SantosDumont

I stopped at SNA a couple years ago to grab an ebay purchase down the street from the airport. ACI has a fridge full of beverages and a couple brand new crew cars. If I ever have to go back to Irvine I'm parking there again.

It's not illegal for you to repair the flaps. It is illegal for you to inspect them and return them to service. A few months ago I had the same problem, I thought perhaps the o-ring had blown, so I disassembled and replaced the orings in the pump, figured out how to build a pressure pot and reverse bleed the hydraulic fluid... and the flaps still didn't work. Turns out that the flap actuator lever pulls a cable that is attached to the pump lever with a single screw and nut... and that pump lever has to be in the EXACT right spot for the pump valve to work. I spent 2 days rebuilding the pump, when really all I probably needed to do was adjust the pump lever cable and tighten the nut, but in the end I got it all working and had my A&P inspect it and sign it off. If you can’t do it yourself this is where your mechanic should look first.

The J-bar really is the best!

I've only bought one airplane, but from my experience as an owner for almost 4 years now... it's kind of a total crap shoot on your first plane. You don't know what you don't know. You can pay someone, but then a few months into owning you will find out what the person that you paid didn't know, or didn't care to know. My advice would be don't spend more money than you can afford to take a total loss on. Expect that you will get your hands dirty, change your oil, take cylinder compression readings, clean and gap your spark plugs, inspect your spars for corrosion, change tires, every maintenance item that owners are allowed to do, and maybe even some performed by hangar elves. Until you're at that level of comfort buying an airplane is gonna be a chicken / egg type experience.

I'm building a -14 right now. Once I'm done I'll probably pull the trigger on the -8 kit, maybe even the QB kit. I just wanted to build a complete airplane first so I could figure out what I'm supposed to be doing.

Oh man A36. I'd do it if I wasn't exhausted by certificated planes. Then build a RV-8 for zooms.

With flight schools closing everywhere DPE availability will probably be the most available they have ever been and ever will be.

Well... can't be any worse than 7L at DVT!

Makes me wonder how crazy dogfights were. Doing all that while trying to shoot at each other.

I've had that before coming back from San Diego to Vegas. It was night and it was kind of unnerving. Could have been worse though. Could have been in a 172 doing 40 kts ground speed.

I’ll probably use the IO-390, so it should have about the same HP. I’m thinking it will be about the same. RV-14 is lighter, but the Mooney wing is more efficient.

I'm sure it was state of the art in 1998, but for now, it's going to remain in 1998. I priced out upgrading it with a GNX 375, but by the time I added a GPSS module, Flight Stream, dual G5s and labor I was getting up to $25k. I figured that money would be better used putting it towards the RV.

My new ride. Some assembly required.

Yeah I’m ready to be done with using random mechanics. Fedex is bringing my RV-14 kit tomorrow. Then I will only have myself to blame. Climbed to 15k on the way home today just to try it. Climbed at 120IAS / 500fpm until about 12k, then I had to pitch up to maintain 500fpm.

TBH I actually haven't had a reason to go over 11k in a long time. Last time I climbed to 13.5 was probably a year ago, my CHTs started going over 400, but I was climbing hard to get through a hole and on top of a broken layer. Since then I got overhauled mags, new plugs, and a overhauled fuel pump. The shop also said that the mag timing was off by 4 degrees on one of the mags... lesson learned about shade tree mechanics. I should try that climb again on a nice cold day.

I've never flown in a Bonanza, but plenty of Cessnas. After flying in the Mooney for a few hundred hours, flying a Cessna felt like I was flying a marshmallow.

I have this one in my plane. I didn't realize it could do radar too. Does it get radar from NEXRAD or does it need an actual radar unit?

Wow. How were you getting 500fpm up there? Over 10k and I get like 200fpm.

I'm going to start talking some heresy. Somewhere out there is Mooney serial 670435 that used to be registered as 221ES. It's got a 6 cylinder TCM IO-360-ES. It's the sister plane to mine and IMO is between the J and the K. At 11GAL/hr I can get 160 kts out of it, about 150kts 9GAL/hr LOP at 10k. I fly around mountains so I'd go for the K. Long range tanks are nice to be able to fill up and do 2-3 trips before needing to refuel again.

APV is my go to fuel spot between CA and Vegas. Although the same guys that service APV also service Pahrump (74P) and the fuel is about the same price.

I bought a 67F as a 90hr wet PPL. When I was looking I wanted 3 things: 1. Fuel injection 2. Manual Gear 3. Autopilot A $50k budget puts you in range of a well equipped IFR capable C.

I have pretty much the same step. I need to first get to 110kts with the Johnson bar to get the gear down, after that 12in and one pump of flaps will give me about 90 kts and 500 fpm descent.

I learned to drop the gear wayyyy before the IAF or there was no way I was gonna be 90 kts on a stabilized approach.

At least she didn't get it in the air, that would have been much more tragic.

I've also had Nellis vector me into a confusing situation up there. Sad that they just didn't give him the Nellis midfield Bravo transition, but at 6500 he was a little too high. VGT is in a really difficult spot for night obstacle avoidance. You can't go high because the Bravo is there and there are high mountain peaks immediately outside the Bravo with little room to maneuver. I don't fly at night anymore, mostly because I never want to put myself in this situation. I'd rather wait until morning or ride a commercial operator.