MBDiagMan

Not exactly. I was looking out the sides and seeing ships in the water. I also had the horizon because there was enough definition of the clouds to see the horizon from them. Just to be safe, I was watching the artificial horizon. The conditions were four mile visibility haze.

Well this thread seems like the right place to continue chronicling my Mooney progrss, even as slow as it is. Friday before the Holiday, my Girlfriends son in law Jason, a private pilot who passed his checkride last fall flew copilot with me to Galveston from NorthEast Texas. I flew at 7,500' clearing the scattered clouds. When ATC cut us loose, we crossed the bay southward toward runway 18 Galveston, there were low clouds, 4 mile visibility and water. I saw nothing but white, but kept the top side up until I saw the PAPI and was right on glide slope. The runway was huge and a nice sight at that point. Jason said " if you can't put it on that runway I will never fly with you again." My girlfriend was already there. She rode with Jason's wife down there. We had a great Holiday, soaked up sun, shrimp, steak, played in the surf, saw a great fireworks show and had good times with her kids and grandkids. Tuesday afternoon Sandy and I headed to the airport and loaded up. I got a sqwauk while on the ground and we flew out over the water and were handed off to Houston straight away. We climbed to 8,500' and had smooth and 59 degree air for the flight home. Cool air was a good thing after sweating my butt off getting loaded and doing the preflight. Sandy was a great help in the cockpit. She is not a pilot, but did great writing down frequencies when I was passed off and watched heading and altitude when I was doing other things. I know that to most of you this would have been a short local flight, but it is the farthest and highest I have been in the Mooney so far. It was a great step forward as I get familiar and comfortable with Joyce. She is a great plane, and I am getting more and more familiar and comfortable. My instrument training is starting to move along too. She's a great instrument platform. I flew both ways at about 156 mph true and burned about 9.2 GPH. I also learned that there is a cabin vent to allow air under the panel. Helped a good bit.

I installed one Monday and flew from NE Texas to Galveston in the heat yesterday. It worked great, except the noise bothered my copilot while he was on the radio. At 7,000 feet, the air temp was below 70 so I folded it in until crossing the bay. I am very pleased with it. Do be prepared for the noise though.

Anyone know of a Mooney savvy CFI in the Galveston, Tx area? Chuck?

Got one on Amazon for $27 including shipping.

Thanks Don! I was in a hurry to order two, but ended up only ordering one. I will get some more later. Again, thanks to all of you for the great information.

Thanks VERY much for all the great replies! Do I need an oximeter for each individual occupant or just one?

I sm new to the world of climbing to altitude for an extended distance trip. What altitude do you feel comfortable without oxygen? We are in out mid sixties in good health and no need for CPAP. Thanks in advance for your comments and advice?

I and others saw it with our own eyes at least once and I think they came through the clouds again. Maybe they were broken. I am not a skydiver, so I dont remember the exact circumstances, but I do remember how surprised I was when they came through the clouds. Also sir, I have not "whined" about paying for a life saving device. I have Hookers in my Cessna and the commonly used brand in my Mooney. If there were none already in my Mooney I would be installing Hookers rather than the other systems. NOW...... I DON'T appreciate being blatently called a liar. I dont remember exact circumstances, but I saw jumpers come through the clouds. I would expect an apology.

Welcome and congrats! I look forward to hearing more about you and your E model.

Great point! I an 6'1". In my 140 when cinched tight, I can reach everything except the wing root vents. If I were conched tight in the Mooney I would not be able to latch the door or reach the fuel selector. I could make a tool for the fuel selector and should not need to worry about the door while in flight.

I am not a fan of inertia reels in aircraft. I feel very secure when tightly shouldered into my 140. I feel partially that way with the one shoulder secured in the Mooney. Not arguing, I am merely stating my own personal preference. Maybe I am biased because of my respect for Jack Hooker.

I would really like to have Hooker Harnesses in my Mooney. If I didn't already have the single shoulder harnesses, I would very definitely be choosing the Hookers. At the 2015 Cessna 120-140 nationals in Tulahouma, TN, Jack flew there in his 120. There were many skydivers jumping in quantity during the time we were there. They even jumped through the clouds that we're keeping us on the ground, in the terminal, visiting. These were some serious, long time skydivers. One of the jumpers walked through the terminal having no Earthly idea that Jack Hooker was there. Jack asked the diver if he used any harnesses in the plane while climbing out for the jump. The jumper, again not knowing who he was said " yes we use a Hooker Harness system in the plane and tie off to it until we are ready to jump," and that some years ago that harness saved his life. Jack had a fish on the line and everyone there knew it except the jumper. Jack asked more questions. The jumper told about a loss of power shortly after take off that resulted in a serious crash, but all the jumpers survived but none were seriously hurt. Jack said something like I am very pleased that you are okay because I designed and built that harness system. The jumper and his friends that were survivors came to our banquet with their families. Jack presented all of them with a Test Pilot patch and each of them introduced their families and pointed out which children would have never been born were it not for the Hooker Skydiver harness system. At dinner one night I asked Jack what led him to making harnesses. It is a wonderful story. In college he was a skydiver. He met someone, married and once he had kids he decided jumping wasn't such a smart thing to do any more. At that point he had a parachute riggers certification that led to making different harnesses. He had someone come to him asking if he could make a race car harness which he did. That led to doing harnesses for an airplane and learning how to go through the certification process. This is similar to one of Al Mooneys areas of expertise which was getting planes certified. Anyway, if you ever have the opportunity to sit down with Jack, don't pass it up. He is a fascinating person to listen to.

