JamesMooney

Looking good for weather tmw! @Tommooney has generously offered to stake our place in line. Hope everyone can make it in around noon (or a bit earlier), so that we don’t get in too much grief for holding a table my cell # is in the thread further above if anyone needs to touch base at all. Otherwise, see many of you tmw! Ted

Hi folks - let’s do Dec 22, meet up at 12 pm at the KCMA restaurant. If anyone needs to connect, my cell number is 2O2x669-932O. I’ll do a weather check the day before and send an update here if it’s cancelled or postponed (let’s hope we have seen the last of the rain!!!)

Folks - how would Dec 22, 26, or 27 work for most people? Thinking we meet up for breakfast at KCMA around 12 pm - that should allow everyone a comfortable margin of time for marine layer/fog/etc. to burn off our respective airports, allowing everyone to join us regardless of VFR/IFR. How do those dates - 22, 26, 27 Dec - sound?

Thanks for the feedback! In order to make it accessible to everyone, I think you've convinced me on shifting to KCMA for this first one. We can always get more creative on subsequent get-togethers Thanks!

Thanks for the replies - this is shaping up nicely! I’m getting the sense that somewhere mid-way LA<>SF will accommodate everyone based on distance, comfort, etc. How about KSZP? (Harris Ranch is option 2, and Columbia O22 is option 3) I’ll post a Doodle poll here soon to get your inputs on dates over the holidays.

Fellow West Coasters - I'm new to the region (moved to SBP 6 months ago). Would love to see other fellow Mooneys and share some aviator stories. I imagine the holidays are both busy (family, friends, catching up on washing inside the gear wells)... but also a more reliable quiet time. Would anyone be interested in flying out to an airport with a reliable breakfast/lunch spot - some date between Dec 20-Dec 30? I'm thinking that it should be within 45 minutes (Mooney time) of either LA or SF. Obvious options include places like SZP, CMA, SMX, SBP (but that's my home field so I prefer not to walk to breakfast ), etc. What say you all?

All the suggestions above are fantastic! I'm a newbie to the region too, but I've started to check some off the list (and I have a story to share - below). On my list right now, besides all the ideas suggested above, are: O22 (Columbia CA), MRY (Monterrey), CNO (Chino), SZP (Santa Paula), CMA (Camarillo), HAF (Half Moon Bay) - all have restaurants in walking distance or on the field. I also recently did breakfast at Bakersfield Municipal. Food was amazing, but I was a lonely single airplane for 90 minutes on a weekend. Ok, so the story. We flew up to KSTS (Santa Rosa) intending to take a rental car 15 minutes to Healdsburg for lunch in a beautiful town. Near Monterrey, NORCAL App gave me a new routing that would have taken us 17-25 miles out over the water, at 8,000. I carry life jackets (east coast pilot used to flying near the Great Lakes), but not a raft, and not planning to go for a swim. I initially asked for an alternate routing. They said "please wait" and never came back. I then called back 15 minutes later and offered a suggestion ("Deviate 30 degrees right for 15 miles, then resume direct ABCDE fix to rejoin the Vxxx airway"). They ignored the deviate request, and gave me direct the fix - still 15-25 miles into the ocean. I protested, and they told me to wait my turn with all the landing planes at MRY (its busy - but its not DCA, IAD, JFK, LGA, SFO, LAX.... c'mon....). By this point, I had been negotiating with them for over 30 minutes and at least 60 miles. I was starting to approach the Monterrey peninsula and was running out of land. My assigned course would have taken me at least 15 miles outside gliding range of the Mooney at 8k. So, I keyed the mic, and refused. I said "Unable to comply with assigned routing due to single engine over water. As explained, alternate routings offered including 30 degree deviate right or direct VWXYZ fix." ATC was annoyed and simply told me to turn 90 degrees right and fly for 30 miles. It wasn't a great exchange, but I felt I did all I could - I respectfully asked 4 times for alternate routings, gave them options, and was mostly ignored by an over-worked controlled who I respect and feel for. But, the point is, around water (or mountains, or whatever your consideration is), feel comfortable saying NO. Only the PIC is responsible: no one else - for the safety of the aircraft and those around it. We carried on and had an amazing time in Healdsburg, and a lovely flight back with NORCAL, Oakland, and Santa Barbara app. As a side note, I find SOCAL controllers to be much friendlier, more relaxed, and more on the ball compared to NORCAL. Maybe its a staffing thing, because it certainly isn't a volume issue.

I'm based (recently - just moved from the east coast) at SLO (KSBP). The restaurant I'm told is amazing. Every weekend I fly AWAY from that airport to go somewhere else, just as everyone else is flying TO it. Judging from the inbound weekend morning traffic, the SBP restaurant is fantastic! I have a few other suggestions I've slowly created - will share in a post later down.

OVC002. Minimums for the LPV are 300’.

Not sure the temperatures a few hours ago, but right now it’s around ten degrees C on the surface. They flew at 4,000 both ways (GAI-HPN and return) today. Upper winds show temps about +2 degrees C at 6k. They were awfully close to the icing range at that temp. Not saying icing was a factor. Probably not at all. But curious about the decision to fly in this weather at all: low IFR, freezing levels below 10k, non FIKI aircraft. Doesn’t give a lot of room for decision making. Used to be based at GAI. Have flown that approach many times. The ASOS/AWOS is often wrong; the runway lights suck; and there’s a few pieces of ground that create some interesting (mild) eddys on approach. hope all are ok!

