Fly Boomer

If you have flown with NVGs you may be able to shed some light (heh) on whether those things suppress strobes (or any super bright light). It occurs to me that the regional jet may have had strobes but, if the helo pilots were using NVGs, they may not have seen the strobes.

Great find!

Excellent idea -- I'm stealing this one.

That's what the "Pilot Isolate" button on the audio panel is for.

Maybe I'm slow. I have been using FF for years and, while I can do almost everything, there are some nuances that surprise me from time to time. But I'm with you on GP -- there is no way I'm going to learn all the intricacies of another UI.

To some extent, it's about numbers. For every quart of aviation oil, there are a million quarts of car oil.

Sounds like GP is pretty easy if you are accustomed to Big G avionics. You don't learn FF if you open it up the first time while you are flying.

Nobody can guarantee the safety of your data -- any data they have is, by definition, not safe.

Brain is pretty remarkable, but can lead you astray. Funny how one part of your brain is screaming "level your wings" but another part can override that instinct and do something more rational.

Not likely to turn out well.

If you open the door with the seal inflated, you are likely to damage the seal. Especially in warmer weather, everybody in the airplane wants to get the door open immediately after landing. I have a policy (and pre-flight brief) that says "unless I'm dead or we are on fire, nobody touches the door" but me.

Meguiars uses the phrase "body shop safe" to identify products that don't have silicone or any other ingredients that could interfere with paint. This document answers the question "Is it body shop safe"? Meguiars Body Shop Safe.pdf

Our doors don’t usually fit very well. If yours is drafty or noisy, the inflatable seal is nice. You do have to pay attention to keep from damaging it.

Nice looking jig!

Make the trip. You will see bargains that you cannot find elsewhere.

Yep. But sometimes old dogs learn new tricks. Now, he even runs LOP while climbing under some circumstances. And he is running TSIO-520s in his 310.

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/50416-mooney-edge-seal/

Instead of getting into a fight, one way to avoid the question is to not use the word "inspection" either spoken or written. Call it a pre-purchase "examination" or some other word you are comfortable with. And since the pre-purchase process is undefined, the buyer must specify everything they want examined, and what kind of report they want following the process, and who will have access to that report. As much as we talk about this, you would think "pre-buy" would be well-defined -- but it isn't. It's tempting to ask for an "inspection" because that has more meaning. For example the process of an "annual inspection" is defined by the FAA (or at least the minimum). But I wouldn't use the word "inspection" if I wanted an expert opinion regarding the condition of an airplane I was thinking of buying. And the seller probably should be clear that no "inspection" is being done. And of course, many buyers will arrange with the mechanic to convert the "pre-buy" into an annual inspection if the purchase is completed.

2014-06-01 Cylinder Work - Be Afraid.pdf

This sounds like a lazy mechanic who needs to make a boat payment. The rod end should be around $20, plus an hour or two labor. If a conversation with the mechanic doesn't resolve this discrepancy, then you need a different mechanic.

Not sure how familiar you are with the documentation. Here is a brief summary of the process. Apologies if you already know all this. First, you must have the IPC for your airplane (Illustrated Parts Catalog). Here is one for an M20G in the Downloads area of MooneySpace, but you will need to be sure it covers the correct year and serial number for your airplane. Usually serial number is more important than year -- Mooney changed things more frequently than once per year. https://mooneyspace.com/files/file/176-m20-series-parts-catalog-1968-1978-2pdf/ As an example of how to find a part, in the illustration on page 142 (PDF page 134) one of the rod ends is numbered "29". In the list following the illustration, "29" is identified as p/n F34-14 which looks like an oem p/n and not a Mooney p/n. If they gave an oem p/n, you can frequently track it down on the Internet. That said, Mooney was not always precise with those oem part numbers, so some interpretation may be in order. A search for F34-14 yields an ebay advert which appears to identify a cross-reference part number (possibly a different oem), and sometimes those numbers can lead to further searches. The ebay advert calls it a "flap rod end bearing". Something like a rod end bearing may have been used in several places in a Mooney (or any other airplane) so don't get hung up on the suggested use -- it's the part number we are trying to match. In the end, sometimes you order what appears to be the right part but, when you get it, you find that it does not match the part on your airplane, and you start over. Finally, I didn't spend very much time on these searches, so you will need to verify these links for yourself. https://www.ebay.com/itm/256606874390?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338678874&toolid=20006&_xiid=256606874390%26customid%3Ds%253AGS%253Bgc%253Abe1913013cdd12343de9748fcf09209f%253Bpt%253A1%253Bchoc%253A1&customid=s%3AGS%3Bgc%3Abe1913013cdd12343de9748fcf09209f%3Bpt%3A1%3Bchoc%3A2&msclkid=be1913013cdd12343de9748fcf09209f https://store.vansaircraft.com/mw-3m-rod-end-bearing-bearing-mw-3m.html https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/aurorabrng.php

Haven't lost one yet, but they do seem to want to fall off periodically. Do you do any kind of pre-flight inspection (yank, wiggle, visual observation)?

I just meant that the "little guy" card won't buy much sympathy from the non-aviators.

In this country, the average daily driver clocks 39 miles per day. If you charge in your garage, and don't do many cross-country trips, you may never have to visit a gas station again.

Great picture. I'm saving that one.