GeeBee

I've seen instructors who train their students to land without runway lights. Negative training IMHO.

One would hope not, but sadly seems some people try. Uber is a wonderful thing.

I thought the Screaming Eagle STC included a tank upgrade to 89 gallons?

As far a Continental couplers and installation go here is my rules. I never use rebuilt couplers, only new. Had too many failures of rebuilt units. Why, I don't know but never had good luck there. New is twice the cost but infinitely more reliability IMHO. I always observe the installation of both the coupler and the alternator with the SB's in hand. It seems like an easy task, but it can messed up really easily especially by the inexperienced. Finally, if you encounter a charging problem with a direct drive alternator, land immediately and check it out. Too much can go wrong a bad coupling (as you now know).

I would say the filter did its job. Personally if it were me, I would: Have the oil cooler flushed Do a couple of runs, with new oil and filter of about 5 hours or less If the results are clear do at least two 25 hour oil analysis and if all was good continue on. I am not an A&P but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Love my Sidewinder. Powerful, long lasting battery, and I can take it with me every where. You can tow almost a mile on a single charge. Most important, you cannot exceed the tow limits.

Read paragraph, b(3) of 91.215 as well as FAR 91.225 paragraph (e). The LASFR requires you to reply on 1201 IF installed, but if you have no electrical system you do not because you cannot and a transponder cannot be required because it is not class B or C airspace but a VFR corridor through class B. Part 93 says the aircraft in the LASFR "must be equipped" per 91.215 and 91.215 specifically says, if you have no electrical system a transponder is not required except in B airspace and you're not in B airspace in the corridor. We had this discussion on SuperCub.org and an attempt to violate a PA-18 with no electrics that flew through the corridor NORDO. It did not hold up.

Sure but not all of LA is B or C. In fact, I can fly the VFR corridor NORDO with no transponder. I can for instance depart Chino (twr closed) and land at Compton with no radio and no transponder.

Profoundly disagree. Read FAR 91.225. Many j-3's and PA 18s left the factory with no electrical system.

Actually there is a thing called SLOP, "Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure". You can use it in certain parts of Class A airspace in the world, like the NATs and 10 degrees N and S of the equator. I have my autopilot set to track 1/4 mile to the right of the magenta line for two reasons. One with WAAS the big sky theory is dead on airways. It's going to be a dead nuts hit if someone is out of their altitude. Two, it creates about 50' to the right of the approach course in the approach mode because you are not going to see the rabbit over that big Ovation nose at 200'. I know it will be in the lower left corner of the windscreen. Ditto me on Ag operations. Different breed, you need to watch out for them.

Again what I am seeing here is lack of training and understanding of the system. For instance ADS-B traffic you have acquired visually but does not comport with your display? That is latency. It's why ADS-b is not as good as TCAS (among other reasons). What do all those grey circles on Garmin Pilot and Firelight mean? You're not going to get ADS-B traffic, period. Again ADS-B traffic is like the uplinked weather, it is strategic not tactical information and dependent on data transmission that may or may not be current or even operative. Is it better than nothing? Yes. Is it the solution? Nope. As for visual identification of traffic, fine by me if you acquire it, but I would suggest a review of the human factors involved. I would suggest a review of the NTSB report of AeroMexico 498. Quick summary. What airplane will collide with you? The one on a constant relative bearing. What objects are the hardest for the human eye to acquire? Ones on a constant relative bearing......oops. And uncontrolled field operation. There is no requirement to transmit on CTAF. There is no requirement for a radio period. There is no requirement to landing or takeoff into the wind. There is only a requirement the direction of turns.....so be careful. Finally maneuvering to avoid imminent collision. Turns take longer than a vertical maneuver. It is why TCAS guidance is vertical, not directional.

The problem is not the equipment or the data being present it is how it is being used. When TCAS first came out pilots often created a worse situation by using the screen situation rather than following the guidance. For instance a fast climbing jet that is leveling at 10,000' would trigger an TA then an RA for a jet descending to 11,000. TCAS RA is a coordinated manuever that is worked out between the units themselves. In the aforementioned case TCAS may direct the pilot of the leveling aircraft to go through 10,000' while directing the descending aircraft to increase rate of descent through assigned altitude. If one pilot fails to follow the guidance a mid-air or close encounter can result. It required training that TCAS was more than PACMAN game but required training of how it works, how it thinks and how it should be used on the flight deck. In similar terms, pilots locked into ADS-B displays are poorly trained and are failing to use a valuable asset properly. Equally so, we see pilots who use the radio so diligently on CTAF, but fail to hear what other aircraft are saying or to properly orient what other aircraft are doing and positioned in their mind. I've encountered dozens of pilots who use perfect radio technique in their self announcements but have no clue as to what others are doing around them. So even the radio can be mis-used and as an asset wasted. It is not the asset, it is how you use it.

