Skates97

I put the Zeftronics in but still see the same low voltage. My A&P thinks it is the generator. It took Aircraft Spruce a few days to get one in but it will be installed tomorrow or Tuesday and then I will see. My suspicion is that it has been dying a slow death and now that I can actually see the numbers on the 830 I am aware of it. I considered upgrading to the Plane Power Alternator, but the last Generator lasted 19 years and about 1,400 hours so I'm willing to put in a $300 generator and hope for the same results.

Here you go.

I don't know anything about you other than what you have posted in this thread. After reading your responses in the thread I can understand the apprehension of the in-laws. Mixed in with the responses about experience is some great advice on dealing with "meddling in-laws" which you do not seem to be interested in because they don't line up with what you want to hear. Good luck in your future endeavors.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way... What I see most are saying is to be conservative and careful. You have been successful in the business world, congratulations. (Many of us have been as well) You think very highly of yourself which no doubt has served you well in the business world. Some of the comments you have made, including how you talked to your mother in law, would suggest that you have much to learn still in spite of your success early in life. There have been a number of pilots that have met an untimely end because they were overconfident. Granted there are some that were young and bold and managed to survive. The problem is that they were the exception, and most of us are not the exception. Speaking of tool boxes, I have technicians that work for me that have boxes and tools worth more than some people's houses, but that doesn't mean I would want to fly with them. In fact while I would trust them to do any maintenance or repairs on my vehicles, I wouldn't be comfortable with them driving me around in a car, I've seen how they drive.

There's an F that sits tied down in front of my hangar. The owner has taken the time to put covers over the fuselage, wings, and cowling/prop/spinner. I have seen it gone twice in the year that I have been in that hangar. I hope he's flying something else more because I can't imagine getting in a plane with someone who flies a couple times a year.

I had under 60 hours in Cherokees when I got my Mooney. Insurance required 10 dual and 5 solo before flying passengers. It took about 7-8 dual before I felt comfortable in the Mooney and the 5 hours of solo were great for just getting more of a feel for the plane. I would not have been comfortable carrying passengers prior to that transition training. I love flying others around but there is still something special about being alone up in the air to me. As soon as I was done with my required transition training my wife and son started flying with me. The first few flights were just burger runs in the 30-200 mi range, no time constraints, no pressure to get anywhere, and one of them involved going the opposite direction to a different airport because the weather didn't look good at our original destination. (It was cool to go to lunch a couple hundred miles away) A month later and we were making long cross countries of 300-800nm, however it wasn't until we had made a number of those that my step-daughter's dad felt comfortable letting her fly with us. I will say again what many others have said. Take your time, get your transition training, make a few flights where there are no time constraints and if you don't think it looks good one direction just find an airport where the weather is good and head there. Flying into different airports is great training, I still like to find ones I haven't been to and go just for the experience of navigating to a new place and landing somewhere that I don't know any of the landmarks. Before you know it you will be flying your wife all over the place and seeing a lot more of the family. There is no rush, you have time, and with a Mooney you have more time than most people.

That is hysterical! I can't speak for getting into flying for a career. I wanted to go active duty Air Force and fly but political changes in the early-mid 90's meant you had to be at the Academy to get a pilot slot and I was ROTC. Fast forward and I finally started flying when I was 43. At this point I make more than I could if I was flying for a living so I will work my 8ish-5 M-F job and fly when I want, where I want, and with who I want. I will second what Byron said about getting the online degree. For my new position at work they wanted an accounting degree. So, I went back and picked up where I had left off 25 years earlier (that was going to be a Bio-Engineering degree). I needed a couple credits to finish an AA and then did the online thing with Colorado State finishing up the last two years in 18 months. There are a lot of schools that have adopted online programs. With some discipline it is very doable, but I would check around because while many of the programs are very similar, the tuition costs vary greatly.

If I was calculating ways to save $4 on a flight because I had a company making hundreds or thousands of flights a day and I was trying to put more money on the bottom line, maybe this would be more beneficial. However the reality is that the $4 savings is going to be used up at the drive through window because nobody wanted to cook dinner one night...

I like to call it my time machine.

You better have some Gatorade bottles or @Piloto's relief tube...

Serious formation flying....

I sometimes see mine up right at red-line but I haven't found any rhyme or reason to it. I thought it was possibly because of temperature/pressure as I seem to see it fluctuate at different altitudes. I've never seen it above red-line and it always sits in the middle to upper section of the green arc so I haven't worried.

I researched all the schools around here, settled on the one I thought I wanted and spent about 45 minutes on the phone with the owner. Most of the time he was asking questions about me, everything from how I grew up, what kind of work I do, personality type questions, etc... Finally he said "I think I know who I want to put you with, but if you don't think it's a good fit then just let me know and we'll try someone else." It turned out that the CFI was a perfect fit. I flew with a few others as needed for phase checks before solo and check ride and each time was glad I had the CFI that I was set up with for the majority of it. Having the right fit I think makes all the difference.

