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SkyTrekker

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Everything posted by SkyTrekker

  1. What a timely thread! Just two days ago my door started giving me fits. It has always needed a gentle touch and a very specific sequence to open. But once I had that figured out, it never gave me any trouble...until now. For seemingly no reason, it started acting up two days ago. I worked on it a while and it seems like the pin is sticking out further than it used to in its "at rest" position. It is getting caught/hung on the edge of the door frame and keeping the door from opening from the latched position, as well as closing fully from the open position. Pulling the handle back hard (feels like too much pressure to me) and giving the door a good shove at the same time opens it (again, too much for my taste). And the opposite process closes it. But way more force is needed than before, both in terms of the handle pull tension and the push to open/close motion. I'm wondering if the process that worked for @Dream to fly might work for me as well. I'll be flying later today so I'll try that approach. What really hurts is that in the process of opening the door the first time after it became difficult, I cracked my newly repaired and repainted door panel
  2. I just checked this site (www.vintagemooneygroup.com) and am confused. While the url/domain name seems clearly enough to be about vintage Mooneys, when you get to the site, it seems to be all about "doing research papers quick" (aka buying research papers when you don't have the time to do them yourself). Maybe the domain expired, got snagged and re-purposed? Shame, since from the sound of the url, it seems like it might have some useful information on our old birds! -Sia
  3. I also video and audio record all of my flights and for the same reasons.
  4. My PPL Checkride is scheduled for February 28th, so I don't even have my VFR rating yet. But we have started the "under the hood" training and I am really enjoying that. Either way, once I've finished my PPL and have enjoyed the freedom of being a full-fledged pilot for a few months, I'll be planning my IFR training timeline. I don't plan on looking for hard weather to fly in, or to push the envelope on risky situations, but having the experience and the ability to deal with unexpected weather when it arises is so worth it. Not to mention, I really enjoy learning about flying and continuously working on becoming a better pilot. -Sia
  5. Complete my PPL Complete first annual Fly the Mooney at least 150 hours
  6. I second everything that @Hank just said. For what it's worth: I started my PPL training last November (2016) in my CFI's J3 Cub. After 9 hours in that I moved into the FBO's Cessna 172 rental and did 8 more hours there before I bought my Mooney M20E in May. I'm at about 56 hours in my Mooney now, and I have a few more solo maneuver solo practice flights between me and my PPL practical test. As others have suggested, my transition to the Mooney did take extra hours, but I wouldn't give any one of those hours back! I really love flying this plane :-) This approach worked really well for me, since I knew that it was going to take me a year or more to complete my training while I juggle a 60 hour work week with a lot of travel plus family responsibilities. Once I was soloing in my Mooney, I was able to make flights to other airports in a 150 mile radius of my location to enjoy flying, get familiar with the plane, the region, practice navigating, landings, etc. as often as I wanted on the weekends without having to spend the bucks to rent, not to mention coordinating access to the Cessna with other renters. I know this approach is not for everyone, but I planned things this way for specific reasons and it has been a really good fit for my purposes.
  7. Thanks takair. I guess I didn't read the site carefully enough. The phrase "if it'd been a snake..." comes to mind :-)
  8. @N201MKTurbo That is what I thought! But I can't find anything in the POH or on Brittain's website that explicitly states it that way. Is that referenced anywhere authoritatively, or is it just common knowledge?
  9. Thanks @N6758N and @Browncbr1. So in the event of an electric failure, the turn and bank indicator is inop.
  10. Is the turn coordinator from Britain on our positive control equipped Mooney’s primary electric with a vaccine backup, or vice versa? The poh says the turn coordinator is electro-vacuum, but doesn’t speak to failover specs or assumptions. Getting ready for practical test soon and want to make sure I have the real deal re: what fails/works when there is either a electrical or vacuum system failure. Thoughts? Thanks!
