Skates97

I was a 58 hour PPL with no complex time when I got my Mooney. Insurance required 10 dual and 5 solo before flying passengers. My CFI signed my complex after our first flight in the Mooney. By about 8 hours I was comfortable in the plane so at 10 hours I felt good going up in it myself. By the time I finished the dual and the 5 solo I was at 25 landings and feeling okay about them although I am still learning after 170 hours and 181 landings in the Mooney. Just last Saturday I had one "ok" landing and one "nice" landing.

When I lived in Alaska as a kid we took a trail through the woods to get to the elementary school. The highest spot on the trail was right about the midway point so we actually did walk uphill both ways through the snow...

If I was just watching the ground marks it would be more difficult as you say. I use the ground marks to get lined up initially for the side to side clearance and then keep the mark in the back of the hangar lined up with the tail as it goes in to make sure I am going in straight.

My old hangar was plenty wide, my new one is virtually the same width as yours, 39'. A previous resident painted a with mark at the rear/top of the hangar where the center is. I have tape on the floor and painted lines out the front to line it up just after I moved in. I don't know if the airport there will let you but if you can it sure makes it a lot easier to push it back in. Edit: Looks like you were posting right as I did, nice to see you have the lines already.

Took a friend flying yesterday along with his daughter. She had never flown in a plane of any kind before. After some coastal flightseeing we had lunch in French Valley. After we had lunch I put her in the right seat and she got some time flying us around. If anyone is looking for a great time, find someone who hasn't flown GA before, or if you are lucky someone who has never flown before and take them up! Her First Flight

I sing too. Just got finished in a production of The Music Man and was part of the barbershop quartet. Good to know, I thought about that afterwards, but by the time I thought about it I had already put it back in and didn't feel like taking it out again just to get a new picture. I think they were these $19 ones from Lowes, but it looks like you can get the same ones for $16 at Home Depot. https://www.lowes.com/pd/General-Tools-Instruments-3-in-Digital-Caliper/3138565 https://www.homedepot.com/p/General-Tools-3-in-Carbon-Fiber-Digital-Caliper-1433/300383994

It is 8x32 and is just under an inch from top of head to end.

When I put my seals on they came with a little tube of silicone to lubricate them. That has long since been used up. I have a tube of Dow Corning DC-4 that is no longer needed for the oil filter with the new gaskets they have. It says that it is silicone, was considering using it on the door seals periodically. Thoughts?

Asking price?

I'll be out there tomorrow and get you a size.

Who was the underwriter?

Oceano is fun, we're hoping to get there May 12th. Be on your target speed and it was plenty long for my plane. With brakes we could have made the first turn off but chose to roll out instead. (Jump ahead to 2:50) I agree. A couple of my better landings were my first and only times at Harris Ranch with it's 30' wide runway and Oceano with it's short runway and clouds off the coast eliminating a go-around unless I was going to take my non-IFR equipped plane and myself (a non-IFR pilot) into the marine layer. Those things had me very focused on airspeed, vertical speed, and alignment resulting in good landings. Some of my worst ones are at fields that I am very familiar with.

Very true, I was just comparing that it was similar that Global came in much lower on this renewal when my original Starr was the best quote.

It's been entertaining each time I had a kid start working and they get their first paycheck only to find out that a good chunk of the money is missing... It has the effect of starting some conversations about the government.

My insurance is with Falcon (their USAA division) and the first year was underwritten by Starr. I was at similar numbers to you and it was roughly $1,500. When I went for renewal they had it underwritten by Global Aerospace. I don't have an IR but put on about 140 hours in the Mooney that first year. The renewal came in at $1005. They didn't tell me what Starr was quoting, just that Global provided the best rate.

Whenever I have the cowling off to do something I like looking around just to see if something looks odd. Not that I really know what I am looking for but you just never know what may stick out. Last night I noticed that the maximum RPM adjustment screw has a hole through it for safety wire but no safety wire on it. Should it be wired, and if so what to, just around the arm that it sits in?

Not a flight but some hangar time yesterday. I went straight there after work, got started about 7pm, called it quits at 11pm, and will finish up stuff Saturday morning. Changed the oil. (Still need to cut open the filter) Replaced the gasket on the oil fill tube that was leaking. The old one was hard and brittle but I think this will take care of that pesky leak. Cleaned and rotated the plugs. Took a look around in the cylinders with the borescope. Checked to oil screen. This is the first time I have done this myself and it is the beast that everyone has said it is and was probably 2 hours of my time with about 1.5 of that spent on the stupid safety wire. I can think of about 20 different things they could change in the way everything fits down there that would have made it a lot easier to safety wire it. After doing it this time I learned a few things and could probably cut that time significantly next time. The screen was clean with a couple little black flecks that crumbled when rubbed between my fingers so I am assuming carbon? Still to do Check water levels in battery Ground run then check for leaks Button everything back up and go have some fun

My wife sent this to me yesterday.

I enjoy a good political debate, unfortunately they tend to quickly devolve into name calling and finger pointing. I appreciate that this forum is mostly free of it.

Amazing, professionalism at its best.

Come to California, they will help you get closer to that number than Alabama...

Thanks, all the credit goes to @mooneyflyer and @MrRodgers. Phil gave it a place to happen and was an amazing host. Mike created the West Coast Mooney Club, worked on sponsors, got the message out, etc... Without the two of them it would have probably been 5-10 Mooneys somewhere having lunch, which would have been fun, but with them it was awesome!! I can't even imagine the hours they put into making it the success that it was.

At their home airport in Lakeport, CA. Lampson Field 1O2 Closer to you than the one down in Paso Robles.

I have it on the calendar!

Loved the fly-in yesterday in Paso Robles. I hope you enjoy the write up as much as I enjoyed the event and writing about it. If you build it, they will come... KPRB Fly-In