TomR

Bear in mine when I say “when I was new to my MSE” that was only 9 months ago. In any case, take a pilot who’s just crossed the 150 hour mark all of that a 172, put him in a totally new plane..... you get the picture. Bring the plane back from Florida with a very experienced pilot and do a rather poor job trying to land for the first couple times. Go through transition with a fantastic instructor and nail every one of the landings. Ok now I’ve got this down pat right. Fly one or two more times solo no problems. Time to get night currency. First two landings perfect...it’s late..let’s nail the last one and go home. The “comfort factor” has now set in big time. First bounce takes me by surprise but no worries I watch my instructor bounce and just hold it of till it settles to the runway. Second bounce was much harder. Thinking this is not good I shove power and go around because I know on the third bounce I’m got hit the prop or worse. Heart racing I bring her around for a perfect touchdown. Long story short 70 hours later I treat every landing in every airplane the same. Focus, consider the type of airplane I’m flying and fly it correctly. I’m no longer afraid to swallow my ego and go around. I know how lucky I am that I didn’t damage my beautiful new bird that night and I’m a better pilot for it having learned that lesson. No matter how experience we are or are not every flight needs great focus because when if we every let the comfort factor set in we are bound to mess up. Thank god god the accident pilot is ok. Planes can be fixed but people can’t. Get your bird fixed and get flying!

Wow love the paint. Now make sure you fly that gorgeous bird

Not privy to the details of the deal....but....if the seller is pushing you to make a deposit non refundable due to legitimate time constraints you’d be well served to walk away from the deal. Deposits are contingent on an airplane being in good condition. Making it non refundable defeats the purpose. Seriously contemplate your next move. Good luck in your search !

I’m in Cambridge almost monthly for breakfast at Kay’s. I’d love to check it out when you get her flying. Looks like you found real gem (shame about the previous owner. Lots of guys with mooneys in this area. Shoot me a message when she’s done. Tom Russo

Well it would be more than just a design decision. All of the aluminum sub structures and frame would have to be redesigned, new jigs and fixtures made for the new parts etc. Heck ever the door itself would need a new latch that opened the other way. Would have been costly that's for sure

Yea for someone who reads the journal this was disappointing. It's sad the feeble attempt that is being made to justify privatization. I can understand cost cutting and the FAA really does need to learn to trim up around the waistline. But by the same token privatization would never save money and would only benefit the 121 carriers who created it. Tom

Congrats. As others have said definitely get that instrument rating. That is the single biggest cost reducer early on(not to mention makes you a much better pilot). Hangaring your plane is also important for your insurance rates

6' 3" pilot here and new to mooneys myself. Your not going to beat a mooney for tall person comfort, no single engine piston beats it. The "stretch your legs out and relax" is unique to mooneys in my opinion. Like others have said the 4 passenger thing is going to be your caveat. No mooney has leg room in the back. But with that being said if you truly evaluate your mission you might realize you won't be flying more then yourself and one person very often. If you need to stick full grown men in the back a six place like a 206 is the way to go. As others have said if a mooney fits your mission you won't be disappointed

ADS-B Traffic is amazingly valuable. I've had multiple occasions where it has alerted me to an impending near miss before it happened. Fortunatley, I have a gts-800 as well so can get notified of an aircraft on short final while I'm still on the ground. That's the one minor weakness still present in the ADS-B system. It doesn't provide consistent coverage low altitude around the airport environment. Arguably this is the most important place to have coverage. I wonder if in the future they'll start mounting small short range ADS-B Transceivers to airport beacons to alleviate this weakness. I'd imagine this won't be for quite some time if ever so I'll keep the GTS-800 for now

Definitely let me know Tom

Let me be the first to say what a wonderful event was put on this year. It my first trip down but I will definitely be back next year. The effort that the team put in to putting the event on was very evident. Thank you. Tom Russo

Nice taking it down to the wire. I bet there are more than a few others who had the same idea today. I'd be interested to see that statistic. I know one thing, talk to any avionics shop and they'll tell you that too many people are going to wait until 2019 to do their upgrades. And because of that there's going to be alot of airplanes that can't get their upgrades done because the shops are going to be swamped as the deadline gets closer.

I would and have done touch and goes in a 172. In a mooney on the 6000 foot runway where I'm based I'm honestly to scared to do one in a mooney. To many things going on, gear, prop, etc to add a non standard to the mix. I'll happily waste two or three minutes and taxi back every time

Here's my thinking on the subject. Yes the loran system does have merit for the marine market and yes it has advantages over the VOR such as over the horizon capability. But, here's the rub, what's harder to "jam" or "defeat". Well yes gps can be jammed realativley easily but it requires the jamming transmitter to be relatively close to the targeted area. Loran is next to impossible to jam. However, here's the one big advantage to space based navigation. It's extremely well protected by the simple fact it's in space. For instance the few satellite shoot downs we've see recently have been at realtivley low altitude. (China in 2007-500miles) (USA in 2008-150miles) By comparison the GPS constellation (32 satellites) orbits at 12,500 on a variety of orbital planes and spacings. Without getting into too much detail killing a satellite at 150 miles is extremely hard and exceptionally expensive. (Like putting a naval fleet in the middle of the pacific at just the right spot to launch at just the right moment) Not exactly a surprise attack. Now try to do that 32 times at 100 times higher altitude. Much easier to just take out a couple of loran transmitters sitting out in the open in random locations. Finally, attacking satellites which is the only way to truly neutralize GPS(you can't jam them indefinitely) is its own deterrent. Destroying satellites in space leaves thousands of pieces of debris in space which at that altitute will last possibly hundreds of years. Yes it would limit you adversaries access to space by having all that junk up their but it would affect the attacking county just the same. Oh and inertial navigation is definitely a viable option as well. This would be a completely independent solution Reference this article for more information https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon

I can attest to the halo headset (David Clark one pro x for me) but I can give some feedback to the form fitted ear plugs. I've used these for years in competitive trap shooting. They are fantastic and I have mine molded with headphones similar to the earpieces police officers sometimes use. Care is key. They last me approximately 2 years of shooting in the hot sweaty sun. Clean them gently when done using and store them in a cool dry place (very important). Also take care not to damage their exterior, the vendor will coat them with a very thin slippery coating. If you crack or destroy this coating they become very difficult to put in an will be uncomfortable

Have fun guys wish I could come up. Someday...

I did space camp one year and aviation challenge the next year when I was much younger. I had a blast though at the time and still today honestly I was a bit of a rocket nerd. You won't be disappointed if you a friends child there

Easy for me I'm based there. See you all at Verna's. Now where to fly afterwards....hmm

@Seth, New mooney guy here myself up in south jersey. I'd love to get on your email list myself. I'll shoot you a PM

I should be there. New to the forum and new mooney owner