gsxrpilot

A couple of years ago as a new 1964 M20C owner, I was grounded by one of the little spring mounts that holds on the exhaust pipe. I called the factory and they FedEx'd two of them that day. Another time when I bumped a hanger door and broke the lens off my fancy J-style swooped wing tip. I called the factory and after talking to a couple of people, they found me one. I asked them to hold it for me and flew to Kerrville and picked it up. This was for a 1964 M20C. They were happy to come out and take a good look at it when I flew over there to pick up the part.

I'd be interested in how this is best done with a K. It takes so long to actually fill it to the top. And sometimes after I'm sure it's full, and I've gone to the other tank, I come back and it's down an inch. There are also flappers in the filler necks that make it difficult to "stick" the tank. It was MUCH easier with the C.

Yep, my panel is an "owner produced part" as well. But as I'm not changing out the interior, I wanted to stay close to the same color. Whites are difficult to match as they all have a little bit of other color in them. And if you choose a white that has a little green, when you should have picked a white with a little blue, it will go the wrong direction. So it was nice to get the exact paint code and go from there to a color I was happy with.

Maybe @mooniac58 can fix it for ya. Or if you PM me your login, I can fix it for you... or it's actually not all that important. ;-)

I'm putting a new panel in my 252 and it needs paint. I wanted to match the original paint as close as possible. It was nice to call the factory and talk to Paul. He was able to look up the paint code for my panel based on the serial number of my plane. Just good service from the good folks in Kerrville, Texas.

You just need a GDC31 connected to your Century IIB and you'll have GPSS. A new one is about $1900, but they often come up on the used market. @Alan Fox has sold a couple of them on here in the $1200 range and you can often find them on Barnstormers or Ebay. I've got one I'd let you have for $200 but it's missing the button. I think DAC wants $1000 to recertify and include a button. Depending no how handy your hangar elves are, you might come up with your own button.

Me too...

KRBD is on the south side of Dallas under the Bravo shelf. If you just call up Approach or use Flight Following, they'll vector you right in and the Bravo is no factor. Coming from the southwest I'd aim for KJWY and then turn north. This will keep you to the east of the big towers on Cedar Hill.

This chart is a little easier to read/understand and applies to both Lycoming and Continental engines.

I wouldn't consider a Bravo without talking with @donkaye. He might have more Bravo time than anyone here and has flown many Bravo's and other models other than his own. The larger the investment, the more knowledge is critical.

To be fair, I was a bit concerned about getting it right as well and not doing any damage. And it is more difficult in a carbureted engine. So while I tried and worked out the proper method to get LOP, I was always above about 8000' where the engine is making much lower power and therefore virtually impossible to do anything to hurt it. Once I worked out the sequence, which for me involved pulling the throttle back as much as possible without reducing MP and therefore closing the enrichment circuit, I could run LOP easily at all altitudes.

Many of us who have actually run our carbureted C LOP for many hours will know the above statement is completely incorrect. Any gasoline piston engine will run LOP as long as all cylinders can be burning fuel at close to the same rate. This is of course often easier with a fuel injected engine. But that doesn't mean it's impossible in a carbureted engine. Any engine needs to be well tuned to run deep LOP. For a fuel injected engine that often means a matched set of injectors from GAMI. In a carbureted engine it often means overhauling the carb, ensuring the doghouse is right, possibly using a little carb heat, and disabling the enrichment circuit with throttle position. My experience consists of 400 hours in a carbureted C running 25 - 30 degrees LOP, nice and smooth.

I've flown a C out of Phoenix and out of Seattle... there's a huge difference. In the desert southwest, you're gonna want a turbo, or you're just not gonna fly 6 months of the year. While it can be done, it's just a miserable experience.

You might add a link to your Barnstormers ad here.

BTW -- Saturday the 13th is the Fly-in at 84R (Smithville, TX). It's not Mooney specific, but a nice little airport with friendly people, a good grill running, and helicopter rides.

