Raptor05121

2020 Accomplishments: Successfully maintained a flying job through COVID (172 survey). Achieved 1200hours Bought a house in FL. Left the next day and moved to Maine for work Got hired by 135 cargo flying a kerosene burner. Flew ~300 hours in some crappy NE icy nights while toting 40lb Jepp charts. Achieved 1500 hours Ferried an Aztec from ME-FL-ME and finished my 25 MEL hours for 121 mins Got hired by 121 airlines flying something new and fancy. No longer toting 40lb Jepp charts Finally got the Mooney back into a hangar after 3 years on a waitlist. 2021 Goals: ATP & Type Rating (next week) Go after my CFI Fly the Mooney more and start putting more money back into it Start to relax and actually enjoy life, travel more

this is a VERY common occurence at my home airport. Its a very inactive Delta with a tower that is staffed by a private company because there is a Heavy C-check maintenance base for airlines on our field. They staff daylight hours and sometimes at night for 30 mins if a airliner is coming in. I've got the light gun because I came home at 3am from Tampa once and had my radio turned down. I made my calls in the blind and forgot to turn up the volume. On final I got the three bright ass green lights from the tower and panicked. I couldnt apologize enough

I've seen their factory demonstrator plane all over Florida with it. I talked to the guy flying, he attests zero speed loss. I am inclined to believe him, I have a manual step and with that ~4" wide square tube sticking out in the wind, moving it up or down does nothing to my ASI or groundspeed.

Replace the cylinders. My engine has 2400SMOH and I elected to replace two cylinders with bad blow by. We inspected the interior of the engine and everything was beautiful, oil analysis are great- I'm pushing it to 3,000

The guys at Mooney have always said the cost to produce a J would be roughly the same as the cost to produce an Ovation. Same cost to build the airframe, same avionics, and the engine is not much cheaper. Whats the list on a regular Ovation, 650k? Lets cut 50k out for the hypothetical mid body J, would you buy a 4-banger M20J for 600k or a 6-banger Ovation that can do the same thing the J does and more for 650k?

Preheating will not only lessen wear on the engine, but make starting 100% easier. If you are draining a battery not being able to start it, I'd hit the starter and just pump like crazy unless you've been able to verify you have a good accelerator pump.

Wow! Too cool

I've flown Florida-Maine four times in the past 5 months. Two in my Mooney, other two in an Aztec. I'm averaging a 75% dispatch rate, one of the flights I had to leave a plane in Viriginia and catch a commercial flight to my destination due to very low IFR and then catch a ride back down to pick it up the following weekend. Definitely adds hassle, costs, etc. If there is any sense of urgency or NEED to get there, I'd at least be amicable to airline travel. The stress of dealing with weather systems, random TFRs, isn't worth it to me, but then again, my time is more valuable compared to some of you guys who are on the leisurely-side of their life and dont mind getting stuck somewhere. Of course if you do decide on what to do it in, I'd vote the most aptly-equipped model. As Steven above me said, an Ovation with TKS and 102gal is probably my personal top contender, cost not withstanding.

I've been trying to source a graphics card for my new PC for months. Looks like I'll be waiting another 6-12 months to avoid getting scalped

We have to deal with it on a daily basis

This is SWEET

This. My previous employer operated a fleet of 208s with G1000s and anytime we had trouble, they came out with an alley key and a box and simply pulled a screen out, swapped in a new one and sent the other one off. Coming from an owners point of view watching this, it definitely gave me pause. GeeBee, even our CRJs aren't approved for LPV, and most are newer NextGen models.

Year 1 FO pay isn't really Big Time. But I digress, I don't want to derail OPs thread. Any pics of the field overhaul?

Most early Cherokees ended in W. early Mooneys...U early Cessnas, L Comanches, P Just a big block of numbers. They were cranking them out in the 60s.

I can barely afford to keep Ramen noodles in my hotel. Maybe in 10 years I can afford the overhaul manual

Welcome! Are you a SW pilot?

Any update on these?

My oil temp gauge always pegged out for the first 5 years I've owned it. Oil temp and pressure and coincident- if you had red line temps, you'd see lower pressure. I'd chalk it up to something being almost 60 years old

When I bought my 1963 (48 gal tanks) I ran one tank dry (in accordance with the POH, if the FAA is on here) and filled it up to make a calibration stick. IIRC I had 0.3-0.5 gal unusable.

If you gander at a Hartzell owners manual (or whatever they call it), they actually call for wiping down the leading edge of the prop with engine oil to help prevent corrosion. I've been doing this for years when I dont plan on flying for a while. It always garners a comment from pilot-passengers when they see a couple drops of mist of oil on my windshield after flying

I've got an old Kenwood TS-940 myself handed down from my grandfather who was also a HAM and Mooney pilot. I'm hoping to make the upgrade to Extra so I can take his callsign since he passed last year. I'm hoping 10m opens up again. I got my ticket back in 2014 when the sunspot cycle was great for 10m. Now, not so much...

de KK4EYX Are you on 20m at all? I need to install my Hustler 4BTV vertical when I get home

I have too many hobbies Metal Detecting Mountain Biking Kayaking Camping HAM Radio Model Airplanes/Ship building Video Games/Flight Simulators Flying Getting yelled at by the missus Grilling/Smoking Cars/Racing

This. I just stood on mine and jumped on the sidewall and it busted out immediately.