Love the food in Croatia!

As noted by others, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, Southern France, Northern Italy, all have tall rocks. As a matter of fact, twin jet operations over southern Switzerland and Northern Italy have drift down requirements. If your "getting around Europe" is the lowlands or coastal flying or routes, get the J otherwise get the K. (If you don't believe Italy has talk rocks, fly the SID northbound out of Milan)

I use the checklist on my G1000 on the ground. In the air, I don't use it because I have to come out of the map display and I find myself blind to traffic. Yeah there is the inset on the lower left of the PFD, but not big enough. So I use the electronic on the ground, paper in the air. I do have the emergency checklist on my iPad as the Mooney POH is less than stellar for finding the correct procedure.

Congratulations! Nice airplane and a lot to work with there to make it your own. I was in the same position as you and I installed an LHS and placed it on the "experimental setting" with 1 foot call outs. Really polished my landings. The other day I landed after some avionics work and realized after landing the LHS was off, yet I greased it so the "training wheels" are no longer needed. It still is valuable for those dark and stormy nights after breaking out.

As long as you checked first. Strange things often happen. I got a jet 2 weeks out of heavy maintenance check. It has crossed the oceans 6 times. When I preflighted it, it had no airworthiness certificate. The certificate was later found at the shop in Singapore. Always check yourself despite others of the obvious.

You might check your STC documentation with your present GPS and A/P. If you are keeping those units, it may be the annunciator is part of the STC requirement and you need to keep it...and get it working.

They did with no problems.

Tell you what. Dab you finger on a hot griddle, then quickly pull it off. Now put your finger on the same griddle and hold it there. Little more heat transfer? Did the skin cook a little more? (Hint: It's the interval and your blistered finger will tell you which interval had the most heat transfer)

I will quote directly (I will also note you can be inside the red fin on some engines as low as 60%): When we reach top-of-climb, level off, and commence the cruise phase of the flight, we perform a “big mixture pull” (BMP) to transition from ROP to LOP. This should be done quickly to minimize the amount of time spent inside the red fin (and especially the ultra-abusive purple zone). About 2 or 3 seconds is about right for the BMP. Note that we lose a bit of power as we transition from ROP to LOP; that’s normal and expected, and will be reflected by a small loss of airspeed. I recommend NOT using the “lean-find mode” of your engine monitor when doing this, because this requires you to lean very slowly to locate peak EGT. That results in spending a considerable amount time inside the red fin (and the dreaded purple zone), which is exactly what you don’t want to do. If you feel compelled to locate peak EGT, it’s much better to perform a quick BMP to get into the LOP zone below the fin, and then slowly richen to locate peak EGT from the lean side. Personally, I don’t care about locating peak EGT, so I skip this step altogether.” — Mike Busch on Engines: What every aircraft owner needs to know about the design, operation, condition monitoring, maintenance and troubleshooting of piston ... Airplane Maintenance and Ownership Book 2) by Mike Busch

What every VW bug owner and in fact the factory manual says. Increase the #3 exhaust valve gap an extra .002 on the number 3 cylinder to increase its time against the seat for cooling because #3 runs hot. Yes, those few milliseconds make a difference. If you've ever run a high performance engine with solid tappets, you know how critical time against the valve seat is to exhaust valve longevity. Too much time and performance is lost, too little and the valve overheats. I used to set valve lash with a dial indicator.

"Another factor is RPMs. The lower the RPM operating range, the better the heat transfer rate to the seat." https://generalaviationnews.com/2022/11/23/what-causes-exhaust-valve-recession-in-an-engine/

Well, none other than Mike Busch noted that people who spent a lot of time leaning rather than going straight to a given FF (big pull) had more cylinder problems because you spend to much time in the red box.

As the mixture leans, approaching stoichiometric proportions the exhaust temperature gets higher. The valve returning to position, pounds the seat. The supposition is without lead as an intermediator and consequently conductor of heat at the valve to valve seat interface, erosion occurs. At lower power setting not a problem. At climb or take off power it can be a big problem, especially if the engine turns high rpms where the exhaust valve spends less time against the seat cooling. One of the reasons why when going for LOP you should be at 65% or less and do not linger in high EGT regions during lean. I.E. "Big pull".