Ibra

I don’t know the specific rules for US, however, this is a recurring theme across all countries there are all sort of Letter Of Agreement, local procedures and rules that gets entangled in such interpretation, especially at night, it’s worth calling the unit to understand what they or you did not understand If conditions are marginal, you are likely to ask for SVFR, - Who decides on weather ATC or PIC? this depends on “weather gates” and where you are versus 700ft agl, 1000ft agl, 1200ft agl, above FAF, within pattern, or inside TMA, on RVR runway, or circle to land... - Where you can cancel IFR? cancelling IFR between FAF-MAPT to fly SVFR is tricky (as ATC needs to provide separation in CTR zone for SVFR), I still think everyone will agree that after touching on runway under IFR, you can depart VFR or SVFR right away elsewhere There are not that many alternatives (some jokes), - Ask for IFR as “50nm circle to land” under IFR - Ask for VFR with no separation while in TMA: just say you have both aerodromes in sight, 100km visibility and 10000ft ceiling and you can separate from terrain and traffic because it’s CAVOK day from your cockpit Few things I would ask, - Does that ATC unit allow SVFR transits at night? or SVFR is only used for takeoff & landing at night? - Does that ATC unit allow SVFR in TMA? or it’s SVFR in CTR only? - Is TMA Echo airspace and it's built like an inverted cake? then cancel IFR and fly VFR as you wish elsewhere (Echo is only controlled for IFR, you don’t even need to talk on radio for VFR in Echo at night? let alone ask for VFR clearance) If Echo airspace is some sort of lateral adjacent TMA to the airports, then it's not clear who decides on weather/clearance to operate SVFR? especially with low ceiling at night, I think visibility is always owned by the pilot...

All those cats on guard go to sleep?

Yes Sunday was iffy across the place and needed a bit of flexibility on timing....let's catch up another time near LSZG, also, let me know when you ever come near Paris, Normandie or London, Essex? I recall seeing a Mooney J with sectional map on the tail in AstonFly hangars while flying there few years ago, with the backward tail, I don't know it it was north up or track up?

Was it a hot day on idle? did you had RICH & PUMP ON? It may quit after touchdown as you roll on the ground? idle + speed deceleration? Right after touchdown you will see it idling slightly lower than the setting in POH when parked/taxi or when it flies idle on higher approach speed (windmilling propeller) As stated above, I would re-check idle & mixture setup

Without manual input of “altitude select/capture” and “approach mode” (within 30nm radius) it won’t fly approaches even with 3D GPS & 3D AP, I think our AP coupled to the typical guidance from GTN/GPS will just fly past destination at the selected cruise level, I am not sure about Collins Avionics stuff found in bizjets? There was a similar sad story in Europe with unresponsive family crew… https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/05/private-jet-that-crashed-into-baltic-sea-latvia-german-businessman-karl-peter-griesemann

Weekend trip to Lausanne (LSGL) with stop at AeroExpo in Lyon Bron (LFLY) Getting the best views of beautiful Switzerland: Lake Leman and Sion Valley !

It's always advised to base on long runway first and build load of takeoff & landing before moving to short runways One can get into all kind of fun (overload with bags, hot days, crosswinds...) before "knowing" their aircraft and if it fits homebase & mission I am sure M20C in 1500ft runway is "doable" but I gather it's usually someone with hundreds of landings on it and knows when to say YES/NO

Sir, I am stuck on this one, any hints? we got 3 blades

Has anyone ever ever managed to remove oil filtre without dropping anything and making huge mess? unless you do it in zero gravity or as mentioned above by letting it drain for day or two? On removing cowling, I had my 3 year old kid to help by holding it against a folding chair, my wife sent me this picture after he went to nursery the next day, they were asking what is this?

G-MUNI G-OONE

I love having 100USG of Avgas burning 6GPH LOP at 120kias yes to sit +12h inside Mooney you need to have devil's a*** I did 7h with someone and we become best friends Also the advantage down here on this side of the Atlantic, is we have Avgas fuel prices ranging from Jersey (EGJJ) at 7$USG to Almeria (LEAM) at 20$/USG Having Monroy Long Range fuel help smoothing the bills and avoids having to make unplesant stops to fuel with extra hassle (opening hours, handling, customs...), I did spend the whole day on phone once trying to spell "A.V.G.A.S": "Alpha Victor Golf Alpha Sierra" not "Julliette Echo Tango Wun"

Blimp at Friedrichshafen (EDNY) (“das Zeppelin” as they like to call it there )

Usually 20F-30F LOP otherwise power and speed decrease: while FF goes down when one go 75LOP, I don't think the IAS stays where it is such that MPG gets any better than 25LOP Where I am not sure is CHT, my understanding one need to keep their cylindres warm even if going "deep LOP", I don't fly 45% at 30F LOP as CHT is way too low under 300F...I recall a rule of thumb stating that CHT should be higher than 300+OAT/2 (in F), say 60F OAT outside one would like to see CHT > 330F (and of course less than 380F) otherwise it is not healthy for pistons & rings

