TargetDriver

Interestingly enough, I was taught to land without using landing lights ! My first flight instructor who also happened to be my (ex) wife's uncle had a bajillion hours and was just one of those cool older guys that had flown everything. His unspoken claim to fame was flying A LOT in Vietnam. Low level recon ops, rocket support, AFASC, white plane supply runs...you get the idea. He had me doing waaay more than PPL req's when I took my practical at 42 hrs. My examiner (who knew my "uncle" well) got a kick out of me doing extreme slow flight 360's with the stall warning horn blaring...in both directions...and then doing stall recovery. I bet him a sodie I could touchdown within 20 ft of any place he picked on the runway for my last full stop. One of the best Dr Peppers I ever had...right after he signed me off ! When it came time for my night flight early in my PPL training we took off just before sunset and did some maneuvers until it was dark. He said go home. I did. We got in the pattern and he showed me how to turn on the PCL...walaaa, runway, taxiways, so cool to see our little 2800 ft small-town airport like that. On final I asked about some landing lights so I could see the ground. He said Nope. That was my first attempt at pinching a hole in the left seat upholstery! You're kidding right ?? Nope, just listen to me and do exactly what I tell you. I did, we landed and I thought I had just slayed a giant. I landed a plane in the dark ! The world was mine ! That was our norm for weeks as my training progressed. He was very serious when he told me under no circumstances are you to turn on the landing lights. Okay. One night short on final at maybe 3-400 feet he reached over and flipped on "that switch". I was like OMG I could do this with my eyes closed !!!! Couldn't believe what the runway actually looked like at night with headlights on ! After that I actually preferred landing without lights !! I eventually crept to the lighted side. I love flying at night, always have always will. When I got my precious new 1980 K model two years ago, I let us get used to each other for about 30 hours then took her out for possibly her first ever (prob not really) lights out landing. Didn't want to scare her too bad too soon so she'd love me forever... She handled it like a pro and now she loves it as much as I do. I'm going to reward her with new Alphabeams next month when I get back from my AFG deployment so me, my beautiful wife and my mistress can light up the world together at night. All of the times I have landed lights out were of course with very good airport lighting systems and good knowledge and familiarity of the intended runway. I do believe every pilot should practice this once in a while with a qualified right seater if you're not accustomed to doing it. There are a hundred scenarios one could ponder but the worst of the worst - land at night no electricity... whacha going to do when you get close to the ground? Some may have no idea. Heaven forbid that ever happens to any of us but in our line-of-work or hobby, we practice for all sorts of emergency conditions so its not unknown to us when some level of shock, fear or anxiety could possibly overtake your emotions and bodily reactions. R

Hyett, thank you. It was a lot of fun making it actually and putting the video together with the music. I only wish I could be back home to fly and video to make more. I'm deployed now and we make different kinds of movies here.

Oscar, Thank you. It was Enya. I first heard her music like this when I bought a dive video from a trip to Cozumel... that's the music they put to our dive... Never forgot that.. Seemed like a flight was fitting too.

Pritch, Sharks really are in the bay? That's funny. I had no idea. I was kidding for the video. Now the next time we go back there, we'll really be watching for them. Thanks ! We ere going to fly into KEKA initially but decided to go on to Arcata since it was closer to my daughters house. We love that area up there. Its beautiful.

Thanks All. Skates, I have a couple of the Replay XD Prime cameras. Most people are sold on the GoPro probably because of their advertising dollars spent, but we've tested the Replay XD camera's literally to Mach .92 and altitudes to 41,000 ' on aerial platforms. They are slightly larger than a lipstick tube, have mini SD cards and have a multitude of mounts, attachments and accessories including a pigtail for onboard power instead of battery. On the aerial platforms we had to use the live-power pig tails when we went above 20,000' or so due the cold shortening the battery life. (normal battery life can be up to 3 or 4 hrs) I mounted the basic swivel mount with their adhesive patches under the tail cone. (which we've tested at work to over 500 kts and they held !!) One really cool feature of those camera's (the Prime X's) is they will bluetooth ! I fab'b a small mount on my instr panel and with an old iPhone 5 just bluetoothed to the camera. It's perfect for another Gear-Up verification with live video feed.

Here's a condensed 10 min video of our flight from KACV Arcata, CA to L36 just under KSMF Sacramento airspace at night. Hope the links work. "Turbo 231 Mooney Sunset Departure over the Beach" https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwi7_Zuar-bTAhUDm5QKHeE2A0oQtwIIIzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdYFA3Ew6fxo&usg=AFQjCNFWvWmG_I8f4ErYlkaiILsHCtyK2A&sig2=VOUzDmS-pVp9IgvBtOhLOg

Niiice ! Heck, the only thing my 231 has in common with yours is they both have wings ! Lurking for serious panel upgrade now from all virgin original '80 in pristine condition.

