wombat

The autopilot wasn't working, but it sounds like the attitude indicator functionality was still working OK?

Real world Rocket owner here. A consistent 1,000 NM range is unrealistic for any Mooney. At least in my Rocket (which is a little on the slower end) I wouldn't count on 1,000 NM in any direction but East, and even then I ned a pretty good tailwind and willingness to climb high. Re: FIKI... FIKI is nice, but a non-FIKI TKS is functionally similar. The FIKI changes are redundancy and a heated stall vane. The TKS panels are technically different, but functionally the same. As long as everything works and nothing breaks the only difference is the stall warning horn. So be careful when/where you fly. Look at the SKEW-T LOG-P diagrams to find an altitude that is likely to not have ice. Don't plan to land at a short runway unless you know the stall warning will free after any ice encounters. Always have an out or two. But an AIRMET is not "Known Icing Conditions", neither is a PIREP from any time before now. But with that being said: don't be stupid. Or as they say: "Fly good. Don't suck." And @1980Mooney referenced this knowledge but to make it very clear: CAV Ice doesn't make a FIKI install for a 14V system for Mooneys so if you have a 14V plane it's not possible to get a FIKI system on it without paying for the certification which is probably in the $10,000,000 range to accomplish. https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/upperair/skew-t-log-p-diagrams

How many bolts hold the prop on the flange, and are they always re-clocked to the same position when re-installing? I thought there were 6 bolts, so if they remove and re-install in a different orientation, you could be off by 1/6, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, or 5/6 of a rotation, or be exactly where you were before.

Did the AI still track the horizon? Did the message just pop up unexpectedly? I'd be a little concerned if that happened while on an approach, but they did provide a nice big 'back' button that would probably bring the screen back to normal.

Ahh, but I don't want a ferry pilot; I want to fly my plane. Unfortunately I am not current on medical and IFR. I considered trying to find a CFII (or good weather and any rated PPL or better to be a safety pilot) and an AME so I could renew my medical and get my IFR currency back but I decided that I'd prefer to do it this way. This leaves me in Portland in late December which actually work fairly well for me. Part of my reasoning is that I want to inspect the new paint and interior on the plane.

I'm adding all the photos they send me to this album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jnrkLwoWASCpGu4M7

The following week might work, I'm actually pretty flexible on this. Where are you based?

Mike: I know you want to promote your business but flying someone from Florida to the West Coast and back probably isn't a cost effective solution for a 3 hour flight.

Note: I've found someone based at the SMX airport that should work out great for me. My Mooney Rocket is finishing up in a paint shop down in Santa Maria, CA and I need to get it back to Portland Troutdale for the annual. I need an IFR current CFI with Mooney experience for 2 full days during the week of 15 December. Adventure! Excitement! But not too much. My plan is: You are based either within driving distance of Portland, OR or Santa Barbara (Or Santa Maria), CA. I pay for your airline ticket either to Santa Barbara, CA or back to Portland, OR and a hotel for you, and two days of your time or more if we are waiting on WX. You sit right seat and provide instruction on the XC flight from KSMX to KTTD. I'm planning for about 3 hours of flight time. We should expect to use O2 and to be IFR Why do I need a CFI? I'm one approach short of being IFR current. I'm 5 days beyond my current medical. I'm out of the country so I can't fix either of those issues easily. Ideally this flight will happen during a relatively short window although there's not an absolute 'must-go' date. But I don't want to wait in a hotel room for a week for the weather to clear enough to conduct the flight under VFR About me: 2,200+ hours Instrument Commercial CFI 600+ hours in M20 (300+ in this aircraft) About the aircraft: M20K 305 Rocket In annual until 1 Feb 2026 G500 GTN750xi KFC150 Autopilot Non-FIKI TKS

From Starlink's website: To power your Starlink Mini, you will need a USB PD source with a minimum rating of 100W, 20V/5A. Please note that Starlink Mini will not work with USB PD ratings of 65W or lower. https://starlink.com/support/article/fba85643-e7fa-4b55-21e5-021422d5701e?srsltid=AfmBOoqy1zNMiIgQH-JuuZfHrM1zeDgFw2DCi0j1VtfS-Q53PX52F1y6 I'm amused/puzzled by this: Some of us are uncomfortable using the certified, guaranteed protected onboard power system to power a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Starlink device. As a risk mitigation measure, we are choosing to bring in a battery pack that has a demonstrated history of destroying Mooneys while in operation. On the other hand, I think the actual risk level here is extremely low; we're all probably more likely to be hit and killed by a blue vehicle on the way to or from the airport than we are to be injured or killed by an electrical issue from having a Starlink plugged into aircraft power or a battery system. Much better risk mitigation would be to mitigate fuel level inaccuracies, emergency procedures for open doors (including oil doors), and VFR-into-IMC even for those who are instrument rated and current.

This is not in a Mooney but I found one report of an iPad catching fire on an airplane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x06_h_fa1gw iPads not perfectly safe but the risk of a fire is quite low frequency. How much time/effort/money/space/weight is the right amount to mitigate this risk? IMO, next to none. While the risk is there, after 15 (almost 16) years since the iPad was released there have been several iPad fires, but we are probably all better off directing our resources to mitigate other risks before we spend any mitigating this one.

