Johnnybgoode

Now that I can speak to - plan 5,000 pounds per hour and just over 300kts TAS. Good sightseeing in the low 20's and the country goes by in less than a day. Of course the countries I've spent most of my time in take considerably less time to transit... PB

Have you flown with it yet? I wonder if the downward facing light might be well suited to the slight nose up attitude during the last 10 ft of landing. Seems to me it might provide good coverage of the touchdown zone. Not a good solution if it doesn't give enough light during taxi but how far ahead do you need to see while taxiing? Also the more upward facing you make it, the more blinding it is to fellow pilots. I'd fly it awhile and see how it illuminates the first couple hundred feet of the touchdown zone. I'd be more worried about the deer at 75mph than the ditch at 9mph. Patrick

Hopefully on final you're fully configured, so with no more drag to hang out there that seems like your only option - except a go-around. I've found in my C that I can accelerate as I "dive" to about 200-300', in VMC only, and scrub the speed on short final, always ready for another 0.2 hours if needed. A buddy mentioned for the 3,000 to 500' regime using the J-bar as a speedbrake - about 3 or 4 inches of travel is all it takes to get a good change in airframe drag. Haven't tried it - has anyone else? Just curious. Patrick

Do a little research into program testing around 2000 - I was in UPT with a few Osprey-to-be Marines. Midway through the program various aircraft problems surfaced and an attempt was made by the Corps, if memory serves correct, to cover them up. Once uncovered, the pipeline shut down and the Marines went and flew traditional helicopters.

The program has been fraught with problems since the first one took to the air. If everything goes right it's a capable platform, but problems are somewhat unforgiving and the PR surrounding the fleet has been working hard, sometimes too hard, since its introduction. Patrick

x2 on post below, just in case someone runs across this issue and it's not a leaky tank. It was an RV-4 and only noticable with the boost pump on, mostly on short final. $20 or $25 for new gaskets/seals and it was fixed. Patrick

"...for sale between $50-$65k..." "Ever thought about an early 210?" Are there 210's really in this ballpark? The ones I've seen are more like double this but maybe the years make a big difference. Just curious. Patrick

Thanks Lee. Been wanting to go to Foothills anyway. Patrick

Can anybody recommend a mechanic near Charlotte, NC to install the Lasar lower cowl closure? Have the parts and the stc, just not the time to get it done. I'm in Lancaster, SC but can deliver it with a chase plane in NC or SC. Thanks! Patrick

Or perhaps one was a lap child, under 2 years of age, not req'd to be in a belt. Lots of assumptions of things done wrong in that post that I think would be better left investigated than assumed. My 2 cents only...

Hey guys, They do sell houses down where it's warm all the time! But if you must reside in the arctic, best to take care of this problem correctly. Looks like George has it all planned out. Good luck

It's a nice size - it looked quite bare in there with only the RV! Hardly justification in itself for purchasing a hangar-mate but the price on the Mooney was right and it was lots of plane for the money - so I think... Now I have to teach my wife to fly one or the other and we (and the 4 kids) can do family outings!

It worked...

God bless my wife - a homeschooling mother of 4!

I like my job flying out of Atlanta. An engineering degree and 8 years of deploying got me where I sit. F/O pay isn't bad (after first year) depending on the company, though it's admittedly better where I sit than at some others. That being said it's not Aspen-like in the right seat anywhere. At the end of the day it is just a job - I enjoy it and work a total of about 18 days each month between that and the Guard. Have a budget. Good money, decent schedule, modern planes and no complaints here. Patrick

Nice Matt, and thanks for including this. A reasonable rewrite of 23, allowing tinkering like this on our airplanes with less red tape could breathe lots of life back into the stock Mooney fleet! It's what I appreciate most about the experimental world. Patrick

Thanks and I'll have to investigate the 2nd sensor idea. I've seen the ones behind the side panel but haven't opened up that multitude of underwing inspection panels yet.

