Houman

Yeah my Mooney came with a stormscope, but I get nothing on the screen, so I guess it might be inop or just not have gone trough any IMC conditions yet, so not used it yet...

Well doing my IFR ticket now, so will have it probably before autumn.

Hi, looking for collective experience and opinion on a product !

 

I have been thinking of buying a Stratus 2 just because I like gadgets and like to have the latest information during my flights.

 

I live in Canada and it seems we are far behind on ADSB implementation, so it will not be much of use up here, but I do most of my flying to the states and wondering if it would really be worth it.

 

I have 2 Ipad's with ForeFlight when I fly, but most of my navigation is done trough the GTN 650 installed on the aircraft. I also get traffic on the Zaon XRX screen, so any aircraft with transponder signal it will show it to my relative position and altitude.

 

So I would really be buying the Stratus 2 for inflight weather updates to ForeFlight, right now I get my weather before I leave on the IPAD and trough 3G sync with ForeFlight on flights if I get signals, which I don't at the altitude the Rocket flies.

 

Also since I don't have ADSB out capability yet, wondering if I would get the broadcast info for weather and traffic as consistently since I will not be transmitting ( maybe my understanding is wrong here )

 

So do you think it is worth the 900$ ???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery finally solved, the Hydro company made a mistake, they had associated an outstanding bill from a condo complex my Mooney co-owner had owned in the past with his account. It just happened that the current condo complex owner had not paid his electric bill, and they disconnected the hanger electricity in my Mooney's co-owner name.

 

Everything was resolved with couple of phone calls and proof of sale of the condo complex on his part, so now electricity has been restored to the hanger, at least that is what he tells me. Will check it out tomorrow morning !

Ask Marauder if the cabins are small.

Please please please don't, his picture ladies are disgusting ...

Exactly why we have a portable generator in the hangar.. We used it alot before we got wired electricity, now only in emergencies. We're at the end of the line on a 50AMP line so oftern there is no power and I have to hunt for which breaker is tripped. Now, I fire up the generator, flip the main breaker off and turn on the changeover switch.

Bill

Well I do have a portable Honda Generator, but the hanger door are big horizontal half door covereing the entire opening of the hanger, no way to do it by hand. So I was thinking if I could have the hanger door motor wired to a plug and then I could use a generator, but since the hanger dos'nt belong to me and I only pay rent, I don't want to make any major changes or dammage something.

From all the reasons one might be grounded, I think I had the stupidest one today.

I had an IFR training flight scheduled this afternoon and a trip to Ottawa for some formation flying practice tomorrow. Getting to the airport today, I noticed there was no electricity in my hanger, trying the breakers and figure out what was going on.

The 2 flight schools on the airport had electricity as well as the runway and other hangers near me, but not my hanger, so no way to open the freaking hanger door, called my partner that owns the hanger and trying to get an electrician, but tomorrow is Canada day, so everyone is off and it is going to cost a bunch if even we can find one.

There are good reasons to be grounded, such as weather and aircraft snags, but the freaking electricity at the hanger would have been the last reason I would have thought would ground me.

Sorry, just pissed off....

What was the stupidest reason you were grounded ?

That's great news. Pay close attention on your next flights look and listen for things that seem unusual.

We did a flight in the pattern with the mecanic, all looked good, including my infoumous gear warning system..

Will do a more longer flight next week after my Elt is back from it's certification.

Well, just finished the annual, 2 full days, about 12 hours each, I did most of opening and closing the plates and underwing access points, lubrification points, and bearing greasing all under my mecanic supervision.

It went without a hitch, mecanic impressed at the condition of my aircraft and my avionics guy was able to adjust my airspeed saftey switch, now th alarm goes on until 80 kts, not 105 kts anymore.

Lifting the aircraft was a nervous point for me, but it went perfectly and all was good !!!

If it helps, I hava powertow EZ 35 (former version of your power tow) and the long arms with the spring being old didn't like to stay fastented, so I have a bungie cord wrapped around the top of it once I hook it on near the landing gear to give added pressure and keep it connected to the airplane.  Low cost, added reliability solution - an no duct tape invovled!

 

-Seth

I do exactly the same with my EZ 35, it works with the bungie cord tightly rapped around the bars just an inch from the connecting part to the nose gear...

My pitot drain isn't in an inspection panel, it's up close to the fuselage.

Does the center bump push in? Does the whole thing turn? Or just the tip?

Please confirm right wing = the side with the door.

Yep, right wing ( door side ), the nipple thing dos'nt push in, at least I did'nt try too hard, the nut turns a bit, but did'nt try again too hard either.

This might be obvious for experts, but I'm not one... yet.

Going under the wings and fuselage today for some pictures and pre-annual prep and I saw this on the right wing, it is somewhat loose, I mean I can turn it a bit, don't have the same on the left wing.

