Skates97

Ah, may have to look at that. With just the two of us in the front seats and about half tanks the CG was at about 44 which is closer to the front. I had it set at take-off trim but may play with having a little more nose up next time. That or I may throw a little ballast in the baggage area to bring the CG closer to the middle.

I finally got to fly a Mooney today, my Mooney. It was awesome!!! Now I really know why you guys love your planes. If you're interested here's the write-up. http://intothesky.us/2016/12/17/a-second-first-flight/

The plane came with those that are custom fit for the windows.

I am recently afflicted. It was a beautiful day for flying here this morning. Crystal clear skies, just a touch wind, about 10C, and only a little bumpy. My first time flying a Mooney, and my first time flying my Mooney. It's only been about 4 hours and I can't wait to go again...

It is a GPS, but I think I will just wait until I am ready to do some other things to the panel and move some of them around then. I agree, I don't have an iPad but my android tablet with Droid EFB is great. It's not enroute IFR certified, but then neither am I... I'll have to check out planecovers.com. I would like to have something for when I travel. Especially next summer for trips to my parents in AZ, that sun there is brutal.

Sonny, thanks for everything and a wonderful purchase experience. You guys took great care of her over the years. I meant to grab a picture with you and the plane but after talking and going over everything I wanted to make sure we got you to your flight on time. When I come out that way to visit my family maybe I can swing by your neck of the woods and say hi. Sedona is on my list of places to visit and you're not far from there. I finally got around to writing up about my trip to airplane ownership. Tomorrow I am meeting a CFI out at the airport to take her flying! http://intothesky.us/2016/12/16/buying-n78878/

That's funny, I think you have gone over the pictures of my plane closer than I have, I never noticed that. I could check the logs to see if it left the factory as a D or converted to a C (I have all the logs and every piece of paper for maintenance that was done on the plane as the previous owners kept meticulous records) but it's not that important to me. Mine also has the 201 style windshield and cowl enclosure too so maybe I should add a third letter to my model designation, just for fun and to give the "name police" something to do...

"Needy" is a relative term. It does have a basic engine monitor that shows CHT/EGT but for only one cylinder. The ADF would work but the antenna was removed some time ago. I could reinstall the antenna (it came with the plane) but there really isn't a point so the ADF will come out at a future date. The Apollo II Morrow will be coming out as well. The radios are dated but they work well so I will continue to use them until they decide they don't want to work anymore. I would like to replace the current engine monitor with one that has FF and all cylinders somewhere here in the near future. She'll be inside a hangar by midweek but I would like to get a cover for travelling, recommendations? I initially didn't consider it because it was a D until I read that most were converted. I'll get a post written up on it tonight or tomorrow and post a link to it here. Thanks everyone for all the congratulations and letting me hang around your forums until I was "officially" here , now I just need to get out and learn how to fly her!

Already was on the list.

Santa came early this year!! Closed on it Friday and the previous owner flew it out here to me in CA today. Some of you probably recognize it from a for sale thread here on MS. They are finishing up clearing out the hangar and then will be putting a fresh coat of epoxy on the floor. Hope to have her moved into her new home by Tue-Wed. It was a fun adventure searching for a plane and the whole process of purchasing this plane was a pleasure. The seller is a fantastic guy. I'll get a fun write up of the whole journey on my blog later this week but I had to come here and share the good news. Oh, any of you out at KAJO (I saw a few others on the ramp) I'd love to say hi and meet sometime.

