they're all over booked. So get the relationship started right. IMO the easiest way to start off wrong, is to start with an annual. Rather, start with an oil change. Start the relationship off with small well defined jobs. That way the +/- or the over/under is measured in Ben Franklin's and not in AMU's Once you get to know each other... assuming all is still trending in the right direction, handing the bird over for an annual is like consummating the relationship.

I'll bet it's just pads. If the pads are gone down to the metal, the piston will push out too far and dump fluid. I flew mine to Texas that way as it was on it's way to annual. JD showed me the pads, rivets, and half the backing plates all ground down. It was all going in the bin anyway and new to me, Ovation double puck brakes going on.

JD and Laura (and Jeremiah) at SWTA have become close personal friends over the course of the five or so years they've been maintaining my Mooneys. It doesn't happen immediately, and it's definitely a two way street. But it is by far, the single most important and confidence inspiring part of airplane ownership. I don't think I could own an airplane without this level of support.

Hahahahah... all @Yetti knows is that Al was short.

Thanks. And love the video and the blog by the way. Always good stuff.

You need to go fly in one.

Not much to add beyond what's already been said. I never thought an audio panel would make much difference in the cockpit. After all, the audio quality is a function of headsets, or so I thought. Then on a whim and a Black Friday sale at @Avionics Source, I bought a PMA450a and later traded it for a PMA450b. It is the single biggest improvement in my cockpit. Not only is it a top quality unit, but it's nice to know I can ask for service and get it, if needed. Garmin makes good stuff, but they won't give you same level of support at @jcovington describes above. They'll tell you to take it back to your installer. For those of us who are pretty good with our hands and somewhat technically savvy, being able to talk with the guys who build the kit, is a game changer. I had a GMA340 prior and did the swap myself. It took longer to open the box than it did to switch out the units. Just some of the things I like: Noise suppression is amazing. In my all electric airplane and two alternators, the PMA450 just took all the electronic noise away. Music distribution and selective muting makes it my wife's favorite cockpit tech. Easier to get funding that way as well. Bluetooth works and works perfectly. I took a call on my phone once while on the take off roll, full power. The guy I was talking to thought I was sitting in my office at home. IntelliAudio - I'm always either on flight following or IFR. There's no need to ask to step away to get weather, or flight service. Its easy to listen to two channels at the same time. @Avionics Source just made it too easy to buy, and @Mscheuer made it too easy to install and use. What's not to like?

Yep, I read the article and watched the video, all before I went to look at the cameras. And I was about to buy when I started reading the reviews. But it's good to hear you're not having any issues with the Drift. Maybe I should get the Ghost X for a lot less money and try it out.

I'm super interested in this topic. I've only ever used GoPro cameras to date. And I've used a lot of them. I was just looking at the Drift cameras, but their Amazon reviews are not good. I'd love to order a Drift 4K but just a little hesitant at the moment.

The narrowest part of the Rockies is further north. But regardless, it' pretty easy to follow the roads through the mountains. If you're sight seeing along the route, KRAP is good for Mount Rushmore, then fly by Devils Tower in Wyoming. Going from there to KWYS is a good way to see Yellowstone from the air. The Grand Prismatic never disappoints. WYS is 6650 MSL but with plenty of room. I took off out of there at max gross in July. Just plan to take off in the morning when it's cool, and there is plenty of room to circle over the field until you're at a comfortable altitude. It's a short flight from there to KGPI. And you can stay over wide valleys the whole way. With just a little bit of route planning and good weather, your Mooney is just fine for flying through the mountains to the west. And nice days are the norm in the summertime.

Yes, we should all be careful and not gear up our airplanes. But the reason being that it might increase everyone else's insurance rates a few dollars... is so far down the list of reasons that it's a complete waste of an otherwise good brain cell to even think about it. #firstworldproblems

Different parts of the trip are better at different times of year. But coming through the Rockies, summer would be better. But if doing the section from San Antonio to LA in the summer, go early in the mornings. You don't want to be anywhere over West Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona after about noon in the summer. I know Denver isn't on the route of a circumnavigation of the lower 48, but if you do come through the central Rockies, maybe to land in Leadville... the beer's on me.

Yes, in an M20C. Actually we flew from Seattle to the East. Or at least over the parts you care about. We did this in July several years ago. I thought it was easy in our M20C loaded pretty full. It was a mix of VFR and IFR flights. KBFI KCOE KGPI KWYS KANW KOMA

You already do.

Many of us who have hangars, got them before the airplane. A hangar is a lot harder to find than the airplane.

Avionics Source has a great website with all the info.

If you've really got a fast airplane, you don't have to talk about it. It will be evident to the controller.

I did this to satisfy my Commercial, 2 hour day/night cross country requirements. My brother and I took off at 3:30 am and flew 2 hours to breakfast (night cross country). Then flew home (day cross country).

Don't pass up this opportunity!

You should be buying it cheap enough that you don't even need a pre-buy.

Does the plane have a current annual now? Can it be flown to a shop?

Never No No With your turbo, altitude doesn't play into the equation. Or at least not for this conversation. Use lean find to discover the correct fuel flow for a given MP that puts you where you want to be LOP. Make note of those numbers. For me in my 252 a typical LOP setting was 25"/9.5gph. Once you know the numbers for your engine, you can skip the Lean Find feature and just go to those numbers. And if during a long flight, you notice the MP change or the FF change, just put it back. No need to run lean find.

+1 for Hector at AeroComfort

It's not just the 1000' between them that provides separation. The thresholds are 2000' apart as well. And in a very busy metro airspace, with lots of Deltas close to each other and various Bravo shelf's hanging over everything, two stadium TFR's, and rising terrain very close by, you don't launch into the sky here in the Denver area without knowing where you are and where you are supposed to be, at all times. There's no excuse for the Cirrus pilot in this environment.

I like your way of thinking. The engine monitor will certainly give you more information than not having an engine monitor. I would separate the two decisions. Go ahead and install the engine monitor. And I don't think the engine on or off makes any difference. Get a Primary engine monitor and then remove the factory gauges. The two sets of gauges will never agree and you'll always wonder which is correct. So go with a Primary engine monitor so you can get rid of the original gauges. Now that that's done... decide what to do about the engine. If it's running well, has good compressions, and isn't using too much oil, just keep flying it. Be sure to open an account on SavvyAnalysis and log the data from the engine monitor.