Thanks for letting me know what you think it is.

I wouldn't bother with the fuel gauge. They are almost never accurate and therefore should never be counted on as accurate. A stick to dip the tanks prior to take off, and then a proper engine monitor with fuel flow is a much better way to accurately know fuel condition in flight. The factory fuel gauges would be the last thing I spent money on for my Mooney.

Just my $0.02

I agree, but unfortunetly my Hoskins 101 Fuel Flow is not connected to my EDM 700, so the EDM 700 is not providing that information to the GTN 650.

So what I do is that I calculate 3h max fuel so that I have for sure enough left, usually 1h of reserve. I always fly the climb and descent on the same tank, and cruise on the other. I take note how much time I spent on each tank and what was the predominate fuel flow (done mentaly ). I count on the fuel gauges as just a confirmation of my calculations and I am super super conservative on it.

I'm seriously thinking of wing gauges, and also planning to have Fuel Flow option added to my EDM and my hopsking fuel flow connect to the EDM and that to the GTN so that I can have a much more precious idea how much fuel was used.

This all cost money and my partner is not willing to put more money for gagets yet since he is not flying it and wanting to sell his half...

Anyway !!!

I sold 1/2 of my first M20E to a fine pilot who flew much less than I did then, Maybe 50 h/y vs. my 250. I bought him out after a couple of years, I wanted to do some upgrades that would only benefit my all weather, cross country flying (Stormscope, STEC) and not his day off and weekend recreational flying.

 

I suppose partnerships that work for all involved are precious things.

I can't complain about my partner, he flew a total of 5 hours last year comparing to my 85h, but paid 50% of everything, including the interior redo that costed us near 10 G... I'm sad to see him put it for sale, but I knew it was coming...

Don't hold your breath looking for a partner... I have been looking for one on mine for a year now and very little interest. Mooney pilots are a rare breed. There is actually another Mooney at my field also looking for a partner and talking to him he does not get more calls than I do. I listed it on COPA on 4 occasions and kind of giving up on this.

A few years back I was talking to some potential guys who turned down opportunity to partner in a (different) Mooney and the reasons were:

- No door on the pilot side

- Cabin is small

- Wife does not have enough room up front

- Not enough cargo

- Too much of an airplane for me

Yves

Yeah I know, he was lucky last year when I bought 50%. I think in hindsight, it would have been better for him to sell 100% of it to someone but at that time, I was not interested in it and neither was he.

Anyway, hopefully someone like me will buy his half, he is a great guy and I think I would make a great partner.

Lets hope nothing lengthy gets found during your annual. This would jeoperdize your presence in Oshkosh and the Caravan. Since I have owned my airplane all by myself, I always take it in on Feb 1st each year, regardless of the logbook dates... this way I always have it back when the sun comes back. Previous owners would take it in later year after year eventually reaching the spring period. Not for me.

I would be very upset if something would come up (like what happened to Ned) this time of the year.

Yves

Yeah I agree, crossing fingers, but at last oil change, all looked great both engine and the rest, but you never know !

I actually am ok for my annual being end of june, this year I got quite a bit of flying done, more than 30h since my last oil change in may, so it's good to know there is kind of a half-way trough summer check to see if all is good.

Hi Houman,

 

I have had a VERY positive experience on an owner-assisted annual, and all I can say is that - for me - the key was the IA with whom I was working.  He was thorough, knowledgeable, and experienced not only on the aircraft, regs and inspections, but also as a manager.  So he didn't stand over my shoulder while I did low-skill things like removing inspection plates.  At the same time, he freely shared the hows and whys of things only he could do, while gradually pushing me to my limits (like, I am NOT working on brakes, for example).  He coached me through higher-skilled things and explained how stuff worked.  

 

I learned SO much about what to look for from just working on the aircraft with a highly skilled professional.  I feel like it was MORE valuable and would be worth MORE than just dropping and picking up the aircraft, which I had done for many years before this.  I am both a LOT more knowledgeable and confident about my bird and its systems.  And I had attended the great owners seminar put on by Jerry Manthey and tried to be an involved owner, but some things you only learn when you do them.

 

And +1 on whomever made the comment about cleaning;  it's an ugly job, but belly-polishing and clearing all the crud and gunk that can gather even just from time is worth the final result, and makes day-to-day maintenance and troubleshooting that much easier.

Exacly why I'm doing this, the AP agreed to show me and teach me as much as I wanted to learn. In my day job that pays for my hobby, I'm a manager, a coach, team lead and have been for almost 2 decades a trainer. So I really appreciate learning about the machine I put my life in and appreciate the AP wanting to show me how things work and someone that is willing to teach me.

