ilovecornfields

Just sold it.

I did. I clicked on the heart next to @jaylw314‘s post. Whether people like to admit it or not, we have a mental health crisis in this country. Perhaps I’m unique among us in that I’ve seen more suicides, homocides and overdoses than I can possibly recall. The first one was a middle-aged Asian man who shot himself in the head while sitting in a chair on a second floor apartment. He tipped the chair over when he fell and I remember when I walked into the room thinking it looked “fake.” It wasn’t a pool of blood running out the door like in the movies but it looked more like a small pool of dark jelly on the carpet (in movies blood doesn’t clot, but in real life it does.) There were some small pieces of skull and brain In there as well. This was 18 years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Since then I’ve seen many more, but like they say “you never forget your first.” (I once saw someone try to put a piece of brain that fell out back in, but that’s a different strory...) If someone here wants to make they statement that neither themselves or someone they care about has a mental health problem then I would argue that you are either delusional or you don’t care about many people. The prevalence of mental illness among adults in the United States is approximately one in five (from nimh.nih.gov) and it seems like we have a lot more than 5 people on Mooneyspace. As @jaylw314 said more eloquently than I did, let’s keep an eye out for each other and take care of each other. Ignoring red flags and using hope as a stategy tends to not work well in aviation.

You pay shipping. Works great.

I’m going to try to basically go direct at 16.5k. We’ll see how that works out. Probably more of a headwind than going along the coast, but lots more available landing sites as well.

I think the mental health issues facing pilots is very real. Although I’m not a psychiatrist, I did marry one and we’ve talked about it quite a bit. Based on my experience, I would say some of the risk factors for suicide (like impulsivity) are probably over-represented in the GA population. As was just pointed out by @jaylw314 some of the traditional risk factors for suicide are also over-represented in the pilot population (https://www.mdedge.com/psychiatry/article/59790/depression/revised-sad-persons-helps-assess-suicide-risk) Maybe a useful outcome from this tragedy would be to discuss how we can help each other with mental health challenges since, statistically, many of us have them. There was recently someone here who posted that he carried a handgun on every flight so he could commit suicide if he was going to crash. The response to that was pretty disappointing. Even if it’s just a joke (which he later clarified it wasn’t) it’s not very funny. Not to get on a soapbox, but I’ve seen lots of suicide attempts, some of them successful. I deal with suicidal people on an almost daily basis. If we don’t do a better job addressing mental health issues in the GA community, me fear is that someone else will do it for us and probably not in very desirable way. edit: corrected link

65 seems high. My Ovation always runs 48-51 in cruise. It’s almost disturbing how narrow the range is. Like any statistic, if you’re higher than 95% of the cohort it could be that something is wrong or just that you’re in that top 5% (or 2.5%) of “normal.” If it exceeds Continental’s recommendations it might be worth talking to a mechanic about it.

Sounds like quite a guy: For-profit colleges are known for aggressive recruiting, but FastTrain turned it up a notch. Ex-employees told investigators that Amor boosted enrollments by hiring former strippers as recruiters, some of whom wore “short skirts and stiletto heels” to work. Amor told one employee to “hire some hot mommas” and “hire the sluttiest girls he could find.” FastTrain’s TV and radio ads had a catchy jingle — “Get on the Fast Train!” Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article46253760.html#storylink=cpy

Wombat doesn’t work with Garmin. According to them, it’s Garmin fault. Works great with JDM, though. If if anyone is considering unlock cards for the GTN- DO NOT LOSE THE CARDS. When you install the unlock the avionics shop will “mate”the card to your particular GTN (I didn’t ask about the details, but I’m told it involves a dimly lit hangar and Luther Vandross music). If you ever lose your unlock due to a glitch from a software update, defective unit, etc Garmin will NOT replace the cards unless you can prove you purchased it for your plane with receipts, then it still takes several months and $200/card replacement fee. Hypothetically speaking, if you have a G500 with synthetic vision, autopilot, jeppview and a GTN 750 it can get expensive quickly. I’m also told Garmin will only replace the cards once. Don’t ask me how I know...

Has anyone installed an accelerometer/g-meter in their Mooney? I saw that aircraft spruce had a model that replaces the clock. I know most smartphones have them built in but I couldn’t tell if there was a good app that runs in the background. Seems like it might be a good thing to have. I know some people would rather not know, but it seems like it would be nice if there’s an accurate way to know if I’ve exceeded the g-limits.

Obviously mine will be the winning picture (my plane is the one on the left). What you can’t hear him saying is “I’m crushing your tail.” Followed by, “dad, why can’t you get one of those?!”

That was my question. I don’t usually see any PIREPS. Flight Circus usually doesn’t give accurate numbers. Just trying to find out if there’s a better way than just getting in the air and taking a look. Would take forever to get up to 17k in the Ovation with this heat wave.

Anyone know a good way to find out what the tops are for the smoke/haze layers? Contemplating a trip from Portland to Santa Barbara and tying to decide if I should just fly high and go direct (14-16k) or fly along the coast. Following the coast seems like it would add 30-45 min to the trip. Last year it seemed the smoke from the Sana Rosa fires went almost up to 10k and I just changed the oil and cleaned the air filter so not excited about doing it again.