Very tight T hanger (like 6-8 inches on either side-always a pucker when going in or out!), with just enough room to walk around my mistress. Waited almost a year to move from no electric to one with electric and lights. Most days outside of summer it looks like it rains inside the hanger and the plane gets rewashed with some bits of ceiling rust or chips and dirt. When it rains there's 3 inches of water in the aft portion of the hanger so there's a platform to walk on. $220/mo at a small quiet 2600 ft lit runway, just resealed and tucked just under the Sacramento Intl Charlie airspace. Just 10 miles away hangers are $400 or more... I'll settle for a little inconvenience from time to time..keeps me humble and appreciating why I fly. Also, the airport owner and his staff are the best. A great small town airport like "back home".

Good to know ! My annual's coming up so will give that special attention. Thanks

KLRDMD, Yep, you're correct. I'm in Northern Sweden currently and working 15 hr days on a flight test pgm. That's the kind of mistakes that warrant no flight operations after being up all night and using all my brain reserves for work. Ha We use KIAS and KCAS for my work flying...here that's above Mach .7 at FL30 or higher. (Yes we do use KTAS occasionally) And yes that would have been TiT. My CHT 's are in the 330-350 range. I've read several lengthy accounts from a Mooney factory test pilot and he recommended 31in/2500 rpm for suggested cruise settings. (pasted below) His settings (+50 deg ROP) indicate the intracylinder pressure zone that you refer to as being most damaging. I'm curious as to the delta in information if that was from Mooney flight test data, for a non-intercooled engine. Has there been some additional longevity testing that has suggested otherwise since the original factory testing? That was most of my flying after I got the plane. Suggested Cruise Power Setting - Model M20K (231) Non-Intercooled Engines Any Altitude and OAT Manifold Pressure RPM Mixture Setting Cowl Flaps Approx. Fuel Flow 31" Hg 2500 Peak TIT + 50 deg. Rich Full Closed 11.5-12.5 GPH Perhaps offline we could talk more about the LOP operations ?? I'm always open to improving and there's plenty of room for that with me and my Mooney. I've not ran the LOP settings because I have not installed an aftermarket engine monitoring system yet. My apologies Paca, sure didn't mean to sideline your thread. Will be happy to move it offline...but I have been wanting to get much deeper into this. T

Great video Oscar !! I watched it twice! I sure miss those clouds over Missouri. I'm from about 100 mi south of there and made those same flights. Based in Northern CA now and they rarely have clouds from May to October. I guess there's something to say for blue skies too. ha I've just started using the Replay Prime XD camera http://www.replayxd.com/product/prime-x/ which looks a lot like yours. I did my maiden camera flight with mine mounted underneath the tail at the rear of the fuselage cone...I bluetoothed it to my iPhone which was sitting in a cradle on my panel. I could see the gear come up (great backup verification for gear up or down and locked)... I departed L36 (close to Sac Intl) and flew to Eugene Oregon for a beautiful 1:55 min flight in our '80 K model. Couldn't wait to land and load the video to see how cool it was....Only to realize that after about 30 min of flight the picture began to dim and blur a bit... Duh.... The turbo exhaust is on the right but basically inline with the fuselage... just enough exhaust/oil to fine coat the lens... the departure, gear up and initial flight was spectacular...the landing was a total blur but was a greaser and smooth on the video. Haa Need to move it but the live video feed of the gear action and view below was way cool. I have 2 of them so will mount one maybe on the vertical and one on a wing.

I have noticed a couple of mine are out too ('80 K model) but haven't given it much attention yet. Any thoughts if there would be any official reason someone couldn't just have a batch of those ran? Haven't seen where there's any part number directly on the shroud (metal part shown). I happen to know someone with a screw machine that could spit those out but we'd probably have to order hundreds to make it worth while. Tolerances would be held to +/- .0015. Just a thought...

I'm sure his access will be seriously limited as he draws closer to actually being President but believe it or not he was very accessible as a "normal guy" just 2 months ago. He flew into St Louis on his rounds and a buddy of mine, more like my brother, had been asked to go up to the airport to help out with some of his arrangements...ended up getting walked out to his plane where he met Trump. They were only supposed to be there like 15 min or so.. but Trump asked him and his wife to come on board. They spent an hour just talking about regular daily life things. They met Malania (sp?) and the coolest part...My buddy's 12 yr old daughter text him while they were there... Derrick quickly texted back and put his phone away. Donald asked about her and asked if they used facetime (for iPhones). He said yep...Donald said lets call her back... She happened to be on a school bus headed to a school function... Donald called her and spent like 10 minutes talking to her while she sat there with all the other kids. Needless to say she went nuts afterwards and snapped a bunch of screenshots... My buddy said he was the most personable and normal guy you'd ever meet, There were no camera's around, and no press. Despite the media, he's probably much more of a normal guy than most would ever imagine...just happens to be a billionaire and thankfully our next President. Just 2 cents of ... ii hope you get the job! Sure would be great to have another "regular guy" that just happens to be a Mooney owner running something with common sense.

Bennett, thanks for some very cool background on the 231 heritage. I seriously doubt mine will ever evolve to those lofty creations...but maybe we can park next to each other on a ramp somewhere and your '61 can wow my '31 with tales that legends are made of. Seriously, the 315 kts is killer ! I've seen 213kts on mine at one point... Had to take a picture ! ha Aviatoreb, I just found out that there's a '51 within 30 min flight time for me at Sonoma County airport... Now I just have zip down there and drop the $$$ for the bucket list check mark!