I don't think I will be doing much on own after this annual beside maybe the oil change, but most valuable is having more knowledge and being able to understand and listen better to what the plane is telling me.

Like the Rosetta Stone...

It's written in French, but line by line, completely understandable to any Mooney pilot!

Best regards,

-a-

yeah, it's my partner's posting and I was surprised to find one with me in the picture.

Move to the states and I'm in!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

i don't think it has enough useful weight for your special ladies lol...

P.S. Please, I just had dinner, don't post their pictures in response lol

Update:

 

It continues.  We were at the 10 year mark for the prop so it went in for overhaul and the blades failed.  I was buying an overhauled hub from the ones let go by the Katana factory anyway, so overhauled blades complete that piece of it.  No more Eddy Current Inspection.  

 

In purging all contaminated oil from the engine parts to prevent it acting like sandpaper on everything, we found out that it would cost some outrageous amount to overhaul the governor.  So, we are buying a new PCU drop in replacement for a fraction to overhaul the old one.

 

Engine will be back from the shop this week, and propeller within a few days.  I will have C-FSWR back in my hands by the middle of next week (hopefully).  Looks like I will be running low and hot for the first 10 hours or so in order to burn the rings in.

 

Then it is into the air for Yves and I to practice a couple more times, hopefully with Houman as well, including element take-offs and landings at Gatineau airport. Bucko called me yesterday and he is our Kilo Element Lead for the Caravan.  Looking for a replay of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NhiKj4sCWs.

Great to hear Ned, I talked to Yves on the weekend, hopefully he will be able to get in touch with the father/son cfi that teaches acrobatics and formation flying. I feel better to have a saftey pilot with experience with me since I got less than 4h formation flying done at the Caravan training.

Hi,

My aircraft partner is looking to sell his half of the Rocket, the aircraft is now in his hanger at Mascouche (CSK3).

Aircraft has a GTN 650, engine has about 200h, paint was done in 2012 and interior in 2015.

If interested in a partnership with me as the other half owner, please pm me, more information can be found at : http://www.lespac.com/mascouche/vehicules-aeriens/mooney-m20k-conv-turbo-rocket-a-vendre-1-2-part_32992202D0.jsa

Thanks !!!

That's such a clean panel

It would be my dream panel in my Rocket ( using my GTN 650 and adding a 750 as well ), only thing keeping me from it is about 50 amu's... lol

I'd be happy to do your annual with you next year, Having never seen or worked on your plane, I would expect it to be in the shop for a week. I have no idea about AD, SB, SI, and other regulatory status. Research takes awhile to do, unless you've already done it, updating your technical logs for the past years maintenance takes more time.

Does your guy have manuals for the plane?

Clarence

HI Clarence,

We have the service manuals and maintenance manuals from Mooney that usuallly comes on the Mooney flash drive stick, and I have also complied a list of all the SB and SI for the plane from the Mooney site. I will be doing the AD today and hopefully done before we start friday. The plane went trough an import last year where all of this was verified and documented as required by Transport Canada, I was not there when it was done, but it was done by a reputable shop in Bromont and that is what they told me.

I've got customers who fly from further airports to come and see me. Nice thing about Montreal is if things go bad there are return flights every hour.

Clarence

How many days would it take usually to do an annual if there is no big issues expected ?

Well, it is annual time for my Rocket, the last time it went into annual, I was not yet an owner, it was part of the import process and partnership process and it was done by my partner's prefered mecanic at a remote airport after I had done a pre-purchase inspection from a recommandation here. Back then, I did'nt know the plane that much, just that it did'nt have any engine or structural problems, no rusting.

Anyway, since the closest Canadian MSC is Clarence and he is a bit too far for me to arrange it, this year I have decided to go with a field mecanic annual. I have used this mecanic a few times in the past 2 months, great young guy, he does this work for a closeby busy flight school, and seems very knowledgable and fair priced and wanting to build his clientel and dos'nt seem to turn corners, he is also a private pilot, so I will be asking him to put his ass on the right seat after it is done to fly it.

I will be spending the 3 days scheduled for the full annual as his assistant and watchfull owner and we will try to get rid of some of the snaggs that I have, I would really like some advise on what to make sure is done beside what is on Mooney's 100h and annual list. I want a complete and comprehensive annual. I want to see every nocks and cranny of this bird I put my life and son's life in even if it costs me more hours of AP time.

The snaggs that we will try to fix for sure are : Change of main right tire since it is getting a bit low on threads, right fuel tank sender is not showing full when completely full, it shows 27Gal, instead of the full 36Gal, and the airspeed saftey switch adjustment that goes off till 100 kts instead of 65.

Thanks for any advise, any things I should be making sure my mecanic does.

I'm hoping for next year, I can arrange with Clarence and send it to a fully competent Mooney Expert.