MBDiagMan

We are in Galv now. You still need a safety pilot tomorrow?

OutSTANDING!! hope to join you before too long.

The control cable operates the roof vent properly and BOTH eyeball vents appear to be opening. I will have to find a way to ensure that they aren't blocked.

It was 71 degrees with high humidity while I was doing pattern work the last few days and it was hot in the cockpit. My '63 M20C just would not flow much air through the vents into the cockpit. The roof vent was wide open and clear as were the small twist and swivel airliner type ports above. Any ideas how to flow more air? If I can't improve airflow, the Texas weather is going to make for a really sweaty cockpit in another month or so.

Sounds great! I will try to make it work. If you can PM me ahead of time I will try to make it fit with the family I am at the beach house with. I fully expect to fly into KGLS several times a year, Spring Break, July 4th and Labor Day as well as a few times yet to be determined. We will be spending several weeks a year at the beach house, so there should be a chance for you to see the Mooney.

I thought I had responded to this but it is not showing up. The house is at Pirates Cove in West Galveston on the beach side. We won't be there until Monday morning though. If you are around during the week maybe we can meet for coffee, or maybe I could see your baby.

Whoops! It was not my intention to rub it in. After fifty years in the workplace, I earned my retirement and I am sure that you guys will enjoy yours too when the time comes.

SQWUAKS!: Maybe you guys can comment on some of the small sqwauks I have with the plane: The right side fuel guage stays on full. Do the senders ever hang up or break? ASI is very cloudy. I am thinking that it is just filmed up on the inside of the glass. Can the glass be removed for cleaning? The range buttons on the 430 Don't want to work every time. thanks for your comments. Seems like I am forgetting one.

The downside of all this Mooney training is that while I am enjoying Spring Break in the beach house, a little bit of me will be looking for it to be over so I can go make more sores in the palm of my hand with the Johnson bar.

I was very tired when I got home and wrote my crosswind success so I want to be clear. The wind was 12 G19 at 200 and I was landing on 17, so only part of that was crosswind component. The fact that it was gusty is what impressed me with the airplane. I would have known for sure I was in a gusty wind had I been in my little taildragger.

Well, I now have some crosswind reporting as a low time Mooney pilot. We had a 12 gusting to nineteen today and it was virtually a non event.

Well a lot has happened since my previous post. It really looked as if we had no weather. About 10AM the ceiling went up just enough for me to make landings, did a short trip and a few landings at a different airport and did an engine out landing that the instructor said was one of the very best he had seen. He had to go home tonight and I sure wish I could have flown with him tomorrow. I flew good enough for him to give me the endorsement, but I won't be able to fly again until I get back from spring break. That will be ten days if the weather is good when I get back. There will be rust from that trip. I will fly with my local Mooney instructor a little and then should be ready to consider myself a Mooney pilot. I have a sore palm on my right hand from handling the gear. I have the technique down reasonably well, but I have trouble with the button. I learned that it works best if you retract the gear very shortly after takeoff even if there is lots of runway left. The plane is wonderful. The interior leaves something to be desired, but overall the plane is great

Well, the weather is closing in and I will have to send this wonderful instructor home without me being finished.:( At least the plane is here and I am off to a good start. This means I won't fly again until a week from Monday at the earliest since we will be gone for the whole spring break. Aviation teaches patience. Another bad thing is that it will be in the weather for that week.

Spent about 4 hours and about fifteen landings in her today! It was in the heat of the day and the rough air bothered me at first but as I got the feel of the plane it didn't bother me. I did steep turns and holding heading/altitude. I got the feel of the airplane pretty fast. Push come to shove I could solo right now and not bend it or hurt myself. I have to get up to speed on the 430 and do some landings elsewhere for the experience. I was a little concerned at first and still need a day of weather, for the endorsement, but I feel very good about the purchase. The Mooney transition pilot that brought it here was impressed and thought that I bought it for or th the money.

I have been flying a rag wing Cessna 140 for many years. It Has no stall warning and is difficult to feel the buffet leading to the stall, but I have learned what it feels like. Can you not feel the buffet in the Mooney wing?

