gsxrpilot

@Mxracer56, I thought you said you're the pilot? The pilot doesn't sit in the back seat! It's rare, but sometimes you'll have so many people going along, that one or two will have to sit in the back, but it won't be you. And those that are sitting in the back, typically aren't paying for the airplane and thus are just happy to be along. Secondly, my experience as a new pilot was that none of my friends were running to the front of the line to go flying with me anyway. They would say something about talking to them after I had "experience"? Seriously though, leg room in the back seat is directly related to the height of the person in the front seat. Myself, at 5'10" leaves plenty of room in behind my seat (in my M20C) for an average sized adult. My wife in the right seat leaves even more legroom behind her seat. Don't choose your first plane based on the back seat that will likely be more under-utilized than you expect. Basically you've just got your drivers license and are looking at Porsches, but your Drivers-Ed teacher is trying to steer you towards a Corolla. Get the Porsche.

Yep, got the oil changed in my 252 just this morning. There was a bit of spillage on the nose gear, tire, and floor. It's a continuing problem.

Yes, you'll need a passport.

Interesting... I just redid the panel in my 252 in a very similar fashion. And the first thing we did was get in and fly it to Maine. We just got back to Texas. But should have stayed there. It's still too hot. Oh well, off to California on Friday. Enjoy the new panel.

LASAR hasn't had those visor's available for a few years now. But they did have the lenses. I ordered a set of "replacement" lenses and then made my own brackets for my M20C. They worked nicely.

Hmmm... I'd have removed my vacuum system, but it's driving my speed brakes. But it's not hooked to anything in the panel any longer. And all without a KI300.

This won't be complete as I'm still learning how to use the Aspen. OAT, TAS, GS, Wind direction and velocity all displayed in one area. I know all this can be calculated, but it's nice having up to the second information on wind. Yesterday flying home to Austin, we were weaving around buildups and the winds kept changing significantly. I was able to make a couple of course changes that both got me around the big stuff and shortened the flight. It was all based on watching the wind on the Aspen. At one point in the flight I'd told ATC I was going to 12.5. I noted the wind direction and strength as we went through 10.5. Upon reaching the top of climb, I quickly realized the wind was a bit better at 10.5 and told ATC we were going back down. I believe having immediate information on OAT, TAS, GS, and Wind helps me fly more efficiently/cheaply. Multiple Nav sources. I can have up to four Nav sources displayed on the Aspen HSI simultaneously. Last flight I was displaying the GPS course from the IFD540 along with the VOR from the IFD540, the VOR from the KX165 and the heading bug all at the same time. I can then switch the autopilot between all of them as needed. Map depiction on HSI. An HSI is a wonderful instrument for navigation and the ability to paint the upcoming course on the HSI makes it even more useful. Seeing the Hold, Direction Change or Approach course depicted right on the HSI is pretty cool. This might have been number 4, but I also like that I can switch the HSI from a 360 degree view to an Arc view at the touch of a button. The Arc view seems easier when making subtle changes to course or flying the heading bug, but sometimes as with holds or course reversal turns, seeing the full 360 circle with the reciprocal is nicer. One minor feature, but one I found very nice to have on a flight last Friday is the Minimums bug. You can set the Minimum altitude for an approach and it is displayed prominently in numbers on the AI. It's not a bug that I'm expecting to come scrolling up the altitude tape. It also will alarm when you reach it. Of course you can set it for any value, so setting it for 100' above minimums works just as well. I shot an ILS approach to 500' on Friday and it was nice to have that minimum altitude right in front of me as I was descending on the ILS. The final version of the G5 AI/HSI might have these features as well, but there's no way to know at the moment. The main thing I like about the G5 so far is its easy to set the baro pressure. The one button is there to change the baro as it's primary function. So I found myself setting that first every time I got a new setting from ATC. Otherwise, the G5 seems like a very nice but basic AI plus tapes. The Aspen is a full featured PFD computer giving me lots of information if I want it or allowing me to remove what I don't want. It's just much more full featured and flexible it seems to me. But I'm still learning to use all of it's functions. Hope this helps.

I believe I have an itemized invoice somewhere, but I really haven't looked at it. I spent quite a bit on the whole panel remake. Even though I believe I was only at about 50% of retail for the whole job. It was still a big number.

I have both an Aspen EFD1000 Pro and a Garmin G5 in my panel. I can easily flip the G5 between AI and HSI modes so I've seen both in flight. For my money, the Aspen is worth every penny of the premium over the G5. I've got the EA100 interface driving my KFC150 autopilot. I'm very happy with the Aspen > EA100 > KFC150 combination.

I wonder what this does to Stec. My local avionics shop thinks it will be the nail in their preverbal coffin.

Hmmm... I wonder what else is out of production? They've got a new website and all the Mods are listed there including the wingtips. @LASAR? I had a C once that had ALL the LASAR mods on it. It was FAST.