I don't know if this means anything, but I know that Jack Hooker has spent a lot of time, money and effort including many trips to Oklahoma City to secure and maintain the FAA's approval and blessing. Again, I would suggest calling Jack. He will shoot straight with you.

Jack Hooker is an active member in the Cessna 120-140 club and a 120 owner. Through that organization attending national events I have gotten to know this nice man pretty well. I would suggest that if there are any doubts or questions about his harnesses and Mooney's simply give him a call. He will tell you the truth and you are virtually guaranteed to learn something from any conversation you have with Jack. There are MANY people who owe their lives to Hooker Harnesses. Jack has a "Test Pilot" patch that he gives to anyone whose life has been saved by a Hooker Harness. There are MANY people who have received this patch. I have a set of Hooker harnesses in my 140. The steel passenger compartment structure and the structural integrity of the Mooney appear to be far superior to most any Cessna product, but speaking ONLY about the shoulder harness system itself, I feel that the hooker harness in my Cessna is superior to the shoulder harness system in my Mooney. The Hooker harness firmly contains both shoulders, while my Mooney harness will hold one at best and it is so easy to slip out of the one shoulder belt in The Mooney, I wonder just how effective it would be in an accident. I pray that I will never be a "test pilot" for either.

My new to me C is an outstanding bird in almost every way. New paint, 260 hour total time engine and prop, 430w, nice panel except for needing new switch overlay, no corrosion, great rigging and on and on EXCEPT the interior is long in the tooth. This thread shows what it can look like. My local Mooney mechanic is proposing he use of airtex, and doing the paint touch up and plastic for a middle ground price. I am leaning toward that solution as opposed to twelve or fifteen thousand at one of the high end shops. I am afraid to post pictures of the existing interior here.

Since each time it has happened, it has been near a runway I have wondered if it could be wake turbulence, but each time it was a sleepy GA airport with almost no traffic. The commonality is that it ws always a hot, southern afternoon.

Without rereading what I wrote, what you missed or what I didn't make clear, whichever it was, is that the wing dip was long after the gear retraction. The gear retraction was complete and stabilized before the wing dipped. It was a hot, thermal charged afternoon as it was the other two times that this happened in the 140, a fixed gear aircraft.

I have the book "The Al Mooney Story" close at hand. When I first read your post my impression was: I never heard of such a model. All of Al's designs were labeled beginning with an M. His first design being 1, second being M2 and so forth. It might be that A1 was a modification level of one his designs. The picture you posted looked a little similar to his M4 which was called the Alexander Bullet. I am quite confident that there will be historians much more informed than myself that will offer lots of information. Several years ago I saw lots of pictures of the abandoned Packard facilities. I am quite pleased that something is being done with them.

I think my take off/landing count is about 60 or so and I feel very confident with the gear retraction/extension process now. The bar got to a point of being sticky in the upper socket. Once my Mooney mechanic told me to twist the bar if necessary to get it out of the socket, I made it to the full confidence level. This is not to say that I no longer have the wag. Today, I flew in the hot Texas afternoon thermals. Sandy and I took off from Sulphur Springs KSLR and I pulled up the gear as soon as I saw some vertical air speed, exhibiting some wag. Not long after that, the right wing went down at least 45 degrees. As I pulled on the ailerons, about a second later the wing jerked just a little, but stayed there for another second or two. I was at pretty low altitude, but I didn't seem to appreciably lose any altitude. I didn't freak out or anything, but just stayed with it. Since I didn't seem worried, Sandy didn't get worried. I have experienced the wing drop as I described three times in the last few years. Twice in my 140 and today in the Mooney. All three times it was the right wing that dipped and all three times it was at low altitude just after take off. I am glad that today, the gear was already up and the climb out was already mostly established, with the wag already finished.

Thanks Don! We look forward very much to seeing you again and meeting Norma.

Glad you all could get together. Do you have a picture or attendee list,?

Sandy and I will make it by there for lunch with you, but NOT today.

The alternator me has been thoroughly discussed and described. 70 Amp service is a different kettle of fish however. I fully expect that it would require some of your wiring to be replaced with heavier wire.

Well at least for that particular landing you would have been better off.