Skates97

That would be a great way to put the final nail in the coffin of GA... As the numbers of pilots and planes would continue to dwindle, the airports would begin to close one after another because there would not be enough traffic to keep them open. Eventually you would be left with a few airports here and there, but hey, it will be so much better because everyone would be trained, highly proficient, current, and there would be no more plane crashes... Why even stop with mandatory IFR training? Why not require a few hundred hours of training with a CFII? You can't expect to believe that a newly minted IFR pilot has the skills and experience to safely handle whatever comes up? I can't believe that my wife and kids would fly with me given that I haven't even hit 100 hours yet and am a VFR pilot... Maybe someone should educate them on the poor choices they are making by flying with me.

That was my experience. I had my CFI added to the policy for my transition training, just took an email and no additional cost.

Congratulations!!!! Looks great!

You could do what @Samurai Husky and I did, just start a thread called "Supersoldier17's Flight Training" or something like that and when you fly put a post in there. A bunch of us here like reading about it, and you will get lots of helpful advice from the members. You will also likely get a bunch of "I remember doing that exact thing" posts too.

Mine is right above my transponder, just to the right of the radio stack. It is right in line of sight as I look over to the MP, FP, RPM so it is just a part of my regular scan now. For mounting I just removed the clip off the back and put a couple strips of velcro on it, hasn't moved at all. I keep meaning to take a picture of it but forget. I will try to remember the next time I'm out at the hangar later this week.

I'm a role model??? There is always something to learn. I need to write about it still, but this flight to Mesquite involved landing downhill with a quartering tail wind. I'll save the details for my blog post (should be up by mid-week), but I used up about 4,000' of the 5,121' runway. The second taxiway turnoff was at about 3,100' and I was not going to make that one. Glad to know I'm not the only one. Add to that when my son likes to sit up more to see better out the front, or slouch down to take a nap, or turn around and reach for stuff sitting on the back seat and he changes the CG, the trim wheel and I are close friends.

Substituted Lake Havasu last week for the Mooney fly-in at Santa Maria... (Dang forecast was completely wrong...) A bunch more pictures and short write-up on my blog. http://intothesky.us/2017/03/04/lake-havasu-anza-borrego-state-park/

Raptor methodology is not for the faint of heart, but where there's a will, there's a way.

Putting a positive spin on this thread... I know this thread is about the operating budget for a 1975 F, and maybe some of the numbers in this thread are high because of that. However, owning a plane can be done on a budget. It just depends on what someone is looking for and maybe they need look for something less expensive. To say that you need to be able to come up with $50,000 is perhaps true, depending on what you are flying. However for someone like @Raptor05121 or myself (and I think quite a few others around here), that is more than our planes are worth. If I had to come up with that, I would just scrap my plane and start over. I think that this and other online boards tend to scare away many a prospective owner. Yes, people stretch and buy planes beyond their budget which end up not flying, but to own a plane you don't have to have six figures of disposable income sitting in the bank just waiting to be spent on the plane. It depends on what you want. A lot of people told Alex that he shouldn't buy a plane on what he made and had available, but he did and put in a bunch of sweat equity. Look at all the adventures he has had and what a great ambassador he is to other young people thinking of GA, which is really what the industry needs more of. I just bought three headsets off Amazon for $85/ea + about $7 for cloth covers for the ears. They aren't as nice as what everyone else is using, but my wife and son like them just fine. I don't have ADS-B out, but I have a few years left to get that done and as with everything else electronic, the price will come down. I think there will be options in the marketplace that we have not heard of yet which will get the job done for less. I built a stratux with just over $100 of a raspberry pi and other pieces and have ADS-B in along with free weather on my tablet. My plane has no glass panel, older avionics (with an annoying Com1 that gets a stuck open mic from time to time) not IFR capable, but neither am I. However, I did fly my wife and son to Lake Havasu last week for lunch and over Anza Borrego State Park for some flight seeing on the way home last Saturday. Yesterday we flew to Mesquite for my wife's dad's 75th birthday and did a little flightseeing over the Hoover Dam on the way. We flew back home today, 254nm and 2 hours from wheels up to touching down at home, beats the heck out of the 5-6 hour drive back and fighting with the traffic from Vegas. Next weekend I'll fly my son and I to see family in AZ, probably going to take some family flying while we're there. I don't have an "F," just an old "D" that was converted to retract and CS prop 50 years ago, but it flies great, and these trips wouldn't have happened if I had to work out renting a plane.

