redbaron1982

Just thinking... having 100 MON UL (Av)Gas, doesn't open the possibility for using it in cars as well? Maybe some of the big companies sees the opportunity of start selling as a premium product this for cars as well, which would result in more volume that (could) result in lower prices. Off topic, I was surprised for the low prices of 100LL in my (hopefully) soon to be home airport. It's 3.95 for SS. Premium MoGas is around 3.65 in the Houston area, so it's almost at the same price.

That's sooo cool! I think I will give this a try whenever I get my aircraft. Even in Houston, on the cold weeks, it would be good to have. The last freeze (we have temps in the twenties) I went flying at my school and the engine oil was soooo thick that if it would have been my aircraft I wouldn't even tried to start it. I'm sure the amount of wear you get the first minutes with such thick oil is worth many, many flight hours.

Thanks, I was asking mainly because I'm still trying to learn if GA shops are a "trust no one" thing or if there are "good people" that is not constantly trying to rip you off. My experience so far, before taking it to Don, is that GA shops are always trying to rip you off. I hope I can start building some trust on shops like Don's.

The latest (from mid December) is that Don Maxwell got the new aft stub spar and they are working on getting it install. I hope sometime during January it should be finished. And then finger crossing that the engine is still in good shape after 12 months of almost not running. If you guys have any suggestion on how to bring this Mooney back to service, please let me know. The engine does have TKS so that's another thing I'm worried about with 1 year of no use.

Hey thanks all for the comments, at the end as mentioned by many of youm, I started looking for a DPE and finally got one that had an opening on Christmas Eve. And all this happened the 23rd at 9pm. So I worked during the night and start early the 24th to prepare de XC, review some of my week spots, go to the airport, look at the aircraft log books, etc. Was quite stressful and rushed, but finally at 230pm on the 12/24 I started the checkride, which finish 630pm and with the debrief/paper work we ended up leaving the airport at 7pm on the 24th. And... I passed! So an unexpected Christmas gift was my instrument rating! Thanks all for the suggestions/comments!

Good point, lol.

I was wondering if there could be any issue from having too low humidity in the engine compartment? I mean, can silicone, plastics, seals get cracked due to too low humidity?

Flight Level Aviation / Chris LaPlante

There is not much to it. The contract for the prebuy says that the shop will not assume any responsibility in excess of the total amount of the prebuy itself (2kUSD). Even more, as I did not specify anything specific for the prebuy, they say that there is no standard for a prebuy and for them corrosion is not something to check on a prebuy. I did ask them (on the phone) to do the inspection part of the annual as prebuy, as I would continue the prebuy into an annual as soon as I took posession of the aircraft. The discrepencies at the prebuy were 8k, total discrepancies after annual 35k. I tried sending a letter to them, to ask for the insurance company and they replied (with mroe fancy words) "We didn't do anything wrong, so no need to talk to our insurance company". I could have continue sending a special type of letter (I don't remember exactly the name) that some how would push them to give the contact of the insurance company or otherwise face the possibility to pay 3x the total damage. But that letter was 500usd, with the risk of still not getting any response, for the remote possibility of getting back just the 2k of the prebuy inspection? Next time I would try to push to have a contract that is not so in favor of the shop, but I wonder if any shop would actually agree to sign a contract that says that they are responsible for any air worthiness discrepancies in the first, let's say, one month after the prebuy.

I was thinking exactly on that, a wheel that is constantly exchanging the dehumidifying material between room air and hot air vented outside. Shouldn't be something expensive to make (not sure how much to buy)

It would be cool to come up with an automatic silica dehumidifier, like having an automatic dehydrating process for silica. It sounds fun to work on that, I'll give it a try in 2023.

AFAIK, there are two methods: True dehumidifiers, works like AC, they cool the enough to freeze the water content on it, the air then has true less absolute humidity, and usually is cooler. "Fake" ones, they just heat the air, lowering the relative humidity but keeping the absolute humidity the same. I don't know if there are any version using silica gel or similar stuff.

Yeah, I'm aware of that. Until end of December I'm good, starting on January I need to have some additional training to comply with that.

Thanks all for your input guys! When I did my PPL I relied in my flight school / CFI and it worked ok. I did the same name for instrument and it did not. Actually I was telling my CFI to book ahead when we already had a good idea of when I was going to be ready, but he said it is company policy to wait until the training is finished to book the check ride. The guy now doesn't even reply my messages or he takes one week to reply, I assume that's the same motivation he has to try contact the DPEs. Last week I fill out the form with Wanda (I did my PPL with her) and today I sent her a message to see if she has any availability. I will do the same with Wally and Pat. Again, thanks for your suggestions!