Is this applicable to a C? It was my impression I had only 1 sender per wing, but I'm still learning my systems. Patrick

So I'm overseas for a bit and have some time to think about troubleshooting my fuel quantity system. I have a problem with each tank, but the JPI and my habit patterns keep me honest on always having enough fuel onboard. Still I don't like squawks and need gauges by annual time. I've been thinking about the issues and would like some other minds to weigh in. Known things to fix when I return are the grounds - both are now run about 6 inches from the sending unit and grounded to the airframe there. I can tell the crimps and terminals are aftermarket from the aviation dept at Advance Auto. Connections are clean but I think I'd have fewer suspicions if I ran them both back to a ground plane nearer the gauge cluster. Now for the problems... My left gauge is intermittent inflight but mostly shows empty on the ground. To me that smells of a bad connection on the power side of the system or a failing sending unit. The fact that the sending unit works inflight leads me to believe that it's not totally out to lunch. Plan to start troubleshooting by checking continuity of that power wire on my return home. Right gauge is always off-scale high, which I have read is a ground problem. Could it be as simple as that ground wire needing run to the same ground terminal as the gauge cluster? I know that the whole plane should have the same ground, in theory, but I have just "fixed" two "hot" cylinders on the JPI by rewiring the gauge ground to the engine block. CHT's for 3 and 4 came down about 40 degrees with just this change. Obviously there was no CHT problem to start with... Anyway, with time to think on my hands here I'm just wondering what the collective knowledge base here recommends. Thanks, Patrick

I have that same heater with a bit of dryer duct attached to direct flow up into the bottom of my cowling - granted this is in SC and not the arctic north - but a half hour on at around 30 OAT before flying leaves my engine compartment nice and warm for the start. I've considered adding additional tubing from the cowl inlets back to the heater intake to increase efficiency but have not done so yet - it gets used only 3-4 times per year... Patrick

I don't "need" one but might could be talked into needing one... What were you thinking? Patrick

Reasonable thoughts - and if I'd had the Mooney first the RV would probably still be sitting in the back of someone else's hangar covered in dust. It's an interesting story perhaps I'll tell sometime if anyone cares to listen... My last RV "annual" cost me $100 with no squawks - great group of guys in the experimental world in my area S of Charlotte. Most love putting a another set of eyes on someone else's plane and the RV construction is quite simple when compared to a Mooney. As to my unique storage method - I figure if the Mooney wing can take the standees in that famous pic then the weight of my tail (40 or 50#) with some padded blankets and foam insulation in between won't hurt it any. It's kinda awkward to position it, so I probably won't be doing it in 40 more years, but it's working well for now, and will for the next 4 years until I retire from the Guard, hopefully. I briefly considered a lift overhead, but the engineer in me won out and out came a scale drawing of each plane and one of the hangar and that photo is the result. Patrick

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c162/cpberry1/image.jpg2_zpsx7f7dghs.jpg See if this works better... And its more familiar stablemate... http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c162/cpberry1/image.jpg1_zps8kxcn4dj.jpg

Just a simple VFR machine I bought already built. It had 100 hours on it - an 800hr O-320 D2J with a wood fixed-pitch prop that I've since replaced with one by Craig Catto designed for cruise performance. I've painted it - will include a pic if I can. It is to commute from my home in NC to my military obligations in WV. Pure fun, and burns about 8.5 per hour for 200mph typical ground speeds at about 8,500. Total empty weight is 996 so that 160hp isn't really working too hard. I can understand keeping the Mooney - the 8's are nice but there's definitely more utility to be had in a 4-seater for most people. One of my more recent pics, but since I've checkered the rudder - blue and silver - matched the prop tips, and put a POW emblem on the vertical stab. No good pics on photobucket of all that though... Edit - that didn't work - just meant for the link to be in here...sorry guys Patrick

Some optimism - two years community college AAS degree in Engineering (scholarships for 100%), in-state at Virginia Tech for BSEE finishing in '99. Paid for by self working underground in a coal mine one summer then as an EE intern for Union Carbide next three summers. Total debt $6k. Full time offer from Carbide in '99 of $55k. Began USAF pilot training in 2000 - sooner than expected, due to needs of military. Finished in late '01. Debt gone by 2003. Several years of military (Air National Guard) flying. Now Delta and continued military. Life is good, for now. I only have a '65 C (and an RV-4) so it's obvious that I don't go for high-dollar planes. Tell your kids, like I tell my 4, to study hard and that they're never too young to work hard. Target a good degree, not some fluffy one that's worthless. And keep learning from the older ones around them. Live simply, be generous. The world has definitely changed, but a good life is not unachievable, for most of us. Just my 2 cents... Patrick