Stetson20

So we moved out here to southern Nevada. An hour west of Las Vegas. We have adult children that live in central Washington. We've also visited, and love, the Reno-Tahoe area. Routes I envision are Pahrump-Reno and Pahrump-Moses Lake to the north, and Pahrump-ABQ-points east when we decide to visit out there. Family located in central Michigan and (soon-to-be) Great Lakes, IL. I'd like to make it from southern NV to central WA in a day. Restricted areas between here and there (Area 51 and such) require a route that takes us near Reno. Flying east, I'd like to comfortably make it to OKC area in a day, spend the night, and fly the rest of the way up to the Chicago/SW Michigan area. Once east of ABQ, it looks like the terrain wouldn't be much of a factor. Going north looks like terrain is a big factor in planning. What types of Mooney models can make these flights? 150kts/hr I'm looking at 6 hours flying time to central WA (900nm). SWAG to Chicago area is double that? Thoughts? Thanks guys/gals!

Hi all, Back from the real world. It's been two years since I bought & sold my first Mooney. I see @Guitarmaster (Matt) has moved on to a twin- congrats, Matt! So back in 2017, I basically lost my a$$ on a small business back in Michigan. I had purchased a M20E and was happily flying it (when weather cooperated) between home and MDW. Thanks again to Matt for all the help, tips and friendship. We sold the business at a great loss, licked our wounds, and moved to Las Vegas- or rather, more accurately, Pahrump, Nevada; about an hour west of Las Vegas. And guess what? They have a private airpark called Calvada Meadows. So, the other day, I took a drive by. One thing led to another, and here I am back on Mooney Space. I've gotten the flying bug again. Yes, I fly professionally but really didn't have a reason to own my M20E once I departed central MI. This time, I'm taking my time to look for just the right plane, under the right circumstances, because I don't want to end up giving it away like the first one. Along the way, I'll have to buy (no possibility of renting hangar space out here) a hangar lot, put up a hangar, and look around for a good mechanic- all the things I had (via rental hangar) back in Michigan. Good to see familiar posts by familiar folks here at MS and I hope to soon be (again) a proud Mooniac. Stetson20 (Roy)

@ 6D6 on 6-9-17

Finally took a couple pics.. SW Michigan today. MDW-6D6. Still can't figure out how to rotate a pic?

In my short time owning a Mooney, I've had to do 2 go arounds on bounced landings. I'm fairly short, 5'8" so I'm still getting used to the nose high sight picture on flare and landing. Anyway, I read somewhere that a go around (and initial takeoff) should be PROP, MIXTURE, THROTTLE.. so when I did the go around, I touched each, in order, to ensure all were full forward. Also had my first inadvertent engine shutdown on an aggressive mag check this past week. Went past the #1 mag position to off for about .0001 sec. Immediately turned the key back to both and restarted the mag check. Trying to do a mag check with airplanes in line behind you got me thinking. If, in that rare case where you know you'll be holding up the line, couldn't you "ride the brakes" and do the mag check on the roll? Thoughts? I love the feedback of this forum. Really learning a lot about my plane and small plane flying in general.

Flew down to KMGC with a plan to take my wife to a nice prime rib dinner at William B's steakhouse at the Blue Chip Casino. Fantastic prime rib the last time we came here. Alas, B's is closed on Wednesday! Curses! We had to settle on the Options Buffet. A 2.5 hour drive reduced to just over 1.0 in the Mooney. CAVU at destination. Tomorrow morning we fly home. I'll try to remember to take some pics!

Stiff crosswind gust? What I find myself doing now is consciously pushing just a tad forward on the yoke to slightly unload the plane enough to swing the bar that last couple inches. I probably climb out flatter than the book says, but I like to see over the nose. Feeling more confident with the plane. I am getting a feel for what is normal and what isn't. Starting to enjoy it more.

A slight unload? I'm trying to do that, albeit still awkwardly.

Thanks, Paul! Very nice!

I'm still in that awkward stage where I can't get the Johnson bar to lock down on the floor on the first attempt. I get the feeling that my arm is about 3 inches too short for the design

Matt, you need to be added! NW Illinois is looking under-represented! @Guitarmaster

Please add me. Thanks!

+1 if legal

We are looking at this as well. Thank you. Appreciate everyone's input!

Oil temp stayed stable. My A&P is looking at it. I had to leave, so not sure what the landing oil level was. I couldn't wait for it to cool and settle before I had to go. My A&P seems to think we should investigate the prop governor first. I trust him. I'll keep y'all posted.

6 to 7.. I need to look at the belly. I was pretty distracted yesterday when I landed. I DID take off with 5 qts yesterday, as I intended to add oil when I topped off with gas at the completion of the flight.

Is there a service bulletin or something that references this? Or did they tell you over the phone?

I'll have to go back and look. They were in the normal range.

I took my wife up for a 1.0 flight today. 4500 vfr sight seeing tour over western MI. As we headed back to the airport, I noticed oil pressure had dropped to 30psi and prop rpm sneaking up to 2700. At cruise, I had set 2500 rpm and 22 mp. Leaned to about 20 lop at 9.0 gph.I noticed the oil pressure around 30 and as I continued to home airport, it steadily went down, eventually bottoming around 22psi. I had to pull mp back to 20 to keep prop rpm below redline. Did a precautionary profile landing at home base. I was a little nervous, so I carried too much energy in to landing and bounced. I did a go around, and when I added full power, the oil pressure went to 60 (better, but still low) and prop rpm did not overspeed. Ive flown the plane a total of approx 15 hours since purchase. Have added 3 quarts of oil. Going to have the oil filter removed and cut open to look for metal. Also plan to send oil sample to Blackstone. I hope it's not the engine. Thoughts?

Rob- I filled out the contact form, but not sure if it got sent- the screen didn't do any update after I clicked "submit." (i.e. it didn't say "order submitted" or some such).. I'd like to order one of the yoke mounts. Please PM me. Thanks! Roy

Finally got to fly "Lulu" to MDW for work. I have a story to tell- thanks again, Matt for the help! Thought y'all would like my GS.. 40kt tailwind at 6k helped

Still haven't been able to fly to work yet. Weather hasn't cooperated. I did take the plane to Grand Ledge earlier in the week to visit an old Army buddy. Average ground speed, according to ForeFlight, was 128kts. I played with different power settings and practiced leaning. Learning a lot about my plane every flight. I'll have to remember to take a few pics next time. I also took my wife up this past week. She loved it! The lake I circled around is where I live.

Beautiful! Why are you selling? Upgrade?

Any high speed flutter?