Skates97

Get the FuelHawk Universal dipstick and follow the calibration instructions. I did it filling 2 gallons at a time on two different occasions before making marks with a sharpie on the stick and noting the gallons. It is accurate to within about a half gallon. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/fuelhawkuniv16.php

Oh, I know all about that. I spent two years as a missionary all over Alabama in 91-93, most of the time a bicycle was our only mode of transportation... In the summer the only time you were dry was after you got out of the shower and dried off, the rest of the time you were sweating. The towns he's been in so far are Wilson, NC, Onancock, VA, Greenville, NC, and Smithfield, NC. When we have the trip nailed down I will let people know, it would be fun to meet some of you along the way.

My oldest son has been serving a mission for church for the past 21 months and comes home in November. I told him that we would fly the Mooney back and tour his mission together, visiting the friends he has made along the way. We will be flying to North Carolina and Virginia Chesapeake area. I don't have an agenda for when to go other than sometime in 2019. Those of you that live/fly the mid-Atlantic states, what is the best time of year (weather wise) to wander around? We are looking forward to the adventure.

I always do, on the rare occasion I am in the back seat. If anyone is in my car I also remind them (usually a problem with just teenagers) to wear them correctly, not down across their arm. Constantly had to remind my wife's teenage daughter to wear it correctly. One day she was in the backseat of a friend's car with the shoulder belt across her arm instead of over the shoulder when her friend rear-ended someone on an on-ramp going about 20 mph. She ended up crumpled on the floor boards in the backseat because the seat belt couldn't do its job. Thankfully no major injuries but she had a lot of bruises. I didn't have to remind her again to wear it correctly... Alex, it was the first thing I did with my plane when I got it. The left side was a bear to get the bracket on but the right side was a piece of cake. With everything else you have done on your plane I am sure it is well within your capabilities to do yourself and then get inspected and signed off. Just know the LH is a pain, take your time and do it first. Then when you get the the RH you will breeze through it. My DPE won't fly in a plane without them. The school where I took my lessons doesn't have them in all the planes but when that DPE is coming they always make sure whichever plane he is in has them because they know he won't fly without them. His son years earlier had an off field landing that was going really well until it wasn't. He put the plane down in a field and just before touching down the wheels caught a small berm and it flipped the plane. His son spent months in the hospital and fortunately made a full recovery. He said that had the plane his son was flying had shoulder harnesses he likely would have walked away with minor injuries.

We saw the same thing a few weeks ago here. When the fire started just east of Corona they dropped the normal TFR circle over it which covered the airport. The next day they had modified the shape of it pulling it off the airport just enough to allow traffic in and out. It was a small fire and a week later the TFR was gone. Expect in the coming days to see the size and shape of the TFR over Lampson to change as the fire moves. As Paul said they will cancel it as soon as it is no longer needed.

I do the same. Even if it has been locked up in my hangar and I am the only one with access to it I still sump before the next flight. I know the odds of finding water in the tanks when there was none there before, it has been locked up, and there hasn't been rain for months (assuming rain could find it's way somehow magically inside the hangar and into my tanks) is next to zero. However I still do it because it is part of my pre-flight routine and if I "always" do it then the chances of me forgetting to do it are reduced.

Flew home from Salt Lake this morning with a small detour past my Dad's childhood home and then over the Grand Canyon. We love our Mooney! More pictures and the story over on my blog. http://intothesky.us/2018/07/29/grand-canyon-via-richfield-and-monroe/

Tomcat Mouse Glue Traps, problem solved. I have multiple ones around the walls and in the corners of the hangar. In my old hangar I used to see them catch quite a few as it was very near the fields. The new hangar is more in the middle of everything and I have yet to see a mouse there. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B012VJLZOM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My only experience with any of the factory folks was when Richard Simile flew that new Acclaim Ultra to our West Coast fly-in and he was fantastic. Couldn't ask for a better ambassador than he was, the way he treated everyone there was top notch.

Trying to catch up on things, a bunch of flights to get to but this one was just last Saturday. We went back to Big Bear and had breakfast at the Barnstorm Restaurant on the field. Great views of the runway and the food was good, although the portions were about half the size of Thelma's up the street and the same price. Big Bear Again

My wife and I are both 5'10", she loves our C/D. She sleeps as much in the plane as she did on road trips in the car, it just takes less time to get there. Take a flight in one and you'll fall in love with it. For the typical 3-500nm trip I can't come up with a better option. She we could step up to an E or J but for the additional cost it's not going to get us there that much faster.

