Aviationinfo

Your performance numbers jive with ours post-ARI cowl mod, on our E model. I came up with about 4 knots of improvement too, overall. We had recently rebuilt our doghouse and the engine ran exceedingly cool both before AND after the mod. Our high temps might reach about 370 on a very hot day. I would say no change to CHTs at all after the mod. Enjoy your new cowl!

To RD: I’m real sorry this happened and admire your honesty. You don’t need help beating yourself up or with reviewing the accident. As this plane has high sentimental value, I would suggest contacting one of the aforementioned airframe repair centers and flying someone in to assess the damage, before you make any decisions. You’d hate to dismantle and ship it someplace only to find out that it can’t be repaired for some reason. The cost will only be a small part of the total restoration. Then if you decide to move forward, your eyes are going to be wide open and there will be fewer surprises. I would get it assessed and gather some more data points, talk to your family and move on from there. Good luck!

At $2000+ per knot including the quoted 50 hours of labor, does it amount to $7000+ of sex appeal and increased airspeed? Only you can answer. Looks awesome, costs a lot. Consider that you'll lose some access to the back of the instrument panel.

We did a one-piece windshield conversion on our '66E in preparation for a paint job, and it really changes the look of the airplane. We really, really like it. Although we have some really talented and capable partners that aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and do the big jobs, we balked at the windshield installation. We went with the .25" and just took it straight to our nearby Mooney service center. I agree with you about the thickness--if you're doing the work yourself, I wouldn't go with the thicker panel unless you're real confident you can grind it as necessary. We opted for the gray color thinking it looks better with more color schemes than the green. In terms of the OAT probe--- we also felt the same way, would've been a crime to drill a hole in that beautiful new windshield. We used the same probe you are thinking about, works fine. After reading here and getting others' advice, we ended up putting ours on the underside of the wing. There's a school of thought that holds it's more accurate that way, but there are folks here who seem happy with theirs positioned in the air intake on the side of the forward fuselage. Lastly, a word to the wise-- the OAT probe requires a gage, right? So as we sat and talked about what to get, someone had the great idea of replacing our old attitude indicator with one of the new electronic gages that can display multiple inputs (temp, DA, etc). By the time we were done that morphed into a complete panel upgrade, just finished it, 15.5 AMUs later. The moral of the story is that digital OAT probes are like gateway drugs! And it all began so innocently...

Selfie generation meets Aviation. I am glad everyone survived to tell the tale, but just gotta say, I’d find it pretty damn annoying to have a camera stuck in my face while I’m seriously trying to get down to business and not make mistakes. Huge distraction, just so this passenger can continue to promote his YouTube channel. And then to find the video of my mistakes posted on a public site prior to the litigation... no thanks. If it were just there as a teaching tool that would be one thing, and it’s appreciated— but that’s not the case here. To be completely clear— I did find this instructive but wish the pilot would’ve reigned in the selfie sticks prior to flight. I’m not being critical of his flying, I think at his experience level and proficiency he probably did about as well as he could have. No judgement. I would rather have viewed this on an AOPA instructional seminar with his comments and not the schtick of his passengers.

New one-piece windshield on our ‘66E necessitates an electronic probe installation. (The original ugly analog probe stuck straight out the windshield like a unicorn horn, in the full sunlight.) Am hopeful that an electronic probe in the NACA duct on the fuselage is no worse than the original in terms of sunlight-induced error. I don’t want to mess with snaking those wires through the wing.

Thanks for posting! I always appreciate when people share these experiences. It would be really interesting if you could figure out what the approximate bank angle was, in order to grab that gear door. Glad this turned out ok for you. What was the cost of the replacement door? I'm almost afraid to ask...

I think they should include Motrin with all containers of wax...!

I would like to know why, if this A&P had done the previous 3 or 4 annuals, did he not replace the windows until now? What exactly was the condition of the rest of the windows prior to the ferry flight? You saw them yourself. Also, I have to wonder if the ferry pilot mentioned something about the windows and the mechanic took that as authorization. Anyway, I have always felt that replacing windows is a big deal and it’s nonsensical that the mechanic thought it would be ok to do that without first discussing it with the owner. If the windows were leaking with obvious water damage and needed to be resealed, maybe that would mitigate things. However lacking some other strong reason for replacement, windows -can- be buffed with a polisher to some extent and many scratches removed. We made a decision to replace our existing windshield with a new one-piece windshield, it cost a lot of money. I know a C-140 isn’t a Mooney but to me it’s a real invasive procedure that I would’ve gone berserk over had it been done without authorization. There better be a good story to go along with it. If it desperately needed new windows that’s one thing, you’re better off now even if you hadn't planned for it. However, if they were acceptable when the plane was delivered that’s completely different. Maybe you’ll discover it has new seats and interior when you get there??

