Pictreed

I actually made that same comment but cut it out. It's going to get smaller and find a new location.

Ha. Thanks. I got Final Cut and I like it.

Could I see a picture of your light cover. I was talking with a buddy that has a J that needs a new cover and I was noticing his E does not have a cover.

Mcoyne34, sounds good. PM me your info. It will be in N172RG so we might be talking about the same plane. Someone on here flies it too. SIDs I'm good with. STARs are my friends. But ODPs...ugh. Not bad to read, just when to use them. I have not seen any around here but I need to get more familiar. Meacham gave me that 'left base' for what I thought was straight in so I assumed I was supposed to be left of RWY 16 and possibly make a base to final leg? But I think your saying is report when you're about the same distance away as a base leg would be? I'm trying to set up a visit of the tower there so I can see the process, ask about that procedure, and talk to Nick about some things that did/did not happen the night I landed without electrical power. I would also like to get an ASR from the JRB or ABI. I might do that once I get my Mooney.

Does anyone have any experience with flight schools in the Fort Collins area? A school under Part 121 would be preferred but not necessary. Thanks, Tim

If you need help with the CAD I can do it. I work with reproducing model plane plans that are then used on a CNC laser cutter or CNC foam cutter so this should be no problem. I have couple friends 65 E models I can reference if needed. Tim

Congratulations!

Congratulations! I wondered if you got down there and if it sold. Tim

Was that windscreen in bad shape? it would have been great to just cut around that part of the cabin to get the trim and everything.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned these benefits: I lost the alternator on a night flight so I lost my GPS and all lighting on my instruments of course. My iPad was suction mounted to the side window so I was able to use its light to light up the instruments and Foreflight to navigate back to the airport. The flashlight was too bright for lighting the cockpit but it was great stuck out the window to see the yellow taxi lines when I landed. My point is that I had independent backup navigation and a light source that didn't make my night vision go away. Tim

Hank's right. PPL SEL safety pilot with a current medical is what I need. FARs do not go into any in other ratings or endorsements such as complex or high performance. I talked with James today and he's going to ride along on some. We can file an IFR flight plan and get a clearance so he can see how it's done and I can get better at it. I sat at the airport for hours during those drizzling days listening to departure control just to get use to SIDs, it would have been really great to see that in action before I had to do it on my own so this should help anyone looking at an instrument rating a lot. Tim

I need someone to ride along as a safety pilot (to look out the window when I have the view limiting device on) while I practice some approaches. The only drawback is that it's not in a Mooney. It will be in a 172RG. I would be willing to return the favor if you're up for IFR currency or would just like to practice some instrument flight. Thanks, Tim

Me too! Nice

J, I'm waiting on some title work for some property to conclude so we haven't purchased the E yet but we should be able to do it next month. You could pop down two hangars to your South and I'll take you up when we get it. Your Cherokee looks nice. You should have no problem selling it. I flew the blue and white '65 E that hangars to the West of us last month and it was a blast. I think I got your number, I'll send you a text. I paid an instructor to be a safety pilot yesterday, I should have called you. If you want to be a safety in the 172RG, let me know, I need 4 more approaches to minimums by May. That will also give you some experience in a complex if you haven't been in one. Tim

I just got a quote for this and with the new transponder/ADS-B setup it would run $52k (minus the GTN 650...I would keep my 430). Someone mentioned LPV mode. I'm still a new IFR pilot so correct me if I'm wrong, but his unit won't do LPV since it's not WAAS, right?

Congratulations, it's beautiful!

We need some pics

Left seat. The registration number is N172RG which is kind of cool too. ATC always gets a laugh out it.

This is not a Mooney (soon) but I recorded my first flight. Lots to learn about the software still. It's amazing how critical you are of your own flying when watching. Im using Final Cut Pro on a Mac. Tim

Welcome Gabe. The J is really nice. I'll be purchasing an E soon but I liked the J a bit more but mission idea won out for now. One thing I noticed sitting in the pre J models is that seating is moved towards the walls a bit more to allow room for the manual retract bar. I thought it would be a problem (it felt uncomfortable coming fresh out of 172s) but once I got in the air I realized it was not an issue. Your wife will probably like the J more but they are double the price. The manual retract on Mooneys is a very good product...Just not as fancy. One nice thing about the price of the pre J models is that I can pay it off quickly and then rework the instruments the way I want for IFR flight. However, I've seen some J models with the G600/GNS combo that would add all the IFR redundancy I require for about $115k with around 1200 hours on the engine. Good luck with your search. Tim

Thanks everyone. It feels good to share with those that the term IMC has some significance. I'm glad that I was able to do it in 3 months but I went through an aviation degree program in '92 that included separate classes for weather, private, instrument, commercial, and CFI ground schools, as well as law, aerodynamics, and so on. I also took 20 hours simulator training in an old Singer trainer at the college (very interesting piece of equipment). Upon returning to aviation in September, after a 18 year break, I was surprised I remembered some of it. The flight school I got the instrument from also has a simulator and I took the max amount allowed in it. The oral exam went well but I got a discountinuance in November due to weather so I spent the last two hours, we were supposed to be flying, talking with the examiner about Mooney airplanes. I had no idea he owned one till someone told me that morning. His Mooney was the first one I've ever flow. That was just a couple weeks ago. It's a '65 E with all the body mods (maybe not the belly). First autopilot too. What a dream to fly! The flight exam made use of navigation without ANY magenta lines which was fine for me since the only RNAV we had in the '90's was LORAN. The worst part of my instrument training was learning the GPS so I downloaded the GNS 430 simulator along with MS Flight Sim. During the checkride I couldn't figure out how to turn off the tracking on Foreflight so I just zoomed in to the profile view. I memorized the hold as well so I didn't look at the plan view. I also studied a lot which included many of the King videos. Plus all the training I had for the Dispatch license (which I do not do for a living) helped a lot. I would be willing to go up with any of you guys that are preparing for the instrument exam and go over what to look for...just give me a shout. Plus I get to ride in a Mooney...:-) Or if you want to meet at the diner at T67 we can just talk about IFR. Tim

It looks like about 6 weeks to show up on their web site so we will see how long it takes to get the license in the mail. My examiner said 6-8 weeks.

I don't know why, but until I saw it on line, it didn't sink in. Thanks for the word of caution.

Awesome, I feel like my instrument rating is official now. I started checking this week since it's the six week mark and it showed up tonight. Mooney purchase will hopefully take place next month and it we be time to wade slowly into some IMC.

I get it :-) That happens to me when I look at Mooney's...nothing to be ashamed of.