xrs135

Pretty cool to have 4 Mooneys on the lakebed this year!! ...and Bryan wasn't even there! Did you guys have a good flight back this morning? Hopefully you opted for the Central Valley route today. With these winds, the Eastern Sierra was probably rather hellacious!! Maybe next year we can all coordinate a formation arrival and camp next to each other!

Here is a video from a couple years back. Bring food/water/camping supplies. This years' is about a 15min flight North of Reno. For more details check out the facebook group "High Sierra Fly-In" Expecting 100+ planes this year, mostly STOL taildraggers but all types welcome!

Any other Mooney's showing up to the High Sierra fly-in this weekend? I'll be there tomorrow through Sunday morning! If you are concerned about the condition of the lake bed this year, it's smoother than most runways - and dust free!

0Q5, Shelter Cove... That's correct!

I'm hangared on the East side, over by Atlantic. We can definitely get together sometime and talk! What model of Mooney are you getting?

The included 3M sticky mount!!

http://generalaviationnews.com/2015/02/01/picture-of-the-day-chicken-strip-takeoff/ I really want to take my M20C down here sometime this winter! Bryan Painter has done it... However, I consider myself an 'average skilled' Mooney pilot when it comes to unimproved strips. 1400' gravel is pushing the limit of what I'm comfortable with, even with the slope!

I remember a mechanic saying something about that once. Brake parts cleaner from NAPA or something like that...

I have the Hartzell Scimitar prop. There are very slight streaks on the back (black side) of the propeller root - extending maybe 4 inches. I can't tell if it's oil or grease, because I can't even tell what color it is... but it definitely seems 'oily'

Thanks for all the input guys! I can probably manage to clean the engine up with the mineral spirits and pump up sprayer... but I will leave removing the prop and cleaning it to the mechanics - that makes me too nervous doing that. Sounds like I good cleaning/leak check... And then If I have no luck, new crank and prop seals and it should hopefully resolved. Any idea how big of of job and how expensive it would be to change out both those seals?

Over the last 10 hours or so, I've noticed that i've started getting a SUPER fine (what I assume is oil) mist on my windscreen. It's barely noticeable - you have to look carefully in the correct lighting. Anyway, I've been monitoring it and oil consumption is negligible - right at the usual 1qt ever 10hrs so I haven't been too concerned. When looking around the outer cowling there isn't any noticeable oil. I did notice some very light streaking on the back side of the propeller roots. With the way oil gets everywhere, I can only assume that it's just a few drops of oil at most. Naturally, my first thought was that I am starting to get a leaky prob hub, would need a reseal, etc. Then, after researching a little bit online, I decided it could possibly just be the $3 o-ring that isn't sealing quite right. After talking to a prop-shop on the phone, I was advised that it likely isn't my prop at all (or at least it would be very strange) since my prop and hub are new with only 150hrs on them. This started to get me thinking... This all started after I did my last oil change. I'll be honest, I didn't do the greatest job at NOT making a mess. I let my (hot) oil drain overnight, hoping that most of it would drain out of the filter. Well, it did not. And I ended up with oil all over the back of the engine compartment and down onto the nose wheel. After I finished the oil change, I wiped down the engine compartment and nose wheel with some rags as best I could... But I wasn't able to spray it down with mineral spirits like most shops do. Could this be the source of my problem? ...Leftover drops of oil in the engine compartment, getting pushed up out through the engine compartment due to turbulent air flow... and then getting flung by the prop and onto my windscreen? Also, is there anything else that I could use to better clean out my engine compartment since I don't have compressed air/mineral spirits readily available? I figure this is the cheapest/easiest fix to my problem. Next step would be to just leak-check the entire engine if it's till flinging oil, and finally, if those two things don't work, THEN start troubleshooting the crank/prop seals. Thoughts? **Sidenote: After that first oil change, I immediately bought one of those fold-a-funnel things so hopefully the next one goes smoother!

Absolutely! I recall your plane on the ramp. Nice looking bird. I actually remember drooling over all the speed mods

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. It says, "to prevent a collision between aircraft operating in the system." A collision is a collision. Aircraft operating in 'the system' are operating on taxiways, runways, and in the air within the NAS. A collision can happen in any of those locations... and again, this is the primary purpose of air traffic control - as in, an all encompassing umbrella that applies to class D towers, class C towers, class B towers, TRACONs, ARTCCs, etc. There might be individual cultures in Class D VFR towers, and yes, by the book all they care about is runway separation... but come on, ultimately it is the controllers JOB to make sure planes do not exchange paint.

I probably talked to you on the radio! Sounds like a nice trip. What kind of Mooney do you fly? I remember seeing a red/white/blue 60's - ish C on the ramp not long ago... The Atlantic Aviation facility in Reno is definitely one of the nicest in the country!

Yes. However let's not forget...

It's so pretty. I can't even handle it!

Simply personal preference. The added lift lowers the stall speed a bit, and unlike full flaps there isn't as much drag in the flare. As a result, the bottom doesn't fall out as quickly in the flare at idle power, and I can always seem to have a nice, soft touch down. I still use full flaps for short field landings for the slightly slower approach speeds.

For normal takeoffs and landings I use the "takeoff" flaps setting

Here is the GoPro video. I'll throw it into the video section as well. I really need to learn how to cut down my footage to make my video shorter! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCBp5ByJxpU

Today's flight... Reno to Chester, CA. Beautiful flight in cool/smooth morning air. Mid level clouds well above us that we're definitely going to turn into thunderstorms later in the day. Chester is located on Lake Almanor and is a very pretty little airstrip. FBO has 4 loaner bikes so we grabbed two of those and rode into town for some breakfast at one of the many little cafes. Before heading back home, we did a quick lap around Mt. Lassen! Both landings were smooth as butter, but pretty easy to do when the air is dead calm/smooth. This was also my first flight with a Gopro mounted on the tail... So I will have some video of this flight at some point!

Permatex RTV high-temp red silicone? Would that work?

^That's what I was thinking with the doghouse setup... Like I said before, I don't know much about what a tightly sealed doghouse actually looks like... But to my eye, it looks "pretty good." Is sealing tiny cracks/openings that I find something that I could do myself? What kind of high heat silicone is recommended?

Hopefully you went to my go-to place while in Santa Rosa... Russian River Brewing!