At the risk of contributing to the thread creep, here’s an opinion piece that discusses automation vs going pilotless and says it more eloquently than I can: http://www.askthepilot.com/questionanswers/automation-myths/

I’m guessing you don’t work in the American airline industry... where hard work has no bearing on whether or not you get laid off.

They are simply doing the math and looking at retirements. Don’t worry, if there’s a severe enough recession they will furlough so fast it’ll make your eyes water. The good news is that the high number of retirements helps mitigate the risk for the new hires.

It’s definitely in TX, can’t remember off the top of my head which city. The STC owner is a nice guy though, will give you all the advice you need. We had a good experience.

I agree with what has been said about the 201 windshield mod giving the most notable speed increase... but the cost of the mod and the labor involved (50 hours?!) took it right out of the “bang for the buck” category for us. We gained about 4 knots from installing the ARI cowl mod; others have not found it to give as much of an increase. YMMV. The price per knot is far lower for that mod than the windshield mod. Of course, you can get the LoPresti cowl mod or a 201 cowl, but they’re a lot more expensive. They sure look nice. From what I’ve read, the LASAR cowl mod doesn’t really add any speed increase but does help with cooling. LOVE the wingtip mod but do they add any speed?

Thanks for the recommendations! Please keep them coming. We are quickly realizing that distance to the paint shop is a consideration. We are located in the PDX area. There don’t seem to be any shops of the type mentioned so far, in this area.

Hi all— My partners and I are getting serious about painting our ‘66E, and could use some recommendations for paint shops in the Pacific NW or Northern CA. We have heard good things about the shop in Yerrington, NV but unfortunately they are booked over a year out. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Thank you. I did delete it. I decided I left too much identifying information within it. I'll try to come up with the gist of it and edit it better.

Ok, now that we’ve worked out his mixture issue, let’s focus on the important stuff: He said he had his WIFE’S BLESSING. Now he must learn the Principle of Compensatory Gifting. Powerflo Exhaust? Cowl mod? Engine monitor? Heh heh she wants new furniture or other things... make sure you get that first. Bet you had no idea you’d find that kind of advice here. Mooneyspace: strengthening marriages one Mooney at a time...

Agree with all the above and also Paul's immediately above. The degree requirement will be relaxed as the shortage manifests itself further. Having said that, at age 17 he's seriously lacking life experience and some time spent knocking out general core requirements at a community college will only serve to set him up better. This flying thing is fine but as a parent, I would want him equipped as best I can for challenges other than finding work. There seems to be a backlash in this country right now toward traditional college but at his age, now is the time to let him learn how to think critically while he finishes growing up. He can continue his flight training while also getting some community college credits that will transfer to a 4-year university in the future, should he find that necessary. Re: the guy who bought his kid an Ovation as opposed to sending him to college? I think that's a disservice to the young person in the grand scheme.

Good for you! A lot of people won’t ask “SoCal will you get me an icing pirep from Delta?” etc

By the way ragededracer, it’s always worth asking ATC to affirmatively request a pilot report from any aircraft in approach airspace. Even jets. You don’t have to just ask if ATC “has” any icing PIREPS. There are unheated areas in view of the pilots that are not de-iced, namely the windshield wiper posts or other protuberances, that will show an accumulation. Obviously you need to withhold such requests for appropriate and necessary occasions. ATC can always say no or I’ll get back to you, as well. A thinking controller won’t need prompting to ask another aircraft, however that’s not really his/her job and they do get busy.

So to change the subject (by the way, thanks for your posts RagedRacer, clearly you started this thread in the spirit of learning, I think that’s a great attitude), I watched the video link posted early on, of the guy videoing himself in his twin Cessna. Is it just me, or was anyone else alarmed at the dive to make it down for a landing? I mean, the guy puts himself out there, I don’t want to overly criticize, and the rest of it was passable. He seems to know his avionics well enough to operate. But I mean... he’s shooting a GPS approach to minimums that are higher than the reported ceiling, there’s a VDP on the approach, and he’s talking about the “secondary” minimums which are based on LPV. So if his first planned mins were higher than that, does that mean he does not have LPV capability? It just got real unstable there at the end as a result of the dive, made me nervous watching it. Or perhaps that was just the camera angle. In any case, even if he was using LNAV/VNAV I’d have thought he’d would've been in a better position to land at the end. For me when I was new at IFR, it was a big revelation that not only do you need the weather mins, you have to break out in time to avoid heroics in order to land.

How does one check one’s airspeed indicator for accuracy?

Can somebody post a link to that portable toolbox heater mentioned earlier? Am not finding it with the search function. Thx.