Don't ask me how it got from LA to SMX for that inspection. But if you want to talk about calculating amp hours on various electrical devices versus the health of a new battery, I'm happy to offer my amateur opinions

Update: my 'home' maintenance shop were able to look at it. Verdict was: missing field ground wire (missing! interesting...). $0.86 in parts later...

Update on this saga: looks like the wiring is good, battery is good, and there is voltage at the field wiring suggesting that the voltage regulator is functioning. The A&P working on it suspects the alternator slip ring/brushes have gone. There's another Mooney on the airport with the same alternator, so they are going to try swapping alternators and/or slip rings/brushes, to see if that is the issue.

You know what's interesting... on my last flight, I heard a weird (intermittent) whine in my headset. Sort of an electrical noise. It was intermittent and went away after a while.

Had an A&P have a quick look today - they couldn’t immediately pinpoint the problem. Advice was to charge the battery, and then day VFR fly the plane back to my home base. Would be a 90 minute flight out of the LA Class B up to KSBP. Ugh….

Believe its original - 1976

Battery is new - about 18 months old. Haven't looked at the cables - they are old / haven't been changed for many years.

About 60 hours ago, on the ground, I got a low voltage annunciator, ammeter showed a slight discharge, and voltage meter in cigarette plug read 12.4V. I reset the master switch 3 times, and on the third time, everything returned to normal. Flew the plane for another 60 hours with no issues. This Saturday on final approach in KHHR, the same thing appeared: low voltage annunicator, ammeter showing discharge, and 12.4V. Plane is at KHHR right now. That's not my home base, and the one maintenance shop there said they may not look at the plane for a week. Thoughts? 1. Possible solution? 2. Other airports with recommended A&Ps around Los Angeles? I'm not very keen to fly it very far around the busy LA airspace with the possibility of losing my battery, radios, etc. Thoughts? Thanks! PS. The only electrical work done recently was at annual inspection (in May), they adjusted the voltage regulator up (it had always been drawing about 13V, so they adjusted it up to get 14V). I guess it was shortly after that when this first instance happened - but then no problems for 60 more hours until now...

Hi all - we're moving from the east coast to San Luis Obispo next month. Will be basing our 1976 'F at KSBP. Wanted to reach out, say hello, and see who may be in the San Luis Obispo/Paso/Oceano area. Any recommendations for Mooney maintenance shops in the area? Who do you use for routine maintenance, and for your annuals? Has anyone had luck with the hangar wait list at KSBP? (And for anyone who has flown across the mountains, headed to the Central Coast, I'd love to know your preferred routes.) Look forward to meeting future neighbors soon!

Free to a good home (or any home) - just pay the shipping Came out of my '76F two years ago when I bought the plane. Never used it myself but was told it powered up fine. Includes WxWorx receiver, GPS, power plug, and data cable - plus associated power pack and other data cables. Appears to be in good condition - just need to clean the residue from tape off (previous owner had used electrical tape to bundle some of the wires together) Want to get it out of the house by July 5th, so let me know if interested.

Curious what MSers think of this: 1976 M20F. Just had my voltage regulator reset during annual (2 hours ago, because it had historically been low). Went flying on Tuesday PM (daylight). During run-up, I had VOLTAGE annunciator light up and amps showed discharge. USB voltage meter showed ~12.5-13V. (Should have shown 14-14.2V) I pulled the Alt Field circuit breaker twice. I also reset the Master switch. Each time, the voltage went back up to 14.1-14.2, the amps were charging, and annunciator went off. After 15 seconds, it all came back - discharging, 13V, annunicator lit. The 2nd time I reset the Master, everything was fine. I also unplugged the USB charger, and noticed the volts went up from 13.7 to 14.2 (I was charging my iPad and iPhone). I waited 10 minutes, and then continued the fight. 2 hours flying, and the volts were 14V, amps charging (or neutral), and no annunciator lights. Thoughts? Random post-annual gremlin? Alternator? Other?

Respectfully I disagree. Fly IFR all the time. I would say 50% or more of the time, controllers in many states and sectors all say to me: “do you have the weather and NOTAMs? Advise approach request.” being asked if you have the Notam is not an unusual question in many places. i agree with the OP: the sector responsible for that airport should have known about a runway closure at a single runway airport. That’s an ASRS report for sure.

This is pretty much what I want to do to my M20F in the next 12-18 months - though I'm going to keep my STEC 60-2 for AP, go with a GNC 355 GPS/COM, and keep my GNS430W for the #2 (GPS/NAV/COM). Otherwise, very similar. Hence, VERY interested to see how this comes together! Awesome!

Bottom line - the OP wants at least 10 hours of flight time on the plane to make up for 15 years of being on the ground. In my opinion, that's not enough... by a long factor. Here's an example. I know someone who bought a Mooney with about 400 hours/10 years on it. Even after 160 hours-in-a-year, there are still kinks to be worked out in that plane. So I'm told. I cannot even begin to imagine the metaphorical cobwebs sitting on an idle 15 year-zero hour plane. Also worrying is that an A&P couldn't get this plane back in the sky - a cylinder here, a transponder there, was the best they could muster. I suspect there's a lot more to be done. A new owner who is not an A&P will be at the mercy of a local shop or MSC to get this plane squared away - and given schedules in maintenance shops these days, that could set this OP back by months, even a year, to get in the air. Bottom line - if the OP wants to fly, I would suggest they avoid the 15 years of deferred maintenance and the almost-guaranteed extreme wait times to get this plane squared away - spend a bit more, and buy a plane that flies 100+ hours/year. That way, the OP will be able to sleep soundly at night knowing they will 'probably' be able to fly that much right away themselves too.

Our aviator puppy Quincy thanks everyone for their concern about keeping flying safe for our furry co-pilots!