Chris from PA

I see what you did there.

I did mine last year and powder coated the panel to match my interior.

I took my '65 C to Weep No More last May and was very happy with the process. Total cost was $8600 including fuel (1700 nm round trip), hotel, airline tickets, etc. Well worth the investment to me as I plan to keep the plane for 20 years or more. Since yours were resealed 13 years ago I would consider spot sealing as the majority of your sealant should still be in good shape. Good luck.

This is perhaps the most interesting and heart wrenching thread I've read on this forum. There have been lots of comments about whether or not it was smart/safe/well planned/etc to fly that night. As a point of learning from this tragedy I also believe it's worth discussing what do you do if you find yourself in a similar situation. I submit a simple, plain English statement to ATC can bring a lot of resources to your aid. A radio call such as "I'm disoriented, I'm having trouble controlling heading and altitude and I'm low on fuel. Please help me get this plane on the ground." will get you a great deal of priority. Please don't take this as a criticism of the accident pilot but rather a suggestion for the next one of us who finds him or herself running out of options.

+1

Sandia Aerospace 340 Quattro. Electric, battery back up, fully certified as a primary attitude reference instrument. I would think you could mount one as a backup in your panel and be completely legal to fly in IMC.

Last Summer my governor ('65 C model) received a major overhaul from New England Propeller Service in CT. Labor alone was $495. Total bill was $1,300.

I flew from KPNE to KROA in the morning (31 Dec) and fought a nasty headwind the entire way. At times my groundspeed was in the low 80s. However, climbing higher for the return flight I was rewarded with a groundspeed of 180+ for most of the flight. I snapped this pic on the descent. That's in a 180 hp C model!

I made numerous trips between Philly and Augusta, GA this past year and I often flew without talking to anybody once I was out of controlled airspace. However, I always monitor 121.5 in case anybody needs to chat with me.

This should help answer your instrument panel question. Don't be so quick to dismiss the the carburated motors. We never have to deal with a clogged injector!

Thanks for all the input. I'll take your suggestions to my mechanic and we'll come up with a plan to work our way through the troubleshooting.

Interesting thought on the starter. I've got a Sky-Tec lightweight starter (model 149-NL) that's been on the plane for 5 years. If this is my problem, what's the solution? I was leaning towards a grounding problem, or an issue with the ignition switch, but since the problem doesn't appear when the engine is cold I'm still scratching my head.

Here's what I'm dealing with lately (last 6 months) in my '65 C: First start of the day is no problem. Go through the start procedures, turn the key to "start" and within a couple of prop swings the motor fires right up. Next, I fly a couple of hours, land and refuel, grab a snack, etc and I'm back in the plane within 20 minutes and ready to go. Once again, go through the start procedures, turn the key to "start", and the prop swings but the engine doesn't even sputter or cough. However, as soon as I realease the key to "both" the engine roars to life. Same procedures, different results with the only variable being a cold engine vs a warm engine. We've checked the timing and cleaned/adjusted the points on the left (Bendix) mag. Thoughts?

I put a Sandia in my panel in August and it drifted around much worse than that. I took it back to the avionics shop and asked them to replace it. I've had the new one in for over 20 hours and 7 or 8 flights. It works as expected. Mine is adjusted to show level on the ground which shows me a couple degrees nose low in flight. You can ask the installer to adjust the pitch if you want.

I replaced my vacuum attitude indicator with a Sandia 340 Quattro in August. It was completely unreliable, drifting in both pitch and bank, so I sent it back for a replacement. I've got 15 hours and a half dozen flights on the new instrument and it has worked great. The G5 wasn't certified for our aircraft when I puchased the Quattro at the beginning of the summer.

Throw in a little glass! This is the left side of my '65 C.

My hangar neighbors were at Sky Manor yesterday and watched the whole thing. I was stunned as they described what they saw. Tailwinds to my fellow aviators.

Carusoam, it does appear to be some sort of acceleration error although it is intermittent which has me a bit perplexed. I'm hoping it's a problem with the instrument itself and not some sort of installation isssue. DXB, I'm also at PNE! I'm in the Atlantic hangars, E-1. Clarence, you may be right, I'll check today when I'm at the hangar.

I am a US Air Force/FlightSafety Int'l trained professional pilot. Like many others here, I put food on my table by flying. I've owned my Mooney less than a year so I'm still learning. That said, I find angle of attack presentation in the cockpit to be an excellent tool in a whole bag of tools available to us. However, I have never before heard advocated, nor would I ever attempt, some of the maneuvers described in this thread.

Marauder, I'm looking forward to meeting the NJ gang but these days I'm gone most weekends. My wife is working in Augusta, GA so I fly down there almost weekly. She'll return after Thanksgiving, hopefully we'll join you after the holidays. Raptor, yes the shop cut the panel.

I upgraded the "shotgun" panel in my '65 C for a standard six pack and replaced my vacuum powered attitude indicator for a Sandia 340 Quattro. Here are the specifics: Shop: Smart Avioncs, Donegal Springs, PA (N71) Time: 9 working days (1 more than quoted) Cost: 5.4 AMUs (as quoted) I'm very happy with the installation job and Ben Smart was a pleasure to work with. However, the Sandia has been a disappointment. I've flown 6 flights and on half of them the Sandia "got lost" during takeoff and climb out. It gets stuck in about 20 degrees of bank and between 10 and 20 degrees of nose up pitch. When it works it's a very nice presentation but at this point I simply have to avoid IMC. To their credit, Sandia is sending a replacement and I'll do the swap in the next week or two. I'll report back after the new instrument is installed and I get a chance to do some flying.

I'm replacing the vacuum AI in the center of my '65 C panel with a Sandia next week. I purchased it 2 months ago, before the G5 was certified, otherwise I may have gone the cheaper route.

I had my overhead and window frame plastic pieces in my '65 C repaired and covered in fabric by Airtex in PA. I wasn't thrilled with their customer service but the quality of the work is very good. I then threw out all the plastic side panels and had Advantage Interiors (also in PA) build me custom vinyl/fabric panels that match my seats. Can't say enough good things about Advantage. Total cost was around $4K installed.

PM sent

I'll take it, email sent.