Reminds me of one that hit our neighborhood about 16-17 years ago when I lived out in east Mesa near what is now Mesa Gateway Airport. It knocked down long sections of the block fences, broke off trees, and ripped off ceramic roof tiles sending them flying. More than a few homes had broken windows after that one. Another time we had a driver come back to the dealership with both passenger windows blown in on a brand new crew cab because he was on the Superstition Freeway in Mesa when a storm hit and the hail busted out both windows.

Nice! My oldest son has been serving a mission for church the past 21 months and comes home in November. His areas have been in North Carolina and Virginia. We are planning a cross country for next summer to go back and tour his areas and visit the people he met while there. A side trip out to KFFA is on the agenda.

Congratulations!

I'm 5'10" and 190, my wife is 5'10" and lighter than me. We have plenty of room.

I love that they finally got approval for this but I am still going to be in the wait and see market. If nothing else does come along and if I decide not to do other avionics upgrades this will be my answer for ADS-B Out. Besides the low overall cost of this option, it leaves the opportunity to wait a bit and if nothing else comes along you could buy it a year from now and install without worrying about the back log at avionics shops and not getting in before the deadline.

That's $3,000 off.... http://marketing.aspenavionics.com/acton/media/26251/aspen-july-2018-promotion-pro-pfd-7995

Am I the only one wondering what kind of stuff is going to be coming out of planes and to the used avionics market when the Skyview HDX's start going in?

Congratulations!

It's only a Com, no Nav but I like it a lot, very clear sound and crisp display. If you want Nav/Com you need the SL-30. The monitor function is great, you can listen to a 2nd frequency and if there's a transmission coming over the 1st one it automatically overrides it. It has some memory functions too to save user set frequencies and recall the last 8 active frequencies.

Most of the IFR that I see in the future is up and down through the layer out here on the coast. As for the G5's and digital AP, even if I wasn't going to get my IR and just continue to fly VFR I would be adding these in the next couple years anyway. Overkill for VFR flight? Sure it is, but just makes it more enjoyable. (Yes, I realize I am making your argument to add the waas/gpss navigator to drive it for you...) Don't have the ADSB out done yet. Waiting on some of the options that "appear" to be on the horizon. Yes, plan on keeping the plane and appreciate the advice of someone who has been down this road. The money is there but more of an issue as to where I want to spend the money right now. I would rather drop the cash on acquiring a couple more rental properties to fund my retirement. If all goes according to plan I'm hoping to retire in the next 10-15 years and be free to do whatever by the ripe old age of 60. This upgrade isn't something that has to happen right now. Perhaps I just wait on it for a bit and see what shakes out in the next little while on prices as other things come to market and people upgrade their panels with the latest and greatest and pull stuff out. I know that goes against @Marauder's "buy new" but the used SL-40 I put in from Aerodon looks like new and works great.

I appreciate the advice, but the upgrades that I have done and will do have nothing to do with increasing the resale value, they are only to benefit me and the type of flying I am doing. If I was just planning to have this pane temporarily I would change that thinking and actually probably do very little in the form of upgrades. As I am just 4 years from the last kid leaving home and my wife and I just want the plane to make regular 3-500nm trips, this one is perfect for that mission. I imagine I will be flying it until I can't fly anymore. A GNS430 for just a little more? The ones I see are all north of $4k while I can get the KLN90B for about 15% of that. It would add enroute and non-precision GPS approaches to the planes capability which currently just has VOR/ILS capability. If I do go this route, taking into account helping my avionics guy I can have the whole thing installed for less than the price of the GNS430. The money saved on that can go to dual G5's and a digital autopilot when they become available for our planes, which while don't add WAAS or GPSS they are helpful for keeping the plane right side up. I'm still not settled on which direction I'm going but just trying to look at and consider all the options.

Someone local to SoCal or on the west coast? We could make sure @MrRodgers knows about him to make sure 95V is invited to future West Coast Fly-Ins.

Thank you for coming here and sharing some thoughts.

Thanks for your insights on the updating issues. Appreciate your insight on training with just one Nav/Com. I guess I have one extra going for me with the GS. Hmm... Right now just started reading the books. Maybe I'll find a CFII and do a few hours.