Done it. Thanks all for the info. Better late than never !

I know it's not Mooney but ...It is really cool. So last week I'm on a flight to Northern Sweden to a flight test range and our commercial carrier is beginning the descent into Stockholm. I grabbed this picture as morning broke and we were over a solid cloud deck. Even the picture doesn't do it justice...The colors were actually much more vivid than the picture shows. This is one of the reasons we get up early for that sunrise flight in our own planes ! Sure wish I could get my K model up that high to get these pics (39k ft) ! ... other than those winglets being about 10 ft tall... maybe if I put those on my Mooney....

Hello Paca, Welcome, I'm relatively new to the Mooney community as well having bought my first one, a 1980 K model with the -LB converted engine as well in February, soon to be a year. I had heard all of the myths and warnings about owning a turbo plane and how difficult they are.... all bull. We love our Mooney and it's a joy to fly. The only thing I notice different than flying something else with a CS prop is just monitoring the MP a little closer and of course the temps. From everything I've read (on this great site) and others is keeping those cylinder temps down to that magic number of 400, but even that is unavoidable at times in the hot summer...and by hot summer I mean Sacramento CA area at 105-110 deg. To manage I just slow the ascent and increase airflow, or trail the CF a bit. I'm working with the original TiT and CHT gauges so no JP system yet so I keep it conservative when at all possible. There is an aftermarket fuel flow so that helps a lot. My engine only had 300 hrs on it after major with a complete turbo overhaul (has aftermarket turbo with no intercooler) the next year with about 100hrs less. Other than that the plane was almost 100% virgin and in excellent condition. I'm deciding which to do first on her upgrades...perhaps a JP system to monitor first then GAMI's, Avionics and interior in the spring. If you're not used to flying high, you should consider it if buying the K because everything everyone says about a turbo working up high is absolutely true. For the bulk of my first 1000 hrs of flying I probably got over 5000 ft just a couple times...(crazy I know) Now it's launch...ooops trade lingo... I mean take off and climb... 10-12k and if taking a flight longer than an hour or so its on up to 12- 16k I made the purchase flight from MN to MO then to CA and did the long leg to CA at 12-14k only because we didn't have O2 masks yet so couldn't use the Oxygen to fully utilize the turbo performance. 195-200kias GS is always fun to see. She cruises at 168 kias at 11.2 gph all day long, 12 gph if I need it cooled a bit. Since I don't have a JP or similar system I only run 50-75 rop with a cht at 1575. Again, I'm fine with burning a bit more fuel to keep it cool and a bit on the rich side. Seriously looking forward to flying East to Missouri this spring/summer and climbing to 18K or better and wringing it out. Hope to hear you got the K. Cheers

Yep. It's swapping the white and black as they have different triggers. I think I read that from one of your previous posts. Did them both the same. The left one worked great, nada on the right. Headed to the airport to see which power supply it has. From reading previous posts, it could be any number of options. Interestingly enough after scanning my log books since day one, the right wing strobe power supply has been changed 4 times, the left side, not once. Do flash neutrons tend to gravitate more to the right or what ?

Update... Back from short deployment finally and shot another lens. Did the necessary drill and tap and even inlaid new Whelen A610 flash bulbs (to correct what I thought the original problem was- a bad bulb). All put together and back on the plane... flipped the switch and walaaa.... not so much - only the left wing strobe works...beautifully and bright white now but still no right wing tip strobe. Daaa, bad power supply I guess. Back to the plane tonight to see which power supply it has.

Should be able to. Send me a picture and I'll know right away and let you know.

I used to design investment casting molds for wax and such on the side. This mold doesn't have the complexity of a full injection mold but is only a single cavity at this point. If there was a need for any volume I'd make another and shoot two at a time.

update on the new lens mold...Here's the new lens right out of the mold. (still has mold release on the inner side) next to the one it's replacing. Need a couple more shots to perfect temperature and soak time in vacuum to completely remove all minute air bubbles. But still is 100 times better than the old one.

Jet, yep after some more research you're correct. We've found some acrylic than be used as well and the base material is a bit less expensive which is always a good thing. The final mold work begins today. Will keep everyone posted.

If you're talking about the clear lens that covers the entire tip light/strobe assembly and makes the front corner of the wing tip....PM me Highlowfastslow... may have that answer for you.

I've found a strobe that makes it new again ... but it does need a touch of "field repair-it is" but it's very doable and looks professional... almost can't tell its ever been touched. I've thought about just setting up to do them for guys but they'd have to send them back and forth. Could be done in just a couple days. Not sure about the cost yet on the lenses but it's looking like it would be around $45-50 ea. I'll still end up eating a bunch on the mold process, but I've been known to do that before. Funny, I've always been good at doing about anything, but seem to be not-so-sharp at business. Maybe that's why I'm not flying a new Mooney. HA!