GeeBee

Both autopilot and hand flying requires proficiency and you should be equally adept at both modes. You cannot monitor the A/P performance if you are not proficient at hand flying and you cannot properly manage A/P modality and engagement if you are not proficient in hand flying. You need to be ready to hand fly when A/P gives undesired states or failure. The biggest failure I used to see in Line checks is sticking with the autopilot too long when undesired state occurs due to poor flight guidance management. If you have a flight director bars, you need to be able to fly through the bars when guidance is in an undesired state until you can clear the bars. That all said, I believe in the Part 135 standard which is a functioning A/P is required for dispatch into IFR conditions single pilot so if it is broke, depart VFR only. If it fails enroute, complete the mission unless you become fatigued. In that case land.

I am loathe to write this, but I am less than enthusiastic on Mike Busch's (I heard the podcast) take on this bulletin for the following reasons: 1. Continental labeled this bulletin "Critical Service Bulletin" which according to Continental "Compliance Necessary To Maintain Safety". This differs from a regular service bulletin which Continental says, "enhances safety". Labeling it a Critical Service Bulletin is one whistle stop from an AD. 2. Within the background of the CB, Continental mentions not only TSIO-520 historical difficulties but also IO-520. To my knowledge Cape Air does not operate IO-520 engines, which makes me question if this is really just a "Cape Air" problem. 3. It is easy to finger Cape Air as their operation of the engines is known and defined, but not the thousands of 520 operators. Did Continental see other than Cape Air on the overhaul line? 4. Despite the background which did not include 550s within the bulletin it includes IO and TIO 550 engines which makes me question. "where did that come from?". Is Continental seeing something on the 550 overhaul line that we don't know about? 5. While I respect Mike Bush's operation of his TIO-520s his C-310 is just 2 engines in a fleet of thousands. Thus his data set, two engines is valid, but it is part of a larger data set of which none of us know anything. I would like to know how many "non Cape Air" TIO-520s and IO-520's Continental show pin problems (as well as 550s) In summary, things are just too opaque to make an intelligent deduction. If there is more data from Continental or Savvy can glean more data from Continental I would be grateful because right now, I just cannot ignore what Continental is saying without more data. They see thousands of these engines a year, and I got to believe something has their attention more than just "Cape Air".

From the AC 90-66. Fly the Standard Traffic Pattern. Arriving aircraft should enter the airport’s traffic pattern at traffic pattern altitude and avoid straight-in approaches for landing to mitigate the risk of a midair collision. See the paragraphs below and paragraph 11 for additional information. I did this once flying into Starksville, MS. I was in a 757 and I cleared out the entire traffic pattern for 20 minutes. It would have been better to fly the straight in for everyone. Not all situations are equal.

I actually like Purdue. It has a pretty good aviation program but in football they are always a wild card for Big 10 teams. Kind of like Kentucky in the SEC.

I have cites that say Palo Alto, I have cites that say Los Alamos, I have cites that say it used to be Huntsville, I have cites that say Huntsville is number one in STEM degrees so let's just say, it's a lot!

I have been on a tour of the Southeast with my grand-daughter in the Mooney. We have been touring colleges. She wants to go to an SEC school so we have been to most of them. College towns are always a little bit different but I will say this about the University of Alabama. One, Tuscaloosa is a great town but the University of Alabama had the nicest campus, the best facilities and the most polished presentation of any school. I also notice that men were gentlemen and women were ladies on the campus. They had the correct focus on how they wanted their graduates to enter life. I was impressed and that is saying something because both my daughters went to the University of Georgia which is one of the most difficult schools in the SEC to get into. About Huntsville I will add is it has the most Phds per capita of any town in the US. As to "woke" I am from the SF Bay Area. I remember when you walked Union Square on a Sunday in a coat and tie. A quick tour now will show you where "woke" gets you. Exactly what the OP describes he does not want. You can't walk around Union Square now without dodging needles and poop. It is one of the reasons why I moved to north Georgia.

That is easy. Read Ibrm Kendi' book and writings, if you believe he has a point and those suggestions therein should be implemented, it is woke ideology. Don't want to get into a discussion beyond within the confines of this board because this is my "sane place". We will call this a "self education opportunity".

In all seriousness to the OP's desires he should look for a Southern town where there is still a town square. Preferably where the cars still park into the curb. Where the square has a soldier statue in the center showing they honor their ancestors. I.e. no woke stuff. The buildings can be old but look for signs of new and local restaurants rehabilitating the store fronts to create a vibrant lunch and weekend night life. Make sure there is good medical care, some states are having trouble with tort reform which may make good specialists like GYNs rare. Look at house prices and make sure they are at least stable if not growing modestly. Be wary of boom town pricing as it means the place is soon to be strip mall city and not a town.

Just tie a snow blower to the top of your vehicle. Drive south and when someone asks “what is that?”, you are there.

Yep that's my view too. Manometer makes it stupid simple and precise.

When pressure testing the tanks, I don't use a gauge, I use a manometer. Much more precise.

