MBDiagMan

Very educational thread! I am surprised though that the bar coming out of the block would keep going all the way to the gear extended position. It is a break over center type linkage and seems to require a little pull once out of the gear retracted block on the floor in order to extend the gear. I will be paying more attention though to ensure that the bar is fully locked when on the floor. I don't want that bar whacking Sandy's elbow. I am not too excited about experience it hitting my elbow either.

Congratulations! I too am a new (to me) Mooney owner. a good friend of mine is a long time cutting horse guy and close friend of Terry Bradshaw, another cutting horse guy. if you are going to a 430/530 make sure it is a W and see what transponder you have. With the right transponder and a WAAS GPS, it will be relatively easy to have ADS-B out. welcome to the fold. Maybe you should try to make the California Fly in on the 20th.

I came back from Europe with a BAD cold. If it weren't for that I would want to go. Thanks for posting. I hope folks will keep posting such events.

No, we just got home yesterday. Went all over Western Europe, but did not make it to the UK this trip.

Well Mitch, it MIGHT be a conflict. After all, we fly Mooneys. Maybe someone will decide they would rather fly a few hours instead of a few minutes and go to texas instead of California or vice versa.

Sandy and I are in Frankfurt to catch our flight home tomorrow. I caught a terrible cold, but should have time to work through it before our get together. We are really looking forward to it.

This has made me realize something that I have observed, but not thought about very much until reading this thread. My Cessna has a carb temp guage and so does my Mooney. I have a habit of glancing at it on downwind. I have seen the Cessna temp in the yellow sometimes, but have yet to see the Mooney indicate the need for carb heat. I had even wondered if maybe the guage wasn't reliable, but after reading this thread I realize that probably the Mooney is just not prone to carb icing.

From your description, I expect that it has worn brushes.

I am all ears on this thread. Anxious to do some flying.

Bump! Trying to keep this thread in sight. Hopefully everyone is able to show up and even more see the event date and location. This event will be about ten days after we get back from Europe and we are REALLY looking forward to some flying and meeting fellow Mooniacs.

Make the normal statement about size, but unless you are very large it won't be a problem. I had been flying Sandy in my Cessna 140 and wanted her to sit in a Mooney to see how we fit. Niether of us are large except I am 6'1". When we climbed in, she said "there is more room in here than in your Cessna." The width of a 140 is the same as a 150. Before I retired I did lots of work in Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Rogers and Russellville. I might make it up there some time. We are in Europe on vacation right now, but we are anxious to do some flying in something besides a huge bus with wings, so maybe we will go that way when we get home.

Great picture Hyett! to the OP: one significant difference with a Mooney is control rods instead of cables. This gives very precise control. Like sports car as compared to a SUV with worn shocks and steering linkage. Try it. You'll like it.

Thanks for the notice Mooniac! I was never able to make it work anyway, and as others said we are too busy tob synchronous. we appreciate very much your keeping this forum alive for us. larry

To begin with post a more specific location, even if it is the region of a state. If you are in my region I will be happy to give you a ride. I solo'd in 1991 and at that time read books about buying various airplanes. The write up on the Mooney appealed to me because of structural integrity, efficiency, and simplicity (I am an engineer.) it took me many years, but I now own a Mooney. Mooneys are not typically in rental fleets. They are a little cramped for larger people, and retractibles aren't typically used for basic flight training. If you and your passengers are averaged size people and you like high performance vehicles, a Mooney might be right for you. I had a non pilot friend tell me he had heard that a Mooney is the Ferrari of small planes.

Thanks Chrixxer!

Thanks very much for the explanation Paul! I had no idea that so much experience and expertise was involved. Sounds like something that could improve my flying.

Biggest problem I deal with is mud daubers. I now use a fake Hornets nests in my hangars. It seems to work.

YES! For those not familiar with the area, be attentive regarding the cedar hill TV towers. They are not a factor unless you come from the South, but be mindful. Also be aware that there is a lot of helicopter traffic low level along I20. It usually hangs around 1200'. Many helicopters operate out of Grand Prairie which is the next airport to the West. hope this helps.

If you don't file, and are not on flight following, staying under the veil will work fine if you are comfortable not being on flight following. I would reccomend staying AT LEAST 200 feet below the veil altitude and getting an altimeter setting from a local AWOS. You don't want the FAA knocking on your door to meet with you regarding violation of the bravo.

I used to fly from Bonham to Grand Prairie a lot while my Mom was in and out of the hospital. If I was in the air early in the morning, they would bore me straight through the bravo every time, but if it was after about 8:30, they always took me around. Coming from Wichita they will probably skirt you around keeping you under the veil of the bravo, but since RBD is on the Eastern corner, it probably will only cost you a few minutes.

That's great Don! Sandy and I plan on being there weather permitting. It is very gracious of you to step up and get something started. Sandy and I started talking about seeing if we can get someone we know who has a warbirds collection at the Mount Pleasant airport to open for a tour for a future get together. Mount Pleasant has a very new and wonderful airport, even though the runway is only 6,000'. Maybe we can manage to get our Mooneys into such a short runway.

Wednesday's and Sunday's don't work for us. Saturday's are best. I voted Redbird(DallasExec) but will go most anywhere within less than 3 Mooney hours from Mount Pleasant, Texas.

I raced Motocross in my younger years, but close quarters in an airplane doesn't seem like it would be the same. That said, I try new things and sometimes am surprised.

I just bought a MAC cover. They were very good to work with. I unpacked the cover a few minutes before I left for Europe and it looked really nice, but I have yet to put it on the airplane. So far I can recommend it. Mine is for use on the ramp when I travel. There may be better choices for permanent outdoor use.

Well Don, you said you might want to host one at Dallas Executive. What if we planned on the Saturday after Mothers Day which I believe is May 20th. In fact, my birthday is the 19th. And I can't think of a better thing to do for my birthday weekend. What would be a good time? Should we call the following weekend the weather out date? Dallas Executive, KRBD is probably less than 60 Mooney minutes for me. It is probably not much more than that for the Austin area gang and a few hours from Kansas or Houston. Any interested Mooniacs?