The things to look for in a 231 will be... (assuming no corrosion, good maintenance, airworthy, etc) Engine time? Wastegate added? Intercooler added? Useful Load? Which Autopilot? (Does it have a Flight Director, Vertical Speed/Altitude pre-select, approach coupling?) WAAS GPS? And then all the other Mooney stuff like tanks sealed, pucks recent, etc. Paint and Interior is always at the end of the list for me. It's a very personal choice and I'd rather do the paint and interior myself if everything else is done and done right.

@Yooper Rocketman on Friday I was somewhere between Maine and NY and chatted for a few seconds with a turbine lancair pilot who used to own a Mooney. He commented to ATC about it being better than his Mooney. ATC raised me on the radio to ask if I'd heard that. We chatted for a few seconds, but ATC is pretty busy in that part of the country. I didn't get the tail number but thought you might know who it would have been. There can't be that many of you.

Yes, once I worked out that I could actually go A to B in the 252 as economically as the C, it was time to move up. We also did a trip around the western US in the C and crossing the big rocks coupled with some very high DA airports got us thinking turbo as well. I actually hangar at San Marcos, but live in South Austin very close to Bergstrom. Let me know when you're in town and we'll go fly.

I'm gonna have to pull the left seat in my K and have a look. It's started to get difficult to latch as well. But I find by pushing on the bar and jostling it a bit, it will seat all the way down and latch. I'm sure there are just some worn parts there.

On my long flight today I tested pushing flight plans from ForeFlight to the IFD540 and importing the flight plan from the IFD540 to ForeFlight. I had my iPad connected to the Liowifi signal from the IFD540. It worked both directions. In other news, the GDL69a works great with the IFD540 as well. And we were able to listen to Sirius Satellite Radio on the flight today. The IFD540 is the head unit for the GDL69a and it all comes through the PMA450a. So far I'm loving the new panel.

Today's flight... four segments. We took off from Brunswick, Maine into low fog, 030 OVC, but beautiful from about 050 and up. The first stop at Sullivan County was for the dog. That changed our routing a little, and added a stop. The second stop at Mt Sterling for cheap fuel. The third stop was in Memphis for some BBQ with @neilpilot. It was great to be able to meet another MooneySpace'er in person, especially over some real Memphis BBQ. Then finally the last leg home to San Marcos dodging just a few cells in the last 30 minutes of the flight. All in all a good day to cross at least half of the country in a Mooney. Almost 1600 miles.

Yeah I agree. I meant to reference the 650e's. I'd really like to get those installed at the upcoming annual in August. But I might wait to see how well the annual goes first.

Ah, ok. I'll eventually get the 6502's. If I spend money on this plane, it's got to come with additional useful load :-)

I've only topped off the tanks one time and it seemed that they would only hold about 73 or 73.5 and that was up past the base of the filler neck. We haven't calibrated the fuel gauges in the JPI yet so we'll get a chance to check it again.

Now I'm interested... I wish someone would buy them and install them already so I can see what they look like

Ok, do these bulbs require the heavy power supplies already in the wings or can those be removed when installing these bulbs? And secondly, @kortopates... +1

I'm in Austin and would be happy to provide some in person orientation to all things M20C if you come this far East. I used to fly my C at 12,500 and 13,500 all the time. It takes awhile to get there, but cruises nicely and cheaply at those altitudes. Crossing certain mountains into Colorado, it's been as high as 16,500. Do you have an engine monitor in that C? They are useful. Get an iPad and Stratus or Stratux. That C with an Stec60 is a solid little IFR machine. Regarding the manual gear... I wish I had the manual gear in my 252. Either learn to swing the Jbar without moving the airplane for raising the gear at low speed right after takeoff. Or wait for more altitude (equals more speed) and learn to bob the airplane with the yoke to all for easier movement of the Jbar at the slightly higher speed. I preferred the former. Lift off, positive rate, gear up. Never mind the additional mile of useable runway, get the gear stowed ASAP.

I don't have the Monroy tanks, but just a stock standard 252. And it's frustrating as hell to get the tanks full. I'm never quite sure if I'm full or not. The best I can do is fill to a number on the wing gauges. On this trip to Maine and back, we're very heavily loaded so I've been just filling to the 30 in both tanks. In my M20C, fueling was so easy. Even though it was only 52 gallons, it was nice to spend 10 minutes on the ground and KNOW I was departing with 52 gallons. With the K it's often a guess.

This video of the Mooney Caravan 2014 arrival into Oshkosh shows Mooneys landing in a gusty crosswind, and some in the rain. The cross wind got worse as we got to the end of the line. But you can see upwind wheel landings from almost all elements. The pairs of Mooneys are landing side by side on 34L. Its a good demonstration of crosswind control when you only have HALF the runway width to work with.