Hey, not strictly Mooney related, but is anyone aware of a huge shortage of DPEs in the Houston area? I finished my instrument training 2 months ago and at that point my instructor start looking for a DPE, after two months, I don't even have a date. For me it's absurd, I mean, I totally get that there can be 2 months backlog, but not even having a date? My main concern is that it may be that my instructor is just not trying hard enough, he is already getting close to 1500 hours so he has his mind more on getting the ATP license than doing CFI stuff. I do have my IACRA signed off, is there any way around this or any suggestion?

I'm not an expert, but I think I remember a similar post here or in PoA and someone said that the insurance would cover all except the very thing that broke in the first place. So for instance if your engine issue comes from both fuel pumps failing, then insurance would cover all except those. In the scenario of a connecting rod failing, could we argue that you should pay just for the connecting rod, and any other damage emerging from pieces of metal flying inside the crankcase would be on the insurance?

I agree with this and with the initial post of @Schllc, I want to also add the educational purpose of many smaller airports. For instance, KDWH that was mentioned before, is extremely active on flight schools. I took my private and instrument on a school based there. It was not uncommon to be number 4 or 5 for takeoff. And not only training for new pilots doing the initial steps to an ATP license, but also flight instructors building up time, ATC controllers learning in a not so complex escenario like could be KIAH, etc. If you kill these airports, are we suppose to take flying lessons and do pattern work on KIAH? On top of that I think there is a lot of investments and progress that comes from having a good airport near by. It's very hard to quantify it in terms of dollars, but I'm quite sure it's there. For instance KSGR has many enterprises near by: Amazon, Fedex, Yokogawa, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, etc. I imagine a high executive of any of these companies, how much easier for them is to fly to KSGR instead of KHOU and then drive one hour. Sadly I also agree with @1980Mooney, in a 100% free market, money (fast, not long term) is king, and if construction companies sees the opportunity to buy KDWH for 40M and make a 400M investment out of it, they will do it if non stop but someone. I am 100% to free market, but I think there are some strategic things where is fundamental for the Federal Government to stand up and intervene, in general this applies to most of the infrastructure a country needs (roads, airports, waterways, etc). The sweet spot is when both the public and private sector comes together in a synergic way. An inefficient gov is wasting tax payers money and a private company only looking for it's own benefit may harm the public in the mid/long term.

MSC is not a guarantee of success, my prebuy was done by a MSC and the same shop, 1 week later doing the annual inspection found corrosion on a wing spar and they say "Oh yeah, that's perfectly normal, we don't check for corrosion on prebuys". If you are in the Massachusetts, stay away of Flight Level Aviation. And in general, my suggestion is to download the Annual Inspection checklist for your plane, take out all the items that are not actual inspections and ask your shop to do a prebuy with that checklist. I wonder if someone here has a good prebuy checklist.

How about this link: https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?make=MOONEY&model_group=MOONEY+M20+SERIES&model=M20R+OVATION&listing_id=2412442&s-type=aircraft

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1284857892294946/ This one looks nice too

Something that at least for me was easy to overlook at the begin is useful load and fuel capacity. Although everyone has it's own preference/mission, I don't like the idea to have to partially fill up the tanks (or worse empty them!) to be able to take 2 persons on-board. It's not unlikely to see Mooney's with extended range tanks that have only 200 pound of useful load after filling up the tanks. If you go with a J, with your budget you can get one that has increased MTOW. For me that's a huge plus.

Not the original post. It was more vague, in the lines of "I'm looking for a Mooney capable of IFR"

Right wing lower stub spar cap. There is a thread with an the info. The problem also is that at least the msc I that did my inspection made me sign a contract that they say they are liable up to the account of the prebuy. So again, at most I can recover 2k (cost of the prebuy) of the over 40k that they make spent to get the airplane in an airworthy condition. I don't know if you try to discuss the contract terms if any shop would agree on that. I think that there is more demand than offer, and they do whatever they want.

I tried, without success (with a lawyer). I'm open to anyone that would like to help me with that.

One thing I cannot stress enough is to do a good prebuy. My suggestion is to use an the inspection side of an annual inspection as template. I had a very (like 40k) bad experience due to a lousy prebuy. Don't think that a official Mooney Service Center guarantees you anything.