Was actually delivered yesterday, the 11th. I was just out of town so had to wait until I got home to check the mail. It lookds nice. Pretty fast, ordered the 6th, shipped the 7th, received the 11th.

Congratulations! The picture says it all.

I had this same thing happen. I had the vents closed at the time, opened the vents and reduced descent rate and levels dropped back down. The boot around the flap/aileron rods was loose and had slid up, leaving a gap. I fixed that and haven't seen it occur again.

It's coming into summer time but I would order a sweatshirt. Nice for when it cools down at night at the beach.

Best search function, go to Google and type in "mooneyspace" followed by whatever it is you want to search for.

Not a problem, I love flying distances. Flew to Camarillo a few weeks ago (76nm), Lake Havasu last Saturday (171nm), going to Mesquite, NV this weekend (266nm) and then Chandler, AZ (300nm) next weekend. So far I have 39 hours XC over 50nm between my PPL training and my flying since then. Looking forward to the flight to Chandler, the only other time I did that one was in a Cherokee 140 that I rented from the school. In my Mooney it will be more fun! I use my tablet and Droid EFB for navigation, but I like to play with the VOR's and try to navigate along the Victor airways and pick up the intersections using both Nav's for at least some portion of the flight (where they don't take me very far off the route I want to fly).

Not sure about your other issues, but my gauges like to stick. If I tap on them with my finger they will "un-stick." I've read that you can clean the connector on the back and it may/may not fix the problem. I honestly don't put much faith in them. I stick the tanks before flying, note the amount and know about how long I can fly on what is in there. I'll note the times I am on each tank and stick them after each flight too noting what was used. It averages out to about 10 GPH so I have a good idea of flight time available and plan for at least 1 hour remaining fuel when I land.

I ordered it the 6th and received an email the 7th that it had shipped. UPS says it should be delivered the 14th.

The ability to pop up through the marine layer or down through it along the coast out here is one reason I am considering going after my IR somewhere here in the next year or two. The other is to be able to skim along the tops of the clouds. My dad used to talk about when they would be flying T-38's and trying to keep one wingtip in the clouds just for fun. I did this a little while back with @MHemperly and thoroughly enjoyed it. My only other experience with Instrument Flying was the required time fro my PPL. Actually watching someone work the radios, the communication with ATC (I do it all the time with flight following but it is not the same), navigate and fly all the approaches/holds was impressive and a lot of fun. I highly recommend it. This I think sums it all up. When I was taking my check-ride the DPE asked me if I had plans to get my IFR. I told him maybe in a year or two, along with the typical "everyone says it makes you a better pilot" line. His response was "not necessarily." If you are a safe pilot that knows yours and your planes limitations and makes good decisions, you will be a safe pilot. On the other hand if you take risks and make poor decisions getting your IFR won't change that, just give you more opportunities to get into trouble... So maybe I'll pursue an Instrument rating, maybe not. Right now I am having a blast as just a VFR pilot, and will continue to do so.

As I think through my actions that's a better explanation of what I'm trying to say. If I get too fast, pitching up momentarily reduces speed and then as I push the yoke forward back to normal climb attitude is when I'm retracting.

What I've read everywhere and in practice is 80 mph is the sweet spot for retracting gear. A smooth rotation at about 70 mph doesn't leave much time passing 80 mph to pull the gear unless you are climbing fast for obstacle clearance. Once I'm climbing the gear is up followed by flaps. Between 80-90 mph is not too hard to raise it, but if I'm closer to 90 mph I just pitch up a little and then swing it. You'll get the hang of it. Most of the time I'm really smooth with it now but you should have seen me for the first 20 or so times retracting it...

Needing a progressive taxi at Riverside? It's a pretty easy place to navigate around... I went there a couple times while getting my PPL and was able to navigate without help.

That's where it is. The jacks are at the bottom of the panel and the button is just to the right of them. If the passenger is sitting close enough they can push the button with their hand on their knee.

My PTT button on the passenger side is mounted on the panel right next to where the jacks are for the headset. It would be nice to have it on the yoke, but it's easily accessible.

Beautiful! I love the colors and the scheme!

Mine is just to the right of the radio stack and above the transponder. It's right in line of sight when I look over to RPM, MP, FP so it's just a part of the scan. I took the clip off and used a couple pieces of velcro on the back and it doesn't move at all.