gsxrpilot

This!

Then it should be cheap, or at least no surprises.... My research and experience tells me that the best plan for a reasonable annual is to have the same shop to the annual as has been doing the maintenance for the last year. If you're thinking of changing shops, do so after the annual is complete. Give the new shop a full year of little maintenance items, oil changes, and nothing that grounds the airplane. Then when it's time for the annual, it should be as expected. You get into trouble when the first time a shop sees the plane, is when it's in for annual.

You can't afford NOT to have one. I bought both of my Mooneys with money in the budget before purchase set aside for the engine monitor. Engines are seriously expensive and so I'd like to get the full TBO out of it. Just my $0.02.

Pictures???

I've never flown a V-tail. But I fully intend to get a ride in @KLRDMD's one of these days. I do have a bit of time in a 310hp F33A as well as some A36 time. I can't fault any of the Bo's and believe they are better at certain missions than any Mooney. But then there are certainly situations where the Mooneys beat just about anything in the sky. When it comes to personal preference, it's a Mooney for me. And with time in the B, C, E, J, 231, 252, Bravo, Ovation, and Acclaim type S, I'll take the 252 every time as my favorite. On another note from this thread, there are three members here who no longer fly Mooneys, but who each have a wealth of Mooney knowledge, and other airplane wisdom as well. And this forum would not be nearly as valuable without their regular and continued contributions here. @KLRDMD, @Yooper Rocketman, and @M20Doc we need you gentlemen here contributing your knowledge, expertise and wisdom on this forum no matter what you own or fly.

O2D2 fan here. I regularly fly above FL200 and like the reassuring sound the O2D2 makes giving you the shot of O2. If I don't hear that sound, I know I'm not getting any.

I occasionally hear from the more seasoned A&P's how these airplanes flew for over 50 years without engine monitors. But then the same guys say you should never run LOP and my turbo Mooney will need a Top half way to TBO. So I got an engine monitor and learned how to use it. I fly LOP all the time and just might get to TBO on the original cylinders. I'm at 1600 hours, and she's in annual right now. Borescope came back clean, and compressions are good across the board. We'll go another year, and 200 hours will be TBO.

Just think how bad it is for the poor guys running the EDM-830. They've got BOTH the digital and the old fashioned analogue gauges which can never agree exactly. So which do you believe? The CRM in my cockpit has George responsible for the flying with JPI and I responsible for the engine. I treat the JPI like my best friend in the cockpit. Which is to say I know what to expect and that includes the little fluctuations in numbers across the board. But I know it well enough that I know when its story has changed and there is something that I need to address.

I actually think it’s a good comparison. The Bo will carry more weight for a slight penalty in fuel economy or range. But if you don’t need the UL, the Mooney is slightly more efficient.

Except it's not expensive. And debt doesn't have to be bad. There are lots of ways debt on an airplane is cheaper than paying cash, when that cash can be out working for you. True that consumer debt spent on an airplane because other funds don't exist, probably isn't a good idea. But we have no idea that is the case here. The OP might have several million out working for him making more for him than the loan on the engine is costing him in interest. He's asking for Mooney advice, not financial advice.

This is, of course and over simplification, but my limited experience has been that clouds over the big mountains here in the Rockies are typically either very convective or full of ice. You're correct, I'm not worried about the altitude of the peaks, except that there might be little room to get out of the bottom of the clouds. If it's a broken layer, or just puffy clouds, or above freezing, I'm not concerned at all. That just doesn't seem to be the norm around here.

I would be very hesitant to fly in clouds and mountains at the same time... especially these big Rocky Mountains.

Of course we've read it. We've read all the Parts. But as @Shadrach is saying, there is a lot of room for interpretation. I'm sorry but you sound like the same people who claim the Bible is clear as day, just read it. And yet there are several thousand different denominations all based on the same book and none of them agree on what it says.. You say opening the bezel to clean the glass is a "repair". I would say that's "cleaning" which is not a repair. Even if I put a new O ring or gasket in. I say that's reassembly after cleaning, not a "repair". Nothing was broken, nothing was repaired. But I welcome the exchange of ideas here on MooneySpace. I won't say you're wrong, I'll just say I don't agree with your interpretation. Some of the members will see it your way, and others won't. But we each get to decide for ourselves.

