BKlott

Congratulations on your Instrument Rating! It is a very personally rewarding achievement.

I had green tinted glass in my 172 which I replaced with Great Lakes Aero’s green tint with the UV screen all the way around. They refer to it as “Solar Control”. I am happy that I did this. From a practical point of view, there is one difference that I noticed right away which occurred during my $100 hamburger runs. I keep my plane hangared so it is not sitting out in the hot sun. When we fly for lunch, the plane is sitting out on the ramp, heating up. When I had just the regular, original green tint, climbing back in the plane felt like climbing into an oven. With the UV screen, Solar Control glass, it no longer feels like an oven. The cabin remains much cooler. That is good for your avionics, your interior and your interior plastics. I think the more important and valuable reason for getting the UV screen is protecting your health. The incidence of skin cancer in the pilot population is significantly higher than the general population as a whole. This is due to the fact that your UV exposure increases somewhere between 3% to 5% for each 1,000 foot increase in altitude. If you are essentially at sea level, like I am, then climb up to 8,000 ft, I would be exposed to a 24% to 40% increase in UV Radiation. As I have posted before, my Dad flew from 1942 until just a few months before he turned 90 and died in late 2015. He died of Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. It started in the center of his chest. Now, that is significant, I think, because he was not a sun bather or someone that walked around without a shirt on. He did, however, typically wear thin, light shirts when flying. He flew for 73 years. Some of his flying included high altitude glider flights in wave conditions, one of which exceeded 30,000 ft. He was wearing a lot more than a light shirt during those high altitude flights but consider the increase in UV exposure at that altitude...90% to 150% greater than at sea level?! Personally, I believe it is a false economy to go cheap to save a little money while passing up the benefits of the UV screen.

Just saw your posts, Don. Words are inadequate at a time like this. There is nothing that I can say that will make this any easier for you. Just know that a lot of guys care and are sending there heartfelt thoughts in your direction.

If you are open to an interesting side trip, consider flying over to Patterson, LA. to visit the Wedell Williams Aviation Museum. You may be able to arrange for a ride to the museum which is nearby the Harry Williams Memorial Airport. We visited this summer and basically had the place to ourselves. Fun to get up close to some round engine speedsters!

If you need to make an interim fuel stop, you might consider Williston, Fl. X60 or nearby Marion County X35. Both currently offer 100 LL self serve at $3.95 per gallon. If you need to grab a bite to eat, Piper Kub Cafe is on the field at Williston. Their burgers are good.

They can even sleep nooked too!

Congrats!

Not a place where I would want to cut corners. If an oil cooler blows while you’re flying, you have a forced landing in your immediate future. I had one cut loose but I was lucky. It was during a ground run with the cowling off following an oil change. Ran it to check for leaks and brother did we find one.

Was able to spot your pretty Mooney on the Live Vintage webcam televised on You Tube.

Tarragon- definition The reason a woman has a husband.

Engine, prop, avionics, hoses and fuel lines to start with. Instruments haven’t functioned in sixteen years. If the tanks aren’t leaking, the interior is good, the pucks are good and there are no corrosion surprises you still have some big bills to deal with. Even if they gave you the airplane for free, it is difficult to see how you can make out on this one.

No. Just NO.

Traditionally, the Butler did it.

Some other guys have found a less expensive option...a For Sale ad in Trade-a-plane.

We have lived in Florida for the past thirty four years. For the first twenty nine of those years my wife campaigned for us to move. Then the first grandchild was born. I’m afraid that I am here for the duration.

