steingar

There's this little do coming up in Wisconsin...

More likely to get stranded VFR. Find me a VFR pilot who does trips and hasn't been stopped hard by weather.

Like the man said, despite the spectacular rise in gas prices it's still the least expensive part of ownership. And we've go the most efficient machines. The only thing less reliable than my VFR-only trips is the airlines.

That crash falls squarely on the shoulders of the pilot. He should have been able to see the blasted car as he turned final, in a proper airplane he'd have seen it on base. Again, in the book of Steingar a car approaching the runway is assumed to be about to drive onto the runway until proven otherwise. I'll keep flying until I see the situation resolve.

Oh absolutely, if things aren't looking right on the runway I'll bail hard and fast, I've done it before and will do it again. I was really addressing the comments about vehicles and beasties. You should be able to see any vehicles impacting the runway far in advance and get a decent idea of what they're going to do or will do. A lot of bikers site the dangers of left-turning cars. The idea is the car can turn in front of them leading to a collision. My take is simple, if I see a car that appears to be turning left I assume it's going to do so and act accordingly. If I see a vehicle pointed at a runway I assume it's going to pull onto the runway unless I have reason to believe it won't (like a radio call). In 20 years I've yet to have to go around because of a vehicle pulling out on a runway. Never seen any beasties either, but I don't tend to fly in the sticks.

If you're watching the runway you should be able to see what other vehicles in the vicinity are doing. Been doing it for 35 years on a motorcycle, isn't that hard and I've less of a view than in the airplane. Admittedly wildlife can be more challenging, though most of the airports I fly to are surrounded by big fences.

I'll be running the Activity Center (or trying to at any rate) and teaching Origami. Come see me! Hoping to fly the Mooney, might have to drive. We'll see.

To me a go around and a T&G are very different things, I do the former but never the latter. To me T&G are the repetitive circuits we did in trainers when we were learning to fly. I'll never do that in a complex, too many things going on and too easy to get killed if you do one wrong. I don't get how anyone can let it get down to the runway before initiating the go-around. You know how high you are and how fast you're going, it's either going to work or it isn't. You should have a pretty good idea of things going south a long time before you touch down. Had to do a go around at my home airport last time out. Just wasn't going right and I pulled the plug before things go too bad, did the Mooney dip and everything. I do have to admit of having the bad habit of trying to stuff it in most days. Ego.

Inexpensive airplanes are inexpensive until they need an engine.

Me too, though I was unimpressed. Problem is their wax comes out so unbelievably nice, the "ceramic" products really don't look any different.

Didn't think anyone could get insurance to use a Mooney to train anyone to do anything. Gets expensive quickly.

Just donated because I could. In the past PayPal was asked for. I haven't had an account with them since they accused me of lying about an identity theft.

Bring those birds to the show and I'll buy beer. That'd be cool.

What is your stall dirty? Mine is 57mph according to the POH, and according to me that's about what it does. If I come in at 75 mph I'm at 1.3 VSO. If I come in at 90 I float a long way.

I was so chuffed that I did a turn and burn to Philadelphia (tortoise pickup). Parrot dude has got me put to shame hard.

Your problem in a nutshell. Go a nice high altitude and stall your Mooney. Look at the speed when it stalls, dirty it should be less than 60mph. You should be 70-75 mph (or 65 knots) over the numbers. You won't stall the airplane. Makes landing it a lot easier. You shouldn't need any patience in allowing your airplane to settle.

Because you run out of control authority. Often the winds are bad enough that I run out of control authority and get blown off the runway. The solution (for me) is to go around and come in with less flaps and faster. Keep doing that until you can track the runway centerline without being blown clear. The reduction in flaps allows you to maintain a higher speed until touchdown, keeping more air over the control surfaces giving you more authority to fight that crosswind. Surprised I have to explain that in this company. The rub is the Mooney floats, so this only works on long runways. If the runway is short better to go find one that's better angled into the prevailing winds.

I fly a C. I use full flaps for landing, unless there's a nasty crosswind, in which I make use half flaps instead. I do use half for take off, only because the POH says to. I haven't bounced a landing for a few years. Land at the proper speed.

If you come in at the beginning of the show you really want to get there on the weekend, as the field often fills up by Monday. if you come later in the week it shouldn't be a big deal, most of the early arrivals are gone by then. The arrival procedure has changed from years past, you might actually start out at one of the lakes there, you have to listen to the ATIS to suss it out. Worked great last year. I'll be in the activity center every day, come see me!

It's their world, we just live in it.

No parrots?

I had a non starting engine last summer. Four different trips into the shop, with the mechanics claiming it was fixed when it wasn't. A month of down time. Yup, a new starter, new this and that. I think it wound up being the ignition. What really got me was four trips into the shop. I think there are only four components between the starter and the battery.

A pal had his hangar collapse on his Cessna 180 after a big storm. Insurance jacked him around bad, he wound up paying about 12 grand out of pocket (in addition to his deductible) for repairs. They were sort of awful to me when I had my claim, though I only went out of pocket for a half an AMU, and only then because I didn't want to deal with the adjuster ever again in this lifetime.

Kelleys Island, 89D. 2200 feet, I'll land it without reservation. The times I've been in I came in from the lake, which is unoccluded. I swore I'd never come in the other way over the trees until I saw a girl do it in her Bo on Youtube. The girl is a CFI, but still a girl. if she can do it in a Bo I can do it in a Mooney. Sometimes I hate being me.

You have long arms or something. Really should use a doohickey but I'm both too cheap to buy one and too lazy to make one.