MBDiagMan

Sure, a 150 is more typical of what most people train in, but just because they did, doesn’t mean you must. Maybe it takes a little longer to get past the checkride. So what? You will got a complex endorsement in the process. I’d did my private in my taildragger and got a tailwheel endorsement in the process. It took longer, but I came out of it confident flying tailwheel. You will come out of yours confident complex. A Mooney is actually a very easy to learn aircraft as long as you always remember to pull up that bar before you land. Train properly and you will come out of your checkride a little farther along in your flight training process. That is my opinion and I respect the differing opinions of others.

I have two favorite places: 1. My home airport, KOSA in Mount Pleasant in the Texas Lake Country. Three new SUV crew cars, CLEAN and well kept facilities, friendly staff and an amazing warbird museum with airworthy aircraft that are flown regularly. Museum open Saturdays 8 to noon. Nearby dynamite barbecue. Museum closes in Winter. 2. My home away from home airport KGLS in Galveston. We have a house at Pirates Beach so it is a common destination for us. Great airport and if you can’t find something that interests or entertains you in Galveston then you are REALLY tough to please.

My shop which is right across the taxiway between our hangars was thorough in investigating and signing it off, but refused to charge me. It did cost me one the three neodymium magnets I bought since I gave him one so he could do the other planes on the field. The magnets cost $8 for all three. The real contributor was Don Maxwell because he had replaced the weights years ago before I bought the plane. He said mine was probably the first one ever done. He was going to send a sticker,but I’m sure he was busy and forgot. It’s okay since he did the real work.

Outstanding! I don’t know anything to add to that.

DMax Rocks! I am SO fortunate to be 45nM from East Texas Regional, the home of Maxwell Aviation. A few weeks ago, I discovered a leaking fuel tank. I contacted Paul and asked when I could get it in. A week later I left it with them and a week or so later both tanks were leak free and once I picked it up, saw how great it looked. The plane was freshly painted only four years ago and you can hardly tell that it was touched in the tank patch process. A friend of mine flew me over there yesterday in the back of his Citabria that had no ADS-B and no way to change the transponder code to something besides 1200. We went over there low and slow and it was really fun sight seeing a route that I take frequently flying instead of enjoying the scenery. Once there I had a short visit with Don while they were retrieving my plane. Had a good flight home and got her tucked away in the hangar before noon with the comforting thought that she’s all up to date with no sqwauks, ready to enjoy. In the afternoon, I was checking email and saw a marketing email from LASAR saying they had the AD covered. AD? What AD? I came straight to Mooneyspace and the top thread (this one) told all about it and the planes mostly effected were ‘67 F’s. Of course, I have a ‘67 F! At that point I’m thinking, that’s not like Maxwell to have a plane in the shop, especially a ‘67 F model, with the AD being a hot topic, and they didn’t check it, point it out or something. I knew there had to be an explanation. First thing this morning I went to the hangar and my parts pickup magnet didn’t stick. Went to Home Depot and got the Neo magnet and it didn’t stick. I called for Don about 8:30 and he was out. I left a message and he called back an hour or two later with the explanation. My plane was probably the first one with the weights replaced some years ago. If I go dig through the logs I’m quite sure I will find it logged, but Don will log the compliance, so I’m all good. Thank you Maxwell Aviation! I wouldn’t be surprised if Don or one of the other MSC’s are the ones that discovered all this and did it before anyone had a serious occurrence. I told Don that I was not surprised that they were way ahead on this issue. The Mooney community is so fortunate to have Don’s encyclopedic knowledge, and I’m fortunate to have he, Paul and their team only 45nM away.

I was a low time, 68 year old pilot when I started a similar thread here. There were several less than 100 hour pilots on this forum that were flying Mooney’s who offered encouragement. Almost six years later I am a confident Mooney pilot. I was flying it with one full day of instruction from a Mooney transition instructor. Just find a Mooney savvy instructor and go do it. There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. At the time I bought my first Mooney, a C almost all of my time had been in very small taildraggers. The Mooney is easier to fly in most all categories. Enjoy.