They are blue and have been for years. Replaced annually.

We have!

Both drains drop fuel at the same rate and they are two year old drains. Again, if you read my narrative, it drained the free water no problem. It is the entrained water that is the problem and I suspect most people on this board if presented with a fuel sample of entrained water could detect it is there. In fact anybody who uses those "screw driver" type sump tubes will not see it. That is what makes the GAT jar the bomb. From AC120-25 For this reason, a water haze may be seen in turbine fuel but the haze is seldom seen in aviation gasoline.

Because not all water in fuel becomes free water. It can take a long time and a lot of circumstances for all water in fuel to become free water. https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC20-125.pdf

Yes, as I mentioned, the tanks were resealed by WetWingologists East and I saw the tanks before they closed them up. They were compliant and of course a professional operation such as WWE would as you expect be familiar with the AD.

I don't know what more you can do beyond the Mooney MM pressure test, which as I wrote it passed. As a matter of fact, it exhaled the pressure after 15 minutes at 0.5 psi. Here is what I think. I think even if everything is tight the fuel caps cannot withstand a straight down deluge. Both the pressure test and in flight have a bulging wing. On the ground with massive amounts of water beating in the wing skin, it depresses and allows water intrusion. Also you can operate normally with entrained water above freezing, but as several of our members have found, entrained water can result in a frozen spider in cold temps

No, but I never selected the affected tank either except to empty the tank.

I have long suspected Mooney wing tanks hide water. I have confirmed it. I took a trip to Jackson, TN (KMKL). I wanted a hangar for the two night stay, but none were available. Then due to circumstances not aviation related a two night stay turned into 4 nights. Not happy because bad weather was coming in on the third night. I begged for a hangar, but none to be had, so I strapped her down tight, covered all the ports including the fuel caps with those nifty covers from Wingviewtintshop.com and hoped for the best. It was bad. Really bad. We had to evacuate our hotel room due to tornado warnings with sirens going off. I heard and saw big hail landing and my heart sank. I saw “walls of water” falling. I returned to the airport fully expecting to see hail damage, but amazingly hail missed the airport. My fuel cap cover on the right cap was missing, and I was hopeful I had no water seepage because we just did an annual. In the annual we replaced the O-rings, big and small, did the ½ psi pressure test and it looked good. Looks are deceiving. I sumped both tanks. The left tank was clear of water. The right tank was water from the get go. Two GATS jars worth before I even begin to see blue. On the fourth, I had pure blue. I drained two more full GATS. I then shook the wing vigourasly and waited 10 minutes. Two more GATS jars and it seemed all was well… so it seemed. I did not need the fuel in the right tank, I only needed 28 gallons to get home, so I flew home on the left tank, just to be sure. After placing the airplane in the home hangar, I sumped it again. About a tablespoon of water came out the right tank. I assume vibration aided the appearance. I sumped two more times which were clear. I returned to the hangar the next morning. I sumped. No aggregated water but there were micro droplets on the side of the GATS jar. I cleaned the GATS jar with a paper towel. It took two more draws to get clean fuel. I returned the next morning, more micro droplets. Same procedure. On the third morning I finally had no micro droplets, but I was not convinced, so I “pasted” the tank with Gasoila and sure enough it showed entrained water. No visible droplets but it was positive for moisture. At this point, I decided to drain the tank so I got a barrel and drained it with the boost pump. Easy peasy. Refueled with clean new fuel. Paste check showed good. I have plenty of gas for the lawn mower, so does the airport crew. I write this because I have long suspected the Mooney wing hides water. It does. Even if you get a clear sample it takes a long time for all the water to work its way through all those little holes around the ribs and stringers. I had a very tight wing, resealed just two years ago by WetWingologists, pressure tested per the Mooney MM with no leaks, but the average wing cannot withstand buckets of water coming at it. You turbo guys who regularly fly below freezing may think you don’t have water, but a sump check is not sufficient. Might want to consider the 99% isopropyl treatment. Finally seal the tops of your caps if it stands in the rain. I had the covers and now I added velcro tape if I have to rely on them in windy weather. Be careful out there.

I flew mine with 12/44.5. It is a bit of a pain but not beyond normal handling

Note I said, “disciplined use”. Recently there was a fatal due to a door popping open. Now does one double check the security of a door because it might cause a fatal, because it is part of the flow or because we know it is a checklist item. Answer is we never really know. It is like asking if the Japanese scout plane had launched on time, would they have won the battle of Midway. The ommision or commission of one thing changes events in unpredictable ways, sometimes better, sometimes worse and often not at all.

The disciplined use of a checklist and the saves it creates cannot be calculated. You cannot count what did not happen.

I did. Continental CSB09-11A which supersedes documentation issued prior to 11/12/2014. Do you have documentation dated after that date that shows 2200 rpm is approved? This is for cruise power, descent is not affected.

Not supposed to be below 2300

I was putting my grandchildren to bed last night when much to my surprise I noticed their bedding! Do not know where they got it.