IF I have an airplane... and that's a big IF. But the 20th or 21st are the only days that I could attend... and I really don't care where. Anywhere in Texas is easy for me.

Is the States Map in your signature G1000 sized as well?

And here's Yosemite from FL210 at 235kts. It's good to be up high.

Likely true... mine would be in the other half.

Well played Sir

I did the GNS530 to IFD540 swap myself and it took all of 30 minutes. It would have only taken 10 minutes, but I re-read the instructions several times to make sure it was really as easy as described. I also did the GMA350 to PMA450a audio panel swap myself. It only took 10 minutes. My A&P signed both off at no charge. The AXP322 and SkyTrax100 install was done by an Avionics shop and was charged for 20 hours. But that involved pulling the interior panels to run cabling as they are located in the tail.

My first exposure to formation flying was at a Texas clinic. The instructors had posted a notice on the bulletin board at Randolph Air Force base asking if any formation qualified instructors would be willing to come help out with the clinic. Two instructors showed up. Later they told us it was just to see what kind of non-sense us wannabe's were up to. After flying the weekend with us, (each of them took a turn in my right seat), they were pleasantly surprised at the degree of seriousness with which we took our flying. We used their manuals, their procedures, and were every bit as serious about it as they were in the Air Force. We've now become good friends and there are always Air Force guys wanting to ride along with us when we fly. Most pilots new to formation work are amazed by the amount of time and detail that goes into the brief before the flight. That is often more than enough to instill confidence that we know what we're doing. And this will be a safe activity. The Texas Wing has an open invitation to any Mooney pilot who would like to come ride along and experience close formation flight in a Mooney. We are not a bunch of guys flying in a loose gaggle to go somewhere for lunch. This is very disciplined, briefed, close formation flight. In fact, we usually brief, fly, de-brief... and then some of us might drive somewhere for lunch. We rarely fly to lunch anymore as the formation flying is just too much fun. Come fly with us and see what it's all about.

I'll agree with the consensus, wait until Oshkosh... but then pull the trigger on something. I'd either go Aspen/G500 or take an interim step and replace the DG with an HSI. Used HSI's can be had all day long for $1 AMU on Barnstormers and other places. You can add GPSS for another $1AMU. So either go Aspen now for $10+ AMU or HSI/GPSS now for $3 AMU with install. You'll do the Aspen the next year... as per @Marauder. No matter what you buy, you might wish you would have waited another year for the next available thing. But flying is a ticking clock and at some point I'm not going to be medically fit to fly. I gotta log the hours now. So I don't put stuff off. Rather I subscribe to the @donkaye method of airplane upgrades... or at least the lower budget version of Don Kaye upgrading.

@KLRDMD maybe I should have talked to you when I was shopping for a 252. Actually, I'm pretty happy with mine. I could have done without the tank corrosion issue, but there really wasn't anyway to find it without stripping the tanks. I would say I'll reach out to you when I'm looking for the next plane. But as I'm flying a 252 now... this might be my last airplane. Or at least I'm spending on upgrades for it, like it is my last plane.

No one's said it yet so I will. Attend the Advanced Pilot Seminar (APS) class in Ada, OK. I consider myself a "middle class" airplane owner. That means I can afford to own and fly an airplane, but I have to be careful and take care of that airplane and specifically take care of the engine. I can't afford to just throw an engine at it anytime it needs one. I need to make TBO if at all possible. With that in mind, the $1 AMU to attend the weekend long APS class is the best investment I've made in aviation. It's not just reading a book, an article, or listening to someone's opinion. It's looking at actual data recorded from many years of testing, AND going out to the test facility and watching tests run live and reading the data that results. And it's not only getting to TBO... it's also learning how to read my engine monitor. Just this bit has already saved me in maintenance, nearly the cost of the class. It's learning how to listen to my engine and know what it's saying. There are plenty of skeptics, but I'm an engineer and therefore understand and believe in Math, Science and the scientific method. Science is a thing whether you believe in it or not