A free market is fine, but relying on foreign countries for items necessary for a properly equipped and supplied military is insanity. All foreign countries are potential enemies. Many are highly unlikely to be, but who knows what the future holds?

Yeah, and the tooth ferry left a quarter under my pillow last night. This month marks 4 years and one month since a TruTrak representative sat across the table from me at a trade show, looked me straight in the eye and said that the Mooney would be certified “next month.” I spent most of my career in the HMI software development industry. Like other tech companies we missed release deadlines, but because we never missed them by anywhere close to four years we stayed in business. Also as a result of not making promises we couldn’t keep, we had a loyal customer base.

If you are old enough to remember,bet the theme song then you’re probably old enough to remember when TruTrak told us Mooney certification would be next month.

Keep a good supply of groceries on hand. You’re going to get really hungry while waiting on this to happen.

No, buying American is the correct way of thinking. The problem is that many American products rely on offshore components or even entirely produced offshore.. They are produced offshore because investors found cheap labor offshore that makes money for them at the expense of the security of America. When I say security, I mean our military as well as economic security.

I find the hubcaps easy to deal with. I keep a creeper in the hangar. Once I throw it down with a Philips screwdriver, pressure gauge and air hose close at hand it only takes a few minutes to check/service all three tires. I have the stem location marked so I remove two screws and loosen one. Pivot the hubcap out of the way and snug the screw. Check and pressure the tire and put the hubcap back in place. I can do it about as quick as I can describe it. Do the hubcaps serve any purpose beyond looking good when on the ground? Nope, nothing, but my plane has fresh paint and great ramp appeal, so pride is the only thing that makes them advantageous.

Welcome ismit! Not only to the forum, but to the world of the Mooney. Moving from the Cessna/Piper world to a Mooney was a good move IMHO. I’ve had my F for over four years now and had a C for a while before that. I still enjoy my little Cessna taildragger for serious viewing of the lake on a pretty day, but the Mooney is the traveler. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.

Okay. That makes sense.

I saw nothing divisive about the post. The man was simply stating facts.

Consider this. When there is blowby, combustion is forcing combustion byproducts past the rings into the crankcase. Combustion byproducts are contaminants in the oil. Also, if there is blowby, it creates pressure in the crankcase which is what forces it out of the draft tube underneath your plane. So……… the contaminants end up in the crankcase. Yes some of the contaminated oil exits the crankcase, but wouldn’t it be better for the contaminants not make it to the crankcase? BTW, I have always agreed that oil is cheap insurance and is much cheaper than engine overhaul.

Can’t remember the name of the shop in Tulsa that did mine, but it was “xxxx and Strait.” They did a great job and it wasn’t crazy expensive.

Happy that you have gotten by with it.

This thread has been around long enough that I wrote about my increase last year. I wish had only increased that much this year. It DOUBLED this year. I am 73. The quote was 4.5% of hull value. I bought liability only.

IMHO the sky beacon and tail beacons are band aids. There are times, however, when a band aid is the only practical solution. That said, both my planes have in panel ADS-B transponders.

Todays situation is MUCH different than October ‘87.

Aerodynamically, my ‘67 F is a J except for the twisted wing. It is a 150 knot plus airplane.

Some good responses here. I fixed up my PC several years ago after figuring out that the Trutrak for Mooney’s was nothing but smoke and mirrors. I flew from far NorthEast Texas to Galveston last Tuesday. Once I had the trim wheel and turn coordinator trim dialed in, it wasn’t an autopilot, but it was very easy to keep it on heading and altitude with a little nudge every once in a while. It is straight forward and simple to fix and very much worth the trouble IMHO.

Been there done that SLOW. A couple of years ago I was on a flight that was about 250 miles. It was about 30 miles of clear sky and then a low, solid overcast below until about 30 miles from my destination where it cleared up. I was on top, about halfway when I lost my vacuum pump. I covered the vacuum instruments and went on. Very thankfully it was indeed clear sky at my destination. I am coming up on about 300 hours on my dry vane vacuum pump since it’s replacement and I’m considering replacing it at 400 hours as a preventive maintenance item.

Thanks for the reply gat! Does that tape stay in place well? Is it sticky back? Did it take two bicycles worth to do both yokes?