ChrisV

$4K for the annual alone seems quite high. The MSC near me charges $2600 for the annual.

No airplane IR for me yet, but when working on my heli IR and CFII this worked well for me: Get a handful of hours with a CFII to learn the procedures, go slow and take a lot of notes. Then spend several hours practicing those procedures in FSX or X-plane. Even use the autopilot if you don't have a joystick. The objective is to know what to do and when, not necessarily how. When you have the procedures down cold, go back to the instructor and finish it. Saved me a lot of time and money. Getting my CFII in helis took 5 days. IR took longer because I needed the flight requirements.

Posting this thread (or maybe starting a new thread) as a place for MSers to post flights for people like me, who have an empty right seat and just want to go flying. I will be flying out of Portland, OR area for the next 2 months, with nowhere/ and anywhere to go, just flying for the fun of it. I hate flying with an empty seat because so many aspiring pilots just need to build flight time. If someone wants to join me, I would love it. If Someone wants to "try out" a Mooney, great. If someone just wants to build hours, great.

Ok, let's talk about some good too... Last month put down a deposit and scheduled at Garmin 345 install at Pacific Coast. They were booked until late July, so 3 months, not bad. I asked them to let me know if something earlier comes available and last week they said they had an opening 2 weeks earlier, even better for me. I'm not spending 10K, only 7. Dewey has been great communicating so far. Hope the install goes the same way.

For family trips VFR, I think this is a solid choice. You will have several years of fun and plenty of time to decide if you really need upgrades. This may be your forever plane and you may never need a GPS. I wouldn't want to take this IMC for very long tho. And i would not want to get my IR in it, because I think learning GPS is the most important part of the Instrument Rating.

Bob/Art, you are correct about Pearson. Head to the north, call advisory and come in. It's a really cool place to land if landing to the East.

Shadrach, I don't mind the hijacking the thread, it makes for fresh discussion. The airport I fly at is Camas (1W1), the threshold is 6-700' from the trees. Landing at Pearson is a piece of cake, just look out for the bridge. That catches you off guard your first time.

I don't recall exactly where I bounced, but It was well before my go around point. Probably around the middle of all the asphalt, near the "n"s in remaining.

This is my doodle of where I was bouncing. the threshold is about 700' from the 50' trees.

Not sure what you mean by this. i assume slowly decelerate to the desired speed? Or do you mean attempt several landings, increasing the speed each time. I do a high, slow, gradual flare which usually bleeds the speed quite well.

I'm pretty sure I was getting anxious as the end of the runway loomed and pushed the nose forward, bounced and went to a go around.

Jay, the first definition of bounce is what I did.

Bob, thanks for the tips. You are a little off on my weight. I was probably 200 with all the clothes that day. Wife, son, and his seat were probably 170 so spot on. My instructor and I are gonna do a lot of touch and goes in 2 weeks. Starting a big airport, then coming back home for a bunch more. The speed and psychological were certainly the factors, but my speed on the last was the same. I can't wait to get a hangar at the bigger airport. Too bad that list is pretty long.

9201A - Referencing bounce aborts, that is how I am looking at it. I never had any bounces with the instructor, but I knew what to do from this forum. I also learned to recognize the internal pressures, but haven't incorporated it into my risk management yet. I still want to know what exactly I did wrong, but I will never really know. Next I am going to mount a virb under the tail to maybe next time, I can use video evidence to learn from.

Just to be clear, this was not my first time in the 201 at this airport, probably my 10th landing here, but it was the first with aft CG, anywhere. And my transition instructor is a Mooney guy... absolutely excellent. I will take some weight for the backend when we fly in a few weeks. And we will start off on a nice long runway.

So I'm fairly new to my 201. I have done 15 hours of transition training with a great mooney instructor, a few solo flights with a handful at my home airport all within weeks of my bounced landings. Then I decided to take my wife and 18 month old on their first flight in the 201 just to see how the baby takes it. My home airport is uncontrolled, with a 2700' runway, but there are large trees on both ends. The winds were calm, and about 40 gallons of fuel. We took off, head north and my wife is feeling air sick and the baby won't keep his headset on and earmuffs aren't enough protection IMO. So we turn back to the airport. My first attempt, I clear the trees at 73ish kts, full flaps were in, throttle idle, bleed the airspeed down to touchdown and I bounce. Go around, clear the departure trees with tons of room. Come in a 2nd time a little closer to the approach end trees, on speed, and bounce again. Third time, same story. Now I am starting to think I should go to a longer runway, but i decide to try a 4th time. The 4th landing was perfect. I'm not sure what I did differently. My only thoughts are that maybe I pushed it to the ground as I saw the end of the runway coming, but not sure if there was something else. The only difference I can think of from when I flew with an instructor (who weighed about as much as my wife and son put together) and flying with the family was that the family was in the backseat with the front right seat empty. So, could having a more aft CG cause me to bounce? I would think the opposite, but I would love to hear your "expert" thoughts. I haven't flown since this, but have arranged an instructor to fly with me the next time.

Found a great Mooney CFI. PM me if you want his contact info.

Thanks hank. I'll try the msc.

Does anyone have contact info for an instructor that can provide transition training near Portland, Oregon?

My wife is gonna be so mad when I spend all of her money that I made. JK she is totally onboard, which was step one.

Thanks again guys. I think it's time to tell the wife to pull the trigger

Good info guys. I really appreciate it. I've already missed out on 2 airplanes that would have been a good fit for me. Now I'm worried I will miss the third.

Are the bruce covers the best money can buy? If I am gonna leave a $100K outside, I want to protect it as much as possible, no matter how much it costs

I live in Portland, OR and am looking to purchase a J model. I've been holding off buying until a hangar is available, been on the waitlist for 3 months and no spots have moved. What are your thoughts on tieing down an aircraft during the rainy season? Are there covers that protect enough?