I fly M20J with similar weights, it's doable but it gets tight if you are heavy with baggages, for start you need to stay with very long runways...the useful load on most of the Mooneys is < 1000lbs, of course there are some conversion unicorns here and there (I have flown one with 1200lbs) IFR in Alps is +FL160, unless fly Swiss airways for Helicopters or fly Austrian side, there you will need Oxygen, there is usually plenty of time and distance to climb from Belgium, I would not worry about M20M vs M20R debates unless you are based between mountains and planning an instrument departure from 8kft flat airport (altiports in Europe are 2400ft long and have 20deg slope), also, IFR-VFR-IFR at FL100 is easy to do in Western side of Alps, ATC are used to it, it makes sense if you like valley flying in calm winds and fair weather FIKI or TKS are useful in approach phases in Belgium (likely useless for cruise in icing over Alps in winter) Sorry for our American friends flight levels may start at 3000ft amsl on this side of the Atlantic: ok to Flight Levels without turbo or oxygen

How many Benjis they ask for those?

Yes quick trip to cross a border and get cheap Avgas

Took SpeedBird with co-owner and kiddo to Jersey (UK)

I know days are getting warmer but make sure it’s the right aircraft https://youtu.be/np9t413kNF8

This picture show the bright side: the U2s have load of years to come and it was the right call two years ago to keep them flying (50million budget and planned to go for another 30 years?), the funny side: who still want those “high altitude drones”? they don’t take selfies https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-50-million-upgrade-u2-avionics-for-command-control-2020-5?r=US&IR=T “The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction” “Maybe so, sir. But not today.”

Does it get there quickly (EGT1) if you lean aggressively after startup ? Worth checking Cyl1 valves

What does engine manual say? Airframe manual is not exhaustive on all MP, RPM, FF combinations, it does not mean it’s ok or not ok…at the end of the day, running smooth plus CHT/TIT have the final say, I would personally try it and closely watch engine instrumentation for operating limits

Indeed, that is the key takeaway, if you know the Fuel Flow that delivers less than 65% you will know how to run LOP The bottom line if you are smooth on 1GPH fuel flow, it does not matter if you areWOT & Max Rated RPM, you won’t have much CHT anyway

There are 121 “saves” in 8000 Cirrus aircraft over +40million hours in these over the last 20 years These make evening news and gets debated forever in pilots forums but one has to keep in mind that we are talking about max 0.3 per 100kh of noise in aggregated stats (I am assuming “save” is NFW you would have survived without CAPS ), this does not explain all variability you see in those aggregate numbers or claimed safety of BRS equipped types vs say C182, DA40 or vs Bonnies, Mooneys I know someone who installed BRS STC in his STOL C182 (King Katmai with canards and 30kts stall), if Mooneys offer BRS STC at 10k$? I may buy it but I won’t lose my sleep not having it

I don't think the data is bad, I sincerely think DA40 is safer than M20 inline with those aggregate numbers but my expectation the spreads should be pretty tight on same mission, pilot skill and use of technology I am not sure how much of those aggregate numbers compare on similar random sample sizes for flying fleet? and similar historical window say 2000-2020? We don't have DA40 data pre-2000? while M20 have old data from 1970, while many think flying in the old days was safer (*) the fatality rate went down from 6 per 100kh toward 1 per 100kh, so any aircraft built in 2020 will look 6 times safer than one built in 1960 https://www.bts.gov/content/us-general-aviationa-safety-data https://www.bts.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/2023-01/table_02_14_011823.xlsx (*) For IFR, you know flying without engine monitor, pre-GPS the old days were fun: shooting raw data ADF in 1sm between heay rain while escaping icing in clean wings from VOR airway between mountains. For VFR, well "VFR in IMC" and "getting lost" or "running out of gas" was something...

You can strap yoke full back and let go, it settle for 49kts forward & -15kts vertical and likely a guarantee to walk away on impact I used to instruct on them, I gather they are pretty safe, yes it’s fiber and fantastic plastic but appearances are deceiving: they are easy to operate, they were tested “car style” specs (not required by FAR23 or CS23), designed with fire proof in fuel lines and fuel cells, the stall is very benign with no wing drop, majority are operated in long paved runways rather than backcountry plus they have superb performance…Diamond carried some of that same logic in twins DA42 & DA62 are the easiest twins one can fly, in Europe there is even a requirement to retrain on multi-engine if planning to go from these to legacy twins Having said that, if one is looking for apple to apple on M20J, DA40, PA28, SR20 they end up buying M20J, it’s hard to debate relative performance numbers…who cares about aggregate safety numbers for types, especially one that compares types built in 1970 with those built after 2000? are we looking at CFIT on Airways pre-GPS days? http://www.mooney201.de/why-a-mooney-.html Now honest granular safety analysis: Mooney cage is proved to work in controlled crashes but risks of getting stuck or fire is not off table (although, can be mitigated: cut fuel, crack door open, get hammer or use baggage door ), for other inconveniences: the majestic landing bounce or the scary stall wing drop, well it’s not walk in the park and it pays to get good initial training and keep currency: you get lot of fast cruise speed but you pay it back in landing behaviour and slow speed handling…one has to understand this trade-off while flying Mooney, they require precise speed control on landing and slow flight, that’s it I don’t think it’s rocket science: you put load of fuel, keep lot of height, use full runway engine ON or OFF, you keep wing level and fly sensible speeds if it’s too much one should get SR20