gsxrpilot

Done. This site is the best value in aviation. Can I ask, what is the proper donation? I donated but am wondering if my donation was sufficient to cover costs for a year, a week, a day or only the next 15 minutes?

When I bought my C I was 300 hours TT, 20 hours complex, IFR (but wasn't current), 0 Mooney time. I was quoted $1500 +/- $100 by almost everyone. Of course everyone needed justification for the $60K hull value I was requesting. A picture of the panel and equipment list was enough to satisfy that.

My underwing mount is absolutely secure and cost me all of $5 in parts from HomeDepot. It takes 30 seconds to take the camera off or on. But it only works if you have the LASAR tie-down points. I'll get some pictures of my underwing mount next time I'm out at the airport.

I have several of the GoPro's and the one I used with the sticky mount on the top of the wing is an older one and so wouldn't be a huge loss if it came off. I don't want to tether it in anyway as I wouldn't want it flapping around if it came loose. I'd rather it just disappeared. I will report back on this, but I don't think it will. The removal will destroy the mount, but I think I can carefully remove it without damage to the paint. I have a camera inside the cockpit as well that is connected to the audio panel. I just haven't worked out the best place to mount it yet. I've dried several locations, just not happy yet. This is just East of Austin Texas which is on the East edge of the "Hill Country". KERV (the home of Mooney) is exactly 100 nm West of me and 1300 ft. higher. No yaw or other issues at all. I couldn't notice any difference at all, and I tried. The way I read the regs, no paperwork is required as long as it doesn't cause a problem.

I tried out a new mount for my GoPro this weekend. I just used the standard flat surface mount that comes with the camera. The mount is not removable without ruining the mount. But it doesn't seem to affect the flying at all so I might leave it there for now. Here's a pic of the mount on the wing. http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36105-gopro-wing-mount/ And this is the perspective from that mount. I was shooting video and will upload one as soon as I get it edited. I was careful to stick the mount directly on top of a row of rivets for added stabilization. It still wobbles a little right before take off, but the rest of the flight and landing is very smooth. http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36106-gopro-wing-mount-pic/ I've also got an under wing mount that uses the tie-down bolt as the mount. I'll have to take a picture of the mount. But here's the same shot from under the other wing. http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36107-gopro-underwing-mount/ http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36108-gopro-underwing-mount2/ Cheers,

+1 Finding mooneyspace prior to purchase was the best single best move I made in the purchase process. The second was a Maxwell pre-buy.

I just had an annual on my C done at Maxwell's. He charges $1895 +T&M for squawks. Mine cost that + $135. Of course there was another $2700 in owner (me) requested work done. I'm very happy with it and Don can expect to see 6XM again next August. If you send me a PM, I'll share the details of the pre-buy that was also done at Maxwells. It was excellent. I believe a Don Maxwell pre-buy is the best money anyone can spend on a used Mooney. Since you live in Houston, you might also consider B&D Aircraft for your annuals. Boyd works exclusively on Mooney's and is in Houston. Paul

The panel in my 50 year old C is certainly getting left behind. Wow, very impressive. I might have to fly down to San Antonio and have a close up look at what you've done. Where are you based? I wonder if I might catch up with you sometime and pick your brain about this amazing upgrade. Congrats, it looks great.

Hi Gary, Is your strip on the sectional yet? Is it in the Lakeway area? I'll look for it next time I'm flying over. Paul

A Carbon Cub with bush wheels or similar. A Moyes/Bailey Dragonfly A Pitts And then I'd upgrade my C to a Mooney with a turbo and air conditioning.

This is the shortest runway I've landed my Mooney on, 5TX0. It's 2600 x 35 and slopes downhill from north to south. The touchdown zone for 16 sits on top of a hill. So don't come up short or you'll hit the very steep bluff. And don't be long as the runway starts down hill and will drop out from under you. My original primary instructor lives here and while training is not allowed on this strip, every lesson finished with a final landing here. And I'd be sweating every single one. When I picked up the Mooney for the first time, we went to a 4000' runway and did an hour of take off's and landings. Then I had to take the CFI home and land the Mooney at 5TX0. I was very thankful for all those other landings. http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36092-hidden-valley-airpark/

For an airplane to qualify as "sexy" or "cool" it must either be a tail dragger or retract. Fixed tricycle gear is automatic disqualification. Just my $0.02

I don't think there can be any question that Texas is the cheapest place to live, work, own and fly an airplane. We have the cheapest housing, lowest taxes, cheapest 100LL ($4.39 at KRFI today), and plenty of jobs. Now if you come to Austin, forget everything I said about cheap housing. But the rest is all true. There is an empty hanger next to mine at 84R just East of Austin that can be all yours for $225/month.

