Lance Link

I never buy anything from Sporty’s if I can help it but they sell this nice little caddy bag that holds everything that won’t fit in my flight bag. Then I have a 12” canvas tool bag for oil a few tools and whatever else for longer trips. Then a small duffle with survival gear for even longer trips.

I’d say if your px can get up from a basic chair with arms and with their feet on about a six inch stool, and of course can get on the wing easily enough they will be fine. PM me if you want and I will describe the procedure.

I'd like to know about the transition. I will watch for your posts on COPA!

I’d think not. But if the passenger is taught how to get in and out and shown how it’s really easy and does not take much strength at all.

I was in your identical situation nearly 3 years ago. I am very happy to have found and bought a J model with lots of upgrades, including 2900 lb GW increase, speed brakes, removable backs seats, leather interior, and much more. The avionics are fine, but now I find myself wanting to spend tens of thousands to upgrade them. And I probably will, with the help of co-owners, knowing this is not really a good investment. I'm fine with that. Although, I do think that if I had found a really nice F model with the avionics already done, I would have been just as happy. Part of the point here is buy the best plane you can possibly afford. If you are like me, you won't regret the expenditure later. I always tell my wife you don't so much buy a plane as you do invest poorly in it. And yes, get a good autopilot. Lastly, in the prebuy, have the shop tell you what the upcoming expenses might be, things that will be due within the next year or two and what they might cost. Lazar does this. A plane that is really "caught up" on these things is clearly a better deal than one that will require a bunch of maintenance work relatively soon. And really lastly, make sure everything works, or that you know what doesn't. Have a good Mooney CFI or someone fly it to check every element of every system. Take nothing for granted. Good luck!

I keep a couple of my wife and daughters yoga mats on the hangar floor. Works well enough.

Mine has them. Frankly, I don't think they are worth the trouble. And, I want the extra drag when slowing down . When I paint the plane, I may epoxy coat the wheels and leave them off. I'd drill holes in them, but don't want to go down the road of unintended consequences and violate the rules.

Check the Mooney Flyer web site. The list a few folks. There used to be a guy out of Oakland with a ton of Mooney time who did this. Ron something I think.

When I took my very first flying lesson about eight years ago and the instructor was trying to teach me when to flare I asked him why something like this did not exist. And finally here it is. This will make the Jacobson Flare obsolete.

Maybe check with Don Valentine?

Very cool Don! Keep at it!

This may be a dumb question based on ignorance but are you considering a G3X and if not why not?

I cheaped out and put in the 830 which I do like very much but now wish I’d spent a little more and bought the JPI 900. I think my wife spent the savings on lamps or something. I would not miss the money but do miss the better instrument.

You might consider a Tecnam high wing. If I remember right there are 3 models. You could probably find a nice one for close to $40k. Dirt cheap to operate, super easy and safe to fly, and absolutely as fun as anything in that category except maybe a Remos. Get her in one she will love it and be hooked.

As mentioned above, remove the battery compartment cover and take it to a good commercial auto paint supply store, and have them "shoot" an area with a camera-like device designed for this purpose, to match the color. They will probably need a single-color area a little bigger than a business card to do this. And, polish that section really well with scratch magic or something similar, perhaps even some 2500 grit abrasive fabric, to really get down to the base color. Otherwise the paint they mix will be a little too dark. Small chisel-end artist brushes work really well for small areas. You can even paint false "rivets" with big drops of paint. You can buy plastic syringes on Amazon like the ones used by dentist for water, and use them like little caulking guns (with paint in them though of course), to "float" paint into really big areas (I've done areas as 1" wide and a foot long). Great for those chips around the gas caps, seams and the like. If you do this, only suck up paint into the syringe about 1/2" at a time, that will give you good control and keep it from spurting out. You can cut the tips to the size you want. Whether you use brushes or the syringe, only dab or "float" the paint (don't use strokes) up level with the existing, don't let it crown. If it crowns, it'll be really noticeable. I found that the floated paint does not sink in, it stays at the applied level. Clean the areas where you are going to apply the paint first with rubbing alcohol, just a little, that stuff will eat your existing paint. This worked a lot better for me than an airbrush. I found the airbrush hard to control. I also had the paint supply store mix up some cans, and I also used a small sprayer on some areas. This work pretty well, but the paint doesn't really blend that well, and then when you try to polish it in, it tends to show. (Better to touch up spots if you can). Unless you have whole areas you can mask off and paint. I painted a whole flap for example and it worked well. But remember, don't paint any control surfaces. If you want to do steel parts like nose gear, brush the bad areas with pretty heavy synthetic steel wool, clean with alcohol, then use a "rust reformer". Works like magic. I have had really good luck with paint put on this way staying put. I turned a 5 into a 7 this way. Wish I could do that with my wife!

Or, look at the Garmin 52 line for about 1 AMU and get a bunch of added features.

Cirrus sells a ton more SR22s than SR20s. Make Missles with more gas than Js. I’d much prefer this to a Cirrus because they are almost unpleasant to fly.

That makes sense Lancecasper and explains why I randomly see traffic on the 430 but never understood why.

I have a GDL 52R and I have it send the traffic to an Aera 660. The traffic from the 330 ES has always been intermittent to the 430 but I don’t need it to show up there.

I had the trim switch problem, Executive Autopilots fixed it for several hundred bucks. I felt lucky!

This happened to me once and it turned out the shop did not line up some contacts when they did the annual.

The AP guy is David. Has worked on my plane twice, diagnosed problems while I waited, fixed things fast and charged what seemed like peanuts. I recommend him unconditionally.

Great thanks!

Great idea. How do you fasten them.

An auto body supply store with a color matching camera is your best bet. You’ll need a section of panel a little bigger than a business card. Polish the section to be photographed with fine scratch remover otherwise the match will be too dark.