  11. I haven't tried the Halos, so can't say 100%. But I would think that the Alofts' frequency response is flatter and I would guess that the low end probably extends out further than the Halos. Not a huge deal if you are just listening to spoken/ATC, but if you want hifi music, too, it might make a difference if you're an audiophile/pilot :-)
  12. I bought my first aviation headset a few months ago right after I bought our Mooney. I did a lot of reading on the forums and in the end I chose the Clarity Alofts. I've been wearing them ever since and really like them. At the end for me it was between the Halos and the Clarity Alofts. I ended up going with the latter because the speaker elements were in the ear, vs. remote as with the Halos (I was a music engineer in a previous life and I've stayed picky about audio frequency response in my listening devices). There are so many great choices out there these days!
  13. Hi Eric, Good to hear! I'm in Waco, so only a 40 minute flight to Addison. I may stop over at US Sport to say hi and show my support!
  14. My 1970 M20E will get a full panel re-do as soon as the Certified Dynon HDX is available for it. :-)
  15. Thanks @aggiepilot04! I see a trip to Ft. Worth in my future.
  16. As @gsxrpilot mentioned above, this week I combined my first Class C solo experience with a trip to Austin to connect with Paul and discuss different approaches to panel upgrades (as well as hearing more about Mooney formation flying...very cool!) I still have another few hours of requirements before I'm clear to take my PPL practical test. Then I intend to turn my focus to IFR training, but not before I sign up for the MAPA PPP. Looking forward to learning the finer points of flying my 1970 E. I wonder when their 2018 schedule will be published. Can anyone tell me how many days the program lasts? I'm in a situation similar to @Skates97, as I doubt my teenage step-son's father will be excited about him flying with my wife and me anytime soon. I figure I'll keep developing skills and experience and having successful flights until everyone is comfortable with the idea. I do look forward to that first trip with the three of us, though. For that matter, I am really looking forward to the first trip with just my wife and me! Shouldn't be too long now.
  17. @Andy95W, @Hank, I would definitely believe a screen cap over me any day :-) I had copied some reference info from the web and that was indicating 57 knots, which was obviously wrong. When I looked at my POH, it was identical to the screen cap Andy provided. I'll definitely be watching and working on my landing speed to see if that helps. Will also try the back trim that @Mooneymite suggested (thanks!) This is an interesting point of clarification for me, though. Maybe someone can explain... I want to understand how the chart of speeds above correlates to simple Vsi and Vso speeds for a Mooney. Are the Vs speeds assuming a bank angle of 0? That is, when we compare the Mooney Vs speeds to other aircraft Vs speeds, are those reference points all assuming a bank angle of 0, as in the first column of the chart above?
  18. Thanks Hank. That makes sense. My flaps/gear out stall speed is 57 knots, so 66 mph. So I'm pretty close to the stall speed, but maybe that is not close enough.
  19. Hopefully staying on-topic here...I've been recording my flights to analyze my landings. Based on what I'm seeing, it looks like I may be touching down at too flat an angle. All three tires are generally making contact at the same time. I'm supposed to land on the mains first, to make sure the nose wheel doesn't get too much weight/stress, right? On the plus side, I'm never touching down with the nose wheel first, so that is good at least. This landing is fairly representative of my landing performance recently (this was shot on August 20). Sometimes I'l able to touch the mains first, a half-second before the nose. I'm touching down consistently at 69 mph/60 knots. Landing with full flaps. Anyway, inviting any feedback/input here to help either validate or improve my landings.
  20. Congrats, Fernando! I'm also a recent E owner. That is a very nice looking example of an E, and I especially like the panel....so tidy and efficient looking. Well-done!
  21. Enjoyed the video! Thanks for posting. Maybe I'll make it to Burning Man one of these days. A lot more likely now that I have a plane :-), vs. all of the driving. How long did it take, how many stops, etc. for you to get there from Austin?
  22. Looks really nice! I can't wait to redo my E's interior. There are a number of things I need to prioritize in front of it though. So for the time being, I'm relegated to reading posts like this and dreaming :-)
  23. @Stephen Skinner, thanks for the follow up and additional info from Brittain. That all sounds consistent with my conversations with them. I started out fully intending to upgrade my Brittain Positive Control to the B-11 or B-12 system. But I'm considering waiting for the new breed of APs now. The folks at Brittain are really top-notch, though, so I wouldn't have any hesitation having them upgrade my PC system if I weren't considering different approach.
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