I was flying Charlie-3 in that formation arrival. At that time I was a very low time Mooney pilot. But after attending a Caravan clinic and learning from some amazing Mooney drivers, Joker, Cowboy, Yoda, and Pinky, I felt very confident flying in the formation. I would encourage anyone to find a local clinic and try it out. You'll have lots of fun and will be a much better Mooney pilot for the experience. I will certainly be a the West Texas clinic in December.

Have you heard anything from RAM on these? I flew three hours on Saturday and was really wishing I had some visors.

For me, the Mini is perfect mounted on the yoke. I use a RAM mount and can swivel it from vertical to horizontal and back. But it's too small to be comfortable for casual reading, book, magazines, etc. I'll probably get a full size iPad Air at the EOY sales. I'll have it as a back up in the cockpit, but the mini will still be primary on the yoke.

Rusk Co. (KRFI) in East Texas is the cheapest in the nation. It's $4.39 this week. I fueled up there a few weeks ago and the airport manager told me he checks fuel prices across the country every day and prices his to be the lowest.

I can't really participate in this conversation as I don't have the $200K entry cost. If I had 2 or 3 hundred K in the airplane budget, I might actually do the research so I could have an opinion. But at the $50K table where I'm a player, there isn't anything better for traveling. Of course I'd still like to have an open cockpit biplane, a big wheel taildragger bush plane, a weight-shift trike, and maybe an RV8. But when it's time for the wife and I to GO somewhere, the little M20C is the best there is in the $50K category.

Hi, I just moved back to TX after living in Sydney for the last 4.5 years. I eventually gave up on getting into GA in Australia. They used to have the same freedom to fly that we do, but since 9/11 have severely restricted GA. And since the aviation system is all locally funded, it has become very expensive. I flew a few times, but ended up giving up GA flying and taking up Hang Gliding. Sydney might be the best place on earth to learn to fly hang gliders. And that satisfied the need to fly until moving back to TX and buying the Mooney. Of course, it isn't too difficult to go up and fly with a CFI sitting next to you. The biggest GA airport in the Sydney area is Bankstown (YSBK). There are several flight schools on the field and any of them will take you up for a flight. A second option is Camden (YSCN). It is a little further away but more affordable. All Australian airports have landing fees. The fees at Camden are about half what they are at Bankstown. If you go to Camden, look up Curtis Aviation. curtisaviation.com.au. They have a variety of aircraft and a long list of instructors. I lot of flight schools in Australia don't actually fly GA but rather LSA which they call RAA. Another good flight school at Camden in Gostner Aviation gostneraviation.com. If you want to rent a plane and go fly without a CFI you'll have to get a Certificate of Validation (http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/manuals/regulate/fcl/form61-4cov.pdf) and apply for an ARN (Aviation Reference Number). This process can take at least a month to complete. So you'll want to get started immediately. While it's not exactly the same thing, I'd recommend doing a little bit of hang gliding while you're there. There is nothing quite as spectacular as flying a glider along the Australian coastline. If interested, look up Curt Warren at www.warrenwindsports.com.au. He's at Stanwell Park just south of Sydney on the edge of the Royal National Park. Even if you don't fly, a trip to Stanwell Park is worth the drive as it's one of the most spectacular views of the coast. And if the wind is somewhere between ESE and SSW you'll see dozens of gliders in the air flying up and down the coast. Have fun. Sydney is everything you would imagine it is. We had a wonderful time living there and often wonder why we moved back to Texas. Paul

Hey Jix, I was planning to do the very same thing. And it was all about learning to fly the most efficient and cheapest way possible. It is an expensive hobby and if the cash is available it made sense to me. I'm so glad I didn't do it. Assuming this flying hobby sticks with you, there will first be the PPL and then followed closely by the IA or flying will be mostly limited to nice weekends in the pattern. I was also like you in that I had many hours and many years in light planes before I ever started lessons. Therefore I knew it would stick. The PPL is so much about flying, weather, regulations,etc. and very little about the specific airplane. So use the simplest rental airplane you can find. It will be cheap and any complexity of airframe (retracts), powerplant (prop), or panel (glass, gps, autopilot), etc. will be completely wasted on you. And will actually extend the hours to the PPL. The IA is much more about the systems of the airplane. Getting it configured, slowed and stable on approaches is a big part. And of course, using everything in the panel is critical. After all, you'll spend all your time staring at it. Since the IA is all about learning systems and equipment, learning what you will use and fly is valuable. Get the PPL in a cheap rental that you can abuse. As long as it has wings and a throttle, it's all you need. Then buy a Mooney. Get it with the IFR panel you want/can afford and get your IA in your airplane. The repetition and hours spent with an instructor using the systems in your airplane will be invaluable. Just my $0.02