I got the R5 (with lazy susan) for my Rocket. It is nice that I can also use it for other aircraft. Example:

While I agree that this is a really cool little pump, when is the last time anyone here has had a low tire away from their home base airport that wasn't a complete flat that needed a tire or tube replaced? I've only been flying for about 16 years but I've never had it happen or seen it happen. For me, I've had one flat tire away from home base (when I was trying to pick up a new-to-me airplane) but the tube was shot so no amount of air would have helped. I've seen flat tires happen to two people away from their home base, but in both cases a tire inflator wouldn't have helped, they needed tools and parts as well (jacks, wrenches, tubes, tires) If you tie down or hangar somewhere without power this might be useful, but I wouldn't take it with me on a flight.

The shop didn't have to run any wires for my upgrade. If you have a G500 series and legacy compatible autopilot (KFC, KAP, etc) this is a great deal.

My plane is in the paint shop (ArtCraft paint) in Santa Maria California right now. Dropped it off on September 12th. They are doing both paint and interior. I'll make a thread with progress and pictures. But for now:

Finally got my GAD43e upgrade completed. No additional wires needed in my case. One hiccup in that on the GAD43e configuration page on the G500, the installer initially selected "King KAS 297" for the type, but it had to be set to the "King KAS297B". When I flew home I couldn't get it to work, then after about 30 minutes of digging online I figured out the KAS297B seemed to be necessary. So I flew back over and the installer was able to update that and now it works. I love the level-off at altitude, it's super smooth. And as I continue to age (for 25 to 35 years hopefully) I expect that will prevent me from overshooting an altitude. I wasn't sure how it would handle the altitude hold after level-off at a preselected altitude, but it does actually turn on the altitude hold mode on the autopilot. For operation, when you select an altitude or vertical speed on the G500, it notifies you to hold the ALT button to select altitude capture or V/S set and capture. When you do press and hold the vertical speed, it will set the vertical speed to your current, and then you twist the knob to adjust it. Really looking forward to selecting an altitude at a waypoint, looking at the vertical speed required on the GTN750, setting that in the G500 and watching it fly me there. It's not actually a vertical nav system like if I had the GFC500 autopilot, but it's still pretty great!!

I replaced my door seal a year or so ago and for removing the existing adhesive I used Peerco 321 adhesive remover. It was effective but slow and quite stinky. Put a layer on, wait 10 minutes, scrub/scrape/brush it off and get a little more adhesive. Then do it again. Eventually it'll all come off. The peerco material is more like a mucus than a fluid, so it was not sprayable.

Today coming back from Portland (Troutdale) I was about 202 knots then I increased power and got up to 213 knots. at 11,500' MSL

Engine: TSIO520NB (Rocket STC) ROP only so far, it tends to miss once every 10 to 30 seconds if I run LOP. Just need to spend some time investigating which cylinder is overly lean and adjusting it. I run at one of the following: 31" MP, 2,300 RPM @ 18.5 GPH (72%) 32" MP, 2,400 RPM @ 19.8 GPH. (76%) 33" MP, 2,400 RPM @ 21 GPH (78%) (Very rare) If I'm in a hurry or there are headwinds, I use the higher power settings. Otherwise the lower ones.

I don't know if there is a difference between 'electronic phased array antenna' and 'electronically-steered beam' or 'steerable antenna' but in my mind these are all basically the same thing. https://www.starlink.com/na/support/article/07621adc-9a6f-8f94-6f27-361a78cce37d says "Both Starlinks are electronic phased array antennas, meaning they can track the signal from satellites overhead without the need to physically move." https://portal.powertec.com.au/equipment/it-networking/network-devices/starlink-mini-dish-rev1#:~:text=Like its predecessors%2C Starlink Mini,ethernet reduces the weather rating). says "Starlink Mini is a satellite transceiver which uses digital beamformers and an Electronic Steerable Antenna to track and maintain connectivity with LEO satellites"

I'm agreeing with you here, but adding more emphasis. It's not just 'suspicious', it's an outright falsehood. You can't 'generate' or 'create' cold using energy the way you can make heat. All you can do is concentrate heat somewhere else. There is no way to provide power to something in an enclosed environment and have it cool the whole environment. You either move heat to somewhere else, or you generate heat.

The problem is that there were so many spam posts it made it annoying to find the real posts. There isn't anything in the spam posts for us to click on, they are not trying to scam us. They are trying to scam the AI, so when you ask Siri to call Ethiad Airlines to change your seat, it calls their scam number and not the real one.

I just got my first ever bill from vector... From landing at Santa Monica in September 2018 in a 182 I used to own. $16.44 (Plus $0.51 credit card fee) Paid

@Z W If your planned VFR flight is no longer viable, call ATC on the radio and get a clearance or land and do some actual flight planning. Don't stare inside the cockpit for 5 minutes while you play around on your iPhone. And quibbling about how much time it takes is not a good argument. Look outside. I have gotten clearances in the air many many times, it's really easy and fast. If you have to switch over to flight service... Well, switching frequencies isn't a big deal. And getting radar imagery from some random website or app over the internet to use to fly through storms? Personally, I would be extremely uncomfortable with this. Talk to ATC to find a route or turn around.

@PBonesA more critical phase of flight is short final. Let's say I want to fly VFR from KPHP to KTTD... It's 890 miles, which is near the edge of the range of my plane. According to the current weather reports, that leaves me with 11.5 gallons. When you factor in reserve fuel (18 GPH, * 30 minutes = 9 gallons). If I run one tank dry, I will have 11.5 gallons in one tank and 0 in the other. Minus 1 gallon unusable fuel. No problem, even if winds are a little worse than forecast. If I don't run one tank dry, I'll have about 6 gallons per side and risk running out on final is a real risk. Particularly if you had slightly higher headwinds than planned.