Mooney in Oz

This news story even made it to the news here in Australia with the heading: Reporter tricked into saying plane’s crash landing was caused by a faulty ‘flux capacitor’ In my view this is well deserved, not personally to this young lady, but the media as a whole to highlight the sheer ignorance of their general reporting of aviation matters we have all read or seen that a simple Google search will clarify, such as a picture of a Piper Chieftain when a C172 has crashed or referring to a piston twin or even a single as a jet. The worst one was outright garbage sensationalism I read in a major newspaper when a dog in a dogtainer was left for a short time by baggage handlers on the apron next to an aircraft in it's parking bay at the aerobridge and terminal. The heading in large print read similar to: 'Dog left on runway' with continued reference to the runway within the story. The problem is there are those of the great unwashed and devoid of intelligence believe this tripe and respond with their inane responses in the Comments section whereas those with common sense can see through this nonsense. I typed my response to their amateur hour journalism in the Comments section and unsurprisingly, it was not published.

Thanks Kevin. Shows how much I know and don't know.

I fully agree Anthony, although I have not researched this to see if heated AOA probes for GA is available. The Aspen AOA system does not use any external hardware, deriving data from it's ADC and AHARS therefore negating the need for anything heated. I never seriously thought about an AOAi with the heating issue until this discussion. It is making me seriously consider having the software installed on my EFD or possible soon to be upgraded Max EFD.

I saw one on display at Oshkosh in 2012. I remember the panel was like that of an automobile and the salesman mentioned the Icon is so docile it is almost impossible to stall. Not for me though. I prefer speed and efficiency.

Although I know the crew this happened to from a previous life, I have not discussed the incident with either of them. However, I know the stick pusher was not overridden and I am sure it was not inoperative. I cannot remember why it did not work. The incident took them both by surprise with the FO freezing and the Captain luckily swinging into action as the wing dropped. The SAAB dropped about 1,100 feet AGL. Absolutely terrifying. More info - @Andy95WI just did a search for the incident and the investigation revealed the SAAB stalled before the stick shaker was activated due to ice accumulation, therefore the crew did not receive any warning of the impending stall. Sorry Andy, I should have checked first. It does makes me wonder whether our Mooneys would do the same, stall without stall warning activation due to too much ice accumulation.

Transport category aircraft that have stick shakers also have stick pushers which activate if there is no recovery action, therefore preventing the stall before a spin develops. That's the theory anyway. About 16 years ago at night at a country town named Bathurst here in Australia, (@mike_elliott knows the place) a full SAAB 340 stalled on downwind, starting with autopilot disconnect followed by a wing drop. The aircraft was recovered by the Captain at 112 feet from the ground, averting a disaster. The extra weight, cost and certification of a stick shaker/pusher system would make it impossible for GA aircraft. More info - I just did a search for the incident and the investigation revealed the SAAB stalled before the stick shaker was activated due to ice accumulation, therefore the crew did not receive any warning of the impending stall. Above info amended accordingly.

Rule #3: If ever in doubt, refer to Rule #1.

+1 what Don said. Ask me how I know .

Good point, but we'll never know. There were a couple of other gripes on there due to to the device being made in China.

Still need to be careful. From one of the reviews on the Spruce website: “Made in China equals sloppy calibtation for torque. It was not even close to the correct torque for proper tightness for the filter. Resulting in the filter being excessively tight. Works fine for removing filter but not installation.”

I was listening to the News on this side of the world and some authoritative spokesman from the US (I can't remember where from) was being interviewed, stated the F15's were not armed.

Forget about the 770. A mate of mine had one installed into his aircraft, which was followed by no end of problems. Long story short, legal action was put to BK which resulted in the CEO of BK becoming involved. After a long and protracted attempt at resolution BK made an offer to have the unit returned including full compensation of labour costs. He since had 2 IFD's fitted and is very happy.

Albeit a different cause, you and @aviatoreb have shown that skill and coolness result in a good outcome. Well done Dan!

An excellent summation on the proper use of checklists and the way most airlines operate. I also use the KISS principle; Keep It Simple Stupid and add any 'gotcha' items that have caught me out in the past. Checklists don't have to be long and onerous. All that achieves is a high risk of missing an important item. Common sense!

That is quite an accolade. I've flown an Ovation with a 225 and despite its buttonology, I thought it was a brilliant autopilot.

Do you know if these owners find the 3100 to be better in stability turbulence wise, during ILS approaches, general performance and overall happy they did the upgrade?

Just as I thought.

STC aside, will the GFC500 work with an Aspen Pro 1000 and IFD?

Very well said and totally agree.

@aviatoreb does a good pirep on the MT 4 blade attached to his K Rocket in the above link as does @Txbyker in the below link.

I imagine some serious lighting for night ops. We don’t know if this was a recent install or a past install with a sudden occurrence caused by an underlying issue. Possibly the latter. At this stage the FAA don’t seem to be knee jerking about this. We just have to wait for the instigation result.

Thanks for the link Rich. The EFD1000 has been around for 10 plus years. Surely this type of issue would have come to notice years ago, if it is the unit.

To me there is something special about my initial training and first ever solo that was in a C152 II. I can still recall the rego (VH-MRC) and it Is still flying today. After achieving my licence 36 years ago, I did not fly a C152 again. A great initial training aircraft.

Nice pic and video Richard. While you were there, did you happen to notice a paint shop and if so, the name? About 15 years ago when I was a part of the Mooney Mail (email) group, which a few MS's would have also been members around that time. One of those members who was also a Mooney owner just started a paint shop at Big Bear and over the years I had quite a few electronic conversations with him. A very nice fellow who invited me to stay at his place if I ever visited the USA, but I cannot remember his name. BTW: Your video ended how all Mooney vids should - a nice landing and pretty well on the runway centre line.

Thanks Erik. If these are the same reviews, I just found and read reviews you wrote in the form of answers in the 'MT 3 Blade Composite Prop' thread, which I guess I should've used the Search function initially to find. The pros and cons seem to be similar to the 3 blade. The picture of the full frontal in that thread is even better. I could look at that all day! (Yeah, yeah I know. I need to get a life!)