That's what I'd do. Jewell's price list says $14K without accessories... and you'd have to get it to them.

That sounds like a fine plan. And 20 kt wind at the peaks is not a big deal. Put a couple of thousand feet between you and the peaks and you won't even notice it. Just enjoy the view. It will be spectacular!

Yes, I'm planning to go next year. And since there's a landing strip there, I'm damn sure not driving in But seriously, the plane does get dirty. And I'm sure for a lot of owners that would be a deal breaker. But as an owner, I'm sure I look after it a bit better than a couple of renters would. I've been there twice. The first time I came back and paid to have the plane detailed inside and out. I also had my shop, SWTA, clean the engine, change every filter in the entire plane, open up every inspection panel and clean everywhere. I spent close to an AMU post Burning Man to get the plane cleaned. That experience was overkill. We didn't find dust in most places we looked. And a lot of the filters, like instrument filters, were still clean. So the second time, I still had the plane detailed inside and out, but mostly just because it was dirty and needed it. I skipped changing all the filters, hoses, etc. We did spray down the engine and clean it good. A couple of things to note. The dust is not abrasive at all. It's like a talcum powder. You won't find any evidence of trips to Burning Man on any of my windows even though they were covered in dust even under the canopy cover. It's just not abrasive. Secondly, it's an alkaline powder and therefore is not corrosive to aluminum. It can be hard on exposed steel, but not aluminum. As you can see from the pictures, I covered the large openings just to keep the dust and dirt from filling those areas up. Maybe a few years from now with a new interior and paint job, I won't fly it to BurningMan. But for now, I'll fly the Mooney out there. I really don't believe it does any lasting damage to the plane.

Neither of my Mooneys had complete logs... didn't worry me at all.

I've got an empty hangar in Denver as well. But that's probably a bit far.

I've been using ICAO plans for awhile as well. But I was completely oblivious to any of these differences. Evidently ForeFlight knows so I don't have to.

When I went out there in 2017, I flew out to LOL almost every day. I was doing a lot of flying and needed the fuel. I never saw anyone else or any other airplanes at LOL. The FBO was always open, but deserted and the lights off. But the air-conditioning was on, the place was clean, and the bathrooms were very nice. The FBO was like a time warp. The black and white pictures on the walls, the furniture and fixtures made it look like you'd stepped back into the 50's. Very spooky but nice.

Yep. I like to think my 252 is home in it's natural habitat here. It sure flies like it.

I've learned a few new tricks living here in Denver. The flight levels are not as far away and therefore used more regularly. That requires IFR. File the IFR flight plan on ForeFlight. (I knew that part already) When calling Ground tell them you DON"T want to open your flight plan. Rather you'll open it with Center if needed. Take off VFR and get clear of the Bravo and up to 17,500 or so using your own routing. Contact Center and open the IFR flight plan and climb into the flight levels. This saves being given a long circuitous departure and a slow step climb to altitude. Once at 17,500, the exchange with Center was one request, and an immediate response of... "Cleared too... climb and maintain FL2?0"

I posted this a few years ago here on MooneySpace. I was flying between Napa and Roseburg. This was in our M20C and we were on Flight Following talking to Oakland Center. As you said, right around Mount Shasta, Oakland was handing us over to Seattle Center. I acknowledged the hand off from Oakland, but didn't immediately get through to Seattle. A few minutes later Seattle called me. I quickly responded and apologized for not checking in. Seattle just said, "I assumed you were busy taking pictures of that peak just of your right wing". Which happened to be exactly the case. I think we were at 10.5 or 11.5 but didn't have any problem talking to both Oakland and Seattle. I'm sure if I were lower, it could have been a problem. I do have an IR so if I think a flight plan is warranted, it's always IFR.

Yeah, I've been flying a turbo for the last 3 years but prior to that it was an M20C. I've just always used flight following. I haven't been in a situation, including flying the M20C through the Rockies and the PacNW, where I thought a VFR flight plan gave me any more protection than flight following did. But I can learn and should probably review...