BobbyH

It has been shown that for every positive reaction you receive there are close to 50 others who thought about it but didn't follow through. You had to make some hard decisions and you did so in a time sensitive way, our appreciation is mostly unspoken but greatly felt. Thank you! Bob

Sorry to hear about the break-in. I had one of the SIRS compasses in my previous plane and was quite impressed. It was easy to read and much more stable than the typical whiskey compass. Lots of good options. Here is a link to the SIRS: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/inpages/sirs_compass2.php Also, there are a few PTT buttons that you just plug into existing Mic plug and strap onto the yoke. Simple option until you get yours fixed. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/pa50tt.php Bob

Ditto!

My experience with the FAA and Basic Med is that there are many risk adverse decisions made to protect themselves. In their minds, Basic Med is much more risky than a Class 3 medical. They lose control (no small issue for them) and must trust a physician who doesn't report to them for certification. I know there are many good people in the FAA and good AMEs, but I do have concerns for how their culture gets translated for General Aviation. I personally found that my doctor, who I see annually, actually knows me better than the AME I used for years. I walked my physician through the Basic Med hoops and he is all on board to help me stay healthy and continue to fly. For me it feels like my physician is pulling for me while visiting the AME felt like a hoop I had to jump through flawlessly to continue to fly. So in reality, the Basic Med certificate is much more detailed and thorough each year for me, with much less anxiety.

It's never easy to effectively seal the windshield but it looks like you did a great job. Hopefully it will last for many years.

@RonSwanson I was able to track down my SOS vibrator on the inner firewall. I would like to purchase these. Please check PM Thanks, Bob

CC, I currently fly with my iPad Mini mounted directly on the yoke. It doesn't leave much room on the sides but is still comfortable to fly with hands on yoke. My concern with a larger iPad you may not have easy access to the yoke and the height can block instruments. Just my opinion and others may see it differently. I do like Foreflight with the AHRS feature right in the sweet spot where my bifocals can easily read it. - Bob -

Hate to hear what happened to the "New Airplane Smell". It is always nice to open the doors and get both visual and olfactory gratification. One method that has worked for me with other oils (sorry not brake/hydraulic fluids) is with a good Citrus Cleaner as you mentioned with aggressive wet/dry vacuuming, a couple times followed by rinsing it out with clean water and vacuuming a few times till no suds coming up. Dry as best as possible with towel and hopefully you are in a hangar so you can leave doors open till it drys out. Hot sunny day helps too. Be sure to check surrounding areas where it may have splashed or dripped and get it all wiped down. Hope you get that new airplane smell back soon! - Bob -

I'm happy to get some greasers now and then. Just too many factors, number of passengers, current weight, CG, winds and current performance of plane, runway width, not to mention airspeed, etc.. I'm also impressed with those few pilots with great skill who are able to grease it in most of the time. So I'm trying to keep my bounces shallow.

I sent you a PM. They may be very useful to me. New PM sent

You are correct about that, especially the short bodies.

Since Magnesium and it's alloys are low on the galvanic scale (highly Anodic, meaning it gives up ions to neighboring materials) so they are very hard to protect from corrosion. All it takes is a scratch in the paint or a fastener to start the down hill spiral. It has good strength to weight ratio as long as you can keep it from giving away all it's strength to mating surfaces. Great material to work with until it's not! Mooney did a good job of maintaining robust design, including materials, with innovative ideas.

Ouch, that is really unfortunate. @A64Pilot is correct with the fatigue failure. Could have initiated from over-tightening at some point (probable cause) or a material failure of the nut (inclusions, improper heat treatment, etc.). So disappointing when just putting things back together. Hopefully you are able to find a replacement, if not, guess it is time to upgrade the harness set. And no, I have never seen that on spark plug wire nut.

Dan, Check the next page in your log book. You show the flight test date which is different from the Airworthiness Date. The Airworthiness stamp should state the date which is usually a few days after the flight test. Bob

Yes, that is him, William E Wheat!