Me too!!!!

With the quick drain fitting and the fact that I am standing on a little step stool to get to the oil filter (instead of jacking up the car and sliding underneath it) I find it easier than changing the oil on my cars. The only real added step making it more involved is the safety wire. (A pain the first time, easy after that)

I let it drain completely, then loosen the filter and with a couple rags under it put a gallon ziploc bag around the filter and spin it off, very little oil lost. This is what ended up on the rags under the filter after the last oil change. The best thing I bought for doing oil changes was this wrench on suggestion of someone else on the forums here. It makes removing the filter very easy. GearWrench 9032 1-Inch Combination Ratcheting Wrench

My wife loves to fly with me, but she understands the risks and has a rule that I don't fly a married couple together if they have young kids. (With grown adult kids is a different story). She said she doesn't want to be responsible for orphaning someone else's kids if something went wrong.

I am a Christian and would consider myself very religious, however I like you am bothered by that statement. There are much worse things than dying in a plane crash. I went to take my plane for a post maintenance flight and my wife asked if I was taking my son along. I told her no, if something went wrong and I had to put it down somewhere I couldn't imagine living with myself if something happened to him. That of course is a different situation than the OP's situation of taking a normal flight. I will second what Jim said above about meddling parents, do not underestimate the impact they can have on a relationship. Always remember that your wife was their daughter for far longer than she has been your wife. Take her flying with you, enjoy the flights, be very careful and never compromise your personal minimums, and try to be more tactful in your approach with the in laws.

I would be interested in learning more about these...

I was actually thinking about this just the other day. My thoughts were that perhaps I do love flying, but more than that I love living and love spending time with my family. I think that "He died doing what he loved" is a terrible statement, which like many other things that are said after someone has passed away are designed and meant to console those who are still alive. Really, wouldn't that person have rather still been alive spending time with those people instead of in a casket as their loved ones thought of the times they won't be spending with them?

Current price from Aircraft Spruce is $308 for the Delco 1101915 that is in my plane, however they don't have it in stock. However I am hoping I don't have to buy one, we'll see. Hopefully they can get to it tomorrow or Tuesday. The more I think about the way the plane has behaved over the last few months the more I think that the output from the generator is slowly decreasing, it is just that now I can see exactly what it is where before with no volt meter I had no idea, just the ammeter that would show a slight charge if the RPM's were high enough. At 1,100-1,200 rpm it would show no charging or slight discharge but when running up to 1,700+ it would show a very slight charge. This is inline with what I saw on my test flights around the pattern. It is not that it wasn't providing any charge, it just is not enough to keep up. When RPM's increase, it shows higher power but it never gets above 12 volts. '

Similar to @Hank I was a newly minted PPL and rented a Cherokee from the school for a 300nm trip to Phoenix, they didn't have a problem with it. I had 59.6 total hours all in Cherokees when I bought my Mooney. Shortly after that I was flying to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho. We flew over 150 hours in the first year and saw family more than ever before, making great memories along the way. The biggest factor I had to be aware of in all of the distance flying was weather planning and monitoring. (Summer afternoon flying in the mountain west requires vigilance, and flexibility in times and routes). Can the OP take his wife and fly wherever he wants? Absolutely! Should he have to rack up a bunch of hours before doing so? Definitely not. My recommendation would be to set high personal minimums and do not compromise on them. As experience increases the minimums can be changed, but make the decision well ahead of time on any changes to personal minimums, do not let the current conditions dictate changes to minimums. Throughout all of it try to be sensitive to the feelings of the in-laws. Don't let them dictate what you do, but saying "I know you are concerned, but I have planned well and we are going to fly anyway" is much better than "I know you don't like it but it's our life and we're going to live it how we want."

I'm going to take a different approach than most. While I agree that you and your wife should be free to live your lives as you wish, I would also caution against underestimating the damage that can be done to relationships by loved ones who sincerely believe they are trying to help. There can be hurt feelings on all sides leading to regret and remorse. I'm not siding with the parents by any means. I think they are wrong, they have spoken their mind and they should back off and let you and your wife live as you wish. (Heaven knows my wife and I have not always agreed with decisions made by our three oldest children and their spouses ...) However, patience and a softer approach will likely make life more pleasant in the long run. Very rarely has any man come out on the winning side of a fued with a mother in law.

Correct, ground the Field and flash the ARM. It has enough of a charge to start right up. Tried flashing it, followed all the directions, started up and still not charging. That's the extent of my troubleshooting and what I am going to do. Will call the shop that did the install Monday morning and have them look at it.

The Zeftronics paperwork has the steps to flash the field. 1. With the engine off, disconnect the VR. 2. Ground the Field and turn on the switch 3. At the Regulator touch and hold (for 1-3 seconds) the removed BAT wire to the ARM wire three to five times. May give this a try.