Welcome Skydriver! You said you are from Dallas. Do you still live in the Dallas area? This is the second time I have bought a plane. The first time I used AOPA for title and escrow work. They did a good job, but I paid the entire bill as the seller. This time I bought through a broker. He used an independent title company in OKC, and I paid only half of the fee that was about half as much as the AOPA fee for a plane that cost roughly twice as much as the first. As you read in this thread, it is highly recommended that your prebuy be done by one of the Mooney factory service centers. IMHO, I believe it has a lot to do with the history of the plane. If it has been maintained with no expense spared by someone like Maxwell in Longview or Dugosh in Kerrville for a very long time, then get another set of Mooney experienced eyes on the plane. It would be best for Maxwell or Dugosh to do the prebuy, but there are some other very good alternatives. I was lucky because the plane was is in Kerrville where the factory is located, so there were many savvy Mooney people in the area. A great way to do an initial look is to put an IPhone up into the landing gear area and point it all around while taking a video. Then send the video to a Mooney IA and let him look for corrosion. When buying the plane, negotiate a purchase price, then do the prebuy and see what they find. If there is anything of significant cost tha must be done, negotiate this with the seller. If they do not want to pay for it, you can pay for it yourself or walk away being out the cost of the prebuy inspection. Might be a big pill to swallow, but might be money well spent. You will have probably put up a deposit before the prebuy. The seller will probably have put the title in escrow. You may have already put the purchase price in escrow. Once you work the prebuy process, you will authorize the title company to release the funds to the seller. You will already have submitted a title application, so they will initiate the title application for you at that point and the aircraft will be yours at that point. hope you find all this rambling to be useful. Feel free to ask more questions.

Another obstacle.:( the weather was supposed to be good Wednesday and Thursday, now there is low ceiling and chance of thunderstorms Thursday. So, it looks as if at least the plane will probably be here. I just won't get the second day with the Mooney instructor that will bring it. I was getting excited because he said I would probably be done the second day and wanted me to take him to love field to catch a Southwest. He said Love is very GA friendly. Having an instructor coach me into Love would be really great.

It isn't a matter of being hard to get along with or making trouble For the line boy. This is something that can be life or death. One doesn't have to be rude, but the FBO must be told and they must care. Fueling an airplane requires a much different mindset that is required when fueling a station wagon.

Welcome and congrats! I too am a new owner. Bought and paid for but yet to be delivered. Wednesday hopefully. I too would like to hear more about "Vicki."

But always remember "you wear a Mooney." I have heard this from several people all of which answered the question were either grossly overweight or when asked if they ever sat in one they answered "no."

That was very kind of you Paul! I appreciate the effort very much! This has drug out discouragingly, but the good news is that the plane has been gone over thoroughly by someone with decades of nothing but Mooney service with some very minor issues found and corrected. The plane now has a fresh annual and is ready to go. The Mooney specialist CFI who was originally going to bring it to me Thursday was thoroughly impressed with the plane as was the guy doing the annual. I am excited knowing that I own a very nicely equipped plane with low total time engine and prop, fresh paint in SMU colors, and is the manual gear, manual flaps equipped Mooney that I have wanted for the last 25 years. I have wanted a plane like this ever since reading about them when I took flying lessons in 1991. Makes my waiting even more difficult.

If I have learned nothing else from flying, I have certainly learned patience, but waiting for the plane I have already paid for is killing me.:)

Back to square one! He isn't going to be finished with the plane by noon today after all. The instructor that I have been talking about above has had some family issues come up that is going to keep him from staying very long anyway. I have another instructor that has a funeral tomorrow and can't get away, but can come mid next week after the weather opens back up. When I bought my 140 some years ago everything drug out like this. If I have learned no othe life lesson from flying it has been patience. Looks like flying my girlfriend in the Mooney to Galveston for Spring Break is not going to happen.

That is pretty much what I am thinking. I am all in favor having thorough training, but this is just not what sounds like the norm.

I was having trouble finding someone to bring the plane here, and he was available. He charges by the day, so I plan on flying as much as possible with him today and tomorrow and see where I am at. I do not have a complex endorsement yet.