I think the post was intended as humor, not condescension. We all have our peculiarities and I think the post was intended to convey that the technological advances that have been made in the last 20 years have contributed greatly to enchanted situational awareness, reliability and safety. I took my instrument checkride in the 90’s with an IFR certified LORAN-C. The examiner turned it off at the beginning of the checkride and said “nobody’s every going to let you use something like that on a checkride. That’s cheating.” Now that I fly around with my family I “cheat” every way I can in the interest of safety. Seeing terrain and traffic on a big screen in front of me and knowing I have triple redundant systems certainly seems worth it to me.

With the next uodate, GTN750 is supposed to do (almost) the same VNAV stuff as the G1000 without locking you into the G1000 system. When I was looking at Ovations I decided against G1000 and went for a G500 with GTN 750/650. I have been very happy with this decision. While I do have a FIKI Ovation and hope to keep it as my “forever” plane, if you’re really thinking about dealing with ice a normally aspirated single is not a good choice. From Garmin: GTN 650/750 descent vertical navigation To assist in descent planning and energy management, pilots can take advantage of VNAV profiles throughout the enroute and terminal phases of flight within the GTN 650/750 touchscreen navigators when they’re paired with the G500 TXi/G600 TXi, G500/G600 or G5. Within the GTN, pilots can easily enter altitude constraints on the flight plan page to set-up a vertical descent profile. Pilots also experience a near-seamless transition from VNAV to an arrival and instrument approach. Once an arrival or approach is loaded and activated, the GTN automatically populates step-down altitudes or any applicable altitude restrictions. If ATC issues an unpublished altitude restriction, pilots can enter those altitudes manually into the active flight plan under the VNAV field. As part of the VNAV profile, top of descent (TOD) and bottom of descent (BOD) values are also calculated and displayed on the moving map. As the aircraft arrives at TOD, the GTN displays a visual annunciation prompting the pilot to begin the descent. When paired with a display such as a G500 TXi/G600 TXi, G500/G600 or G5, a vertical deviation indication (VDI) also populates on the display to provide vertical guidance for the descent. Additionally, when the GTN 650/750 series is paired with the GFC 600 or GFC 500 autopilot, pilots can select the VNAV button on the mode controller to fly a fully-coupled VNAV profile.

Guess I’ll be getting the new Garmin product: Hello Subscriber, This email is to inform you of upcoming changes to your SPOT service plan(s): We are continuously making network upgrades to ensure the best possible service for our SPOT customers. To help fund these efforts now and in the future, upon renewal a Network Maintenance Fee will be implemented on all SPOT subscriptions: Monthly $2.49/MO; Annual $24.99/YR; 2 Year $49.99/2YR. If you have any questions please contact Customer Care at 855-769-6954. Thank you for choosing SPOT. SPOT LLC

You carry a pistol on every flight so you can commit suicide if you’re going to crash? Not judging, just clarifying.

My Mooney only gets 15 MPG (I guess 17.3 if you convert). How do you get 30 mpg out of yours?

After almost having to cancel a flight due to the nav update being corrupt (and the laptop at home) I finally gave in and bought the Bad Elf Wombat. It’s pretty slick. You can do the nav updates and send your engine monitor data to Savvy using your phone.

I guess that answers the question about transition training. ;-)

I know everyone is different, but given the shoulder issue you’ve posted about I would suggest flying with someone who can give you some objective feedback on your performance in the new plane, given your temporary limitations. I’m not an AME, but from what you’ve described I don’t think I would fly a plane without another person qualified to act as PIC until the issue was resolved.

When I was looking a year ago it was $14-18k just for WAAS. Most suggested installing a GTX-345R for ADS-B which I think added another 10k. I bought a non-G1000 Ovation instead.

I’m assuming you got the shoulder looked at and it’s stable? I dislocated my shoulder scuba diving once and it was not pleasant. I would hate to do it while trying to take off or land.

Here's the very helpful feedback I got when I asked the same question:

Had a weird experience today. Flew IFR to HND (didn’t get enough of those friendly tower controllers at the PPP!) and I was flying on my clearance (PMD-BASAL-DAG-BLD) and talking to Joshua Approach. I noticed a plane exit the MOA on my ADS-B display, then go toward my plane, do a 180, and follow about 2 miles behind me. I actually saw as they were doing a 180 and it was a flight of two- one was a high wing airplane and the other looked grey and whale like- almost like a drone. They followed me for a few miles, then turned back into the MOA. Joshua Approach advised someone on flight following later that there was drone activity on the MOA so I asked if that was the drone that had been following me and the response was “contact LA center on ...” Just seemed odd. Are they really allowed to exit the MOA and start following GA planes?

I was told that the “hour meter” in the baggage compartment of the Ovations with Moritz gauges isn’t really an hour meter but the tach. If the Moritz gauges are removed then the tach will stop recording. I assume a call to Mooney would quickly get you an answer.