EricJ

Or more...

Actively destroyed by Eddie Lampert for the real estate value, who then did the same to Sears.

Those parts aren't Mooney-specific, so there's no reason to not shop around to other vendors. I think when somebody grossly overprices a common part they're telling you to buy it elsewhere.

If you know what your usual takeoff EGTs are, hold brakes at the end of the runway, give it full throttle and lean to about those EGTs. Likewise, if it fails runup mag check, pull the mixture somewhat lean and try again. If it starts but won't keep running on a hot start, the next time it catches turn the boost pump on, and then off again once it is running steady. Leaning for ground ops, basically nearly to idle cutoff for taxi/hold, helps to prevent lead fouling on the ground. High DA is normal life for many in the west. The leaning part is easy, the main thing is just to remember to do it.

The firetrucks are for the Firehouse Brewery in Rapid City, which is in the old firehouse downtown. Their Smokejumper Stout used to be pretty good but I haven't had it for a long time. There are now a number of good breweries in the area so you're not quite so limited as it used to be, when the Firehouse was about the only game in town. You can see the firetrucks parked in odd places along highways all around the western part of the state, although I think there are fewer now than there used to be. If you want to see concrete dinosaurs, Dinosaur Park on Skyline Drive in Rapid City has been recently renovated and is, imho, a very good stop, especially if you have kids. It also affords a very nice view of the Hills to the west and the prairies to the east. You can see the dinosaurs and the park from nearly anywhere in town. If you have little kids, Storybook Island is a very unique stop. Rapid City is kind of an oddball place. It is by far the biggest city within about 300 miles in any direction, until you get to Sioux Falls or Denver, basically, and is only about 80k people. This makes it a shopping/provisioning/entertainment destination that draws from a very large area, so despite being an isolated small-ish town it has a lot of stuff going on. The proximity to the Black Hills is basically a bonus.

That's not a difficult job. The maintenance manual is probably a good reference. It is available for download here, I believe.

Lean as you climb, some think just keeping the EGTs about the same as takeoff is good practice. Just watch CHT and oil temp as well. You won't be burning anywhere near 15-16 gph as you go up whether you lean or not. You'll only use that at lower altitude where the air is denser. If you're careful with the wind over the ridges you can often use that to assist climb.

The tail tie down is intended to take a lot of force when tied down during windstorms, etc. If you're just pulling it horizontally, a winch will probably put a lot less force on it than might happen while tied down during a bad storm. Putting a bungee or something in the tow line isn't a bad idea in order to minimize any impulse forces that might happen otherwise. A lot of hangars have a bad lip or protruding door tracks or some crazy hurdle that makes it very difficult to get an airplane in (or sometimes out) by hand, especially if you're alone. As mentioned previously, tugs may be limited by traction conditions and sometimes a winch is the best practical way to get an airplane moved.

+1 that getting from the locations you've listed to Santa Fe can be done without bothering too much with the mountains. From South Dakota (Mt Rushmore) to northern New Mexico is pretty much prairie staying east of the rockies, or at least to Trinidad, CO (TAD). In the summer there are afternoon showers/cells coming from the mountains, so you have to plan around those. Once in northern NM you can still stay over pretty much flat land from Trinidad to Las Vegas (LVS), and then it's a short trip around the southern edge of some peaks to Santa Fe. It can be bumpy depending on what the wind is doing, but probably not too challenging. From there it's easy to head further west if you want to see the Grand Canyon or southern Utah, which are really cool to see from the air.

You asked a specific question: To which I provided an accurate answer, it is not mandatory. Then you said: So I cited the actual regulation. As somebody else pointed out, there are differences between what's safe, what's good practice, and what's actually legally required. When you asked what's "mandatory", you got an accurate answer. You can learn the differences or not, it's up to you. Did anybody suggest that? I don't think so. But if you asked whether it was "mandatory" to specifically inspect a turbocharger, it isn't. But there's a catch-all under part (d) (engines) in FAR 43 Appendix D. Item 10 says: (10) All systems—for improper installation, poor general condition, defects, and insecure attachment. So everything should get at least that level of inspection. Many, if not most, would not find that adequate or appropriate for many things, like mufflers. I think we have been avocating for good inspections. I haven't seen anybody suggest an excuse to not do them. On the contrary, people have been saying it's good to do them and bad not to. I also think it's not a good idea to misunderstand or misquote regulations, too. Knowing the difference between what's required and what's not is extremely useful in making sure that things you want done get done. If you assume something will get done because you think "it's required" and it's not, you may wind up with a safety level that is less than what you thought or wanted. This forum is pretty good about helping sort out that kind of thing. So when you ask whether something is "mandatory" and you get an accurate answer, that should be useful to you. You're welcome.

FAR 43 Appendix D lists the required items in an annual inspection. Section (d) covers engines. Only item (8) has to do specifically with the exhaust and it says: (8) Exhaust stacks—for cracks, defects, and improper attachment. The muffler isn't mentioned anywhere. So, no, inspecting the muffler isn't required. IMHO it's a bad idea to skip it, but isn't strictly required. Many things that people think are required to be done in an annual inspection are actually not required, and perhaps just common practice instead. A few things that are actually required are often not done. The very first item in Appendix D is: (a) Each person performing an annual or 100-hour inspection shall, before that inspection, remove or open all necessary inspection plates, access doors, fairing, and cowling. He shall thoroughly clean the aircraft and aircraft engine. So if you ever get your airplane back from an annual inspection and it's not been "thoroughly cleaned", including the engine, the annual inspection is actually not complete. It also says that the inspector has to do the cleaning. I suspect that rarely happens. So the conclusion is that many, many GA airplanes are flying illegally.

Pretty much all of southern Utah is scenery overload from the air. It is the most amazing place to fly over. The Grand Canyon is also very cool, and not far from there.

Or get a JPI or other engine monitor and cap it off.

A little less likely to stick that way.

Stacks, yes. Muffler, no.