Just a new VFR guy here. From the discussion it sounds like some would have the PPL changed so that having your IFR was a requirement... Getting your IFR I think it has to do with where you fly and when you fly. I have a friend who has been flying for around 29 years. He has been VFR that whole time and regularly flies his Mooney from northern Utah to sunny Southern California. He has had to delay a time or two, and recently stayed overnight unplanned because of clouds but with the icing conditions he wouldn't have been able to fly even if he was IFR. Out here as has been mentioned by some there are lots of great flying days and with the weather forecasting you can stay out of trouble. The DPE that gave me my check-ride has been flying 737's for 30 years. I would consider him a competent and experienced pilot. He told me that he has flown "hard IFR" in a single engine but won't do that anymore. He said "I fly it all the time in my 737, but I have a lot more going for me in that plane than a single." For me, I could see getting IFR being handy if I needed to punch through the marine layer along the coast, but that's about it. I really have no desire to fly extended periods in IFR. However I will be keeping my plane at KAJO where the marine layer is kept in check by the mountains so it isn't much of a factor. Flying for me is as much about the view out the window as it is getting to someplace fast, and the views out here in clear skies are amazing. So, will I pursue an instrument rating? Maybe... For now I will continue to study and learn more about the weather patterns that are typical for where I fly so that I can be sure not to get into any trouble. For the distances that my typical trips will be, if the weather looks like it might not cooperate, I'll just drive. I've been making those drives for decades and doing it again won't hurt me, it just takes twice as long.

Congratulations!!

Sorry to hear about your plane but like all the others have said, grateful that you are both fine and could walk away without injuries. Thank you also for sharing the experience and what you went through. I appreciate reading it as well as the "Monday morning quarterback" ideas. I'm just a new pilot but reading and learning from others will hopefully help me one day if I run into a similar situation.

One of the Cherokee's I trained in had the R1 tach and I loved it, the rest had analog tachs. The R1 was easy enough to glance at and see what it was doing.

Heard an interesting conversation when I was flying to Phoenix from CA a couple weeks ago. I was on flight following and it was fairly quiet. A guy asked control if they had time for a question. They said yes and he said that he just had ADS-B Out installed and wondered if they could tell him if they were picking it up. The controller responded that he really didn't have any way of knowing, that they (ATC) could have switched it off in the system and he wouldn't have any way of knowing if he wasn't piking it up because it wasn't working or if it was because it was off on the controllers end. The pilot then asked if TRACON would be able to tell and the controller responded that they weren't using it yet.

10-15 knots I think would make it the strongest crosswind I've landed in to date. Flying the Mooney is on the horizon. I told my wife that when I'm doing transition training I will make sure I get to some local airports for some crosswind landings. Chino and Riverside are both good about letting you use the crosswind runway for practicing if they aren't very busy.

Pictures?

There will be details in a couple weeks or so. I'll start up a thread once it's a done deal.

This wasn't today's flight but it has been a busy week so I just now got around to writing about it. I took my wife on a birthday flight, then flew my boys and I to Arizona to surprise my dad and take him on a flight for his 75th birthday. Three days of flying and over 800 miles flown. Full write-up with a bunch of pictures on my bog. http://intothesky.us/2016/11/19/3-days-4-flights-3-birthdays/ Here's a couple pics.

That is a beautiful picture!

Watching the video I wonder if it would have stayed afloat longer without the parachute acting basically as a sea anchor. If the plane were allowed to drift instead of being pulled by the wind it may not have rolled over so quickly.

For some reason the "selfie" setting on the phone mirrors everything. You're out of your mind. I've taught three kids to drive and I have one left. I sure don't want to go through the extra expense and work to be a CFI just so I can have the same stress in the air that I did on the ground...

Took my three younger kids on a short flight today. It was cloudy and we couldn't range far from the airport but they all loved it. http://intothesky.us/2016/10/30/a-cloudy-afternoon-with-the-kids/

Just a low time guy here but we did this multiple times in the Cherokee when I was training. Climbing out, get between 500-600' AGL and a decent headwind on departure, and the instructor pulled power and I made a turn back to land. Push the nose over, best glide speed, don't bank too much, stay coordinated, always had plenty of room to make the landing. It is going to depend upon the plane, the winds, the airport/surrounding areas, and your altitude. Before every flight he had me talk through our abort procedure for different stages of the takeoff. If we had just lifted off and there was still enough runway left then try to settle back down on it (we were on 4,800' or 7,000' runways), if just departing we were going into the fields straight ahead, if we had 500'+ AGL we would try to turn back and if we ran out of space would land in the fields to the south of the airport. I guess the moral of my training story is always make an abort plan for the current airport and conditions so you don't have to decide "on the fly." (No pun intended)

Never going to happen in the Piper, even downhill with a tailwind!