Looks like you are asking all the right questions. I thoroughly love flying at the higher altitudes (grew up in Northern CO). At a higher DA you will find not only your ground speeds are higher but also the affects of crosswinds on landing have less affect than at sea level. Again this is due to the lower air density. A couple fun things I noticed coming in from Eastern CO to the Front Range is that you can start your descent while maintaining the same altitude. (The ground will come up and smite you . . . ), and it seemed to take way too much runway to both land and take-off. Hope you have a fantastic trip out and fully enjoy the amazing beauty of this country on route. Bob

@Shadrach, you are correct in more ways than one. I transitioned from a 60' C-175 Skylark to the 66' M20E and had to discipline myself all over again to get my speeds correct. The huge "barn door" flaps on the Skylark enabled me to be lazy on my approaches and drop into many strips without worrying about airspeed. The Mooney's laminar flow wings just love to keep flying. I appreciate that very much and believe it is making me a better pilot. Now my challenge is to consistently get smooth landings within 1200' to full stop. (Used to be 700' in the Skylark) The more I fly the Mooney, the more I love it. Bob

Now you've gone and done it , what you say is true but good composite work has many advantages beyond aerodynamics. When designed properly (Not black aluminum) then putting large sections together can be almost seamless. They can be designed to be more robust than aluminum, higher load bearing at a lower weight. Think of NO leaking fuel at seams and rivets. But to get these excellent properties you need to do a lot of autoclave curing under pressure and high temperatures, which makes this method a little too expensive for GA. A good bonding job is actually much stronger and has lower stress concentrations than rivets. Unfortunately most shops have not been trained in the proper materials and process needed to ensure long-term bonds. This includes some of the problems Grumman ran into. So all my long windedness to say, . . . the great balance for small GA aircraft is flush rivets on a laminar flow wing. Maybe I did hear that somewhere . . . Go Mooney! Bob (former aerospace composites engineer)

Did you sell the JPI830, I'm looking for one. Bob

If you count your time into the cost, the closer one will probably be a wise decision. You will find yourself deciding to drop by to work on things more often and an easier decision to take advantage of a couple hours of good flying weather. Either way it is great to have a hanger.

@AIREMATT you are one of many who have this problem. I inherited the issue and found out on my first flights that the cowl flaps were semi-stuck in the full open position. I'm still contemplating ways to improve the alignment so it will move freely and correctly. With the gusset in place, the attachment clamp is too far up the support bar and therefore misaligned the cowl flap bar with the left side. I would like to hear if anyone else has found a fix, other than the expense of pulling the engine and re-welding the gusset. It also gets a little complicated because it causes an misalignment with the actuator cable. The joy is figuring out how the offset the mount on the cowl flap control rod. Bob

In the 66' M20E with manual gear and manual hydraulic flaps, it can get a little busy on a go around. @A64Pilot said it very well, "don't get into too big of a hurry" and "establish aircraft control first" . What works well for me is to add enough power to arrest the descent, as airspeed approaches Vx to Vy initiate gentle climb, release flap lock (because I typically use full flaps on landing), go to full power as flaps are coming up and when established/trimmed in normal takeoff climb raise the gear. I'm not sure how long it takes but always feel I have plenty of time and just take it in stride.

Let me see if I can throw some fuel on the fire. IMHO you can achieve similar results with either the plenum (doghouse) of the baffled compartment. What you have is a pressure box with exits over the cylinders and out various tubes for cooling and heating. The fluid dynamics of air is pretty simple, it will quickly go to the path of least resistance. It's important to make sure your baffles and dividers are tight, not allowing air leaks etc. The goal, like @carusoam mentioned is efficient and equal cooling on all cylinders. One advantage of baffling is that it is much easier to access plugs and ports on top of the engine, no need to dismantle the plenum once to cowl is off. An advantage of the plenum is that it is easier to ensure it is sealed properly, you can inspect it right there and see any openings. FYI, just place a light inside and see where it exits through seams etc. A big factor for good cooling is proper use of your cowl flaps. It's the low pressure side of the flow equation. Personally I was quite surprised how little my cowl flaps opened in my 'E' model (I'm used to the C-182). I may need to adjust mine to gain every last bit so that it is pulling the air through the system. Those cowl flaps actually create a light vacuum due to the venturi affect. Getting a decent engine monitor is on my shopping list. My old Super 21 has to wait for this new owner to gain some more AMUs. Bob

Loved the video, thanks for posting!

Raymond, that would be great, thanks for doing the ground work. Bob Best to learn from others mistakes, you won't live long enough to do them all yourself.