Just returned from my adventure to Florida's East Coast today. Had the unique opportunity to fly a Mooney Cadet A2-A. This was a Mooney built version of the Alon Aircoupe right before Mooney changed over to the conventional tail configuration. This one has the spring steel landing gear and, like most Alons and Mooneys, it has the rudder pedals as well. One of the things that I was very interested in was the cruise performance. People who have them state that they will cruise 120 mph to 124 mph. In fact, the manual also quotes 124 mph at 2,475 rpm. We leveled off at 2,300 ft msl, set the power at 2,400 and it indicated just over 115 mph. I'm confident that the true airspeed was closer to 120 mph given the heat we were dealing with today. Remember, we didn't push it at 2,475 rpm either. No matter what, 115 mph indicated air speed on 90 hp isn't too shabby. The Seats, well, there wasn't much to them. They did NOT feel like a concrete block but they were a far cry from my two year old thick foam, leather covered seats in my 172. It was comfortable to sit in the airplane, especially when you're doing the flying and your feet are on the rudder pedals. The passenger, well, may need to move their feet and legs around a bit to stay away from the controls and still be comfortable. The airplane will climb out at what seems like an inordinately high angle of attack when doing a short field takeoff. It will climb quite nicely at 70 mph, which is close to the Vy speed. I was using 80 mph for better cooling and visibility. There was no need to fool around with higher angles of attack in this hot weather. One thing that I did not like was that airplane had some vibration in it. It was very noticeable. Enough so that I even asked the CFI if this roughness was normal? He commented that he's gotten used to it and didn't really know what was behind it. Then I remembered something that my Dad told me years ago. He flew the post-war Ercoupes in the 1940s giving instruction in them and he had an opportunity to fly a number of them. He said that some of them were real vibrators and others were not. He said that there seemed to be a wide variation in the Ercoupes from one to another. He speculated that maybe it was a quality control issue at the Erco factory. He could never figure out if it was out of balance propellors, bad mounts or what. Now I know what he was talking about. It is a shame because it detracted from the flight experience in what would otherwise be a really nice, fun little airplane to fly. Dad used to say that he would only buy one IF he could "get a good one". Anyway, it was a fun day, 1.2 hours of cross country there, 1.2 hours back and an hour of local flying in the Cadet. Another item off of my bucket list. Hope you all had great flying too!

In 2001 I looked at an M10 that was for sale nearby at Winterhaven. The bucket seats on that particular airplane felt like they had no support at all. I felt like I was sitting on a concrete block. Killed my interest real quick. Not sure if that is a common issue or not as I have never sat in another one. It looks like it could be a fairly economic airplane for local flights and $100 hamburger runs. Yes, it has a 90hp Continental. A fairly inexpensive entry price with low times and decent paint are plus factors. The lack of tinted glass with UV would be an issue for me in Florida. Additionally, the ADS-B bill is coming due as well. This Saturday, weather permitting, I am scheduled to take some dual in a Mooney A2-A Cadet. I am really looking forward to it as the Ercoupe officionados claim that the A2-A was the best of the breed. Only about 59 of them were built by Alon and Mooney combined before Mooney switched from the split tail to the conventional tail configuration. This will be a rare treat...a true bucket list event!

The Flightline Cafe at KGIF Winterhaven is scheduled to reopen in September following the remodeling of their kitchen.

Congrats on your multi-engine Rating! That is on my bucket list and if I ever get my Medical back, I’ll be working on it too.

I have no idea why Nini’s closed. There was a comment on the airport’s website under “Meeting minutes” a few months ago where one of the board members asked about how the restaurant was doing. The answer was essentially that they had good days and bad days. It also said that the weather was impacting their business. I’m guessing they didn’t generate enough local drove-in business to sustain them.

Found out today that Nini’s Landing at Bartow Airport is now closed. The website says “permanently”. Winterhaven’s restuarant is temporarily closed for remodeling. Not sure when they will re-open. The taxiway improvements at KGIF have been completed providing easier access from the terminal building to runways 11 and 23.

My Dad had a 1964 C model. It was a beautiful airplane. The curved rear windows have character. One “must have” in a pre-buy is a careful and thorough search for corrosion. We’ve seen too many being scrapped for spar corrosion. Other expensive items, besides the engine and prop, are leaking fuel tanks and worn out landing gear pucks. You’ll be hard pressed to find a certified option that will provide better cruise performance along with fuel efficiency in the same package.

I am sorry to see this happen to you. Not sure which is worse, losing one to a storm or standing on the ramp watching as the new owner flies it away.

I had the opportunity to meet Colonel Morgan at Sun N Fun in 2004. He had booth and was selling his book, “The man who flew the Memphis Belle”. He was wearing his leather jacket and autographed the book for me. He wasn’t real talkative, preferring to answer any questions with “read the book”, but it was still a treat to meet him. He died in May of that year.

I didn’t respond to the survey because I thought it was a poorly structured question. We’re they looking for a “power loss” which can result from a number of factors or were they looking for an actual mechanical failure of the power plant?