BobbyH

Beautiful area, looks like lots of fun. Thanks for sharing.

I've wrapped hundreds of bicycle handlebars, and you have the right idea. Good Job. @jmbaute John, your yoke looks great, whoever wrapped them did an excellent job. And sorry, although I do have a scrap yoke (not Mooney), it wouldn't work for your needs, wrong design. ~ Bob

Nice work, appreciate the steady camera and various models. Beautiful area too.

After changing jobs my flying had to go on the back burner, then into the fridge, eventually the freezer. 13 years later I was able to pick it up again. My check ride was on a blustery day and the little C175 was bouncing all over the place. I LOVED IT! Then came the time to do landings and I used almost the whole 75 foot width of the runway because of 17 knot and gusting cross winds. I was really embarrassed. Took a few before I got the touch again. @0TreeLemur definitely outperformed me that day! I've had my Mooney in similar conditions and I love the way she tracks right down the center.

Yes, W10 (Whidbey Air Park) runway is 25 feet wide. Plenty long at 2470 feet if not overloaded. Good news, the elevation is only 271 feet and near Puget Sound so rarely get much Density Altitude problems. A little pucker power the first time in though.

I've been in and out of Harvey a number of times. Great little airport. I'm more concerned about the parachute jumpers than the runway. The M20E makes it in easily and handles most cross-winds without a problem. The runway improvements have been very welcome too. Just remember the three critical things when landing: Airspeed - Airspeed - Airspeed.

Those loose electrons will always find a path out, the path of least resistance.

Hate it when that happens!

@carusoam has a good idea here. Down the road I'm hoping on replacing the vacuum gauges with electronic ones and while at it plan on changing to the auto-step/electric activated step. Unless you want to stay original, any time the step needs $$ could be a good time to move to an electric one.

Those look pretty amazing, wonder if they would fit behind my J-bar?

I've been looking at these (CGR-30P Premium) for a little while and it looks like a fantastic fit for my older plane. It will not only give vital information but open up some panel space while making it easier to get the information I need to monitor the engine. Hope to take advantage of the July rebates also.

Unless your instructor is teaching you to land like he learned on the carrier deck.

I run around the same parameters and average on the whole flight around 9 gpm. One difference is the fuel injection, other than that the M20E is pretty similar to the M20C.

I fly in some very busy airspace up in the NW pocket of the nation. Lots of controlled and restricted airspace. VFR is often easier to just work around those areas and with ADS-B traffic it is often much easier. When flying IFR you have to be attentive 100% of the time, traffic, course redirections, frequency changes multiple times, etc. Once out of the area, on cross country trips, the IFR is very nice to have someone also looking out for you.

1966 M20E Useful Load 943lbs Payload with full fuel (52 gals) - 631lbs

I agree, the majority of those I interface with in general aviation are good people. Most will go out of their way to help another pilot, especially with a damaged bird. I love hearing the stories of a close friend of mine (ex-military) who has had numerous incidents with the old planes he has owned over the last 40 years. So many have helped him out, loaning pistons to get him home, putting him and his de Havilland Chipmunk in the barn to weather a storm then feeding and housing filled the tanks and sent off with a bag lunch for the trip. It goes on and on. There are a few that left their mother too soon and still don't get it, but they are the exception not the norm. So I'm going to enjoy the norm and apply some grace to those still in process of growing up. I do love the support the members on this site give one another. It does bring me joy when I can rub shoulders with those who have so much more experience.

Hopefully this may help. Alclad is manufactured by placing a very thin layer of almost pure aluminum (corrosion resistant) on the aluminum alloy (which is stronger). The pure aluminum has a natural oxide layer on it's surface that helps with the corrosion resistance. The art of it is to remove imperfections/dirt/old paint etc. while not removing the pure aluminum protection layer. It is nearly impossible to get off all the old paint or finish without touching the pure aluminum layer. Not to mention other scratches already present. Therefore once prepared for finishing, the Alodine/Prekote helps establish an oxide layer on the aluminum and improves bonding of the primer. Without the Alodine/Prekote it is easy to get corrosion on the parts in a few years. A good primer with either the phosphate or zinc chromate also help with the corrosion protection.

Great testimony to some amazing little airplanes. The Mooney is hard to beat.

@Shadrach great video, good information for me. We have many drones in this area too.

Up here in the Northwest we get to fly with the eagles, literally bald eagles. On one approach to KRNT from over Lake Washington, an eagle was fishing below me off to my port side when without clearance from the tower it decided to transition right into my flight path on short final. Luckily I was able to pull up and hop over it with stall warning blaring and full throttle. Pulled throttle back and landed a little long with a little extra adrenaline on board. So between the eagles, Canadian geese, wild turkeys, sea gulls, pelicans and the smaller aviators, we do have our hands full. I'm glad @cnoe you had no damage. It happens quick and usually without warning. Fly safe out there! Bob

I am amazed at @201er tenacity and endurance. I’ve never had a flight over 600mi in my Mooney yet. He gets extra stars in my book! When I grow up I want to be like him.

I needed to get the ADS-B solution before I could bring the plane home since I'm under the Seattle Class B airspace. So a little Stratus ESGi took care of that. Thanks for the plus on the GPS 175. It seems to fit both function and hopefully soon the finances too. I do have an iPad Mini mounted on the yoke so big screen isn't as important for me yet.

I'm sort of in the same boat as @Van Lanier with my M20E. It has a couple of good KX155s that are functioning well but my GPS must have been purchased in the early 1990's or late 1980's, (Apollo Flybuddy 820). What I haven't seen is anyone talking about the Garmin GPS175 panel mount. Has anyone installed one or tried it? I'm know I'm just a young buck in my mid 60's but cash flow isn't what it used to be so am looking for a capable system without emptying the bank. I do have an STEC-50 with altitude hold that works great, even with the Apollo GPS. So am looking for a reasonable IFR capable GPS that will give me clear LPV approaches at minimal cost for us CBs.

Well I am a "degreed Engineer" who worked aerospace for 20 years and want to commend @A64Pilot for doing a good job of explaining what is going on. The fun part is that it is both simple and complicated at the same time. Although I haven't played this game (fluid dynamics) for over 20 years, the basics are that heat will lower the viscosity (shearing stress) in a fluid. This will mean that the oil in the engine will have less resistance flowing through the engine as it heats up, thus increasing the flow while decreasing the pressure. The art of what the engineers are trying to accomplish is getting all the parts lubricated well, under a variety of conditions, but especially during cruise (steady state) conditions. The multi-viscosity oils are an attempt to improve the cold temperature properties of the oil to try and flatten the viscosity curve of the Ground-Air-Ground cycle while maintaining decent pressure in the system to reach all the parts. Bob

Welcome PWW, you came to a great place for information and support. You are asking the right questions. I’m relatively short (5’8”) and love the fit and function in the Mooney. I flew Cessnas and Cherokees for years and didn’t find the transition hard at all. To be honest, the yoke only moves 45deg in each direction, and it kept surprising me, was the main surprise. The feel when flying is comparable to a C182RG. A little stiffer but not bad at all. Landings close to the Piper Arrow. Every plane has its own character. I think you will thoroughly enjoy the Mooneys (so will your wife) Bob